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ITEM SUBJECT
NO.
INDEX
MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING
MARCH 12, 1992
LEGISLATION PAGE
NO.
1. PRESENTATIONS, PROCLAMATIONS & SPECIAL DISCUSSION
ITEMS. 3/12/92
2. URGE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI TO ASSIST R 92-151
MEDICAL DOCTORS BORN IN FOREIGN 3/12/92
COUNTRIES WHO ARE TRYING TO ENROLL IN A
COURSE IN PREPARATION FOR TAKING THE
BOARD'S EXAM IN ORDER TO BECOME
LICENSED TO PRACTICE MEDICINE IN THE
U.S.A. -- FURTHER URGING THE UNIVERSITY
OF MIAMI TO BE FLEXIBLE, REDUCE TUITION
COSTS, AND ACT AS GUARANTORS OF SAID
LOANS.
3. CONSENT AGENDA -- GENERAL COMMENTS DISCUSSION
CONCERNING VARIOUS CONSENT AGENDA 3/12/92
ITEMS.
3.1 RATIFY MANAGER'S ACCEPTANCE OF DONATION R 92-152
OF A MARINE DEBRIS SCREEN, FROM ROUSE- 3/12/92
MIAMI, INC., WHICH WAS INSTALLED AT
MIAMARINA.
3.2 ACCEPT BID: FRANK J. MORAN, INC. -- R 92-153
FOR FURNISHING AND INSTALLATION OF 34 3/12/92
THEATRE CHAIRS AT MANUEL ARTIME
COMMUNITY CENTER -- FOR DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (CIP 333083).
3.3 ACCEPT BID: CRISTALUM TRANSAMERICA R 92-154
CORP. -- FOR BUILDING MEN AND WOMEN 3/12/92
DRESSING ROOMS AT MANUEL ARTIME
COMMUNITY CENTER -- FOR DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (Project 110045).
1-2
2-14
14-19
19-20
20
01
C
L
3.4 ACCEPT BID: WORLD ELECTRONICS R 92-155
DISTRIBUTORS, INC. -- FOR PURCHASE OF 3/12/92
UNDERWATER VIDEO EQUIPMENT -- FOR
POLICE DEPARTMENT (from Law Enforcement
Trust Fund Project 690001).
3.5 DECLARE UDP AS MOST ADVANTAGEOUS R 92-156
METHOD -- AUTHORIZE PREPARATION OF A 3/12/92
DRAFT RFP FOR A UDP FOR DEVELOPMENT OF
MARINE ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING A
RESTAURANT, WITH WATER -DEPENDENT USE AT
S.W. 2 STREET AND S.W. NORTH RIVER
DRIVE ON THE MIAMI RIVER - SET PUBLIC
HEARING.
3.6 AUTHORIZE REPLACEMENT OF CITY STREET R 92-157
AND HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT GENERAL 3/12/92
OBLIGATIONS BONDS ($10,000 -- DUE MAY
1, 1996) TO SUBSTITUTE LOST BONDS AND
COUPONS.
3.7 AUTHORIZE REPLACEMENT OF CITY HOUSING R 92-158
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS ($20,000 -- 3/12/92
DUE AUGUST 1, 2001) TO SUBSTITUTE LOST
BONDS AND COUPONS.
3.8 RECOGNIZE TAX-EXEMPT STATUS CLAIMED BY R 92-159
ST. PHILOMENA CATHOLIC CHURCH -- 3/12/92
AUTHORIZE FINANCE DIRECTOR TO REIMBURSE
SAID ORGANIZATION $3,208.14.
3.9 GRANT REQUEST BY THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF R 92-160
GREATER MIAMI, INC. -- CONDITIONALLY 3/12/92
APPROVE PARTIAL USE OF DOWNTOWN STREETS
AND AUTHORIZE ONE -DAY BEER AND WINE
PERMIT -- CONCERNING THE 1992 MIAMI
MAGIC PROGRESSIVE DINNER GALA.
3.10 GRANT REQUEST BY FOOT WORKS RACE R 92-161
MANAGEMENT FOR CLOSURE OF DESIGNATED 3/12/92
STREETS CONCERNING THE 3.5 MILE MIAMI
CORPORATE RUN.
3.11 GRANT REQUEST BY THE DADE COUNTY R 92-162
CHAPTER OF THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF 3/12/92
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS, IN
CONJUNCTION WITH SPLIT SECOND TIMING,
INC. -- FOR PARTIAL USE OF STREETS IN
COCONUT GROVE DURING THE CPA 1040K RACE
AND WALK.
20-21
21-22
22
22
22
22-23
23
23-24
0
11
3.12
GRANT REQUEST BY THE CITY OF MIAMI
R 92-163
24
COMMITTEE ON BEAUTIFICATION AND
3/12/92
ENVIRONMENT, AND KEEP DADE BEAUTIFUL
FOR CLOSURE OF DESIGNATED STREETS
CONCERNING THE CLEAN UP, FIX UP, PAINT
UP PARADE.
3.13
ACCEPT PLAT: NESSLEIN ESTATE.
R 92-164
24
3/12/92
4.
(A) CITY COMMISSION DISCUSSES AND MAKES
M 92-165
25-28
MOTION TO REJECT ACCEPTANCE OF BID FROM
M 92-166
BOWNE OF MIAMI, INC. FOR PRINTING,
3/12/92
BINDING AND SHIPPING OFFICIAL STATEMENT
FOR BOND FINANCING. (Note: During the
herein motion the Commission
erroneously referred to this item as
CA-4, rather than CA-5.)
(B) RECONSIDER PRIOR REJECTION OF BID.
(Note: At this point, this issue is
momentarily deferred.) (See label 6.)
5.
DISCUSS AND DEFER FOR FURTHER
DISCUSSION
28-30
INFORMATION ACCEPTANCE OF A BID OF ALAN
3/12/92
DEUTSCH ASSOCIATES, INC. FOR FURNISHING
AND INSTALLATION OF A FRONT STAGE
CURTAIN AND VALANCE AT MANUEL ARTIME
COMMUNITY CENTER (CIP 333083).
6.
(Continued Discussion) REJECT ALL BIDS
R 92-167
30-32
RECEIVED IN CONNECTION WITH THE
3/12/92
PRINTING, BINDING AND SHIPPING OF
OFFICIAL STATEMENTS FOR BOND
FINANCING -- CITY MANAGER DIRECTED TO
REBID (See label 4).
7.
ESTABLISH SPECIAL CHARGES FOR USE OF
R 92-168
32-33
BOBBY MADURO MIAMI BASEBALL STADIUM BY
3/12/92
CENTRAL AMERICAN SOCCER ASSOCIATION,
INC. -- FOR PRESENTATION OF AMATEUR
SOCCER GAMES -- EXECUTE AGREEMENT.
8.
AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO SUPPORT MIAMI
R 92-169 34-35
CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT INC.'S PROPOSAL TO
3/12/92
STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNITY AFFAIRS, SEEKING TO BECOME
CERTIFIED AS A COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS
TAX INCENTIVE SPONSOR, THEREBY ENABLING
MIAMI CAPITAL TO SOLICIT CORPORATE
DONATIONS TO SUPPORT A MANAGEMENT AND
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COORDINATION
PROGRAM.
9.
CLAIM SETTLEMENT: WILLIAM AND MILDRED
R 92-170 35-40
HUTCHINSON ($50,000).
3/12/92
10.
SECOND READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH 4
ORDINANCE 40-46
NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS: (1) JTPA
10952
TITLE I (PY191) ($34,118); (2) JTPA
ORDINANCE
TITLE 11-A / ENTERPRISE ZONE (PY'91)
10953
($96,520); (3) JTPA TITLE III / PAN AM
3/12/92
(PY191) ($144,400); AND (4) DHRS / RCA
(PY191) ($75,718) -- APPROPRIATE FUNDS
FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GRANT
AWARDS THROUGH SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT
AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM (SFETC).
11.
SECOND READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH
NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: EMERGENCY
SHELTER GRANT (FY 192) -- APPROPRIATE
$287,000 FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (USHUD)
1992 EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT.
12.
FIRST READING ORDINANCE: PROHIBIT
ORDINANCE 46-56
MALICIOUS REAL PROPERTY DAMAGE; WILFUL
FIRST READING
OR MALICIOUS PLACING OF UNLAWFUL SIGNS
3/12/92
ON REAL PROPERTY; INTENTIONAL
UNAUTHORIZED DEFACEMENT OF REAL
PROPERTY, WHICH EXPOSES ANOTHER TO RISK
OF VIOLENCE, CONTEMPT OR HATRED BASED
ON RACE, COLOR, CREED OR RELIGION --
PROVIDE FOR PENALTIES.
13.
FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND
ORDINANCE 56-58
ORDINANCE 10936 -- INCREASE
FIRST READING
APPROPRIATION TO SPECIAL REVENUE FUND:
3/12/92
JTPA TITLE II -A (PY '91) BY $177,642 --
(from $509,510 to $687,152).
i
14.
FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND
ORDINANCE 59-63
ORDINANCE 10880 -- INCREASE
FIRST READING
APPROPRIATION TO SPECIAL REVENUE FUND:
3/12/92
EASTERN AIRLINES / DISLOCATED WORKER
RETRAINING PROGRAM (FY 191) JTPA III,
BY $550,637 -- (from $207,400 to
$758,037).
15.
FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CODE
ORDINANCE 63-64
CHAPTER 54 -- ADD NEW ARTICLE X TO
FIRST READING
PROVIDE FOR FEDERAL AVIATION
3/12/92
ADMINISTRATION (FAA) ENTERING INTO
PERMIT AGREEMENT(S) WITH THE CITY FOR
USE OF PUBLIC RIGHTS -OF -WAY (ROW) FOR
PLACEMENT OF LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR ALERT
SYSTEMS (LLWAS) -- PROVIDE THAT FAA
SHALL BE ASSESSED A FEE AS A CONDITION
TO SUCH PERMIT.
16.
APPROVE, IN PRINCIPLE, ISSUANCE OF
M 92-171 64-71
REVOCABLE PERMIT TO GREATER BETHEL
3/12/92
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME)
CHURCH (245 N.W. 8 STREET) FOR USE OF
TWO LOTS IN BLOCK 35 N, SUBDIVISION
MIAMI NORTH (A/K/A A.L. KNOWLTON B-41)
ON N.W. 9 STREET, FOR PROVIDING EXTRA
PARKING -- DIRECT CITY ATTORNEY TO
IMPLEMENT SAID DIRECTION, MAKING SURE
THAT SUCH WOULD NOT CONSTITUTE A LEGAL
ENTANGLEMENT FOR THE CITY.
17.
FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CODE
ORDINANCE 72-75
CHAPTER 54: STREET AND SIDEWALKS --
FIRST READING
AMEND SECTION 54-104: NONSTANDARD
3/12/92
STREET WIDTHS BY MODIFYING WIDTH OF A
CERTAIN STREET.
18.
FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND
ORDINANCE 76-87
ORDINANCE 10920 BY ESTABLISHING NEW
FIRST READING
ACCOUNT: TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES,
3/12/92
SERIES 1991 NOTE FUND -- APPROPRIATE
$20,889,333 TO PROVIDE FOR REPAYMENT OF
RECENTLY ISSUED TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES.
19.
DISCUSS AND TEMPORARILY TABLE
DISCUSSION 88-90
CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED FIRST READING
3/12/92
ORDINANCE AMENDING CODE SECTION 2-305
CONCERNING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND
DISCLOSURE OF REAL ESTATE OWNED BY
CERTAIN OFFICIALS, THEREBY ADDING
MEMBERS OF THE NUISANCE ABATEMENT BOARD
(See label 40).
20. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 90-91
ORDINANCE 9959, THEREBY RELEASING ALL FIRST READING
LIMITATIONS OF AUTHORIZED INVESTMENT OF 3/12/92
CITY FUNDS OR FUNDS OF ANY RETIREMENT
PROGRAM CONTROLLED BY THE CITY AGAINST
THE COUNTRY NAMIBIA.
21. AMEND RESOLUTION 85-88, THEREBY R 92-172 92
RELEASING MIAMI MOTORSPORTS, INC. FROM 3/12/92
THE CITY'S PROHIBITION OF A CONTESTANT
FROM, OR A VEHICLE SPONSORED BY, AN
ENTITY FROM THE COUNTRY NAMIBIA FROM
COMPETING IN THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX.
22. (A) INITIATE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TAX- R 92-173
EXEMPT PROPERTY STEERING COMMITTEE IN DISCUSSION
ORDER TO EXPAND AND UPGRADE CURRENT 3/12/92
PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES PROGRAM IN THE
CITY.
(B) COMMISSIONER PLUMMER REMINDS
ADMINISTRATION OF A PENDING LEGAL
OPINION CONCERNING POSSIBILITY OF THE
CITY ASSESSING A TAX ON TAX-EXEMPT
GROUPS AND FEDERAL BUILDINGS FOR THE
ONGOING RENDERING OF CITY SERVICES.
23. DISCUSS AND TABLE CONSIDERATION OF DISCUSSION
PROPOSED RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MANAGER 3/12/92
TO ACCEPT GRANT FROM SOUTH FLORIDA
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM
(SFETC) TO OPERATE THE 1992 SUMMER
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM
(See label 59).
24. ACCEPT A JTPA TITLE II -A GRANT R 92-174
($52,000) FROM SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT 3/12/92
AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM (SFETC) --
PROVIDE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES PROGRAM TO
RESIDENTS OF WYNWOOD AREA.
25. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW ORDINANCE
SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: JTPA TITLE II -A FIRST READING
WYNWOOD SPECIAL INITIATIVE (PY '91) -- 3/12/92
APPROPRIATE $52,000 FROM U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR THROUGH SOUTH
FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
CONSORTIUM (SFETC).
93-95
99-105
105-106
0
26. DISCUSS AND DEFER (TO APRIL 2ND
DISCUSSION
MEETING) CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED
3/12/92
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) FOR
MANAGEMENT, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
OF BICENTENNIAL PARK FOOD AND BEVERAGE
CONCESSION AREA (1075 BISCAYNE
BOULEVARD).
27. AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO APPLY TO FLORIDA
R 92-175
LEAGUE OF CITIES FOR A LOAN
3/12/92
($5,000,000) FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF
MIAMARINA AT BAYSIDE.
28. APPROVE ISSUANCE OF $16,000,000 HEALTH R 92-176
FACILITIES AUTHORITY HEALTH FACILITIES 3/12/92
REVENUE BONDS (MIAMI JEWISH HOME AND
HOSPITAL FOR THE AGED, INC. PROJECT),
SERIES 1992.
29. REJECT ALL BIDS RECEIVED IN CONNECTION
R 92-177
WITH PURCHASE OF A RESCUE VEHICLE
3/12/92
(SPIRIT OF MIAMI) -- FOR DEPARTMENT OF
FIRE, RESCUE AND INSPECTION SERVICES --
INSTRUCT CITY MANAGER TO REBID.
30. DISCUSSION CONCERNING PROPOSED
DISCUSSION
RESOLUTION TO RATIFY THE ENGAGEMENT OF
3/12/92
GREENBERG, TRAURIG, HOFFMAN, LIPOFF,
ROSEN AND QUENTEL, PA, FOR SERVICES
RENDERED CONCERNING TAX MATTERS
INVOLVING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
CITY'S RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM
($7,863.90). (Note: Motion to approve
said resolution died -- See label 43).
31. DISCUSS AND DEFER CONSIDERATION OF
PROPOSED RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MANAGER
TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT #1 TO AGREEMENTS
WITH: (1) MANUEL G. VERA AND
L, ASSOCIATES, INC., (2) WEIDENER
SURVEYING AND MAPPING, (3) FERNANDO Z.
j' GATELL, P.L.S., INC., (4) LANNES AND
GARCIA, INC., AND (5) BISCAYNE
ENGINEERING COMPANY, EXTENDING SAID
!'. AGREEMENTS.
DISCUSSION
3/12/92
106-112
113-120
120-121
122-124
124-127
127-129
32. AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO EXECUTE AGREEMENT
R 92-178
WITH FULLER AND SADAO, PC -- TO
3/12/92
COMPLETE THE NOGUCHI DESIGNS AND
CONSTRUCTION PLANS FOR SOUTH END OF
MILDRED AND CLAUDE PEPPER BAYFRONT PARK
REDEVELOPMENT (CIP 331305).
33. BRIEF DISCUSSION AND DEFERRAL OF
DISCUSSION
PROPOSED RESOLUTION MAKING AMENDMENTS
3/12/92
TO THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ADVISORY
BOARD.
34. APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUAL TO SERVE R 92-179
AS MEMBER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI OFFICE 3/12/92
OF PROFESSIONAL COMPLIANCE ADVISORY
PANEL (Appointed was: Jorge Cristin).
35. APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUALS TO R 92-180
SERVE AS MEMBERS OF CITY OF MIAMI URBAN 3/12/92
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD (Reappointed
was: Albert Perez).
36.
APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUALS TO
M 92-181
SERVE AS MEMBERS OF THE LATIN QUARTER
3/12/92
REVIEW BOARD (Reappointed were: Daniel
Perez-Zarraga, Mariano Corral, Tessi
Garcia, Angel Saqui II, Hector Gasca,
Luis Sabines, Silvio Diaz, Tony A.
Wagner, Gloria Rosello, and Mario
Pestonit).
37.
APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUALS TO
R 92-182.
SERVE AS MEMBERS ON THE COMMISSION ON
3/12/92
THE STATUS OF WOMEN (Reappointed were:
Alicia Baro, Nikki Beare and Judy
Miller).
38.
DESIGNATE S.W. 8 STREET BETWEEN 17 AND
M 92-183
27 AVENUES AS: THE LITTLE HAVANA ART
3/12/92
DISTRICT.
39.
RESCIND RESOLUTION 90-523, WHICH
R 92-184
APPROVED IMPLEMENTATION OF A PLAN TO
3/12/92
INLAY PLAQUES ALONG A PORTION OF S.W. 8
STREET (CALLE OCHO) BETWEEN S.W. 12 TO
27 AVENUES, TO HONOR INTERNATIONAL
ARTISTS, SPORTS FIGURES, AND
OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS OF THE LATIN
COMMUNITY.
129-131
131-132
132-133
133-134
134-136
137-142
142-145
146-162
40.
(Continued Discussion) FIRST READING
ORDINANCE 162-164
ORDINANCE: AMEND CODE SECTION 2-305
FIRST READING
CONCERNING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND
3/12/92
DISCLOSURE OF REAL ESTATE OWNED BY
CERTAIN OFFICIALS, THEREBY ADDING
MEMBERS OF THE NUISANCE ABATEMENT BOARD
(See Label 19).
41.
DISCUSSION CONCERNING COMPETITIVE
DISCUSSION 165
SEALED BIDDING VERSUS NEGOTIATED SALE
3/12/92
OF BONDS.
42.
DISCUSSION CONCERNING THE MIAMI ARENA
DISCUSSION 165-170
CONTRACT.
3/12/92
43.
(Continued Discussion) CONCERNING
M 92-185 170-177
PROPOSED RESOLUTION RATIFYING
3/12/92
ENGAGEMENT OF GREENBERG, TRAURIG, ET
AL. FOR SERVICES RENDERED CONCERNING
TAX MATTERS INVOLVING IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE CITY'S EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE
PROGRAM. (See label 30) (Note: Two
further attempts to approve this issue
ended as failed motions. No further
action was taken.)
44.
DISCUSSION AND MOMENTARY DEFERRAL OF
DISCUSSION 177-213
CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESOLUTION
3/12/92
AUTHORIZING MANAGER TO SUBMIT APPROVED
GRANT PROGRAM FINAL STATEMENT TO U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT (HUD), REQUESTING
$13,156,000 FOR CITY'S PROPOSED
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM DURING
1992-1993 (See label 46).
45.
DISCUSSION CONCERNING PROPOSED
DISCUSSION 214-227
ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW BOARD OF
3/12/92
DIRECTORS FOR DE HOSTOS SENIOR
CENTER -- PERSONAL APPEARANCE BY
WILLIAM MORALES.
46.
(Continued Discussion) AUTHORIZE
MANAGER TO SUBMIT APPROVED GRANT
PROGRAM FINAL STATEMENT TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT (HUD) REQUESTING
$13,156,000 FOR THE CITY'S PROPOSED
1992-93 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM -- AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO EXECUTE
NECESSARY AGREEMENTS. (See label 44)
[Note: The herein Resolution was
amended by the following Motions.]
(A)
INSTRUCT MANAGER TO ALLOCATE $103.461
TO THE NEW LIFE FAMILY CENTER (A CITY
HOMELESS SHELTER PROGRAM), FUNDS TO
COME FROM INTEREST TO BE EARNED FROM
TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES.
(B)
INSTRUCT MANAGER TO MODIFY
RECOMMENDATION MADE BY CITYWIDE
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD
CONCERNING PROPOSED ALLOCATION OF THE
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
(CDBG) PROGRAM (1992-93) BY TAKING
$15,880 EARMARKED FOR THE CITY
HOMELESS PROJECT (PS-43) AND
TRANSFERRING SAID AMOUNT TO THE
ASSOCIATION FOR THE USEFUL AGED PROJECT
(PS-5).
(C)
INSTRUCT MANAGER TO ALLOCATE $49,800
FROM BALANCE OF INTEREST EARNED ON TAX
ANTICIPATION NOTES TO THE LITTLE HAVANA
ACTIVITIES CENTER FOR MATCHING FUNDS
NEEDED TO OBTAIN A STATE GRANT FOR
MEDICAL SERVICES -- PROVIDE THAT CITY
MAY BE REIMBURSED WHEN GRANT MONIES ARE
RECEIVED.
(D)
APPROVE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY
CITYWIDE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY
BOARD CONCERNING THE PUBLIC SERVICE
PROJECTS PORTION OF THE CITY'S PROPOSED
CDBG PROGRAM (1992-93).
(E)
INSTRUCT MANAGER TO: (1) TAKE
$1,000,000 FROM TOTAL RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR HOUSING PROJECTS AND AWARD SAME TO
MIAMI-DADE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, SUBJECT
TO METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY MATCHING
FUNDS ON A ONE-TO-ONE BASIS; (2) TAKE
$400,000 ALLOCATED TO DOWNTOWN
DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY / OVERTOWN PARK
WEST PROJECTS AND ALLOCATE AS FOLLOWS:
(a) $50,000 FOR LATIN QUARTER
ASSOCIATION, (b) $50,000 FOR OVERTOWN
ADVISORY BOARD, (c) $100,000 FOR
WYNWOOD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS,
DISCUSSION
M 92-186
M 92-187
M 92-188
M 92-189
M 92-190
M 92-190.1
3/12/92
228-279
7
AND (d) $200,000 FOR LITTLE HAITI
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS; (3)
REDUCE CODE ENFORCEMENT BUDGET BY
$175,000; AND (4) DECREASE COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT'S ADMINISTRATIVE
BUDGET BY $220,000.
47. JA) AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO ALLOCATE
30,000 FROM EXISTING CDBG FUNDS TO
BEGIN CONSTRUCTION OF IMPROVEMENTS TO
GRAND AVENUE, SUBJECT TO REPAYMENT OF
SAID FUNDS THROUGH 1992-1993 CDBG
FUNDS.
(B) COMMENTS BY COMMISSIONER DAWKINS
CONCERNING LACK OF FUNDING FOR
AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
48. (A) SECOND READING ORDINANCE: AMEND
CODE CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE X -- CHANGE
ARTICLE TITLE TO: CODE ENFORCEMENT --
ADD NEW SECTIONS PROVIDING FOR: (a)
CREATION OF POSITION OF HEARING
OFFICER; (b) QUALIFICATIONS,
APPOINTMENT, AND COMPENSATION FOR
OFFICERS; (c) ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES
FOR CIVIL INFRACTIONS, PENALTIES,
HEARINGS AND APPEAL, AND RECOVERY OF
CIVIL PENALTIES, ETC.
(B) VICE MAYOR ALONSO VOICES HER
DISPLEASURE CONCERNING ADMINISTRATION'S
FAILURE TO SHARE THE SCOPE AND DETAILS
OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT TEAM
(NET) PROGRAM PRIOR TO ITS
IMPLEMENTATION.
(C) ASSIGN STAFF TO WORK WITH
REPRESENTATIVES OF PACT (PEOPLE ACTING
IN COMMUNITY TOGETHER) TO DEVELOP A
PLAN WHICH WOULD ALLOW USE OF
FORECLOSED PROPERTIES AS AFFORDABLE
HOUSING -- MANAGER TO MAKE
RECOMMENDATION ON MAY 14, 1992 (See
label 50).
M 92-191
3/12/92
ORDINANCE
10954
DISCUSSION
M 92-192
3/12/92
49. RESCHEDULE APRIL COMMISSION MEETINGS TO R 92-193
NOW TAKE PLACE ON APRIL 2 AND 30, 1992. 3/12/92
279-281
282-293
293-295
r
50.
(Continued Discussion) SCHEDULE PUBLIC
M 92-194 296-298
HEARING ON MARCH 26, 1992, IN ORDER
R 92-194.1
THAT THE MANAGER MAY REPORT TO THE CITY
3/12/92
COMMISSION CONCERNING THE NET
(NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT TEAM) PROGRAM
(See label 48).
51.
(A) GRANT REQUEST BY BILL RIOS OF
M 92-195 299-304
WYNWOOD COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
M 92-196
CORPORATION, FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME
3/12/92
FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING
ON CITY -OWNED PROPERTY AT 229 N.W. 30
STREET.
(B) GRANT REQUEST BY BILL RIOS OF
WYNWOOD COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION -- ALLOCATE $35,000
CONCERNING ACQUISITION OF 34 LOW-INCOME
RENTAL UNITS IN WYNWOOD AREA -- INCLUDE
REVERTER CLAUSE TO ENSURE THAT THE CITY
WILL OWN THE PROPERTY IF EVER VACATED.
52.
GRANT REQUEST BY CUBAN MUNICIPALITIES
R 92-197 304-305
FAIR CORPORATION FOR WAIVER OF
3/12/92
SUBSECTION 906.9 OF ORDINANCE 11000
CONCERNING USE OF THE GROUNDS OF
FLAGLER DOG TRACK PARKING LOT IN
CONNECTION WITH THE TENTH NATIONAL
FAIR -- GRANT WAIVER OF VARIOUS ZONING
PERMIT FEES.
53.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE: PETER CHIN-TAI,
DISCUSSION 305-309
OF CHIN-TAI MAINTENANCE AND CLEANING
3/12/92
SERVICE -- TO DISCUSS ALLEGED EXCLUSION
OF ASIANS FROM THE CITY'S SET -ASIDE
PROGRAM FOR MINORITIES.
54.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE BY REPRESENTATIVE
DISCUSSION 309-313
OF OPERASYON SOVE JE (OPERATION SAVE
3/12/92
EYES) REQUESTING STREET CLOSURES AND
TECHNICAL SUPPORT IN CONNECTION WITH
THEIR MARATHON -- REFER TO
ADMINISTRATION.
55.
DISCUSSION CONCERNING PENDING LAWSUIT
DISCUSSION 313-318
AGAINST THE CITY AND CERTAIN CITY
3/12/92
EMPLOYEES FILED BY FORMER CHIEF OF
POLICE PERRY ANDERSON.
4
0
56. DISCUSSION CONCERNING FUNDING REQUEST
DISCUSSION
BY U.S. KARATE ASSOCIATION FOR GRANT TO
3/12/92
COVER COST OF USE OF JAMES L. KNIGHT
CENTER IN CONNECTION WITH 1992
INTERNATIONAL KARATE CHAMPIONSHIPS.
57. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND 11000
ORDINANCE
ATLAS -- CHANGE DESIGNATION AT 2340
FIRST READING
S.W. 32 AVENUE, 3224-32 S.W. 23 STREET
3/12/92
AND 3217-21 S.W. 23 TERRACE FROM R-2
TWO FAMILY RESIDENTIAL TO R-2 TWO
FAMILY RESIDENTIAL WITH AN SD-12
SPECIAL BUFFER OVERLAY DISTRICT (Owner
/ Applicant: Sonia Zaldivar).
58. AFFIRM ZONING BOARD'S DECISION TO GRANT
R 92-198
SPECIAL EXCEPTION TO ALLOW CONSTRUCTION
3/12/92
(AT 2340 S.W. 32 AVENUE, 3224-32 S.W.
23 STREET AND 3217-21 S.W. 23 TERRACE)
OF A SURFACE PARKING LOT TO SERVE
EXISTING RESTAURANT (VICTOR'S CAFE) ON
THE ABUTTING COMMERCIAL ZONING
DISTRICT -- SUBJECT TO SIX MONTH REVIEW
BY ZONING BOARD ON THE ISSUE OF
SIGNAGE, ETC. (Owner / Applicant: Sonia
Zaldivar).
59. ACCEPT GRANT FROM SOUTH FLORIDA R 92-199
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM 3/12/92
(SFETC) TO OPERATE THE 1992 SUMMER
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
PROGRAM -- EXECUTE IMPLEMENTING
AGREEMENT WITH SFETC (See label 23).
318-320
320-321
322-326
327-328
60. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW ORDINANCE 328-329
SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: SUMMER YOUTH FIRST READING
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM (FY 3/12/92
192) JTPA II-B -- APPROPRIATE $536,850
FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR THROUGH
SFETC.
61. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW ORDINANCE 329
SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: COMMUNITY FIRST READING
DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) 3/12/92
(EIGHTEENTH YEAR) - APPROPRIATE
$13,156,000 -- FURTHER APPROPRIATE
$1,400,000 FROM 18TH YEAR CDBG PROGRAM
INCOME, AS APPROVED BY DEPARTMENT OF
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD) FOR
TOTAL OF $14,556,000.
62. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND 11000
TEXT -- AMEND ARTICLE 21,
ADMINISTRATION, ENFORCEMENT, VIOLATIONS
AND PENALTIES, SECTION 2105 -- REVISE
TEXT TO EXTEND TIME LIMITS FOR
OBTAINING BUILDING PERMITS AND
CERTIFICATES OF USE AND OCCUPANCY.
ORDINANCE 330-333
FIRST READING
3/12/92
MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI, FLORIDA
On the 12th day of March, 1992, the City Commission of Miami, Florida,
met at its regular meeting place in the City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive,
Miami, Florida in regular session.
The meeting was called to order at 9:05 a.m. by Mayor Xavier Suarez with
the following members of the Commission found to be present:
ALSO PRESENT:
Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
Cesar Odio, City Manager
A. Quinn Jones, III, City Attorney
Matty Hirai, City Clerk
An invocation was delivered by Mayor Suarez. Commissioner Dawkins then
led those present in a pledge of allegiance to the flag.
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: By memorandum from the City
Manager, Cesar Odio, agenda items 13, 14, 25, 42 and
44 were withdrawn.
1. PRESENTATIONS, PROCLAMATIONS & SPECIAL ITEMS.
1. Proclamation presented to Best Government Safety Program Day for their
efforts towards the safety of our citizens through the fire prevention
program Basic Aid Training (B.A.T.).
2. Proclamation to "Day in memory of Sonia La Verne Singleton" for her
efforts in helping people afflicted with AIDS and her commitment, to the
very end, to the fight against this disease. (No one appeared on behalf
of Ms. Singleton.)
3. Commendation read for Officer Emilio Canciobello for having been selected
Most Outstanding Officer for the Month of January, 1992.
1 March 12, 1992
4. Commendations presented to Stephen W. Gibbs and Jack Luft for having been
selected as City of Miami Outstanding Employees of the Year 1991.
— 5. A plaque presented to the City of Miami and City Commission by the Gusman
Center for the Performing Arts for their ongoing support.
-' 6. Certificates of appreciation presented to four deaf children of Special
Dancers of America: Robert Heath, Corey Ballard, D. Anthony Spencer, and
Lazaro Nunez.
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: On a motion duly made by
Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor
Alonso, the minutes of Commission meetings of January
9 and 23, 1992, were approved by the Commission.
2. URGE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI TO ASSIST MEDICAL DOCTORS BORN IN FOREIGN
COUNTRIES WHO ARE TRYING TO ENROLL IN A COURSE IN PREPARATION FOR TAKING
THE BOARD'S EXAM IN ORDER TO BECOME LICENSED TO PRACTICE MEDICINE IN THE
U.S.A. -- FURTHER URGING THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI TO BE FLEXIBLE, REDUCE
TUITION COSTS, AND ACT AS GUARANTORS OF SAID LOANS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioner De Yurre: Mr. Mayor, if I may at...
Mayor Suarez: Yes, Commissioner. Would you like to say something in advance
of my reading of the Consent Agenda?
Commissioner De Yurre: Yes, I would.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner De Yurre: I have an emergency item that I'd like to bring up at
this time, if I may. I don't know exactly what we can do as local government,
but it's been brought to my attention, I think to the attention of most of
this community since it's made the news and it's made the media - TV, radio
and print - about a group of a hundred and seventeen professional doctors - in
fact in this case there are a hundred and seventeen Cubans - that are trying
to obtain their license to be able to practice medicine here in the State of
Florida. It is my understanding that they were in a position to take a course
that starts this Saturday, which would allow them and prepare them to sit for
the exam to obtain their license to practice medicine. My understanding
further is that, at the last moment, the Federal government which guarantees
the loans that they must obtain in order to pay for this course, has not been
given, and basically what happens is now that they don't have the funds, they
don't have the loans available to sit through this course and then go ahead
2 March 12, 1992
and sit for their licensing. A lot of these individuals have been
demonstrating on 17th and Flagler to let know of what their situation is.
Their attorney, Roberto Pelleya, is here and I believe that he wants to
address the Commission at this time to explain further what the situation is.
I talked to the Administration. The Administration has no problem aiding in
this effort and I'm trying to find out from the Legal Department exactly what
can be done, if anything, to maybe step into the shoes of the Federal
government and guarantee these loans in any way, fashion or form. So, if Mr.
Pelleya is around here, if he can speak to us, please.
Commissioner Plummer: Commissioner De Yurre, I had an inquiry in my office
this morning. There seems to exist the same problem within the Haitian
community and Ringo Cayard would like to also speak that, if the City is
empowered to proceed along this route, that all parties that are capable of
applying for this be given the same opportunity. So I would assume that we'll
give Ringo the same opportunity to speak on the issue as the others.
Commissioner De Yurre: OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: I also have an inquiry. I have a gentleman from the
Puerto Rican neighborhood who wants to speak, and I will be speaking from the
black community on behalf of black nurses and black doctors who also need the
same assistance.
Commissioner De Yurre: Go ahead.
Roberto Pelleya, Esq.: Roberto Pelleya, 2303 Ponce de Leon Boulevard. We all
share the concerns for people that have barriers to the things that they want
to achieve. Unfortunately, we don't make the laws and we are merely trying to
take advantage of a program, of a preexisting program, that's already in the
Florida Statutes, and this program has been there for many years, and it
applies to people who graduated in a medical school in the Western Hemisphere
in a country without diplomatic relations with the United States. I've always
thought that this was unfair. I've always thought that were it not for the
AMA (American Medical Association) and the FMA (Florida Medical Association),
we could break down more barriers to more immigrant physicians who can take
care of more of America's poor. The care of America's poor is in the hands of
foreign -trained physicians because American -trained physicians don't care.
There's one hundred eligible human beings under this program. I really don't
care if they're Cuban, Haitian or Puerto Rican. Our protest in that regard
must be elevated to Tallahassee where, if you're really interested in helping
Haitians and Puerto Ricans who are not eligible in this program, you should
protest the legislature and try to get that changed and be ready to confront
the FMA. And if you do that, I'll join you and my one hundred clients will
join you, and we'll do anything you want. Now, for a few years now, these
people have been pushed around and pushed around and pushed around. They have
been promised the course that is Statutorily authorized. It was only after
enormous pressure, that the University of Miami decided to offer it again.
After they offered it again, they did so with a price tag of ten thousand
dollars per applicant. We received assurances that they would assist with
local banks. That hasn't happened. We went to the Federal government. It
appeared...
3 March 12, 1992
0 0
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Pelleya, we... With all due respect, we're not yet into our
agenda. You should really, really wrap up...
Mr. Pelleya: They told me to come up here. I'll sit down. I'll go.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Pelleya. Listen, sir. You've talked for a few minutes.
Now it's your turn to listen for a second. We sympathize greatly with the
plight of the doctors. We also feel, as you do, that certain established
professionals from time to time are an impediment to new professionals in this
field and want to support that. What we need to do now is to get you to
complete your analysis and get to the point, sir, because...
Mr. Pelleya: Well, if you'll let me, I'll do it. If you'll let me, I'll do
it.
Mayur Suarez: Sir.
Mr. Pelleya: If it's all right.
Mayor Suarez: If you'll let me complete my statement, we'll get to that
point.
Mr. Pelleya: All right.
Mayor Suarez: Remember you are on this,...
Mr. Pelleya: I've been invited...
Mayor Suarez: ... you're making a presentation here...
Mr. Pelleya: I've been invited. I've been invited to come here.
Mayor Suarez: ... at the request of one of my fellow Commissioners. I don't
understand why you're getting so defensive. Would you just simply wind up, is
all I'm trying to do. Is to get you to complete your statement so we can act
on this.
Mr. Pelleya: Let me see if I can do it in sixty seconds.
Mayor Suarez: Please.
Me. Pelleya: After the course has been offered, a course that qualifies them
to take the licensure examination, after they were on the verge of the getting
the Federal guaranteed student loans, they were denied. The course starts on
Saturday and we have returned here after much travel, where we maybe should
have started in the first place, in our City of Miami Commission, the people
who care about Miami, care about Jackson, care about the indigent poor that
these people are going to be treating. And we're here, back in our
neighborhood, to see if there is something that you can do. The City of Miami
is a powerful financial entity worth a billion dollars - I don't know how
much. If you can help, you'll be helping Jackson, you'll be helping the poor,
you'll be helping the community. Thank you.
4 March 12, 1992
0 0
Mayor Suarez: All right. I still don't know exactly what he's asking for,
Commissioner. Maybe you can clarify it, because I couldn't get it out of him.
ommissioner De Yurre: Well, my understanding is that they... The Federal
government was to guarantee the loans that they were going to obtain in local
banks to pay for the course. The Federal government balked at giving that
guarantee and, basically, what I think would be a possibility is for the City
of Miami, if it can be done legally, for us to step into the shoes of the
Federal government and guarantee these loans for this group of a hundred and
seventeen individuals. I believe that would solve the problem and certainly
get things going so that they can begin the course on Saturday. My
understanding is that this course was offered a long time ago, and to get to
this point has taken a lot of effort and, in fact, they've gone against the
tide to a great degree in order to get to where they're at, and then at the
eleventh hour, they see that they don't have the backing necessary so they can
financially complete the program. I don't know if the Administration has
checked with the Legal Department as to what can be done, if anything, or what
route can be suggested.
' Mr. Odio: I think the only approach that might be able to help them could be
through the Miami Capital approach because... not through the City. It is not
possible for us to guarantee those loans. But maybe through Miami Capital
something could be worked out. I don't think the City can...
' z
Commissioner Dawkins: What's the budget of Miami Capital?
Mr. Odio: Well, it's not... We've contributed five hundred thousand, I
believe, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Beg your pardon?
Mr. Odio: I think it's a total of a million a year or something. I...
Commissioner Dawkins: What is the budget of Miami Capital as a division under
you, Mr. Manager? What is the budget?
Mr. Odio: Well, they are not under me. Let me put it that way.
Commissioner Dawkins: Beg your pardon?
Mr. Odio: The Miami Capital is independent from the City. They operate with
a separate board. But the last time, I think... I don't know. It's a million
dollars?
Mr. Ed Blanco: The loan fund is one million dollars...
Mr. Odio: One million dollars.
Commissioner Dawkins: One million dollars.
Mr. Odio: Right. A year.
Commissioner Dawkins: So you're going to loan this group a million dollars...
5 March 12, 1992
0
C
Mr. Odio: No.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... and wipe out...
Mr. Odio: No.
{ Commissioner Dawkins: ... Miami Capital.
Mr. Odio: No.
Commissioner Dawkins: Therefore, nobody else in the City of Miami would be
eligible for any financial assistance
Mr. Odio: No, I didn't say that. I said that the...
Commissioner Dawkins: You said that's the only place they could get it from.
Mr. Odio: That's the only place they might have to go to and see if they can
do it, but the City cannot do it.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no. You see, I'm already a bad fellow. And
I'm a bad fellow because the Administration put me in this position. OK? Now
the Administration should have told us you got the money to give them or
should have told these doctors you don't have money. You should not have had
these doctors come here and confront the Commissioners for the Commissioners
to look like a bad fellow by not giving them something we don't have. You
don't have a million dollars. So why in the hell you bring them here under
the hopes and pretense of loaning them a million dollars which we don't have?
And if you got the million dollars, say so, so I can vote to loan it to them.
Commissioner De Yurre: Mr. Jones, what have you been able to research,
legally, in this matter?
Commissioner Dawkins: No. Mr. Mayor. If the Manager's got the money, then
we can go through it. If the Manager does not have the money, I don't care
what research you do, don't put the monkey on Mr. Jones's back, so the Cubans
will say that Jones gave a legal opinion and he didn't give me the money.
Mayor Suarez: No. No, sir. He is the City Attorney and the Commissioner is
asking for a legal opinion. Yes, Mr. Jones, if you're able to...
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, Miller. It's not a loan. It's a guarantee.
You don't have to give out the money.
Mayor Suarez: If you're able to give an answer on the question of the
Commissioner. If you've had enough time.
Mr. Jones: Yes, Commissioner. Mr. Mayor. Article 10 of the Florida
Constitution is very specific and it prohibits municipalities, such as the
City of Miami, from pledging its credit or giving any aid, as contemplated, to
a private corporation or individual. The case law is very clear. There are
any number of attorney generals' opinions on this matter, as well as
established case law. So the bottom line is the scenario that has been
presented in terms of the City serving as guarantor for these particular
individuals is prohibited by the Florida Constitution.
6 March 12, 1992
Commissioner De Yurre: What if the money were not... Is there any distinction
between money that's generated through the normal procedure of a local
government, such as a municipality, real estate property taxes, fees, as
_ opposed to monies that are given or obtained through the Federal process?
Federal monies or State monies?
Mr. Jones: The case law and the attorney generals' opinions that I examined
make no discernible distinction between the source of funds. Of course, as
'* you well know, there are all sorts of grants, all sorts of funds from the
Federal or State sources that normally have stipulations with regard to the
how the money is to be used. I am not personally aware of any such funds that
are available and I simply looked at the legality in terms of the City
pledging its credit or aid that's spoken to in the Florida Constitution.
Commissioner De Yurre: Even if you're identifying a source which would be
Federal funds and saying, you know, if there's any guarantee that needs to be
given, it will be given through these Federal funds that we have earmarked or
identified.
Mr. Jones: Commissioner, I think what you would have to look at, first and
foremost, is to see whether there are any restrictions on the use of those
funds without knowing what funds you're speaking of or which funds have been
identified and certainly without knowing whether the Federal government has
placed any restrictions on that use. I really can't give you an opinion in
that regard.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, if there were no restrictions, would you then
see this as a possible alternative to get away from that situation because of
the Florida Statute?
Mr. Jones: If, in fact, we were able to identify funds that had no
restrictions as such, I think that you would probably, and without having
looked at it close, I think you would still fall under the prohibition that's
enunciated in the Florida Constitution.
Commissioner De Yurre: Based on what theory?
Mr. Jones: Based on the explicit language of Section 10.
Commissioner De Yurre: Which reads?
Mr. Jones: Which reads, "Neither the State, nor any county, school district,
municipality, special district or agency of any of them shall become a joint
owner with or stockholder of or give, lend or use its taxing power or credit
to aid any corporation, association, partnership or person."
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. So taxing power... I don't... It's not applicable
because if it's Federal money, we're not using taxing power.
Mr. Jones: My interpretation of this, Commissioner, even if in fact you had
Federal funds or State funds, that may not be targeted, or may not be part of,
or should I say recognized, as part of the taxing power. In effect, what
you're doing, even if those funds exist, would be pledging the credit of the
7 March 12, 1992
rig
City to guarantee those particular funds. That's my interpretation of this
provision.
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. So then you agree that at least the taxing end of
it is not an issue?
Mr. Jones: The taxing end would not be an issue. What is an issue is the
pledging of credit or any aid in that regard.
Commissioner De Yurre: And if that money is Federal money that we just funnel
it, it's not our money?
Mr. Jones: Well, I think it would become your money to the extent that the
Federal government has allocated or given you an allocation of "X" dollars to
use, the fact still remains whether they're Federal dollars, or call them
whatever you want to call them, the City would still be pledging its credit
based on those particular dollars.
Commissioner De Yurre: I'm not too convinced about that and I don't want to
take up too much time with this Commission, but it seems to me that there
should be a way around that, if we get creative enough. It would seem to me,
again we need to identify what these sources of income are, or funds are, from
the Federal government as to what the restrictions are, if any. But I'd like
to explore that a little bit further and if you can, throughout the day maybe,
see what can be done along those lines so we can give some kind of solution to
this.
Commissioner Plummer: Why did the Federal government turn them down?
Commissioner De Yurre: What's that?
Commissioner Plummer: I would be interested also in knowing why did the
Federal government turn them down if those loans had been available
previously. Was there a reason why these in particular were turned down? I
know Maria Christina went to school at the University of Miami on the so-
called "Cuban loan program" and many others had that opportunity. Why was it
extended to some, but in this particular case why was it turned down? I would
like to know why. I think that would be interesting to know why.
Commissioner De Yurre: I think Mr. Pelleya can explain it.
Mr. Pelleya: That was a bureaucratic fumble. The dean of the medical school,
Dean Fogel, on two occasions in writing, said that the program is eligible.
He said that it provides postgraduate medical training in addition to
examination preparation. The bureaucrats accepted that it was preparatory for
the exam. They did not look at the dean's written statements that it offers
postgraduate medical training. And so on that basis, at the last minute,
literally, after it seemed that it was going to be approved, they sent out a
letter of denial. For the record, Mr. De Yurre, each individual doesn't need
the full ten thousand which the course costs. You know, they could certainly
take loans for less and come up with the rest of the money somehow. It's just
that the full ten grand tab is too much for refugee families.
Commissioner De Yurre: OK.
8 March 12, 1992
Mr. Jones: Commissioner, if I might add just one more thing which I failed to
mention. The case law states specifically in addition to the analysis that I
have given you that any expenditure of funds, the paramount purpose has to be
that of being for a public purpose. There was an identical, not specifically,
but pretty analogous case that arose in a county in the State of Florida where
the county provided tuition for certain medical students to go to medical
school and as an enticement of providing those particular funds, they would
practice law in that given county. The court in this particular case held
that it did not serve a public purpose and declared that the expenditure of
those funds was also illegal. The fact that they may in fact enhance the
community by virtue of their services was secondary and enhancing their own
personal life was secondary and it did not serve the paramount purpose of
being utilized for a public purpose.
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. Well, from what you're telling me, you're saying
that it can't be done. What I would suggest is that throughout the course of
the day if you can explore the possibilities that we've discussed here, please
do and if you find any way that we can solve this issue, to please bring it
back before the Commission at some point in time.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
Ms. Gloria Rosello: Mayor, may I?
Mayor Suarez: No. Wait a minute, ma'am. Roberto, is this the same group
that Doctor Vincente Lago has been trying to promote?
Mr. Pelleya: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Let me say, I know that I speak fo'r the Commission when I tell
you there is nothing in the world that we would like to do more than to help
you. The Commissioner has explored some ways that we could guarantee loans.
Frankly, even if we had the legal authority, I don't think as a policy matter
that the City could do it. Your attorney very ably has stated the cause for
the City being involved in something like this and has argued that we have a
billion dollar asset position or something or other which made you
uncomfortable because I'm not sure what he was referring to. The fact of the
matter is the City is under dire financial straits. We fund only the
absolutely ,necessary. You'll see later on in the day, our difficulty in
parceling out Federal discretionary funds. There probably is, somewhere along
the lines, some possibility of Federal funds that might be able to be used
through Miami Capital or otherwise to help you in obtaining loans. But you
have given us a very last-minute situation here. We would like to help, and
one of the things that I know that Doctor Lago has asked me to do and has
asked and I think this entire Commission, I believe would sign onto a
resolution that the University of Miami be a little bit more flexible, reduce
I think the amount of the tuition that is required. Maybe themselves act as
the guarantors of these loans and just about any other possible way to make it
so that you can get your medical degree in this country. We think that you
are generally qualified, you probably could start practicing right now if it
hadn't been for some of these impediments that you refer to, counselor, and I
think we identify with that cause a great deal. And we need you in the
community. We need you serving people. I don't think that all of you are
9 March 12, 1992
going to serve only poor people. I think your counsel overstated that a
little bit. You're entitled to serve people who can pay, too, etcetera. But
I do think that there's a general tendency for foreign born and foreign
accredited doctors to help a lot more with the indigents in the community and
people who are unable to pay and, if not for any other reason, just for that,
we would want to support you. So you can count on our absolute support. I
don't know if you need a resolution to that effect, but I think all of would
call Dr. Fogel, President Foote, and I wish we had a 11ttle bit more time.
Because I'm going to be on the phone and I know this entire Commission will
pass a resolution that says make it possible for these doctors to study and
get their certification and go out there and practice. And this Commission
stands for that and we are mindful of impediments placed by others in the
profession. My profession does the same thing. The legal profession. They
make it very, very difficult for people to get their board certification, the
bar. We call it the bar. I'm not sure why it's the bar because I don't think
that we drink any more than anybody else and it's an unconscionable thing that
is being done. That barrier was overcome in many cases over the years for
other foreign doctors. It should be overcome for you, for Haitians, for
Puerto Ricans, for Cubans, for every other doctor that comes into this
community and we're going to fight in Tallahassee along side of you,
counselor, because we believe in this and I think I speak for all the people
up here when I say that. So, please count on that and I know we have a short
span of time because you didn't give us a heck of a lot of time. We put you
on the agenda even though we've got many items, so please believe us, from our
hearts, that we want to help you. The City, financially, for legal, but also
for policy reasons... I don't want to confuse that. We would not be able to
lend a million dollars for this even if we had it, because we just could not.
It's a policy matter. But these are the kinds of situations that call for SBA
(Small Business Administration) type loans. They call for Federal involvement
so that we can have more people practicing and reduce medical costs. And it's
a shame that we've gotten this far without you getting the support that you're
entitled to. So if you want to move a resolution to that effect, we can
certainly approve that.
Commissioner De Yurre: I would so move.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion? If
we support their efforts to obtain the kind
their medical careers and do so by any
constitutional means.
Commissioner Plummer: Fine.
not, please call the roll. That
of aid that they need to complete
and all legal and proper and
10 March 12, 1992
;l'
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner De Yurre, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-151
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION SUPPORTING
ALL FOREIGN BORN PHYSICIANS IN THEIR EFFORTS TO OBTAIN
THE FINANCIAL AID NECESSARY TO COMPLETE THE FORMAL
MEDICAL EDUCATION WHICH WILL ENABLE THEM TO TAKE THE
STATE OF FLORIDA MEDICAL CERTIFICATION EXAMINATION,
AND ENCOURAGING SAID PHYSICIANS TO EXERCISE ALL LEGAL
AND PROPER CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS TO OBTAIN THE
NECESSARY FUNDING; FURTHER URGING THE ACTIVE
INVOLVEMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI AND THE
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN THIS
INITIATIVE; DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT
COPIES OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, THE DEAN, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
MIAMI MEDICAL SCHOOL, AND THE DADE COUNTY DELEGATION.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the resolution was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Dawkins: Under discussion, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: I would want the world to know, and that's all of us,
that this is a perfect example of what I told you about the University of
Miami. When you gave the University of Miami that land over on Rickenbacker
Causeway for nothing, and the University of Miami told you it would give so
many minority scholarships, I told you it was a joke. Here you have some
doctors who will earn money and pay money back that's loaned to them, and the
University of Miami told them, "Hell no." And you gave the University - you
all, because I voted against it - but the Commission gave the University of
Miami almost twenty million dollars worth of property for nothing. So, I want
the record to reflect that here is a perfect example of the University of
Miami taking the City of Miami's land and not serving its citizens of the City
of Miami.
11 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: All right. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I can't imagine
—� the relevancy of anything that the general public might add...
Ms. Rosello: Just a statement.
Mayor Suarez: ... on an item that's not even scheduled, Gloria. I don't...
This is not a...
Commissioner Dawkins: I would like to hear Gloria.
Mayor Suarez: The Commissioner's request...
Commissioner Dawkins: Also Doctor Saud. Either one. It doesn't matter.
Ms. Rosello: I would like to speak on behalf of Florida International Medical
? Association. We are behind all this group and we want all the doctors to
obtain their licenses. But for the record, we would like you to know that
this will be a hundred of them going in now. A month from now, it will be
five hundred other Cubans going in another classroom in the University of
Miami with the same situation. And for the record, I will so state it. Thank
you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. All right, Commissioners... Have a seat Mr.
Gonzalez-Goenaga, sir. Have a seat. This is not an item... This is not a
public hearing. Have a seat. If any Commissioner recognized you, we'll hear
from you. If not, have a seat, sir. OK. Ringo, again, I mean I'm sure that
you're going to tell us that whatever we do for Cuban doctors, we should do
for Haitian doctors. There's no a quarrel with that
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: You are not a prophet.
Mayor Suarez: Have a seat, sir. I'm not a prophet, but you're not going to
be out in the streets. You're going to be behind bars pretty soon the way
you're going.
Commissioner Dawkins: Tell him when it comes back, Mr. Mayor. When they come
back, to find the money...
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, if we have anything that we can take other than a very
symbolic resolution, Ringo. We've got tons of items to go through.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Let's allow him to speak.
Mayor Suarez: All right, at the request of the Vice Mayor. You have a
supporter here.
Mr. Ringo Cayard: My name is Ringo Cayard. 492 N.E. 57th Street. I would
like to express my sympathy for the cause and also express the deepest effort
that the Haitian community will do to help the Cubans achieve their goal.
However, we'd also like the Cubans to understand that we also have problems.
So we should be in like in a brotherhood situation. So, it's like having a
family where you have five kids and you, the fathers and mothers of the City,
want to give so much food to three of them and none to the other two. This is
our case. We the Haitians think that, with due respect to the Cubans, we
12 March 12, 1992
should work together and make sure that it's shared equally whatever has to be
shared as the plate on the table. Otherwise, we will have one community
pitching against another community and it's going to be an impossible Miami to
live.
Commissioner De Yurre: Let me...
Mayor Suarez: When the battle in Tallahassee begins, we're going to need
everybody together because that's the only way it's...
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's right.
Commissioner De Yurre: Let me just state for the records. I don't want this
to become a racial thing or an ethnic thing. This came up here today because
they came seeking help.
Mr. Cayard: Oh yes.
Commissioner De Yurre: So if all the other groups come seeking help, then we
can do something unilaterally or do it together. But it just so happens that
this particular group was in the paper yesterday, they hit the news and, you
know, I asked them to come here to see what could be done and that applies to
everyone that needs our help.
Commissioner Dawkins: I beg to differ. I want it understood that whatever is
made available to anybody this afternoon would be made available to everybody
else.
Mayor Suarez: All right. We don't have... Why are we making this into a
philosophy discussion?
Mr. Cayard: Mr. Mayor, to prove to everyone that I understand the Cuban
problem, I went to school, learned the language, you know. Even adopt a Cuban
brother. So, I mean, it's...
Mayor Suarez: Your Spanish is better than your English. Thank you.
Mr. Cayard: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: We take notice of that, Ringo. All right, anything...
Vice Mayor Alonso: I think we have one last statement.
Mayor Suarez: Gamaliel, now on behalf of the Puerto Rican community.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, we couldn't leave out the Puerto Ricans.
Mr. Gamaliel Rivera: Yes. Gamaliel Rivera on behalf of the Puerto Rican
community and Borinquen Health Care Center. Just to sympathize with the
problem that the Cuban community has, but we also would like to be part of
this process and we would like to have a share of that.
Mayor Suarez: OK. You know, the only thing that I suggest to people in this
community, is when you say that, say we sympathize with their plight and we
{
13 March 12, 1992
i
— think that we ought to also be included. Instead of but. We always have
these "buts." Now, let's go for the "ands." Let's start bringing everybody
together when we try to help one group. I think maybe that's the best way to
express it. All right. Thank you, Gamaliel.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, one last statement.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I think what was clearly stated here to us this morning is
that we all sympathize with the case, that we feel there is a need in the
community and that all should be helped equally. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Very good. OK. Thank you.
3. CONSENT AGENDA -- GENERAL COMMENTS CONCERNING VARIOUS CONSENT AGENDA
ITEMS.
Mayor Suarez: Items CA-1 through CA-18 constitute a consent agenda. If
anyone wants to hear any of these items separately.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Vice Mayor Alonso.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I do. CA-4, CA-7, CA-9, CA-17, and I also have a
question. We had an item previously, CA-19, it was...
Mayor Suarez: It was withdrawn?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, and I'd like to know if the problem was resolved, and
if so, maybe we can take it at this time. If the parties are here... Mr.
Manager, could you tell me. It was the plat of Caroline Weiss that was pulled
from the agenda. Has the problem been resolved or it's still pending? Did
they resolve their problems?
Mr. Cesar Odio: The reason the item was pulled is that they did not provide
the information that was requested.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, I understand that they were going to court last
night to obtain the signature of the bank that was withholding it
unreasonable. If it was resolved, I would like to include it at this time.
If not, then you let me know.
Mr. Jim Kay: Commissioner, I think the Law Department has the most recent
information on that item.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Yes.
14 March 12, 1992
Miriam Maer, Esq.: The attorneys from representing the first mortgagee, First
Union, advised me yesterday that they are in foreclosure proceedings against
her on part of the property and for that, as well as other reasons concerning
the proposed development of the site, they had refused to sign as mortgagees
on the plat. The property owner had then, on Monday, this last Monday, filed
a complaint, a separate action from the foreclosure action, to compel the
mortgagee signature on the plat. As of some point early last night, they had
not resolved the issue, the judge had heard them, had apparently continued it.
Although they thought they were going to an emergency hearing last night, as
of the last time I spoke with them, they were not going to be heard last
night, but possibly early this morning. At this time, we have not heard from
them. They do have our number and one of the attorneys would be calling us as
soon as something is resolved. At this moment, we do not have their joinder
on the plat. There is a State statute, as well as our City code, that
requires the joinder of the mortgagee. In addition to that, there are several
other items, at least one of which is also mandated by statute, that have not
been completed or...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Which is?
Ms. Maer: One of them is the failure to show evidence that taxes have been
.j paid. The other ones are in a list that I think the Public Works Department
can review with you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Do we require every time we are going to approve a plat
that, that requirement or it's...
Mr. Kay: That is a requirement...
Ms. Maer: It's in the Florida statutes.
Mr. Kay: ... both of the Florida statutes and the Miami City code. The taxes
must be paid up prior to subdividing.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Are they paid or not?
Mr. Kay: We have... They've not demonstrated anything to us that they have
paid the taxes. We normally ask for tax receipts.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. So we will have to wait until we hear from them and
the courts. OK. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. OK. Any other items?
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: I want to pull 4.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
Commissioner Plummer: Oh, wait a minute, 4 and 5, 4 has already been pulled.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga, sir.
15 March 12, 1992
•
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Yes. I'm going to speak on... As representing Citizens
United for Decent Government.
Mayor Suarez: What item, sir?
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Item 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 13, 15 and 17. Very...
Mayor Suarez: All right. Go ahead and make your comments.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: OK. We have just heard that there is no money, yet we
are spending in the Manuel Artime seven thousand on one thing for theater
chairs and I have seen and they are not in bad shape. And I have seen
Shakespearean Theater in New York which is without even a cover, it's on the
outside. Again, we need... They say that we have to build men and women's
dressing rooms at the Manuel Artime Community Center and then again curtains.
We have said that - if I am not mistaken - that there is a big expense, the
Manuel Artime, and yet they are spending more money. So that covers all three
items. Then I go to CA-6.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute. Let me... Mr. Manager. It seems like
to me, that the price for thirty-four chairs in an economy and a City that's
t having problem to spend seventy-two hundred dollars for a facility that is
drawing, as you tell me, near eight hundred thousand dollars worth of subsidy.
You really feel that that's an absolute necessity? It's an awful lot of money
for thirty-four chairs. I mean, Jackson Hospital, for their conference room,
didn't spend that much.
Mr. Odio: This is... Number one, a necessity? No, there is no necessity.
But we are committed to the State in improving the Artime Center. There is
their monies and there is a plan presented to them and we have to...
Mr. Frank Castaneda: It's not City money, Commissioner.
Mr. Odio: It's not City money, it's still money. Money is money.
Commissioner Plummer: Hey, excuse me. Frank,...
Commissioner Dawkins: That's right.
Commissioner Plummer: ... is it any different color than City money?
Mr. Castaneda: It is green.
Mr. Odio: No, it is not. But this is part of the whole package that was
presented to the State for...
Commissioner Plummer: And the money can't be used for anything else, like
reducing the subsidy...
Mr. Odio: No.
Commissioner Plummer: ... that we're using there?
Mr. Odio: Oh, no, no, no. This is a capital project grant.
16 March 12, 1992
-
Commissioner Dawkins: I hope you're not saying to the State of Florida that
—
because we got their money, we're spending thirty-four dollars...
Mr. Odio: No, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: I mean for chairs that we wouldn't spend for it if it
_
were not the State's money.
Mr. Castaneda: No.
Mr. Odio: No, sir.
Mr. Castaneda: No, Commissioner...
k_
Commissioner Dawkins: That's what it's coming out like.
Mr. Castaneda: This went through procurement, this is the best g p possible bid
and so forth.
Commissioner Plummer: And we're... Am I... I don't have my calculator. Two
hundred dollars a chair?
_>
Mr. Ron Williams.: Plus... Including installation.
Commissioner Plummer: Plus.
-
,,
ii-
Mr. Williams: Including.
:Z;
Commissioner Plummer: What kind of chairs are we talking about at two hundred
m.
dollars a piece?
Mr. Williams: These are the theater chairs...
Commissioner Plummer: Like these here?
Mr. Castaneda: Yes.
Mr. Williams: The same style.
Commissioner Plummer: Why better?
Mr. Antonio Lizaso: Because have already purchased, originally, two hundred
and some odd chairs.
Commissioner Plummer: I couldn't care less. Why better than these chairs?
Mr. Lizaso: They have to match. We have already purchased that. We're now
r
putting chairs...
Commissioner Plummer: You know, if you were spending your money, you wouldn't
do it.
p
Mr. Lizaso: No, I wouldn't, sir.
17 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Well, you might wait a little longer until you can get a match.
I mean, if it was your dining room or something. But how much better are
they? I mean, let's just clarify that, Doctor. I mean, are we talking gold
lined or something or...
Mr. Lizaso: No, sir. No, sir. They are very plain chairs. Better in the
sense that they are a bit broader than these, because...
Mayor Suarez: For example, what would be the cost difference between these
and the better ones? Any idea? Ron, maybe.
Mr. Lizaso: I couldn't tell you that, but...
Mayor Suarez: Are we talking about a hundred fifty versus two hundred? What
did these cost? Nowadays.
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, these have been in for about seven or eight years...
Mayor Suarez: Nowadays, I mean.
Mr. Williams: ... and I really don't recall the price. I really don't think
that two hundred dollars per chair, including installation, which as you well
know have to be mounted on the floor, is not...
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, I don't think it's much more than these and...
Mr. Williams: ... an excessive amount.
Mayor Suarez: ... presumably, they're much better quality. And there's the
1
issue of matching them to the existing ones. All right, folks. Go ahead,
complete your statement.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Now, on CA-6. My fellow citizens, the Police is asking
over and over and over again, under video, underwater video equipment. The
people who need the equipment, video equipment, is the Citizens United Against
Police Brutality to take a video every time I see unreasonable and bad
treatment from the Police to the citizens. Unfortunately, I can talk with
morality and sometimes I think there is very few morality here in this
-,s
Commission, with some exceptions of course, and I have the evidence. Then
it{?
what we have here right now in Miami, is a very politicized Police Department,
and they become... These are the emperors of the Police and they are abusing
of the citizens. I can guarantee you that. I have been through the
�3
experience seven times and these virtuous, honest Commissioners haven't done
anything and yet we have santeria in City Hall...
j
!
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor. I would ask that you ask the
fellow to stick to the point.
`i
Mayor Suarez: All right, sir. Sir, you are going to be given...
Commissioner Dawkins: The point, the point.
18 March 12, 1992
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Well, why should we give underwater when they don't
even know how to drive a police car?
i
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Ask him to stick to the point, please.
Mayor Suarez: All right, sir. Your comments... In fact, we're going to stick
so much to the point, we...
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: And I urge that they oppose this. It is an unnecessary
expense.
Mayor Suarez: ... have given you two minutes. Have a seat. You're not
f' talking about any of these issues. You're ruled out of order. Grab your hat,
too, please. Just in case you might leave that here. We wouldn't want it.
s
- Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: You see...
Mayor Suarez: Have a seat. All right. Commissioners, you had asked for
items 4, 5, 7, 9 and 17. With the exception of those items, I'll entertain a
motion on the Consent Agenda.
Commissioner Dawkins: So moved.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
THEREUPON MOTION BY COMMISSIONER DAWKINS AND SECONDED
BY VICE MAYOR ALONSO, THE CONSENT AGENDA WAS PASSED
AND ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
3.1 RATIFY MANAGER'S ACCEPTANCE OF DONATION OF A MARINE DEBRIS SCREEN, FROM
ROUSE-MIAMI, INC., WHICH WAS INSTALLED AT MIAMARINA.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-152
`j A RESOLUTION RATIFYING, APPROVING AND CONFIRMING THE
ACTION OF THE CITY MANAGER IN ACCEPTING THE DONATION
OF A MARINE DEBRIS SCREEN, VALUED AT APPROXIMATELY
$5,000, FROM ROUSE-MIAMI, INC. WHICH WAS INSTALLED AT
THE CITY -OWNED MIAMARINA.
19 March 12, 1992
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.2 ACCEPT BID: FRANK J. MORAN, INC. -- FOR FURNISHING AND INSTALLATION OF
34 THEATRE CHAIRS AT MANUEL ARTIME COMMUNITY CENTER -- FOR DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (CIP 333083).
RESOLUTION NO. 92-153
A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BID OF FRANK J. MORAN, INC.
FOR THE FURNISHING AND INSTALLATION OF THIRTY-FOUR
(34) THEATRE CHAIRS AT THE MANUEL ARTIME COMMUNITY
CENTER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AT
A TOTAL PROPOSED COST OF $7,301.00; ALLOCATING FUNDS
THEREFOR FROM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT NO. 333083,
ACCOUNT CODE NO. 459501-860; AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO INSTRUCT THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER TO
ISSUE A PURCHASE ORDER FOR THIS ACQUISITION.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.3 ACCEPT BID: CRISTALUM TRANSAMERICA CORP. -- FOR BUILDING MEN AND WOMEN
DRESSING ROOMS AT MANUEL ARTIME COMMUNITY CENTER -- FOR DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (Project 110045).
RESOLUTION NO. 92-154
A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BID OF CRISTALUM
TRANSAMERICA CORP. FOR THE BUILDING OF MEN AND WOMEN
DRESSING ROOMS AT THE MANUEL ARTIME COMMUNITY CENTER
FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AT A TOTAL
PROPOSED COST OF $5,874.00; ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR
FROM PROJECT NO. 110045, ACCOUNT CODE NO. 450388-860;
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO INSTRUCT THE CHIEF
PROCUREMENT OFFICER TO ISSUE A PURCHASE ORDER FOR THIS
SERVICE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.4 ACCEPT BID: WORLD ELECTRONICS DISTRIBUTORS, INC. -- FOR PURCHASE OF
UNDERWATER VIDEO EQUIPMENT -- FOR POLICE DEPARTMENT (from Law
Enforcement Trust Fund Project 690001).
RESOLUTION NO. 92-155
A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BID OF WORLD ELECTRONICS
DISTRIBUTORS, INC. FOR THE PURCHASE OF UNDERWATER
VIDEO EQUIPMENT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF POLICE AT THE
PROPOSED AMOUNT OF $4,782.00; ALLOCATING FUNDS
20 March 12, 1992
THEREFOR FROM THE LAW ENFORCEMENT TRUST FUND PROJECT
NO. 690001, ACCOUNT CODE NOS. 290979-840 ($4,647) AND
290979-722 ($135.00); AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
INSTRUCT THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER TO ISSUE A
PURCHASE ORDER FOR THIS EQUIPMENT.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.5 DECLARE UDP AS MOST ADVANTAGEOUS METHOD -- AUTHORIZE PREPARATION OF A
DRAFT RFP FOR A UDP FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MARINE ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING A
RESTAURANT, WITH WATER -DEPENDENT USE AT S.W. 2 STREET AND S.W. NORTH
RIVER DRIVE ON THE MIAMI RIVER - SET PUBLIC HEARING.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-156
A RESOLUTION DECLARING THAT THE MOST ADVANTAGEOUS
METHOD TO DEVELOP CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON A CITY -
OWNED, RIVERFRONT LAND PARCEL IS BY A UNIFIED
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (UDP), AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO PREPARE A DRAFT REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)
FOR A UDP, AND CONFIRMING THE SETTING OF A PUBLIC
HEARING FOR MAY 149 1992, AT 4:00 P.M. TO TAKE
TESTIMONY REGARDING A UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT PROJECT RFP
FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARINE ACTIVITIES INCLUDING A
RESTAURANT, WITH WATER -DEPENDENT USE, OF AN
APPROXIMATELY .75 ACRE CITY -OWNED LAND PARCEL LOCATED
AT SOUTHWEST 2ND STREET AND SOUTHWEST NORTH RIVER
DRIVE ON THE MIAMI RIVER AND TO AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE
OF A RFP, TO SELECT A CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNT FIRM TO
APPOINT MEMBERS OF A REVIEW COMMITTEE TO EVALUATE
PROPOSALS AND REPORT FINDINGS TO THE CITY MANAGER AS
REQUIRED BY THE CITY CHARTER AND CODE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.6 AUTHORIZE REPLACEMENT OF CITY STREET AND HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT GENERAL
OBLIGATIONS BONDS ($10,000 -- DUE MAY 1, 1996) TO SUBSTITUTE LOST BONDS
AND COUPONS.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-157
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE REPLACEMENT OF CERTAIN
CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA STREET AND HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, DUE MAY 1, 1996, IN THE
PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS ($10,000.00)
WITH COUPONS DATED NOVEMBER 1, 1992, TO SUBSTITUTE
LOST BONDS AND COUPONS.
21 March 12, 1992
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.7 AUTHORIZE REPLACEMENT OF CITY HOUSING GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS
($20,000 -- DUE AUGUST 1, 2001) TO SUBSTITUTE LOST BONDS AND COUPONS.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-158
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE REPLACEMENT OF CERTAIN
CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA HOUSING GENERAL OBLIGATION
BONDS, DUE AUGUST 1, 2001, IN THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF
TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($20,000.00) WITH COUPON DATED
AUGUST 1, 1992 TO SUBSTITUTE LOST BONDS AND COUPONS.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.8 RECOGNIZE TAX-EXEMPT STATUS CLAIMED BY ST. PHILOMENA CATHOLIC CHURCH --
AUTHORIZE FINANCE DIRECTOR TO REIMBURSE SAID ORGANIZATION $3,208.14.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-159
A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE TAX-EXEMPT STATUS CLAIMED
BY ST. PHILOMENA CATHOLIC CHURCH, IN SUPPORT OF ITS
REQUEST FOR A RETURN OF TAX MONIES TO BE PAID BY IT
BECAUSE OF ITS FAILURE TO FILE APPLICATIONS FOR TAX-
EXEMPT STATUS OF PROPERTY LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY OF
MIAMI; AUTHORIZING AND INSTRUCTING THE FINANCE
DIRECTOR TO REIMBURSE SAID ORGANIZATION THE AMOUNT OF
$3,208.14
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.9 GRANT REQUEST BY THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF GREATER MIAMI, INC. --
CONDITIONALLY APPROVE PARTIAL USE OF DOWNTOWN STREETS AND AUTHORIZE ONE -
DAY BEER AND WINE PERMIT -- CONCERNING THE 1992 MIAMI MAGIC PROGRESSIVE
DINNER GALA.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-160
A RESOLUTION RELATED TO THE 1992 MIAMI MAGIC
PROGRESSIVE DINNER GALA TO BE CONDUCTED BY THE JUNIOR
LEAGUE OF GREATER MIAMI, INC. ON MARCH 28, 1992;
CONDITIONALLY APPROVING THE PARTIAL USE OF STREETS IN
DOWNTOWN MIAMI FOR SAID EVENT TO BE HELD DURING THE
EVENING OF MARCH 28, 1992, SUBJECT TO THE EXERCISE OF
COMPLETE CONTROL OVER SUCH USE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF
POLICE; AUTHORIZING A ONE -DAY PERMIT TO THE ORGANIZERS
TO DISTRIBUTE BEER AND WINE IN CONNECTION WITH SAID
EVENT, SUBJECT TO THE ISSUANCE OF ALL PERMITS REQUIRED
22 March 12, 1992
BY LAW; FURTHER CONDITIONING ALL APPROVALS AND
AUTHORIZATIONS GRANTED HEREIN UPON THE ORGANIZERS
PAYING FOR ALL NECESSARY COSTS OF CITY SERVICES
ASSOCIATED WITH SAID EVENT AND OBTAINING INSURANCE TO
PROTECT THE CITY IN THE AMOUNT AS PRESCRIBED BY THE
CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.10 GRANT REQUEST BY FOOT WORKS RACE MANAGEMENT FOR CLOSURE OF DESIGNATED
STREETS CONCERNING THE 3.5 MILE MIAMI CORPORATE RUN.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-161
A RESOLUTION RELATED TO THE MIAMI CORPORATE RUN, A 3.5
MILE RUNNING EVENT, TO BE CONDUCTED BY FOOT WORKS RACE
MANAGEMENT ON MAY 13, 1992; AUTHORIZING THE CLOSURE OF
DESIGNATED STREETS TO THROUGH VEHICULAR TRAFFIC
SUBJECT TO THE ISSUANCE OF PERMITS BY THE DEPARTMENTS
OF POLICE AND FIRE, RESCUE AND INSPECTION SERVICES;
FURTHER CONDITIONING ALL APPROVALS AND AUTHORIZATIONS
HEREIN UPON THE ORGANIZERS PAYING FOR ALL NECESSARY
COSTS OF CITY SERVICES AND FEES ASSOCIATED WITH THE
EVENT AND OBTAINING INSURANCE TO PROTECT THE CITY IN
THE AMOUNT AS PRESCRIBED BY THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS
DESIGNEE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.11 GRANT REQUEST BY THE DADE COUNTY CHAPTER OF THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS, IN CONJUNCTION WITH SPLIT SECOND TIMING,
INC. -- FOR PARTIAL USE OF STREETS IN COCONUT GROVE DURING THE CPA 1040K
RACE AND WALK.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-162
A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PARTIAL USE OF STREETS AND
THOROUGHFARES IN COCONUT GROVE DURING THE C.P.A. 1040K
RACE AND WALK TO BE CONDUCTED BY THE DADE COUNTY
CHAPTER OF THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC
ACCOUNTANTS IN CONJUNCTION WITH SPLIT SECOND TIMING,
INC. ON APRIL 15, 1992, BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 7:00 P.M.
AND 11:00 P.M., SUBJECT TO THE ISSUANCE OF PERMITS BY
THE DEPARTMENTS OF POLICE AND FIRE, RESCUE AND
INSPECTION SERVICES; AUTHORIZING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
TO CONTROL TRAFFIC FLOW ON THE STREETS TO BE UTILIZED
AS PART OF THE RACE COURSE; CONDITIONING ALL APPROVALS
AND AUTHORIZATIONS HEREIN UPON ORGANIZERS PAYING FOR
ALL NECESSARY COSTS OF CITY SERVICES AND FEES
23 March 12, 1992
41 a
ASSOCIATED WITH SAID EVENT AND OBTAINING INSURANCE TO
PROTECT THE CITY IN THE AMOUNT AS PRESCRIBED BY THE
CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.12 GRANT REQUEST BY THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMITTEE ON BEAUTIFICATION AND
ENVIRONMENT, AND KEEP DADE BEAUTIFUL FOR CLOSURE OF DESIGNATED STREETS
CONCERNING THE CLEAN UP, FIX UP, PAINT UP PARADE.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-163
A RESOLUTION RELATED TO THE CLEAN UP, FIX UP, PAINT UP
PARADE TO BE CONDUCTED BY THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMITTEE
ON BEAUTIFICATION AND ENVIRONMENT AND KEEP DADE
BEAUTIFUL ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1992, BETWEEN THE
HOURS OF 10:30 A.M. TO 12:30 P.M., AUTHORIZING THE
CLOSURE OF DESIGNATED STREETS TO THROUGH VEHICULAR
TRAFFIC SUBJECT TO THE ISSUANCE OF PERMITS BY THE
DEPARTMENTS OF POLICE AND FIRE, RESCUE AND INSPECTION
SERVICES.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
3.13 ACCEPT PLAT: NESSLEIN ESTATE.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-164
A RESOLUTION, WITH ATTACHMENTS, ACCEPTING THE PLAT
ENTITLED NESSLEIN ESTATE, A SUBDIVISION IN THE CITY OF
MIAMI, SUBJECT TO ALL OF THE CONDITIONS OF THE PLAT
AND STREET COMMITTEE, AND ACCEPTING THE DEDICATIONS
SHOWN ON SAID PLAT; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY
MANAGER AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE THE PLAT; AND
PROVIDING FOR THE RECORDATION OF SAID PLAT IN THE
PUBLIC RECORDS OF DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and
on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
24 March 12, 1992
4. (A) CITY COMMISSION DISCUSSES AND MAKES MOTION TO REJECT ACCEPTANCE OF
BID FROM BOWNE OF MIAMI, INC. FOR PRINTING, BINDING AND SHIPPING
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FOR BOND FINANCING. (Note: During the herein
motion the Commission erroneously referred to this item as CA-4,
rather than CA-5.)
(B) RECONSIDER PRIOR REJECTION OF BID. (Note: At this point, this
issue is momentarily deferred.) (See label 6.)
Mayor Suarez: Item CA-4, I think requested by both Vice Mayor Alonso and
Commissioner Plummer. Either one that wants to inquire.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Well, I'm going to vote against that item and that's
why I pulled that item to have it as a separate item...
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... and I could vote against it. If Commissioner
I Plummer...
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor. I have to seriously question, on times that
are bad, something is wrong when you have - I don't know how much a total it
would be for a year - but it's seventy-five hundred dollars per shot of this
bidding. You send out thirty-three inquiries or bidding and only one company
bids. Something's wrong. Something's radically wrong. There are eight
companies in this community, I am told, who in fact do this kind of printing
and one phone call that I've received, they didn't even get an invitation to
bid. Now, either our sending out notices to bid is wrong, but it's just
doesn't make sense in an economy that is so tight, that thirty-three were
asked to bid and only one, when we have eight local companies. And I would
say to you, that probably the problem is who received the invitations, and
based on that, I'm going to move that this matter be rebid.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-165
A MOTION REJECTING THE ADMINISTRATION'S RECOMMENDATION
FOR ACCEPTANCE OF A BID RECEIVED FOR THE PRINTING,
BINDING AND SHIPPING OF OFFICIAL STATEMENTS FOR BOND
G" FINANCING ON A CONTRACT BASIS; FURTHER DIRECTING THE
CITY MANAGER TO SEEK NEW BIDS FOR SAID SERVICE.
25 March 12, 1992
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Mayor Suarez: Item CA-5. I think that was just the Vice Mayor's.
Commissioner Plummer: I, Mr. Mayor, asked on 5.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I did not.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Manager. Please, in a tight economy, justify to me
and to this Commission, why the Police Department has got to have underwater
video.
Mr. Cesar Odio: According to what I was told - I asked the same question - is
that sometimes when they approach a boat, especially on the drug dealers, they
throw evidence overboard and they have to go in with divers to find that
evidence so we can have a conviction.
Commissioner Plummer: And the Florida Marine Patrol does not have underwater
cameras?
Mr. Odio: I'm sure they do.
Commissioner Plummer: I think the Fire Department already has underwater
cameras.
Mr. Odio: Fine. Look,
pull the item
until I
can find out if...
Commissioner Plummer:
Mr. Manager.
I'm going
to...
Mayor Suarez: J. L., let me just clarify because the City Clerk just alerted
me. Are you talking about CA-6 or CA-5?
Mr. Odio: CA-6.
Commissioner Plummer: I'm talking about 6. I'm sorry...
Mayor Suarez: OK. OK. I had made reference to CA-5 and...
Commissioner Plummer: 5 was the one that we just threw out.
Mayor Suarez: I thought we did...
Vice Mayor Alonso: No. No, it was 2.
26
March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: No, 4.
Commissioner Plummer: Then I'm sorry.
Mayor Suarez: 4, right.
Commissioner Plummer: It was 5 that I predicated my motion upon and if I made
a mistake, I stand corrected.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Let's go back and redo this, because I'm all
confused now.
Commissioner Dawkins: Me, too.
Mayor Suarez: Folks, did you intend to... Commissioners, did you intend to
rebid item CA-4 or CA-5?
Commissioner Plummer: 5.
Mr. Odio: We're talking about 4.
Commissioner Plummer: Then I made a mistake.
Mayor Suarez: All right. We had been talking about 4 at the time and all of
a sudden, the motion came in on 5. OK. Let's clarify... Do we need to undo
any of our prior... Let's move to reconsider the prior motion on what we
thought was CA-4. Could you move it?
Vice Mayor Alonso: But he was talking to Manuel Artime...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, excuse me. Mr. Mayor, I apologize for making a
mistake, but, my God, my comments could not have been addressed to a curtain
at a stage about printing.
Mayor Suarez: I got you. I got you. We just... All right. On CA-4, I'll
move to reconsider, please.
Commissioner Plummer: Move to reconsider.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded, Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
27 March 12, 1992
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-166
A MOTION TO RECONSIDER PRIOR VOTE ON M 92-165, WHICH
REJECTED THE ADMINISTRATION'S RECOMMENDATION FOR THE
PRINTING, BINDING AND SHIPPING OF OFFICIAL STATEMENTS
FOR BOND FINANCING ON A CONTRACT BASIS; FURTHER
DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SEEK NEW BIDS FOR SAID
SERVICE, BUT WHICH HAD BEEN ERRONEOUSLY REFERRED TO AS
CA-4.
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
5. DISCUSS AND DEFER FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ACCEPTANCE OF A BID OF ALAN
DEUTSCH ASSOCIATES, INC. FOR FURNISHING AND INSTALLATION OF A FRONT
STAGE CURTAIN AND VALANCE AT MANUEL ARTIME COMMUNITY CENTER (CIP
333083).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Now CA-4 will be part of the Consent Agenda and will be voted
together with all the other items. CA-5.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, no, no.
Mayor Suarez: No. I'm sorry.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Because, remember the intent of my pulling the item was to
vote for a separate item...
Mayor Suarez: Very good.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... so I had the opportunity to vote against it.
Mayor Suarez: I'll entertain a motion on CA-4.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. I so move...
Mayor Suarez: Well maybe you shouldn't if you're...
28 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, someone elsd because I will have to vote no.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, could you move it Commissioner Plummer, Dawkins, De
Yurre, please.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, Mr. Mayor, I'd like another reason why
Commissioner Alonso is going to vote against it. Maybe that'll persuade me to
vote against it, too.
Vice Mayor Alonso: The reason is that I have maintained for several months
that I will not vote with any bid that is non -minority, non -local. I think
- that we have to make every effort to have local vendors obtain the bids
precisely because of the kind of economy that we have at the present time. I
maintain that policy.
Commissioner De Yurre: How many bidded on this item?
Mr. Cesar Odio: We had twenty-five bidders. Then the bids received... We
sent out twenty-five potential bidders and only two were received which were
non -minority back.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And that's the problem. Constantly, we are having to face
the same problem we see that in items that I consider that are available from
local vendors, I see a constant presentation to us that the bid awarded is not
local. I want the money to remain in Miami, and I think we should make every
effort possible that bids be awarded to local vendors. And unless we make a
strong statement on positions like these, we will never get anywhere. That's
why I always pull the items and emphasize it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Williams...
Mr. Ron Williams: Yes, Mr. Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: What specifications were put into that bid?
Mr. Williams: The specifications related to what we consider specialty item
curtains and we sent them, the bids, out to those companies that we thought
that might possibly be able to respond.
Commissioner Dawkins: You thought. You did not know up front. Well, if
those companies had the qualifications or the quantities or whatever the hell
was needed in order to meet that that was spelled out in the bid, as the
quality or the quantity or the specific brand necessary. You just picked some
people out of the phone book and said these people ought to be able to bid.
Is that a correct statement or is that wrong?
Mr. Williams: That's close Commissioner Dawkins.
do is work from the bidder's list that we have...
Essentially what we have to
29 March 12, 1992
E
0
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Mr. Mayor, I move that this is deferred and let
them come to my office, show me the specifications and spell out to me why and
let me call each person - or somebody on my staff - and ask them why they did
not respond to the bid and let them tell me that they just didn't want it or
that they couldn't meet the specifications.
Mayor Suarez: All right. CA-4 is moved as deferral...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: ...not to rebid please, to defer. Moved and seconded. Any
discussion? If not, please call the roll.
ON MOTION BY COMMISSIONER DAWKINS AND SECONDED BY VICE
MAYOR ALONSO, ITEM CA-4 WAS DEFERRED FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. (Continued Discussion) REJECT ALL BIDS RECEIVED IN CONNECTION WITH THE
PRINTING, BINDING AND SHIPPING OF OFFICIAL STATEMENTS FOR BOND
FINANCING -- CITY MANAGER DIRECTED TO REBID (See label 4).
Mayor Suarez: Now the Motion on CA-5 I think, Commissioner Plummer, was to
rebid so in effect, is to reject this particular one. Do I understand that
correctly on CA-5 then, J.L.? Your motion on that is to...
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, on CA-5 I asked that this be rebid.
Mayor Suarez: Rebid. All right, so it's to reject this particular award and
start the process over again. Yes, Vice Mayor?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Excuse me, this is CA-5?
Commissioner Plummer: CA-5. Yes, ma'am.
Mayor Suarez: All right on CA-5, so moved by Commissioner Plummer. Do we
have a second?
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
30 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Yes, Ron?
Mr. Ron Williams: Mr. Mayor, if 1 may, I wanted to ask Commissioner Plummer
to provide us with the names of those eight so that we could ensure they get a
bid...
Commissioner Dawkins: That's what we pay you all for.
Mr. Williams: We...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no. That's what we pay you and your
procurement officer and what have you to find this. I don't think
Commissioner Plummer gets paid to look in the book that provides services and
tell you all here, here this is, go get them. Maybe that is a part of J.L.
Plummer's duties. I don't know...
Commissioner Plummer: In spite of my blue brother's fine statement, I'll be
glad to help you.
Mr. Williams: Thank you, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Not as a requirement, but as a voluntary proffer. Moved and
seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
Commissioner Plummer: Boy, I got to tell you, Mr. Mayor. We've got to keep
Miller out of Tallahassee. He gets too spicy up there.
Mayor Suarez: Somebody take them all to lunch today at a very nice place.
The two of them. Call the roll.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He's been doing a great job.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-167
A RESOLUTION REJECTING ALL BIDS RECEIVED BY THE CITY
IN CONNECTION WITH THE PRINTING, BINDING AND SHIPPING
OF OFFICIAL STATEMENTS FOR BOND FINANCING, BID NO 91-
92-029; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SEEK NEW
BIDS AND TO BRING BACK SAID SOURCES TO THE CITY
COMMISSION FOR ITS REVIEW AND APPROVAL.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
31 March 12, 1992
r:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
-------------------------------------------
7. ESTABLISH SPECIAL CHARGES FOR USE OF BOBBY MADURO MIAMI BASEBALL STADIUM
BY CENTRAL AMERICAN SOCCER ASSOCIATION, INC. -- FOR PRESENTATION OF
AMATEUR SOCCER GAMES -- EXECUTE AGREEMENT.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Item then CA-7. Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Oh, my problem has been resolved.
Mayor Suarez: CA-6 will be taken up with the other ones on the Consent
Agenda.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: All right then...
Vice Mayor Alonso: CA-9.
Mayor Suarez: CA-9.
Mr. Odio: You need to vote on seven then.
Mayor Suarez: We are going to vote on them collectively. Item CA-9. Any
clarifications?
Vice Mayor Alonso: We are ready.
Commissioner Plummer: No, seven's been pulled, so you've to make it a motion
to approve or not.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, I so move.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: We haven't moved on the Consent Agenda yet. Oh, yes we did.
A. Quinn Jones Esq.: Yes, you have, Mr. Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, we did.
32 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: All right, I'm sorry, my mistake. On CA-7, it's been moved and
seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved
its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-168
A RESOLUTION, WITH ATTACHMENT, ESTABLISHING SPECIAL
CHARGES FOR THE USE OF THE BOBBY MADURO MIAMI BASEBALL
STADIUM BY CENTRAL AMERICAN SOCCER ASSOCIATION, INC.
FOR THE SAID ORGANIZATION'S PRESENTATION OF AMATEUR
SOCCER GAMES ON APPROXIMATELY FORTY-EIGHT (48) EVENT
DAYS DURING THE PERIOD FROM FEBRUARY 1 THROUGH
DECEMBER 28, 1992; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE
ATTACHED FORM, BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND SAID
ORGANIZATION FOR THIS PURPOSE, SUBJECT TO THE
ORGANIZERS OBTAINING INSURANCE TO PROTECT THE CITY IN
THE AMOUNT AS PRESCRIBED BY THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS
DESIGNEE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
33 March 12, 1992
_2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO SUPPORT MIAMI CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT INC.'S PROPOSAL
TO STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS, SEEKING TO BECOME
CERTIFIED AS A COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS TAX INCENTIVE SPONSOR, THEREBY
ENABLING MIAMI CAPITAL TO SOLICIT CORPORATE DONATIONS TO SUPPORT A
MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COORDINATION PROGRAM.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: CA-9 then.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I have a question. Will this affect in any way the
functions or the method of operation? Will it affect anything at all?
Mr. Tony Crapp: No, Madam Vice Mayor, it will not. This is just an
opportunity to help Miami Capital to participate in a state- initiated program
so that we would have the ability to solicit donations from some of the banks
and other businesses in town to develop or offer a new series of seminars or
management technical assistance types of services to the business community.
Vice Mayor Alonso: What is the method? How are you going to follow in
requesting donations? How is it going to be done?
Mr. Crapp: OK. What we have done in the past... We have had some success...
Vice Mayor Alonso: You have done it in the past?
Mr. Crapp: We have. We've done some joint seminars. The last one we did
jointly with City National Bank. We feel that there is additional opportunity
available to us with some of the other banks, but we feel that if we have this
program in place where we can offer these banks the opportunity to have a tax
credit for the donations of supplies, or time, or other contributions that
they make, we would be more successful in having greater participation.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. I have no problem. I so move.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So moved. Don't see a...
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the
roll.
34 March 12, 1992
117
112
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved its
adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-169
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUPPORT
MIAMI CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT, INC.'S PROPOSAL TO THE
STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
WHEREIN MIAMI CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT, INC. IS SEEKING TO
BECOME CERTIFIED AS A COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS TAX
INCENTIVE SPONSOR THUS ENABLING MIAMI CAPITAL
DEVELOPMENT, INC. TO SOLICIT CORPORATE DONATIONS TO
SUPPORT A MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
COORDINATION PROGRAM TARGETED TO PROMOTE
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE TARGET AREAS OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
9. CLAIM SETTLEMENT: WILLIAM AND MILDRED HUTCHINSON ($50,000).
Mayor Suarez: CA-17. Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, it seems to me that I am going to vote against this
item anyway, because I think that it is the responsibility of the City of
Miami to be certain that when we proceed with demolition of a property, we
know that we have the legal ends completely covered. How in the world the
City of Miami should proceed in demolition of a property and not know that we
were not on legal grounds? And now you bring me to pay fifty thousand of the
taxpayers' money to cover for something that was done illegally. I read the
recommendations of the Legal Department, the comments of the different
attorneys, and it was done illegally. How in the world? Is it going to
happen tomorrow again with another property that we go and rush into the
property, we demolish the structure and then we end up paying for it? This is
amazing. How did it happen?
35 March 12, 1992
Mr. Odio: What happened is, from what I can gather here, in July of 186 the
Hutchinson property was taken to the Unsafe Structures Board, before the Dade
County Board, and the property was ordered secured by Dade County because it
was deemed not safe. But what happened is, the City of Miami proceeded to
demolish after the property was not secured and then when the research was
done, it was found that the Board in Dade County did not say that it could be
demolished. But the fact is, that the owners never did secure the property as
ordered and was, according to the lawyers, it was...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Odio...
Mr. Jones: There was...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...if they were in violation and what they did was wrong,
then we are on solid grounds and we should not pay them. But if in fact we
did something wrong, I'd like to know.
Mr. Jones: What we did...
Mr. Odio: According to...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Could it be that we will have ten, twenty cases to be
faced in the next Commission meeting?
Mr. Jones: Madam Vice Mayor, the fact remains is that there was never an
order by the Unsafe Structures Board to demolish this premises. The
Hutchinsons claim, not only that the property was wrongfully demolished, but
there was also substantial furnishings inside that were lost. I can tell you
that this figure is very reasonable. I have no qualms about trying the case,
but I can tell you, in terms of liability, the liability is there. What
remains would be basically a determination on the issue of damages which could
run much more than fifty thousand dollars.
Mr. Odio: No, the question was whether we feel that there would be others
that we have wrongfully demolished. I think we have a process in place that
that couldn't happen. At that time, start trying to remember back, that we
did not have a very good system as far as the Code...
Vice
Mayor
Alonso: Well, I know
at that time
the City of Miami was in a rush
to get
to
the papers with demolitions that were done in a sequence. But...
}rt
Mr.
Odio:
Right now we do have a
very strong
process in place...
x'
Vice
Mayor
Alonso: Can the Legal
Department
and the City Manager reassure me
that
this
is the only case?
Mr.
Jones:
I can't...
Mr.
Odio:
To my knowledge it is.
_t
Mr.
Jones:
To my knowledge there
aren't any more like this. This is the only
one
that I
am aware of, Madame Vice Mayor.
d
#_' 36 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, that doesn't really address my question. My
question is, I'd like to know from the City Attorney and the City Manager that
this is the only case.
Mr. Odio: To my knowledge and, according to Mr. Canton, that's the only case
that we know of.
Vice Mayor Alonso: This is the only... Would you put it on the record, Mr.
Canton?
Mr. Odio: Right. Put it on the record.
Mr. Pablo Canton: To my knowledge that's the only case. Again, it's
an 187.
Right now...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Could it be that you have no knowledge?
Mr. Canton: No knowledge of any other demolitions that have
been done
illegally or...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Has the City of Miami checked the records and
satisfied
-
ourselves that this is the only case where we acted improperly?
_
Mr. Canton: I haven't checked the records, but I can assure you the
ones that
we've had in the last few years have been done properly and through
the legal
process of the Unsafe Structures Board.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. I advise you to go back and check the records and
r
satisfy ourselves that this is the only case. And if not, we start
gathering
information to prove that we are right...
Mr. Canton: I'll check it out.
Vice Mayor, Alonso: ...because this could cost the City of Miami and the
taxpayers. As a matter of fact, how much do we have in liens for demolitions
that we have not collected? How many millions?
Mr. Canton: The total for the Code Enforcement Board right now is thirty- two
million.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How much?
Mr. Canton: Thirty-two million. That's for the Code Enforcement Board.
Demolitions is different.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And on top of that, we paid the owner for...
Mr. Canton: No, demolitions is about five hundred thousand dollars.
Commissioner Plummer: Oh what a joke!
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...demolitions that we have done?
Commissioner Plummer: Thirty-two...
37 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: If for nothing else but to keep Commissioner Plummer from
getting on our backs about that, would you have a system of writing off some
of...
Mr. Canton: Let me clarify...
Mayor Suarez: ...the ones that are uncollectible so the figure doesn't keep
adding over the last century.
Commissioner Plummer: The best part about that is, that they keep holding
that up as a badge of honor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Is it?
Commissioner Plummer: Thirty-two million dollars( My Godl I'd sell them for
$1.98 because that's about what they're worth.
Mr. Canton: Let me... Commissioner, let me clarify on this...
Mayor Suarez: Don't keep saying it. It's going to be a headline in the paper
tomorrow. I mean, let's get a report back, Mr. Manager, on what we're going
to do with that.
Mr. Odio: The answer to .....
Mayor Suarez: If it can be collected or if it cannot be collected, or if not,
write it off like most self-respecting banks do.
Commissioner Plummer: You're only spending a million dollars a year in the
Code Enforcement to get this thirty-two million... You know it reminds me of
_ the bank that was in South Georgia that was robbed. They stole eight million
in pledges!
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Canton...
Commissioner Plummer: What a joke!
Vice Mayor Alonso: Would you respond to me on this question? The system is
we award a company, a demolition company, the contract for the demolition of
the property?
Mr. Canton: That's correct.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And who pays the company?
Mr. Canton: We pay and then we sell the lien for the demolition. We place a
lien for that demolition and we sell it. Now this is different - demolition
liens are different from the Code Enforcement liens. Demolition liens are
priority and the Finance Department sells it every year. So those we get
back.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Have we sold all of them?
38 March 12, 1992
Mr. Canton: Once a year, my understanding, and I guess I would have to check
with the Finance Director, but once a year we'll...
Vice Mayor Alonso: May I have a report on that, please?
Mr. Canton: Sure.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And we are talking about in that... the amount of liens,
the last I heard we still had five, seven million. Is that so?
Mr. Canton: No.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How much do we have?
}
- Mr. Canton: Demolition liens are like lot clearing. We sell it every year.
w` So, you know, we go back to zero every year when we sell it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Then give me that list that shows zero and show me the
last two years. Because I was given one that was about five to seven million.
So give me one that shows zero in the last two years.
Mr. Canton: I'll get with Finance Department. But again all the demolition
liens and all the lot clearing liens are sold at the Court House steps.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Show me that information. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: All right. On item 17. Vice Mayor?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, I am going to vote against this item because I think
■ that it's ridiculous. Unless someone else wants to move.
Mayor Suarez: In view of the fact there's three of us... oh no, there's four
of us. Maybe it would be an automatic defeat for the item, but I'll entertain
a motion on CA-17.
Commissioner Dawkins: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: Moved. Commissioner, do you second CA-17? Seconded. Any
discussion? Now please call the roll.
39 March 12, 1992
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Dawkins, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-170
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO
PAY TO WILLIAM AND MILDRED HUTCHINSON, WITHOUT THE
ADMISSION OF LIABILITY, THE SUM OF $50,000.00 IN FULL
AND COMPLETE SETTLEMENT OF ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND
DEMANDS AGAINST THE CITY OF MIAMI, IN CIRCUIT COURT
CASE NO. 87-15226 (CA 30), UPON THE EXECUTION OF A
GENERAL RELEASE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY
ATTORNEY, RELEASING THE CITY OF MIAMI FROM ANY AND ALL
CLAIMS AND DEMANDS, WITH FUNDS TO BE PROVIDED FROM THE
INSURANCE AND SELF-INSURANCE TRUST FUND.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner De Yurre, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
ABSENT: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
----------------------------------------------------------- ---------- ---------
10. SECOND READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH 4 NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS: (1)
JTPA TITLE I (PY191) ($34,118); (2) JTPA TITLE 11-A / ENTERPRISE ZONE
(PY'91) ($96,520); (3) JTPA TITLE III I PAN AM (PY'91) ($144,400); AND
(4) DHRS / RCA (PY'91) ($75,718) -- APPROPRIATE FUNDS FROM U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GRANT AWARDS THROUGH SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND
TRAINING CONSORTIUM (SFETC).
11. SECOND READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: EMERGENCY
SHELTER GRANT (FY -92) -- APPROPRIATE $287,000 FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (USHUD) 1992 EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT.
Mayor Suarez: Item 1, regular item 1.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I so move.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded. Any discussion? I'm sorry. I should have
said... Should I have said item 2? It's 2, I guess.
Vice Mayor Alonso: 2. Yes.
40
March 12, 1992
lip
Mayor Suarez: Item 2. A correction, Madame City Clerk. Moved and seconded.
Any discussion? If not, please read the Ordinance.
(AT THIS POINT, THE CITY ATTORNEY READ THE ORDINANCE INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD BY
TITLE ONLY.)
Mayor Suarez: Under discussion. Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: No. 4. Mr. Manager, what employment services do you
present to the entrance refugees for seventy-five thousand dollars? What do
we get for that?
Mr. Odio: Go ahead, Francena.
Ms. Francena
Brooks:
OK.
Mayor Suarez:
Regular
item 2.
Commissioner
Dawkins:
Regular Item 2. Mr.
Manager.
— '
Ms. Brooks:
OK. The
interim and refugee program
works
basically the same
as
the other JTPA titles with the exception
that it's
exclusively for
those
groups. They
receive
counselling, they are
placed in jobs
with private
sector
employers, the wages
for the employees is
reimbursed
to the employer
up to
forty percent
of their
training period.
G
Commissioner
Dawkins:
What are the refugee
entries? I
mean name them.
What
are the ...
`I
Ms. Brooks:
Haitian
entrants, Cuban refugees and there are a
couple of other
refugee groups that are
also eligible.
j�
Commissioner
Dawkins:
OK. How many Cuban entrant refugees
did you help so
i
far.
Ms. Brooks:
I'll have to get that number for you..
Commissioner
Dawkins:
How many Haitians did you help?
Ms. Brooks:
That number too I'd have to get.
Commissioner
Dawkins:
How many others did you help?
Ms. Brooks:
And that
number also I'll have to get for you.
Commissioner
Dawkins:
How much of the seventy-five thousand dollars
was spent
'1
on each one?
i
i
Ms. Brooks:
We'll have
to give you that information.
j
Commissioner
Dawkins:
OK. I am going to vote for this, Mr.
Mayor, with the
understanding that I
expect that information back here when we
come back from
lunch.
41
March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: OK. And it can always be reconsidered if there's a problem
getting the information.
Commissioner Dawkins: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me ask this, because I think you're speaking
of items 2 and 3...
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Then relate that for me to five and six - why you did
not put that over and show it as, I assume, companion items?
Vice Mayor Alonso: First we must accept and then establish it.
Ms. Brooks: OK. Now, item 2 you considered at the last meeting along with
the resolution that went with accepting those particular grants and this is
the second reading on that ordinance.
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
Ms. Brooks: Three relates to the Emergency Shelter Grant and 5...
Commissioner Dawkins: I've got questions for 5 anyway.
Commissioner Plummer: Why do you put...?
Ms. Brooks: Five is a totally new program...
Commissioner Plummer: What I guess I'm really asking, item 4 has nothing to
do with the programs. And why do you put that in the middle? Why don't you
take it all up as one subject relating to the program, Mr. Manager?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Isn't it that we're receiving an additional amount from
the South Florida...? Isn't that it?
Ms. Brooks: Right. That's 5.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's number 5.
Ms. Brooks: That's 5.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Since we are receiving the one hundred and seventy-seven
thousand. Right?
Mr. Frank Castaneda: That is correct.
Ms. Brooks: That's right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It's a different thing. Explain to the Commissioner what
it is.
42
March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: J.L., they put Frank Cobo in there because he's
unemployed. They stuck him in between the employment people.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We are receiving additional funds. That's why it's taken
as a different item.
Ms. Brooks: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So the ordinance has to be amended to receive the
additional monies.
'1 Mr. Castaneda: Correct.
Ms. Brooks: Right.
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, I was...
Commissioner Plummer: And on item 3, this is the money for shelter.
Ms. Brooks: Right.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Now, I asked at the last meeting, where is this
money going?
Mr. Odio: Beckham Hall.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. And do we have an understanding, because I have
not seen anything in writing that I asked for at the last meeting, that if
people that are at Beckham Hall are not in a program that, they are going to
do work for the City? If we're providing food and shelter, and they're not in
a training program, are they going to go out and work for the City?
Vice Mayor Alonso: That was presented at the last Commission meeting.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, I have not seen anything. I asked...
Mr. Odio: I have looked at it and there are some questions there that I
prefer...
Commissioner Plummer: There's no question in my mind. If we're going to put
a roof over their head, three meals a day, they're either going to go to a
program to be trained, or back out on the street, if they're not going to work
for the City.
I; Mr. Odio: Commissioner, most of the people at Beckham are brought in beyond
what you're calling training for work. They have other problems that we have
to deal with first before they can become productive...
Commissioner Plummer: Are they in a program?
Mr. Odio: They are. Once they sign into Beckham, they have to agree to be
rehabilitated, and they are doing that very well. This is not just a roof
over their head and food on their plate, this is a complete program of
rehabilitation and it's working very well.
43 March 12, 1992
y
e
Commissioner Dawkins: You finished, J.L.?
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, sure.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Under 3, you got here forty-two thousand for the
City -operated Homeless under I-95. Now I want you to understand that this
j afternoon we got one hundred and eleven thousand dollars that you're planning
to give to the City of Miami's Homeless program...
Mr. Odio: Right.
Commissioner Dawkins: On C.D. (Community Development).
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: I want you to understand that I'll be voting to give
that to another program.
Mr. Odio: OK. It's...
Commissioner Dawkins: I want you to understand that you already got forty-two
thousand dollars here you are operating with. You don't need another hundred
and eleven thousand.
Mr. Odio: Well, Commissioner, the one in the afternoon is a combination, not
only of 395, we were following the policy of the Commission that we needed to
rehab Lummus Park and we needed monies to move those people out there.
Mayor Suarez: Why don't we... He's just announcing how he's going to vote
this afternoon. Why don't we take that up at that point?
Mr. Dawkins: OK. Thank you. I just wanted him to understand. No problem.
Mayor Suarez: He may have a lot of people joining him on that vote, too. All
right. On item 2 we never called the roll. Can we call the roll on that
please?
Ms. Hirai: Yes, Mr. Mayor.
AN ORDINANCE -
AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING FOUR (4) NEW SPECIAL REVENUE
FUNDS ENTITLED: "JTPA TITLE I (PY'91)", "JTPA TITLE
II-A/ENTERPRISE ZONE (PY'91)"9 "JTPA TITLE III/PAN AM
(PY'91)" AND "DHRS/RCA (PY'91)", AND APPROPRIATING
FUNDS FOR THE OPERATION OF EACH COMPONENT IN THE
RESPECTIVE AMOUNTS OF $34,118, $96,520, $144,400 AND
$75,718 FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GRANT AWARDS
THROUGH THE SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
CONSORTIUM; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
44 March 12, 1992
0
Passed on its first reading by title at the meeting of February 13,
1992, was taken up for its second and final reading by title and adoption. On
motion of Vice Mayor Alonso, seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the Ordinance
was thereupon given its second and final reading by title and passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
THE ORDINANCE WAS DESIGNATED ORDINANCE NO. 10952.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
Mayor Suarez: On 3 then is what we were still...
Commissioner Dawkins: That's J.L. Plummer's baby.
Mayor Suarez: Any questions on 3? If not, I'll entertain a motion on 3.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. I so move.
Mayor Suarez: So moved by the Vice Mayor.
Commissioner De Yurre: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion? Read the ordinance please.
AN ORDINANCE -
AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIALREVENUE FUND
ENTITLED: "EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT (FY '92)";
APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR OPERATION OF SAME IN THE
AMOUNT OF $287,000 FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING
AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (USHUD) 1992 EMERGENCY SHELTER
GRANT; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
Passed on its first reading by title at the meeting of February 13,
1992, was taken up for its second and final reading by title and adoption. On
motion of Vice Mayor Alonso, seconded by Commissioner De Yurre, the Ordinance
was thereupon given its second and final reading by title and passed and
adopted by the following vote:
45 March 12, 1992
.a
4)
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Commissioner Miriam Alonso
Vice Mayor Miller J. Dawkins
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
THE ORDINANCE WAS DESIGNATED ORDINANCE NO. 10953.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
12. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: PROHIBIT MALICIOUS REAL PROPERTY DAMAGE;
WILFUL OR MALICIOUS PLACING OF UNLAWFUL SIGNS ON REAL PROPERTY;
_ INTENTIONAL UNAUTHORIZED DEFACEMENT OF REAL PROPERTY, WHICH EXPOSES
ANOTHER TO RISK OF VIOLENCE, CONTEMPT OR HATRED BASED ON RACE, COLOR,
CREED OR RELIGION -- PROVIDE FOR PENALTIES.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioner Dawkins: Move for the next month.
Mayor Suarez: Move to defer item 4, Commissioner Dawkins. You may never
second an item without looking up to see what the look is on their faces...
Vice Mayor Alonso: I know.
Mayor Suarez: Because you never know. You never know. All right, Mr. Cobo.
Madam City Clerk, I understand all those motions were not in earnest. Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I have some problems with these as stated in the last
Commission meeting. I have problems with Section 8 of the ordinance. I am
concerned about the burden that is going to be placed on the citizens of
Miami. Some people... I can understand a person who has a problem. They have
a wall or the side of the property, or the business, and they come and put
some graffiti and they paint one time. But certain properties in the City of
Miami are painted over and over, and they have a serious difficulty with the
graffiti. Are we going to put an excessive amount of pressure on the owner of
the property that they have what we cannot provide as government? The
protection of the Police Department, identify who is placing the graffiti, and
then instead of resolving the problem that they have, we are telling them, we
cannot resolve the problem. Therefore, we are placing the burden on you and
every time someone goes and paint your property, you have to go and paint that
over. It seems to me that this is an excessive amount of government and
regulations on the citizens and we have to be very careful on this code
enforcement, losing their properties, liens, the whole bit. I think the line
is very dangerous.
46 March 12, 1992
Mr. Frank Cobo: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Let me add to that, Frank, and put in the record letter from
Ada C. Pedrajo, dated February 14, 1992, which makes that point. And I didn't
realize that some of these things may be a factor and I'd like answers to
them, too. I think it reflects what the Vice Mayor is saying exactly. It
says,
"I realize that graffiti detracts from the overall beauty of our
City as it presently does from my home. However, I do not believe
that an Ordinance which would penalize the victim of this form of
vandalism is acceptable. Not only would we be victims to the
gangs and vandals who roam our streets, we would also be victims
to a system which would authorize the Code Enforcement Board to
fine law-abiding citizens for the actions of delinquents."
I was not aware of that, Frank, and I'm going to want, just like the Vice
Mayor and the rest of us are going to want, the clarification of what exact
burdens and obligations are being imposed on people who are the victims of
this crime and not the perpetrators. That creates a problem for me. I wasn't
aware of that.
Mr. Cobo: Mr. Mayor.
Commissioner Dawkins: The other part I
have, Mr. Mayor,
is under 5. And it
_
says, "where the defendant is a minor,
the court shall
order the parent or
-
legal guardian of such minor to make such restitution or
pay fines." Suppose
a kid is angry with the parent and the
kid keeps going
out committing the
graffiti to get even with the parent. I
mean, how can you
tell me that I must
j
force this parent to pay for this kid?
I mean, I got
a problem with it,
Frank.
Mr. Cobo: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, if I may address... If there is any other
Commissioner that had a concern, I can address those concerns. Mr. Mayor,
with your permission, and Madam Vice Mayor, you hit a very important point.
Let me first say that I undertook the role of this graffiti wipe-out of Dade
County because I am concerned with my community, and you are, too, and each
and every one of you. In fact, the Mayor participated in our graffiti wipe-
out on 8th Street, before Calle Ocho. A couple of...
Mayor Suarez: That's a very, very nice exaggeration on your part. I got
there at the very end, but I know that you did some great work and this
Commission recognizes that.
Mr. Cobo: ...But your appearance, and each one of you when you participate in
these programs, gives, you know, a feeling to those who participated. Madam
Vice Mayor, we had about eight hundred participate on 8th Street. On April
11th we are going to have a program countywide. Let me tell you what the
Miami Board of Realtors has done. We have been able to secure free paint for
these graffiti wipe-outs and I gave you a brochure there which explains how
you can get it. Now with the wisdom of your Law Department, it placed a sort
of a responsibility in that ordinance for the Manager, the Manager's
discretion, if I'm correct, Mr. Jones, the Manager's discretion as to whether
that property owner has been diligent about painting out the graffiti. You
know, members of the Commission, you are not going to wipe out graffiti until
47
March 12, 1992
a 40
we educate the public that it is unlawful. The County, under a lot of
_ pressure from me and our Board, the Miami Board of Realtors, the County
Commission last April passed an ordinance, really a little stronger than this,
but still they passed it. LA (Los Angeles) has had a devastating program on
graffiti and is being written up nationally of how they are aggressively
controlling graffiti paint -out. You, as the leaders of this community, as the
lawmakers of this community, you have to address that. We must, for the sake
of the beauty of this community, for the tourist of this... visiting - because
that's what our business is - tourism, and for the person that wants to sell
their property. When their neighborhood has all this graffiti on it, they
should be the first one to assist. We are available to provide that free
paint. They are required within 30 days, Mr. Jones, I believe the ordinance
says, to paint out, and then they're responsible either three times - I think
the County ordinance says three - I think yours might be three also. But the
_ point is, is that we will help them paint it out. You have a paint -out buster
now. You have two trucks that are available to the community. Yes, it's got
to be controlled by the Code Enforcement Board, and I had the privilege of
serving you for five years on that Board, and I can tell you that the Code
Enforcement Board does have to enforce it, but there is a stipulation in your
ordinance that gives the Manager the power to not enforce it, if the property
owner has been diligent about removing the graffiti. We have to tackle it, we
1 have to do it...
Mayor Suarez: Frank, are you sure that's entirely constitutional? To leave
the Manager that kind of discretion?
Mr. Cobo: Mr. Mayor...
Mayor Suarez: Wait. Wait. I addressed the question to you, but I really
meant it...
Mr. Cobo: OK. Can I point it out in this Ordinance?
Mayor Suarez: Constitutional scholar Franco.
Mr. Cobo: I'm not.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We have given a lot of discretion lately to the City
Manager, Mr. Mayor, and maybe that we are that subject, when we finish we
should address that point at the Commission meeting today.
Mr. Jones: Which section?
Mayor Suarez: All right. On the issue of the Manager having the discretion
to determine that someone has not used, has not been diligent in wiping out
graffiti, et cetera. Frank, you certainly can answer that, too, if you want,
but I think maybe...
Mr. Jones: Yeah. I don't think there is any constitutional impediment to it.
Mayor Suarez: OK. That's not an excessive delegation of... OK.
Mr. Jones: No.
48 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: I hate to have to... Presumably, the idea, I guess, is that
this would be in extreme cases where the property owner has shown absolutely
no interest whatsoever and has not taken advantage of it. Are we saying that
we are going to provide free paint and some painting?
Mr. Cobo: We have and we will continue...
Mayor Suarez: Resources, I mean arms, human beings, equipment, et cetera?
_ Mr. Cobo: It's in this brochure. Peggy Schultz has provided this and the 0-
Kee Paint - is it 0-Kee? - 0-Gee Paint Stores, it's on this brochure I gave
you, where we will provide free paint. In fact Madam Vice Mayor, we had the
privilege of Miami High who's been a high school in the City of Miami...
Mayor Suarez: Frank, suppose you run out of... Your philosophy and your
rhetoric is great, by the way, you make great arguments here.
Mr. Cobo: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: But suppose you run out of paint? What happens to the
ordinance then?
Mr. Cobo: We won't run out of paint, Mr. Mayor. We are going to eradicate
graffiti and you can give us that strength in the largest city of South
Florida and the largest city in this county, we need you. Miami Springs has
passed the ordinance, Miami Beach has passed the ordinance, the County has
passed the ordinance and they are all similar. You know, we've got to stop
it. Mr. Dawkins, we really have to. I can understand your concern and it is
a matter of pride in this community. When you drive around, and you visit
every segment of this community and when you see that graffiti on everything,
and I want to say that Guy Sanchez is here from Florida Power and Light and
they are big participants on our committee to address that item. Southern
Bell is a big participant. Last time I was here I was embarrassed I didn't
introduce Petrie from Triple A. He is involved with our graffiti program. We
have the total community. The State Attorney has a representative on our
committee, Judge Petersen has addressed this in the court in the juvenile
system. Madam Vice Mayor, we have those same people that participate in our
graffiti paint -out have been sentenced to those hours of labor to paint out
the graffiti. We are using the schools in every neighborhood. The
Homeowners' Association of City of Miami has endorsed this ordinance; the
Crime Prevention group has endorsed...
Commissioner Dawkins: But you have failed, Frank, to tell me what you're
going to do for a parent who has a child who he cannot stop from painting
graffiti. I mean, you went through everything but that, tell me that.
Mr. Cobo: Mr. Commissioner, if we have that same student who doesn't want to
go to school, what do we do about it?
Commissioner Dawkins: Put the mother in jail. OK. I'll vote for it.
Scratch that part from the ordinance. I just can't support that.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. I have some questions. You're telling me that you're
going to be responsible so when we go and notify the owner or management or
-; 49 March 12, 1992
-�` whatever, that the property is in violation, they have to pay, at the same
time, the same note will have a notation that says go to them, they will paint
it for you. Is that the way it works?
Mr. Cobo: We will help them the first few times, for the first few times...
-1 Vice Mayor Alonso: What do you mean? Let's be very specific.
Mr. Cobo: OK. We have a hot line. Dade County has a full time coordinator
which was our recommendation and, thank God, they funded it and we have a full
time Dade County coordinator to help us with the paint -outs. It's a hot line.
It can be called at any time. All they have to do is call that hot line. We
will have a team of people there to paint it out.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So you think that we will not have any problems with
individuals that within the thirty days that we give them you will be there
within that time to resolve the problem...
Mr. Cobo: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Because my problem is this, for example, before you got to
Eighth Street, I went there and painted. For example, December 21st we
- painted. The empty gas station at Eighth Street and 22nd Avenue. We also
painted the wall and the building across from Casablanca, the Sheehan empty...
Mr. Cobo: The old Sheehan Buick.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Sheehan, all of the walls, December 21st we painted. Not
quite ten days later, the entire wall was painted. You painted it again.
We'll see how long it lasts. We painted the Tower Theater, the next day, they
painted. I went back myself alone and painted it over. I told the people
across the street and next door, if you see someone, you call me. This is my
portable phone. You call me. I get here. And I am going to... We've been
trying, very hard, but then I know of property owners who have been calling my
office and saying every week, I paint my wall and I have the problem. Is our
Code Enforcement... do we have enough people, Mr. Manager, to go around the
City and identify these cases? Do we have enough staff in the City of Miami?
°z
Is the police department going to supervise this? How're we going to enforce
this? It bothers me that we create ordinances that are a joke because we
don't have the staff to fulfill what is demanded in this and we give the
impression to the public - oh, we are going to resolve the problem with
graffiti, when in fact we can't.
Mr. Cobo: Yes we, can.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How?
Mr. Cobo: OK. I've become an expert, and as Commissioner Dawkins says. I've
become unemployed because of this, because of my battle...
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's wonderful. I am going to be calling you a lot.
Mr. Cobo: Madam Vice Mayor, all the proof 'has been done nationwide, that of
course this is gang -related, as you know, and it's done between one in the
50 March 12, 1992
morning and three in the morning. The solution has been for the largest
communities of this nation and for our area as well as San Jose, California,
was proven that in order to eradicate graffiti, first you needed an ordinance,
secondly, you needed a group of people who were willing to educate the
community. As I addressed you earlier, it takes a matter of education, and
the third thing is, which is probably the most important, we have found out in
every community that you must paint it out immediately. It cannot wait a
week, it cannot wait ten days, after it's been painted, it must be done
immediately.
Commissioner Dawkins: Frank, I would be remiss if I would not point out to
you that the City long ago had a graffiti -busting team, so don't put in the
records that the County now has a full time person as if that's the first time
this has happened. Mr. Manager, what happened to the graffiti -busting team
>' that we had?
i Mr. Odio: We ran out of money. We had a full...
t
Commissioner Dawkins: How many people did you have employed?
Mr. Odio: It was six.
Commissioner Dawkins: Six people. So therefore, I just want the records to
reflect that this is nothing new for us to join into...
} Mr. Cobo: I understand.
Commissioner Dawkins: But don't come out saying that Dade County has re-
invented the wheel.
Mr. Cobo: I apologize, Commissioner, that I did not mention that you had it
before the County, but I want you to know that I checked this and I called
your office twice in case you had any concerns. Commissioner Plummer's office
informed me that we had two and that they were active.
a Commissioner Plummer: I saw the truck recently.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Me, too.
Commissioner Plummer: I saw the truck somewhere recently.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Yes.
Mr. Odio: I did, too, I saw it at Douglas Park, but it is not active...
Mr. Cobo: It might be that they just park it around which is...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no. It should be that we should coordinate our
efforts. That's all. We just need to coordinate our efforts...
Mr. Cobo: OK. And we are willing to work with them.
Commissioner Dawkins: ...And we get better results...
51 March 12, 1992
Mr. Cabo: Yes, sir...
Commissioner Dawkins: ...through cooperation.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How many people do you have in the County?
Mr. Cabo: As Coordinator? One.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And painting and working on the program?
Mr. Cabo: At any time, at any time, we have hundreds of volunteers. It's
amazing! One person is coordinating...
Vice Mayor Alonso: So one person can handle Dade County?
Mr. Cabo: The whole County.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Good for him, or her.
Mr. Cabo: Her, her.
Vice Mayor Alonso: She will do it! Then I will vote for this ordinance.
Mayor Suarez: Very important to have a "her." All right, Commissioner, are
there any other questions?
,s} Vice Mayor Alonso: Now I believe. You got my vote.
Mr. Cabo: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: If not, I will accept Commissioner Dawkins's suggestion as a
motion with the elimination of the paragraph that I just gave you which calls
for penalties on parents, etcetera. You want to.. is it necessary to read
that, or is it clear to you what provision you wanted to leave out?
Commissioner Plummer: Why don't you qualify it before second reading?
Mr. Jones: The part that you deleting?
Commissioner Plummer: Right.
Mr. Jones: Yes. Section 5. Where it begins "where the defendant is a minor,
the court shall order the parent or legal guardian of such minor to make such
restitution and/or pay fines, penalties and costs."
Mayor Suarez: With that deletion we have a motion by Commissioner Dawkins.
Do we have a second?
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I'd like to include somehow that when the person is
notified that they have to clear the graffiti to include the number where they
can call to resolve the problem, knowing quite well that she will resolve the
problem.
52 March 12, 1992
r
Mr. Cobo: And, Madam Vice Mayor, we also get permission from the property
owner before we paint it out.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. If the property owner makes, start the phone call,
definitely.
Mr. Cobo: Yes. That's an automatic stipulation. Now, Mr. Mayor, I don't
know if it is proper for me to address what you just did. I am not too sure
you didn't gut the ordinance.
Commissioner De Yurre: Let me ask you something here, Frank, because...
Mayor Suarez: Well, we don't even have a second. Maybe the Commission should
first decide whether it wants to pursue that...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, we did.
Commissioner Plummer: No, I second it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We did. Actually we echoed it.
Mayor Suarez: Oh, I am sorry, we do have a second. Maybe we should first
decided whether this is the way to proceed, if we have a second obviously.
Commissioner De Yurre: My question is, what kind of penalty is there if a
minor does this? What's the deterrent for a minor to get caught doing this?
Commissioner Plummer: That would be determined by a Judge, wouldn't it?
Assuming that he would be taken before a Judge.
Mayor Suarez: What is the criminal violation, typically, for something like
this? I guess it could be trespass and defacing of private or public
property.
Mr. Cobo: Can we address this between the first reading and...
Vice Mayor Alonso: It should have experience...
Commissioner Dawkins: In my days, it would have been parental.
about today. But my parents would have handled it in my day.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
I don't know
Mr. Jones: Some instances... I am aware of some instances where it has been
cited as criminal mischief or trespass or depending, really, it depends.
Commissioner De Yurre: What kind of penalties does that bring?
Mayor Suarez: For a minor?
Mr. Jones: What sort of penalty? In most instances, where I am aware the
minors have been cited or caught, the penalties basically have been to make
them go out there and paint it over.
53
March 12, 1992
Commissioner De Yurre: Because the way I see this, if I am part of this group
and I am adult, I am going to have the minor do the painting. That way I am
not exposed, he doesn't run a risk and you keep doing it. I mean like I think
this, by doing this, this kind of becomes senseless to a great degree. The
parents - it is their job to take care of their kids and I think they have a
responsibility for the kids, and if it is a pecuniary responsibility, and they
have to pay, so be it. Maybe they'll put a little more interest into their
children. I see no problem with voting for it the way it is.
Mr. Cobo: Thank you, Commissioner.
Mayor Suarez: The movant of the motion also suggests... Commissioner Dawkins
suggests that maybe we should take additional time to clean this up.
Actually, I don't know. What does the Commission want to do? We have a
motion that...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Between first and second reading, we can get together and
change, additions, deletions, whatever we want to do.
Commissioner Dawkins: Let me amend my motion to say that I have - let's pass
it in principle, and those who are desirous of changing their vote at the
second reading to kill it, can do so.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute - you can't do it in principle. You have
to pass it and then modify it, and they still reserve their right on second
reading.
Mr. Jones: That is correct.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. As the senior citizen of the Commission just said,
I move it that way.
Mr. Cobo: The Dean.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Moved, as initially presented to the Commission by Commissioner
Dawkins, seconded by Vice Mayor. Any further discussion? If not, please read
the ordinance.
Vice Mayor Alonso: As a matter of fact, we thought that that was what we did
last time, but it ended up that we didn't.
Mr. Cobo: I thought you had waived the first reading and this was supposed to
be second reading.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Something went wrong, yes.
Commissioner Plummer: That's what I thought, but it's not the way it is,
Frank.
;� 54 March 12, 1992
Mr. Cobo: All right. Well, someone didn't read the ....
Mayor Suarez: We are about to get this one reading done here.
Mr. Cobo: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE PROHIBITING MALICIOUS REAL PROPERTY
DAMAGE; WILFUL OR MALICIOUS PLACING OF UNLAWFUL SIGNS
ON REAL PROPERTY; INTENTIONAL UNAUTHORIZED DEFACEMENT
OF REAL PROPERTY BY PLACING OF MATERIAL THEREON WHICH
EXPOSES OR TENDS TO EXPOSE ANOTHER TO RISK OF
VIOLENCE, CONTEMPT OR HATRED BASED ON RACE, COLOR,
CREED OR RELIGION; PROVIDING FOR PENALTIES, A REPEALER
PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR
INCLUSION IN THE CITY CODE.
Was introduced by Commissioner Dawkins and seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso
and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
Mr. Cobo: Thank you, Mayor and Commission, and if any of you have a concern,
I will be happy to meet with you.
Mayor Suarez: We'l1 go over there and knock the door down in that nice
little real estate office you have over there.
Mr. Cobo: Thank you. Have a good day.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thank you. Before you leave. I read here fifteen percent
discount.
Mr. Cobo: That's for future.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second painting.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It's not a discount. You will pay.
55
March 12, 1992
Mr. Cobo: No. It says free painting.
Commissioner Dawkins: For the second time, you pay.
Mr. Cobo: We will paint it out.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How many times?
Mr. Cobo: I am on record, you know, and then it is in the Manager's hand
whether the person has been cooperative in allowing us to. We did have one
problem on 8th Street. An owner said he didn't want to sign that waiver of
right to paint. So we had that problem.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I saw the property.
Mayor Suarez: And the Bible said seventy times seven. Right, Reverend?
That's at least four hundred ninety times.
13. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 10936 -- INCREASE
APPROPRIATION TO SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: JTPA TITLE II -A (PY '91) BY
$177,642 -- (from $509,510 to $687,152).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Item 5.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I so move.
Mayor Suarez: Item 5 is moved. Do we have a second on item 5?
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Commissioner Dawkins: Under discussion.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: Who are we serving with this money? Neighborhood jobs,
programs. Who are we serving?
Ms. Francena Brooks: Yeah, this is the General Title "IIA" program that
serves anyone that meets the income requirements, what they call general
population.
Commissioner Dawkins: See now...
Ms. Brooks: Anyone that meets the criteria.
Commissioner Dawkins: Defer this until they can come back and tell me in
plain layman language what I am asking. See, I can read reqs. (requisitions)
and I can read what some grantswriter can sit down and write, but I need it in
plain layman language.
56 March 12, 1992
Ms. Brooks: OK. Yes, anyone that's been unemployed for a certain period of
time, and I'll have to get the number of months they had to be unemployed, and
they have not earned, well, they haven't earned any income. So it is
basically that they have been unemployed for a long period of time.
Commissioner Dawkins: And you give them what kind of training?
Ms. Brooks: In this particular program, it is on-the-job training where
they're placed with an employer in the private sector and we defray up to
forty percent of the wages during the on-the-job training period.
Commissioner Dawkins: What are the target areas?
Ms. Brooks: It's Citywide. All throughout the City.
Commissioner Dawkins: How do you? You go find them? They come find you?
You put an ad in the radio? You put an ad in the paper? How are they
attracted?
Ms. Brooks: All of those ways. We sometimes send...
Commissioner Dawkins: What has been the most effective way of all of those
ways?
Ms. Brooks: Of all of them? It has really depended. Because sometimes we
have done specific outreach in different neighborhoods. Sometimes in placing
the ads - the ads, the announcements on the radio certainly generate the most
interest, I would think in starting the process.
Commissioner Dawkins: What is the beginning fiscal year for this?
Ms. Brooks: I am sorry, I didn't hear.
Commissioner Dawkins: What... Is this 91/92 or is this 92/93 money?
Ms. Brooks: No, this is 91/92.
Commissioner Dawkins: 91/92. That means we already spending this money.
{
Ms. Brooks: We.. This particular ordinance increases the original
allocation. We received some additional money.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Before, Mr. Manager...
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Before you spend the additional money, tell me what you
did with the first money and show it to me graphically.
Mr. Odio. OK.
Ms. Brooks: OK.
March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: In the areas... and how many people stayed on the job,
and how long.
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: No further questions.
Mayor Suarez: All right, thank you. That was item 5. Right? We have a
motion to second. Any discussion? If not, please read the ordinance.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2 OF ORDINANCE NO.
10936, ADOPTED DECEMBER 5, 1991, TO PROVIDE FOR AN
INCREASE IN THE APPROPRIATION TO THE SPECIAL REVENUE
FUND ENTITLED: "JTPA TITLE II -A (PY '91)" IN THE
AMOUNT OF $177,642 THEREBY INCREASING THE TOTAL
APPROPRIATION FOR SAID SPECIAL REVENUE FUND FROM
$509,510 to $687,152.
Was introduced by Commissioner Vice Mayor Alonso and seconded by
Commissioner Plummer and was passed on its first reading by title by the
following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
58 March 12, 1992
14. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 10880 -- INCREASE
APPROPRIATION TO SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: EASTERN AIRLINES / DISLOCATED
WORKER RETRAINING PROGRAM (FY -91) JTPA III, BY $550,637 -- (from
$207,400 to $758,037).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Yes. Item 6, Dislocated Worker and Retraining Program.
Entertain a Motion.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I move.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second. Under discussion.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: This is for dislocated airline workers. Is that right?
Mr. Odio: Basically it started with Eastern. Eastern Airlines. Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: This says to increase the appropriations to the special
revenue fund entitled Eastern Airlines Dislocated Workers Retraining.
Mr. Odio: That's correct.
Ms. Brooks: Right.
Commissioner Dawkins: Now, what are you retraining these workers for? What
areas of employment?
Ms. Brooks: Well, there are different areas. All of them are in school,
taking different courses and we'll have to get you a full listing of who's
enrolled in what.
Commissioner Dawkins: Who did a study to determine what the employer needs
will be or what the job market would be, or what would be available to these
individuals after you have put them through the so-called retraining program?
Ms. Brooks: Well, the Department of, the State Department of Labor and the
South Florida Employment Training Consortium.
Commissioner Dawkins: And we plug into preparing "X" number of I don't know
what, because we know that when these people get through this retraining the
job should be available.
Ms. Brooks: Right, it should be.
Mr. Frank Castaneda: And hopefully we will be out of the recession.
59
March 12, 1992
1
Commissioner Dawkins: Are you training them. What areas are you training
them in?
Ms. Brooks: Yes..
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioner, there's a whole variety of training. There is
basically a list of the Department of Labor that says these occupations are in
high demand. People make their own choice depending on education. They are
basically going to Miami Dade and FIU (Florida International University) for
getting education. They also get stipends during that period of around ninety
dollars a month. Basically, there are no jobs out there and basically what we
are trying to do is retrain these people and hopefully the recession would
have turned around by the time that they are retrained and hopefully they will
be able to earn a decent living out there.
Commissioner Dawkins: So this is nothing but a pass -through.
Mr. Castaneda: Well, it's pass -through in the sense that most of the
education is being given through Miami Dade and FIU. However, we still have
to coordinate the whole process. We have to give them stipend checks which
are about ninety dollars a month for the classes. We have to make sure that
we buy their books and so forth. It's time-consuming. Each counsellor
handles fifteen individuals.
Commissioner Dawkins: Each counsellor handles fifteen individuals.
Mr. Castaneda: Fifty, I am sorry. Fifty.
Commissioner Dawkins: Now, is this... in order to certify that we have
completed the need, do these people have to be placed on jobs or is this
something that we just go through and if people don't go to work, so be it.
Mr. Castaneda: Hopefully, they will be...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no, no...
Mr. Castaneda: Let me...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no, no... No hopefully. Is this a requirement
of the City of Miami that we place these people on a job and they stay on the
job or not?
Mr. Castaneda: No.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Thank you. No further explanation. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: No, sir. Have a seat. This is not a public hearing.
60
March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: If you ever want, Miller, to look into it, to find out
what these people are getting in the way of baby-sitting services,
transportation? It is amazing what is being provided besides education.
Commissioner Dawkins: Only thing I am saying to you, I mean what I'm saying
is, since you brought it up, is in my neighborhood alone, I have people who
are unemployed, who have been unemployed have no employability skills and the
_ State of Florida has not ever made a million dollars available to retrain them
or even train them, and I have a problem...
Commissioner Plummer: He's right, absolutely.
Commissioner Dawkins: ...with the Department of Labor providing this kind of
money and that my neighborhood don't get it. Now, that's my problem J.L.
Commissioner Plummer: 1 agree with you.
Mr. Castaneda: That's completely true.
Mayor Suarez: OK. On item 6 then. We have a motion to second.
Did we, Madam City Clerk?
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Read the ordinance then.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me ask a question. Frank, have we determined that
these individuals are City residents?
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioner, not all of them are, to tell you the truth,
we're getting...
Commissioner Plummer: Then why are we catering to non -City residents?
Mr. Castaneda: Well, to te11 you the truth we are getting people that are
going to Miami Dade in downtown Miami and so forth, so they are being referred
to us. The County, I'm sorry, the other service providers have some people
that live in the City and we don't... The idea is that proximity and schools
and things like that.
Commissioner Plummer: So you're going to stand there and tell me, now, that
there is no City residents that want to be available to this program that are
being denied.
Mr. Castaneda: No, no, no... that's correct. Any City resident that is an
Eastern Airline employee is not being denied the service.
Commissioner Dawkins: J.L., when I say my neighborhood, I mean Overtown, I
mean Liberty City, I mean Flagami, I mean West Little Havana...
Commissioner Plummer: How about the whole City?
Commissioner Dawkins: I mean Coconut Grove. That's my neighborhood. And
that's these people in the City of Miami whom you've been asking about, who've
been unemployed that are not being serviced, J.L.
61 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Frank, what you're doing about that?
Mr. Castaneda: Well, Commissioner, Commissioner Dawkins is completely
correct. This program is a very expensive program. It's specifically
_ earmarked for people that were basically middle-class. They were Eastern
Airline employees, they had good salaries...
Commissioner Plummer: No, no, no, that's not my point. What are you doing
about petitioning the State of Florida and the Federal Labor Department about
the other group of people that are not being addressed? Are you doing
anything? Are you raising hell?
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, we are. What we're requesting from the Federal
Government is basically a public service type program. I don't want to say
CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) but it was similar to CETA to
provide employment opportunities, you know, to people that have never had
those employment opportunities.
Commissioner Plummer: So if I asked, you could demonstrate to me that you
have proof that you've screamed at the Labor Department about unemployment of
other people other than Pan American.
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, we have, Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Special few.
Mayor Suarez: All right, on item 6, call the roll. Read the ordinance.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2 OF ORDINANCE NO.
10880, ADOPTED MAY 9, 1991, TO PROVIDE FOR AN INCREASE
IN THE APPROPRIATION TO THE SPECIAL REVENUE FUND
ENTITLED "EASTERN AIRLINES/DISLOCATED WORKER
RETRAINING PROGRAM (FY '91) JTPA III" IN THE AMOUNT OF
-:; $550,637, THEREBY INCREASING THE APPROPRIATION FOR
SAID SPECIAL REVENUE FUND FORM $207,400 TO $758,037;
'r`' CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY
Soi
v CLAUSE.
Was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso and seconded by Commissioner Dawkins
and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
62 March 12, 1992
t, 1
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CODE CHAPTER 54 -- ADD NEW ARTICLE X TO
PROVIDE FOR FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) ENTERING INTO PERMIT
AGREEMENT(S) WITH THE CITY FOR USE OF PUBLIC RIGHTS -OF -WAY (ROW) FOR
PLACEMENT OF LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR ALERT SYSTEMS (LLWAS) -- PROVIDE THAT
FAA SHALL BE ASSESSED A FEE AS A CONDITION TO SUCH PERMIT.
Mayor Suarez: Item 7.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: Moved.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion, now please read the ordinance.
Mr. Jones: An ordinance...
Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute, let me make sure. Mr. Manager, this is
not going in such a place, where if we needed to... in other words, we're not
giving up our rights to this property?
Mr. Odio: No.
Commissioner Plummer: If we so notify them that they have to move any
equipment because we need the property, it's so stipulated that that will
happen?
Mr. Jim Kay: That is in the Code change.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Just want to make sure.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
63 March 12, 1992
--.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 54 OF THE CODE OF THE
CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, BY ADDING A NEW
ARTICLE X, TO PROVIDE FOR THE FEDERAL AVIATION
ADMINISTRATION (FAA) ENTERING INTO A PERMIT
AGREEMENT(S) WITH THE CITY FOR THE USE OF PUBLIC
RIGHTS -OF -WAY FOR THE PLACEMENT OF LOW LEVEL WIND
SHEAR ALERT SYSTEMS (LLWAS); FURTHER, BY PROVIDING
THAT THE FAA SHALL BE ASSESSED A FEE TO BE PAID TO THE
CITY AS A CONDITION TO SUCH PERMIT(S), BY PROVIDING
DEFINITIONS, AND BY SETTING FORTH TERMS AND CONDITIONS
FOR A PERMITS) TO BE ISSUED TO THE FAA; MORE
PARTICULARLY BY ADDING NEW SECTIONS 54-189 THROUGH 54-
191; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
Was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Commissioner
Dawkins and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
16. APPROVE, IN PRINCIPLE, ISSUANCE OF REVOCABLE PERMIT TO GREATER BETHEL
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME) CHURCH (245 N.W. 8 STREET) FOR USE OF
TWO LOTS IN BLOCK 35 N, SUBDIVISION MIAMI NORTH (A/K/A A.L. KNOWLTON B-
41) ON N.W. 9 STREET, FOR PROVIDING EXTRA PARKING -- DIRECT CITY
ATTORNEY TO IMPLEMENT SAID DIRECTION, MAKING SURE THAT SUCH WOULD NOT
CONSTITUTE A LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT FOR THE CITY.
Commissioner De Yurre: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, if I may, I have just been
advised that Rev. White, who's here, has a doctor's appointment at noon and he
is here on item 20. If we could take that out of turn for a moment.
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely. Reverend.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, move item 20.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait, what is 20?
64 March 12, 1992
a
r�
Mayor Suarez: As of now, we're just taking the item out of turn. As to the
item itself. We have a motion and a second, Commissioner Plummer, which is
item 20.
Commissioner Plummer: Tell me what this basically does Mr. Manager.
Commissioner Dawkins: They have a parking lot across the street that...
Mr. Odio: The City will...
Commissioner Dawkins: ...the same land that we've been making available to
the Heat to park on, we're trying to say now the church has a parking crunch
and that we make the same, give the church the same rights and privileges
that we've given the Miami Heat and everybody else. That's all this is.
Commissioner Plummer: All right, so in other words, the church will assume
the liability for indemnifying the City against any lawsuits, you will
maintain the property...
Commissioner Dawkins: They will pray to God that nothing happens.
Rev. John White: We will maintain the property.
Commissioner Plummer: ...and you will not use it for profit.
Rev. White: No.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute.
Commissioner Plummer: It's for church use only.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Will not use it for
profit.
Commissioner Plummer: In other words, they'll turn around and charge parking
of eight dollars a night.
Commissioner Dawkins: No. But in the event that there's an event at the
Arena and it says, "parking," and the money would be used to maintain it. I
mean is there a problem with that?
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, who makes that money right now?
Commissioner Plummer: Well, yeah, because then it becomes a profit situation,
Miller, rather than just being maintained for the church purposes.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. No problem.
Rev. White: Mr. Mayor and Commissioner, our concern is not for profit. Our
concern is for security of the area, as well as to try and help beautify that
area around the church and immediately around the Arena situation. As you
know, it's a problem area and I think we're making a great deal of trying to
make sure that the area is secure for the good of the community. The persons
65 March 12, 1992
who live across the street have a problem selling their houses now. We're
just trying to enhance the community.
Commissioner Plummer: All I am saying, Reverend, is the basic need is for
your use of church parking.
Rev. White: Correct.
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine.
Mr. Jones: Mr. Mayor, Commissioner, I have advised Administration that the
transaction as proposed not only violates Florida Constitution but it violates
the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. What's proposed presents
really clearly an entanglement between church and state which is prohibited.
So I'm advising you...
Commissioner Plummer: What, they paying us a fee?
Mr. Jones: Excuse me? That's even more of a reason for someone to challenge
us that this violates the Establishment Clause.
Commissioner Dawkins: So we'll be challenged. I so move and stand the
challenge. I mean we do this...
Commissioner Plummer: You are saying we can't lease the property to a church?
Commissioner Dawkins: I mean, I understand. We pay you to advise us. I
don't have a problem with that. OK. Now, you've advised us. I hear your
advisement. I still move it.
Mayor Suarez: All right. We have a motion and a second. Commissioner Plummer
wanted to inquire.
Commissioner Plummer: Are you saying that we cannot lease a piece of property
to a church?
Mr. Jones: I am telling you Commissioner, under several cases in the... have
been ruled upon by the Supreme Court, there is a tripartite test that's set
forth in order to determine whether there is excessive entanglement between
the government and the church. Number one, if you can't get past the first
test which is to prove that the activity is a secular activity. You need not
go any further. If you look at this...
Commissioner Plummer: What kind of praying do they do in the parking lot?
Mr. Jones: It's not a matter, it's not a matter.
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, what kind of praying do cars do in a parking lot,
J.L.?
Commissioner De Yurre: Revival, revival.
66 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: But what is secular about a parking lot? That's what I
am asking.
Mr. Jones: The fact that you are lending credence to the notion that the City
is somehow involved by supporting religion through this. This is what I am
telling you. This is the interpretation that's come down from the Supreme
Court.
Commissioner Plummer: I guess that also could be the same assumption that
when we opened the Knight Center and we gave Centrust when they went under
then we were responsible.
Mr. Jones: You know, this is something this Commission has struggled with for
years and it is not to say that every activity that is contemplated or has
religious overtones violates the Establishment Clause. But this particular
instance in my judgment does.
s
Commissioner Dawkins: But, Mr. Jones...
Vice Mayor Alonso: We'll take one step at a time.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Jones...
,A Mr. Jones: Yes, Commissioner.
Commissioner Dawkins: ...when we give money to all the churches for day care
centers, when churches come in and we waive the rights for them so that they
can use the streets to raise money, I mean, let's just... I mean I understand
you - but nobody is concerned about it may be secular violation until it gets
over there in Overtown, now all of a sudden we are worried about the
secularity of it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Then maybe at that point, if we are challenged in any way,
we can just change it and... We will look at that at that time.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, wait let me ask a question. Mr. Jones, you can
find ways to put stumbling blocks. Tell me ways to do it legally.
Mr. Odio: Oh, I am going to tell you...
Mayor Suarez: The easiest way, now, you've asked Mr. Jones and
the Manager and I are going to try to answer it, but..
Mr. Odio: It's a redevelopment area. This is important for the total
redevelopment of Overtown and Park West and we should proceed in that
direction. That's why...
Mayor Suarez: But the correct entity should not be the church. Why can't you
just spin off - wait a minute, wait a minute, Ann Marie, please. Why can't
you just spin off of 501C3 with community activists who all happen to be
members of your vestry or... the law allows that. I have seen interlocking
directorates 501C3s. We can do that very quickly for you on a pro bono basis,
you know. Any law firm would do it, Reverend.
67 March 12, 1992
Rev. White: We are in the process of doing that now.
Commissioner Plummer: All he wants is parking.
Mayor Suarez: And in the meantime you could do a temporary thing that would
not be an entanglement. I think that probably any entity, religious or
otherwise...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Let's approve these -today...
Rev. Jones: That seems feasible.
`
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...and then if we feel strongly that it has to be changed,
let's look at that. Ann Marie has been trying to tell us something.
Mayor Suarez:
I think if it were not a one-year lease as far as them
allowing, being
allowed to use the particular facility, I don't think that's
-
an entanglement
because we've done that many, many times. For, you know, like
one event.
Rev. Jones: I
don't think it would be viewed as excessive entanglement but
still the fact
remains that they would be perceived and viewed as the City
3
doing business
with a religious entity which is forbidden.
Mayor Suarez:
But what I was suggesting is that that would give us enough
-'
time to get to
the point of... Do we have a volunteer in the back, Rob, to do
the 51OC3? I
know you are very good at that. You were getting up and
-
stretching, and Reverend, you may have a very fine attorney in the back there
..
who would love
to...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Oh, look, yes.
Mayor Suarez: There he is, to help you with the 510C3 and spin that off and
get that set up to be a non -denominational, non -religious although the
individuals can be religious and can have obviously all kinds of religious
motives for helping you.
Commissioner Plummer: And they only charge you two hundred and fifty an hour.
Mayor Suarez: That happens when you show up here unexpected. So you got
legal counsel.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We see other fine attorneys here, too, that would be
delighted to do it. So we have... Wonderful!
Mayor Suarez: I would suggest, Commissioners, that we give the City Attorney
a little bit of time to frame something that can be done temporarily and then
also give you the opportunity to get that 510C3 organization set up and we can
vote on it this afternoon. I mean as far as at least getting you going. Ann
Marie.
Ann Marie Adker: I am Ann Marie Adker and I live at 407 N.W. 5th Street and
that's in Overtown. When this was put on the agenda, did anyone go out to
look at the area and see how much parking that Greater Bethel AME (African
68 March 12, 1992
Methodist Episcopal) church has already? They have purchased a lot on 9th
Street for parking, they have other parking. I am looking at lots five and
six and this area is the Historic Folklore Village, which gives me a distinct
idea that somebody is trying to tie this area up and for two years? I am
-, hoping that the Historic Folklore Village is put in much earlier than that,
and if you give Greater Bethel AME church a lease on the... How much parking
i do they need? Have you been out there?
Rev. White: What she means is have you been there? - not whether they've been
there.
Ms. Adker: No. Honey, I live there, you only come in.
Mayor Suarez: Well, I'll take all your questions as rhetorical questions, you
know. They are observations. They are in the record and you can object to
whatever you want, Ann Marie, and we are going to take any action we deem
proper.
Ms. Adker: That's right. Do a survey of it. See how much parking this
Greater Bethel needs. Something tells me they trying to sew up our area.
Commissioner Dawkins: Call the roll.
Mayor Suarez: Very good. OK. Who's the movant? Was it you, Commissioner?
Can you change that motion to reflect that in principle we approve this and
give the City Attorney a little time to work it out to give them temporary use
of the facility that does not create a constitutional entanglement and then
approve in principle the lease to be done to a nonprofit entity that you will
set up.
Commissioner Dawkins:
So
move
with the understanding that they will be
innovative and get it
done.
Don't
come back and tell me how it can't be done,
come back and tell me
how we
can
do it.
Mayor Suarez: That requires a character change on the part of the Legal
Department.
Mr. Jones: We will be creative.
Mayor Suarez: This man is getting to the point.
Commissioner Dawkins: That's right, and also spell out so Ms. Adker will
understand that this is a year-to-year lease. It's revocable at any time.
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely. And we're not going to stop the Folklore Historic
Village for any parking for any church or anybody else.
Commissioner Dawkins: Anybody.
Mayor Suarez: Herb, anything else?
Mr. Bailey: I have a couple of questions. First on the motion and amendment.
Am I to understand that the City Attorney would draft a document that would
satisfy the Commission that there is no statutory problem or constitutional
69 March 12, 1992
problems? This is not a conveyance of land. This is a permission of use.
The other concern I have is that I'd like to know, and the City Attorney and I
have had some discussions about this, to what extent does this whole
observation of his go in terms of our dealing with religious institutions?
Simply because the Church puts together a 510C3 does not necessarily mean it
is non -secular, because most of the 510C3s that are put together by the
church. The church owns and controls them. I would just like to have...
Mayor Suarez: Well, the 510C3 under Federal Law is charitable, educational et
cetera. If it is controlled, and if it is deemed to be controlled by a
religious institution, I don't know what entanglements that might create
constitutionally, but he would have to look at that and I don't see that we
have to resolve that right now, Herb. What is your concern? I don't
understand.
Mr. Bailey: Well, you know, it goes we are constantly involving ourselves
with lots of developments which involve churches and their relationships with
501C3s and we can be in a lot of problem.
Mayor Suarez: Well, typically they are the promoters but there is always an
entity that is legally valid, community entity that can be helped. The fact
that it may have a name like St. John's is not, is not...
Mr. Bailey: But St. John's owns the 510C3. That's what I am trying to get
at. I need a clarification.
Mayor Suarez: Well, that maybe something that they should look at. But why
you would bring that up in the public forum? With Mr. Goldfarb sitting there?
Commissioner Plummer: You are possibly setting a precedent.
Mr. Bailey: Because every day, Mr. Mayor, this is just one small isolated
issue. We're doing this every day and I'd like for the City Attorney to
clarify once and for all...
Mayor Suarez: Sir, I think respectfully, that you ought to take that up with
the City Manager. All right, folks. We've got a motion and a second. Let's
+:
call the roll.
70 March 12, 1992
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Dawkins, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-171
A MOTION APPROVING, IN PRINCIPLE, THE ISSUANCE OF A
REVOCABLE PERMIT TO GREATER BETHEL AFRICAN METHODIST
EPISCOPAL (A.M.E.) CHURCH FOR THE USE OF LOTS 5 AND 6,
BLOCK 35 N. SUBDIVISION MIAMI NORTH (ALSO KNOWN AS
A.L. KNOWLTON B-41) LOCATED ON N.W. 9 STREET, SITUATED
BEHIND THE GREATER BETHEL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH AT 245 N.W. 8 STREET FOR PURPOSES OF PROVIDING
NECESSARY PARKING; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY ATTORNEY
TO PROCEED TO IMPLEMENT THIS DIRECTION, MAKING SURE
THAT SUCH WOULD NOT CONSTITUTE A LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT
FOR THE CITY.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner De Yurre, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
COMMENTS MADE DURING ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Dawkins: I am going to vote yes, but I am also going to demand
that the City Attorney finds out what Mr. Bailey's concerns are and that the
City Manager bring them back to me.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner Plummer: I have the same concerns. Especially if it is setting
a precedent. It could be devastating to the City overall. I am going to vote
yes for this. It is a revocable permit and in no way do I see this as similar
to what we have done in others, such as St. John's, which was on a permanent
basis. This is on a temporary basis, so I am voting yes.
Mayor Suarez: Yes. This is a motion in principle, folks. We don't even know
what the instrument is going to look like yet.
Rev. White: Thank you, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, Reverend.
71 March 12, 1992
1
17. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CODE CHAPTER 54: STREET AND SIDEWALKS --
AMEND SECTION 54-104: NONSTANDARD STREET WIDTHS BY MODIFYING WIDTH OF A
CERTAIN STREET.
Mayor Suarez: Item 8.
Commissioner Dawkins: I think somebody said...
Mr. Odio: This is what is amending the Code nonstandard street widths by
modifying the zone width of Bayview Road?
Mayor Suarez: All right. I'll entertain a motion on item 8.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I have questions. This is.. this will affect, yes,
this will affect the entire City of Miami, not only the Bayview Road. It will
affect the entire City of Miami.
Mr. Jim Kay: No, no, no, no. This is just Bayview Road. We have received a
petition one hundred percent of the property owners on Bayview Road to reduce
the zone street width from fifty to twenty-five feet.
Commissioner Plummer: Why do we want to do that?
Mr. Kay: Well, there's...
Commissioner Plummer: What advantage is it to the City to do such?
Commissioner De Yurre: J.L., it's not advantage to the City. It's the
advantage to the neighbors there. If you know that street it's a very narrow
street that nothing is ever going to be built there other than the homes that
are there. And to require a fifty foot width which is really not necessary
for the type of traffic that they have there and the use that they have of
that street.
Commissioner Plummer: That's not my point, Victor. If we presently own the
street width or have dedications out to fifty feet, to what does it benefit
the City to relinquish that position?
�i
Mr. Kay: All right, let me just give you a brief...
Commissioner Plummer: Because I can see what the owners are doing. They want
to build out further, and not have the setback problems and all of the rest of
it, but where does it benefit the City?
Mr. Kay: The original plat for this subdivision platted Bayview Road and
twenty feet in width. The homes that were developed back then were developed
at that setback that was established there for that twenty foot width. Later
on the City came in and re -zoned that street to fifty feet in width as it has
in all streets in the City are zoned fifty feet, with some exceptions, few
exceptions. What has happened is that we have a number of homes that are
72 March 12, 1992
there now that are built to that original zone width and to redevelop, they
are forced to redevelop anything much further back.
Commissioner Plummer: That's the point I am trying to make. What does it
benefit the City who has that presently within its ordinances, to relinquish
that?
Mr. Kay: Secondly, there is, to a lesser degree, there is a line of royal
palms along that roadway. Right now if the street is re -zoned back to twenty
five feet in width then that places the maintenance responsibility for those
royal palms in private hands rather than now in a quasi -public hands.
Commissioner Plummer: You mean, if they don't chop them down to put another
bedroom. Now, my question is simple, what does it benefit the City to
relinquish that right?
Vice Mayor Alonso: The reason was an agreement with the neighborhood to
protect the landscaping that they had established in the area? Was it part of
the agreement?
Mr. Kay: Well, there's some landscaping but we haven't taken dedications
along there. This is a very narrow roadway as it exists, the pavement is very
narrow and dedications haven't been taken.
Commissioner Plummer: My question could not be any simpler. What does it
benefit the City to relinquish that right?
Commissioner Dawkins: It's obvious - nothing. Because they can't tell you
anything.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, then, why are we doing it?
Commissioner Dawkins: I don't know.
Commissioner De Yurre: Because we have nothing to lose and it is beneficial
to the residents.
Commissioner Plummer: What've we got to gain is what I am asking?
Commissioner De Yurre: J.L., you have a number of citizens there which pay
the taxes for all that we do here and they have made a petition which is not
contrary to what's in the best interests of the City. It's something that
they wish, it's something that's reasonable for them in the area that they
live in, and that street, if you know the street that I am talking about. So
I don't see any sense in not giving it to them.
Commissioner Dawkins: This is great.
V9
'S
`4 Commissioner Plummer: Does the City get anything in return?
Commissioner Dawkins: These two are not running, and they are... I like
this. Go ahead.
if
73 March 12, 1992
Commissioner De Yurre: Yes, you're getting happy citizens. That is what you
are getting, happy citizens, content.
Vice Mayor Alonso: These came about by the neighborhood. They've requested
it. OK.
Mr. Kay: It's initiated by the neighbors.
Commissioner De Yurre: One hundred percent.
Commissioner Dawkins: Let me ask a question. The Vice Mayor said, "Is this
for the City of Miami?" You said no. It said, it is respectfully recommended
that the City Commission adopt the attached ordinance amending Chapter 54 of
{ the Code of the City of Miami entitled Streets and Sidewalks by amending
Section 54.104 entitled Non -Standard Street Width, and it does not say for no
specific area. To me that means for the City of Miami. You guys show me
where I am wrong.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's why I ask the question, because I continue to read
the background and it refers only to Bayview Road but I got the impression
that it is for the City of Miami.
Mr. Kay: If you read the heading of the ordinance it specifically says...
Commissioner Dawkins: All right, turn to the ordinance. What page, what
page, what line of the ordinance that spells out that this is not Citywide...?
Mr. Wally Lee: Page 11, Commissioner, in your packet.
Commissioner Dawkins: What does it say?
Mr. Lee: It says, as you stated, an ordinance amending so and so by modifying
the width of a certain street. Then down in the rest of the ordinance, it
specifically mentions Bayview Road.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yeah, but.. but it does not specifically say this is
only it. It says Article 5 of Chapter 54, establish base building locations
for all public streets within the City of Miami. Whereas Bayview Road
requested that theirs be changed and it does not say that this is limited to
that neighborhood.
Mr. Lee:
Commissioner, if you will turn the page, to page
12...
Y_++
Commissioner Dawkins: Page 12.
2.
Mr. Lee:
...in the middle of the page.
Commissioner Dawkins: Base building lines, Bayview Road,
Main Highway to its
=�
terminus.
What?
Mr. Lee:
Right, base building lines shall be located from the center line as
j
specified
for each of the following streets: Bayview
Road, Main Highway
i�
southeast
to its terminus, twelve and a half feet from the
center line.
74 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: I'd like this to be deferred and I'd like to go out and
look at it.
Mayor Suarez: Doesn't sound like the world's most controversial item but it
makes sense to defer at the request of any one Commissioner.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mr. Odio: May I suggest that since it's only the first reading.
Mayor Suarez: You want to take it up on first reading?
?a Mr. Odio: Pass it on first reading.
'? Commissioner Plummer: That's all right. That's fine.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Moved on first reading by Commissioner Plummer,
seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso. Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 54 OF THE CODE OF THE
CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "STREET
AND SIDEWALKS" BY AMENDING SECTION 54-104 ENTITLED
"NONSTANDARD STREET WIDTHS" BY MODIFYING THE WIDTH OF
A CERTAIN STREET; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION, A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
Was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor
Alonso and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
(; NOES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
s�75 March 12, 1992
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 10920 BY ESTABLISHING NEW
ACCOUNT: TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES, SERIES 1991 NOTE FUND -- APPROPRIATE
$20,889,333 TO PROVIDE FOR REPAYMENT OF RECENTLY ISSUED TAX ANTICIPATION
NOTES.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Yes, item 9.
Mr. Odio: This is a tax anticipation note repayment of, that we need to do
this according to the Code.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: So moved. Commissioner Plummer.
Commissioner De Yurre: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded by Commissioner De Yurre.
Commissioner Dawkins: Under discussion.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Question.
Commissioner Dawkins: Go ahead, Commissioner Alonso.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, no, go ahead.
Mayor Suarez: Vice Mayor Alonso defers to Commissioner Dawkins who defers
back.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Manager according to this, we have operating
revenues of two hundred and seventy-three million five hundred and seventy-
five thousand fifty-six dollars. Is that a correct statement?
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: And you borrowed twenty million dollars to have a short
gap of funds between April and whenever these funds come in. Is that a
correct statement?
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: Now, now you're going to take the twenty million
dollars from the two hundred and seventy-three million five hundred and
seventy-five, fifty-six dollars. Is that a correct statement?
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Now, what are you going to do with the twenty
million?
;r
4
F 76 March 12, 1992
t
Mr. Odio. No this is a repaid.
Mr. Carlos Garcia: Repayment, yes.
Mr. Odio: Repayment...
Commissioner Dawkins: Beg pardon?
Mr. Odio: We're paying the tax anticipation notes.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. But if you borrowed... All right, so therefore...
Mr. Odio: All right, Commissioner, let me see if I can explain it. We know
we have a shortfall of cash monies at the beginning of the year because we
don't get tax revenues in on time, so we borrow the twenty million, when the
monies come in, you pay it back. OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: But if you had a shortfall, as stated by you...
Mr. Odio: Of cash.
Commissioner Dawkins: Then your cash shortfall is temporary.
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Therefore, when you collect all of the money, you do
not have a tax shortfall, because you should have all of your money plus the
twenty million that you borrowed.
Mr. Odio: Right. That's why we are paying back the twenty million.
Commissioner Dawkins: So therefore, you have twenty million in your budget,
some damn where floating around, because you borrowed twenty million for a
shortfall that you're going to have when you collected all the money. Am I
right?
Mr. Odio: In the sense that the cash that we have now, the money to return
the cash, yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK, so you've got twenty million dollars above that
that I have passed as a budget in September because you borrowed twenty
million to pay some bills that you had to wait until you got the money for.
; Is that right?
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins:
the budget?
Mr. Odio: No.
So now we got an excess of twenty million dollars in
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. Why not?
77 March 12, 1992
Mr, Garcia: Commissioner, we need to pay back the twenty million dollars plus
interest.
Commissioner Dawkins: Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, now. Don't pay it
back yet now, don't pay it back.
Mr. Garcia: No, we are not going to pay it back yet.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no, don't pay it back yet. OK. You've got to
show me how we had a shortfall of twenty million dollars and it was necessary
for me to go to my American Express card, which you have to pay every thirty
days, and borrow twenty million dollars to pay the shortfall on my Master
Card. Now, I am going to get some monies from hitting the lotto, which means
that I can bail out my twenty million dollar American Express card and I don't
owe Mastercharge nothing.
'` Mr. Odio: No, Commissioner.
:r
Commissioner Plummer: No, you can't do that because lotto pays out over
r; twenty years.
Commissioner Dawkins: I will have to use another example. OK. But somebody
i+ explain to me please how we passed a budget that was balanced and when I
passed the budget that was balanced, I was supposed to have all of the money
necessary to run the City of Miami. Then you came back and said, "Yes, I have
the money." The money is coming in to run the City, but we have a shortfall
because the taxes are collected by Dade County. Dade County holds the money
until this date and when I want to borrow twenty million dollars to cover the
shortfall, and when I get the money from the tax assessor for the taxes paid
i by the people of the City of Miami, I'm going to pay that twenty million
dollars back. So therefore, once you pay the twenty million dollars back,
you've got to have the twenty million dollars that you've spent, because it
was in the budget. And that's in accounting 101.
Mr. Odio: The fact is that...
Mayor Suarez: That's accounting 101 most recent edition.
Commissioner Dawkins: Right. Go ahead, Mr. Manager.
Mr. Odio: We project a budget of two -seventy-three million.
Commissioner Dawkins: Beg pardon?
i�
i j
Mr. Odio: We projected a budget of revenues for two hundred and seventy-three
million dollars.
Commissioner Dawkins: We projected a budget. OK? Go ahead.
Mr. Odio: We projected a budget. As of the 1st of October, you start
operating under the new budget. However, your monies projected to come in do
{ not come in at the beginning of the year, so you borrow twenty million to pay
your... to cover your payroll from October 1st, November so forth. As the
j? monies come in, from the projected revenues, you take those monies and pay the
78 March 12, 1992
notes back. So that, in fact, as you say, you have a balanced budget. One
thing is budget, Commissioner, and one thing is cash flow.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Walk through it with me now, because I just walked
through it with you. The budget is projected, it's projected on expected
revenue income.
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Mr. Manohar Surana: Over twelve months.
Commissioner Dawkins: Right? Now, you projected that I'M dollars would come
in.
Mr. Odio: Correct.
Commissioner Dawkins: But, you also projected that there would be a shortfall
until these 11V dollars come in. Is that right?
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: Now, so therefore, you didn't say that there will be a
shortage of twenty million dollars in my budget, therefore it's not balanced.
Mr. Odio: That's correct.
Mr. Surana: No, no, no, no.
Commissioner Dawkins: You said there's a twenty million dollar shortfall that
I am short of and I will make it, I will have that twenty million dollars
when I collect all of the tax dollars. That's what you told me.
Mr. Odio: No, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, it is.
Mr. Odio: Now, wait a minute, let me simplify it. If we left...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, do not simplify it.
Mr. Odio: Wait, let me try this then. Let me try another approach. If you
left the twenty million dollars in the budget that we borrow, you would end up
with a revenue of two -ninety-three.
Commissioner Dawkins: I've got to have two -ninety-three.
Mr. Odio: No.
Commissioner Dawkins: I've got to have two -ninety-three and when you take the
twenty million that you owe, and pay off, that brings me back to two -seventy-
three...
Mr. Odio: That's correct.
79 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: That's plain English.
Mr. Odio: That's what we're trying to do. We're trying...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, you're not doing that, Mr. Manager.
Mr. Odio: OK, maybe...
Commissioner Dawkins: Somebody. Anybody...
Mr. Surana: Commissioner...
Commissioner Plummer: Every year we go through Dawkins' Finances 101. When
are you going to sit down with the man and show him what you believe is right
and where he is wrong. Why don't you sit down with the man? We go through
this every year.
Mr. Surana: OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: Go ahead.
Mr. Surana: OK. Commissioner, the budget is projected over twelve months.
So at the end of the twelve months, if all the revenue comes in...
Vice Mayor Alonso: I'm so glad that is all we got.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute now, you're talking about numbers or
money?
Mr. Surana: I am talking about the numbers.
Commissioner Dawkins: Don't deal with no numbers. Give me dollars.
Mr. Surana: OK. Dollars...
Commissioner Dawkins: We balance the budget with dollars.
Mr. Surana: All right. Let's see. We say our budget for next year will be
two hundred million dollars.
Commissioner Dawkins: Two... wait a minutes now.
Mr. Surana: For example, I'm just giving you an example.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Go ahead.
,j
Mr. Surana: So my budget is - we're going to get two hundred million dollars
in revenue, we're going to spend two hundred million dollars.
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Mr. Surana: At the end of the twelve months, everything happens, budget is
balanced. Now what happened in order to spend in the first quarter, we need
fifty million cash, OK?
March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait, now. Make sure I am with you.
Mr. Surana. OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: We started with two hundred million..
Mr. Surana: OK. In first quarter...
Commissioner Dawkins: Now wait a minute, no, no, no, we started with two
hundred million.
Mr. Surana: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Now, in the first quarter, we need fifty million.
Mr. Surana: Right.
Commissioner Dawkins: So now, just for the sake of numbers, we're talking
about two hundred and fifty million dollars.
Mr. Surana: Right.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Go ahead. I am with you...
Mr. Surana: Well, I am just, for sake of example, talking two hundred million
dollars. OK?
Commissioner Dawkins: No, you're up two hundred and fifty million.
Mr. Odio: By the end of the year, if you do not return the fifty, you would
end up with revenues of two fifty.
Mr. Surana: No, no, no. Let me finish. Commissioner, just follow me for a
second.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Explain to him that it does not increase the budget - the
prediction. That the money needed to complete the year with the two hundred
million is included in that amount and all that you're doing, you're borrowing
the money to pay some of the obligation for which you don't have the cash.
Say that.
Mr. Surana: In first quarter. Yes. That is what I was trying to get.
Commissioner Dawkins: Then you lied to me when you told me that
the budget was balanced.
Mr. Surana: No. Budget is balanced over 12 months. We're talking about a
short term cash flow problem.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. Then I'll get to what I wanted to ask you
at the very beginning.
Mr. Surana: Yes, sir.
81 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: What are you going to do next year for twenty million
dollars?
Mr. Surana: That twenty million dollars, which we borrowed, is paid in same
fiscal year. You don't carry it forward next year.
Commissioner Dawkins: Beg pardon?
Mr. Surana: The money we borrow this year will be paid out this year. We
don't carry forward next year.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I hope not.
Commissioner Dawkins: But you should know somewhere along the lines that you
don't have twenty million dollars. You should make a mid -course adjustment.
You know you're going to be short twenty million dollars.
Mr. Surana: No, no.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, don't wait until the end. That's what he is telling
you.
Commissioner Dawkins: And every year for the last four years you've been
borrowing twenty million dollars. Somewhere along the line you should adjust
your numbers so that you don't have a twenty million dollars shortfall.
That's all I am saying to you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, what he is trying to emphasize is what happened in
the past year. Do you remember that you came to us and say, approve - I think
it was six or seven million. Then at that time we told you, well then in
fact, the budget that we thought we had was not, in effect, a balanced budget
because it went over the amount. What he is telling you is make the
adjustments through the year, don't wait until the end to make it look like
everything is fine, when in fact, it was not fine. We went over the amount.
We overspent, last year - I think it was six million?
Mr. Surana: Right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, so it didn't happen at the end of the year, it
happened midyear, through the year, so you should make adjustments as we face
them, rather than wait until the end of the year and make everything look
fine.
Mr. Surana: And we plan to do that this year.
Commissioner Dawkins: No further questions.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I have a question.
Mayor Suarez: Vice Mayor Alonso.
82 March 12, 1992
- Vice Mayor Alonso: Tell me exactly what we are doing. You're saying that
we're paying back. Is that all we are doing?
I
Mr. Surana: That's it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Just paying back? So we're taking the money that we have
now and we're paying what we owe. Nothing else. We are not establishing
anything else.
Mr. Odio: No.
Mr. Surana: No.
Mr. Odio: In fact, this...
Mr. Surana: This is bookkeeping.
Mr. Odio: Thank God, we can pay it back so quickly.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So we are settling an account. We are paying our bill,
period. Nothing else. OK.
Commissioner De Yurre: Let me ask this. Are we paying the twenty million in
one lump sum right now?
Mr. Garcia: We're not going to pay that twenty million dollars until
September. What we need to do is adjust the budget of the City, the
appropriations, to reflect the fact that that transaction took place when the
City Commission approved it in October, so that's what we're doing here.
Commissioner De Yurre: Yes, because...
Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir, we'll pay it in a lump sum payment. Yes, sir.
Commissioner De Yurre: In one lump sum. Now, the... my understanding is that
we make money...
Mr. Garcia: Yes, that's right.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... on this transaction because we get this money, we
pay it at a lesser rate than what we're charging the taxpayers that owe use
the money. Is that correct?
Mr. Odio: We made a profit of... We made a net profit of two hundred thousand
dollars.
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. Now, if I follow that reasoning out, and my math
is correct, if we wait until the end of the year to pay the twenty million
when the monies have come in during the course of the year, those taxpayers
that are paying during the course of the year, they're not going to be paying
any more interest to us.
Mr. Garcia: No, they are not.
83 March 12, 1992
Commissioner De Yurre: So, they're not. So if we understand that this twenty
—b million is supposed to cover twenty million dollars of tax money that is going
k to be coming in during the course of the year, shouldn't we be paying back the
_ twenty million as those monies come in during the course of the year, so that
we are not stuck with no more income from the taxpayers as far as interest is
concerned coming in, but only us paying interest on the money that we borrowed
for which we don't need the whole twenty million towards the end of the year.
That we should be paying it back as we go along.
Mr. Garcia: The reason we delay the payment is precisely because we make
money on it. We earn more than what we're paying on these notes.
Commissioner De Yurre: But what do you do with that money?
Mr. Garcia: We... It comes to the City. It comes to the City.
3
i
Commissioner De Yurre: How do you earn the money?
Mr. Garcia: By investing the funds in, you know, commercial paper or, you
know, some kind of investment. We're making close to six percent on that
money and we paid less than five.
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. So then the concept of the taxpayers paying us
back at a higher rate than what we're paying is not the reason for which...
—'' Mr. Garcia: No.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... you're holding the money.
Mr. Garcia:
No.
Mr. Odio: The longer we keep the money, the more money we make. But we
do
not want to,
and we'll never propose to extend it over the... We want to
pay
it within the
budget year.
Mr. Garcia:
This transaction does not affect the taxpayers at all. They
are
paying their
taxes at their regular rates.
Commissioner
Plummer: What about the money... What about the people that
the
V
money is due
to?
'
�5
Mr. Garcia:
The bondholders? They are earning interest on that money.
Commissioner
Plummer: No, you're using the money to pay bills, you say.
Mr. Garcia.
Sure. To pay salaries and to pay all kinds of bills, you know,
#,
all kinds of
City expenses.
Mr. Odio: As
the money comes in...
Commissioner
Dawkins: Commissioner De Yurre, this doesn't
make no more sense
to you than it
does to me. If you borrow money, you invest
the money, you
get
interest and
you borrowed twenty million dollars - and I'm
just going to
say
{a
for the sake
of discussion - you made a million dollars interest,
then
next
84
March 12,
1992
( year you shouldn't borrow but nineteen million because you got a million in
the bank.
Commissioner De Yurre: But that money that they're making, that extra money,
is part of the budget.
Commissioner Dawkins: Huh?
Commissioner De Yurre: That's part of the budget. That's how they balance
the budget because they're counting on that two hundred thousand dollars.
Right, Carlos?
Mr. Garcia: That is right. It's an additional revenue source for the City.
Commissioner De Yurre: Which is part of the balanced budget. You're
anticipating making two hundred thousand dollars...
Mr. Garcia: That is right. That is correct, yes.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... and you add that in to your balancing of the
budget.
Mr. Garcia: That is correct, yes.
Commissioner Plummer: The two hundred thousand is revenue.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I'd like to know what we did last year with the money we
made, and I'd like to know what we are going to do this year with the two
hundred thousand. Because I haven't seen that. I was presented a budget that
did not include that. I'd like to know specifically what you did last year
with the money we made, and I want to know this year what are we going to do
with the two hundred thousand.
Commissioner Plummer: Would somebody call the roll?
Mayor Suarez: As soon the Vice Mayor is finished in her inquiry and anyone
else...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, let me see. Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga, sir, in the afternoon...
Vice Mayor Alonso: We are... Excuse me, one minute, please. This fund that
we are establishing here is just for the purpose of making the payment?
Mr. Garcia: That is right. Yes, Madam Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And is it going to be terminated as soon as we make the
payment?
Mr. Garcia: That is right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Will it come to us for termination?
85 March 12, 1992
,t
i
Mr. Garcia: No.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How does it work?
Mr. Garcia: No, it does not. It's...
Vice Mayor Alonso: So we establish something and we give you the power. We
establish this.
Mr. Garcia: Right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Then you have the power to terminate what we established?
Mr. Garcia: Well, there is nothing to terminate. Once the payment is made,
there is nothing left there.
Vice Mayor Alonso: What about if we have some money that could be placed...
It's just for the purpose of repayment.
Mr. Garcia: Nothing else.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It's clearly stated.
Mr. Garcia: Nothing else.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So you cannot have any voodoo economics and place some
money there.
Mr. Garcia: No.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: No further questions from me, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Thank you.
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: One question.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, sir. In the afternoon, we'll have a public hearing and
you'll be able to make all your remarks that you want.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Regarding this financing?
Mayor Suarez: But it's not a public hearing. In the afternoon, we'll take
you up. We passed an ordinance. If you want... If any Commissioner wants to
recognize you, they can do so. The Commission has inquired on an internal
matter of administration and we're otherwise going to take a vote on it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: One last question.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, Vice Mayor Alonso.
86 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: When will I receive this information? Tomorrow?
Mr. Garcia: We'll try to work out something out for you, Madam.
i
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Great. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Call the roll on the item.
A. Quinn Jones III, Esq.: Read the ordinance?
Mayor Suarez: Read the ordinance. I'm sorry. Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTIONS 1 AND 6 OF ORDINANCE
NO. 10920, THE ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS ORDINANCE FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1992, ADOPTED
SEPTEMBER 26, 1991, BY ESTABLISHING A NEW ACCOUNT
ENTITLED: "TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES, SERIES 1991 NOTE
FUND" AND APPROPRIATING A SUM OF $20,889,333 TO
PROVIDE FOR THE REPAYMENT OF RECENTLY ISSUED TAX
ANTICIPATION NOTES.
Was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Commissioner De
Yurre and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
!.� Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
— Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
COMMENTS MADE DURING ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Dawkins: I have to vote no. I can't understand how you can
borrow twenty million dollars, collect twenty million dollars and still be
short twenty million dollars. I vote no.
9
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. DISCUSS AND TEMPORARILY TABLE CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED FIRST READING
ORDINANCE AMENDING CODE SECTION 2-305 CONCERNING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
AND DISCLOSURE OF REAL ESTATE OWNED BY CERTAIN OFFICIALS, THEREBY ADDING
MEMBERS OF THE NUISANCE ABATEMENT BOARD (See label 40).
Mayor Suarez: Item 10. This is a...
Commissioner Plummer: What does this item 10 do? Is there conflicts
presently?
Commissioner Dawkins: No. With the State of Florida there is, J. L., but the
members on the board felt in order to comply with state regulations, they
would rather us pass this than have them meet all the requirements met by
other board members, you know, as to financial disclosure and all and they
just request that we pass this...
Commissioner Plummer: They're asking us to impose that upon them?
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Of course. If they want it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How about personal disclosure? Some people feel that
members of these boards should have..
Commissioner Dawkins: But these are requested.
Commissioner Plummer: They're asking for it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: They're asking for these,...
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... but what about personal disclosure? Are they required
to complete one?
Commissioner Dawkins: They're supposed to meet all the requirements the State
of Florida requires...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. City Attorney.
A. Quinn Jones, Esq.: I'm sorry. Commissioner.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Some members of the Commission... Some citizens feel that
perhaps members of this board should also be required by the City of Miami to
have personal disclosure to show that they don't have any conflict.
Mr. Jones: With respect to real estate or... The only...
88 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: In general.
Mr. Jones: They would be subject to disclosure if in fact they do have a
conflict.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Disclosure.
Mr. Jones: Yes, they would. And what the law requires, that prior to a vote
or whatever, that they submit in writing the nature of that conflict and it
becomes part of the record.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Do they know this? That they have to do it prior to...
Mr. Jones: Commissioner.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Are they informed?
Mr. Jones: Madam Vice Mayor, I don't know. I have met with the board's
attorney. We've had initial meetings and I've made them very much aware,
since they have their own counsel, that they need to be advised by their
counsel as to the nature of the Sunshine Law, the conflicts of interest,
whatever else. And I also indicated to Mr. Broeker that, to the extent that
he needs assistance from our office in terms of putting on a seminar or
whatever else for the board, I'd be more than happy to do it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: This should be clear to them because we don't want them to
run into problems that they didn't know what they are supposed to be doing and
maybe some of them will be addressing... I don't know. Problems of solid
waste or what have you and they might have problems.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: I'd like to change my vote and move that this be
deferred until the next meeting and that the attorney for the board come
forward and explain the board's position.
Commissioner Plummer: Fine.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: So moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call
the roll.
THEREUPON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER DAWKINS AND SECONDED BY
VICE MAYOR ALONSO, THIS ITEM WAS DEFERRED TO THE NEXT MEETING BY
THE FOLLOWING VOTE.
89 March 12, 1992
�3
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
------------------------------------------
20. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 9959, THEREBY RELEASING ALL
LIMITATIONS OF AUTHORIZED INVESTMENT OF CITY FUNDS OR FUNDS OF ANY
RETIREMENT PROGRAM CONTROLLED BY THE CITY AGAINST THE COUNTRY NAMIBIA.
Mayor Suarez: Item 11. Entertain a motion on the...
Commissioner Plummer. Is there any...
Mayor Suarez: Sanctions.
Commissioner Dawkins: Somebody.
Ms. Judy Carter: Yes, sir.
} Commissioner Plummer: What's the problem?
l
Ms. Carter: Oh, there is no problem. We do have...
'.
Commissioner Plummer: Then I move it.
{ Ms. Carter: No problem whatsoever.
Mayor Suarez: Moved by Commissioner Plummer.
Commissioner Plummer: 11.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second. No problems?
Mayor Suarez: Seconded by the Vice Mayor. Commissioner Dawkins.
ifs Commissioner Dawkins: Isn't there a federal law which says that you cannot...
OK. All right. No, that's on 12. No questions on 11.
'! Mayor Suarez: OK. Call the roll.
i
Mr. Jones: 11. Read the ordinance.
Mayor Suarez: Read the ordinance.
(AT THIS POINT, THE CITY ATTORNEY READ THE ORDINANCE BY TITLE ONLY
INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.)
90 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Jones, isn't there a federal law or something that
says that pension funds cannot be invested outside the country?
Mr. Jones: Commissioner, I'm not aware of any. I would have to defer to
pension counsel. I can certainly look into it and find out what the case
may...
Commissioner Dawkins: The Manager's saying something. What did you say, Mr.
Manager?
Mr. Odio: Yeah, well the pension boards have independent counsel and they
operate completely independent of us. But that's a fair question.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. That would be their worry then. OK. No problem.
' No further questions, Mr. Mayor.
i
Commissioner Plummer: Call the roll on 11.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 9959, ADOPTED
FEBRUARY 14, 1985, THEREBY RELEASING ALL LIMITATIONS
OF AUTHORIZED INVESTMENT OF CITY FUNDS OR FUNDS OF ANY
RETIREMENT PROGRAM CONTROLLED BY THE CITY AGAINST THE
1 COUNTRY OF NAMIBIA; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION
`j AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
Was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso
and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
I'
1
�4
i
91 March 12, 1992
21. AMEND RESOLUTION 85-88, THEREBY RELEASING MIAMI MOTORSPORTS, INC. FROM
THE CITY'S PROHIBITION OF A CONTESTANT FROM, OR A VEHICLE SPONSORED BY,
AN ENTITY FROM THE COUNTRY NAMIBIA FROM COMPETING IN THE MIAMI GRAND
PRIX.
Mayor Suarez: Item 12.
Commissioner Plummer: Any problem with 12? Move it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, second.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the
roll.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-172
A RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 85-88, ADOPTED
FEBRUARY 14, 1985, THEREBY RELEASING MIAMI
MOTORSPORTS, INC. FROM THE REQUEST OF THE CITY
COMMISSION TO PROHIBIT A CONTESTANT FROM OR A VEHICLE
SPONSORED BY AN ENTITY FROM THE COUNTRY OF NAMIBIA
FROM COMPETING IN THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the resolution was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------
22. (A) INITIATE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TAX-EXEMPT PROPERTY STEERING COMMITTEE
IN ORDER TO EXPAND AND UPGRADE CURRENT PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES
PROGRAM IN THE CITY.
(B) COMMISSIONER PLUMMER REMINDS ADMINISTRATION OF A PENDING LEGAL
OPINION CONCERNING POSSIBILITY OF THE CITY ASSESSING A TAX ON TAX-
EXEMPT GROUPS AND FEDERAL BUILDINGS FOR THE ONGOING RENDERING OF
CITY SERVICES.
Mayor Suarez: Item 15 is on the table for discussion.
Commissioner Plummer: I don't understand this thing. What is it?
Mr. Odio: This is... Basically we're dealing here... beginning to put in
place a mechanism to deal with tax-exempt properties.
Vice Mayor Alonso: This the Boston...
Mr. Odio: The Boston rule.
Commissioner Plummer: But who are you recommending for this committee?
Mr. Odio: Well, I think the names have to come from you. No?
Mr. Manohar Surana: Yeah.
Mr. Odio: From the Commission.
Mr. Surana: The committee will be five representatives assigned by
Commissioners, there will be one person from Budget Department, Finance
' Department, Planning and Building and Zoning Department and City Attorney's
1! office.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It is your recommendation that... What we are doing is
establishing it now. Not the people.
Mr. Surana: Right.
Commissioner Plummer: That's it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Now, my question is, are you going to give us some
guidelines...
Mr. Surana: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... as the type of individuals that we should appoint to
this board or...
Mr. Surana: There would be...
93 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: They should have a mask and a gun and a badge and a big
stick.
Mr. Odio: I think they should have... They should know this community well
and know the tax...
Mr. Surana: Some civic leaders, right.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Yeah. I got...
Vice Mayor Alonso: And also they should live in Miami so they worry about
their pocketbooks and things like that.
Commissioner Dawkins: You know, they say we will get five and they're going
to get five. What's this... You know, why you get five and we get five.
Mr. Odio: Ten. I mean...
Commissioner Dawkins: I'd rather you get four so my five can out vote your
four. That's all I'd want.
Mr. Odio: I couldn't care less, Commissioner. But I think that we should
have some people up there that know what we're talking about.
Commissioner Plummer: I move item 15 which establishes...
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Commissioner Plummer: ... the vehicle for this committee to travel in.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call
the roll.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-173
A RESOLUTION INITIATING ESTABLISHMENT OF A TAX-EXEMPT
PROPERTY STEERING COMMITTEE FOR THE PURPOSE OF
9 EXPANDING AND UPGRADING THE CURRENT PAYMENT IN -LIEU OF
t�F TAXES PROGRAM IN THE CITY OF MIAMI; PROVIDING PURPOSE
AND RESPONSIBILITIES; DIRECTING PREPARATION OF
�
ENABLING LEGISLATION; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
;.
DATE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
i
94 March 12, 1992
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
i Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
i Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Commissioner Plummer: I ask again, Mr. City Attorney. I've asked now on two
subsequent meetings. When am I going to get an answer relating to the fact,
do we have to provide municipal type services to tax-exempt properties?
Mr. Jones: Commissioner, that opinion is in the process of being prepared
now. You should have it early part of the week.
Commissioner Plummer: Thank you, sir.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23. DISCUSS AND TABLE CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
MANAGER TO ACCEPT GRANT FROM SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
CONSORTIUM (SFETC) TO OPERATE THE 1992 SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND
TRAINING PROGRAM (See label 59).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: On item 16, please. Yes. SFETC, South Florida Employment
Training Consortium. The youth employment and training program.
Commissioner Dawkins: So moved.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Second. Any discussion? If not, please call the roll on 16.
Commissioner Dawkins: Under discussion.
Mayor Suarez: Yes. Don't call the roll. Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor, I would like for the Commission to suggest
to the Manager that some of these youth be employed in the graffiti program
from which the realtors will provide the paint and we could provide the
manpower, if that's...
Commissioner Plummer: Great idea.
Mr. Odio: When you mention it to me, it's a good idea to paint all that
graffiti out, but we can only do it, according to the rules, in the public
places, not in...
95 March 12, 1992
Mr. Frank Castaneda: In public property.
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, if we do that on the public property, that leaves
them free to do it on the other property.
Mr. Odio: Yeah, that's right.
Commissioner Plummer: How many youths will this accommodate?
Mr. Odio: Four hundred and nine.
Commissioner Plummer: How many?
Mr. Odio: Four hundred and nine.
Commissioner Plummer: And what are you going to do with the other four
hundred and fifty?
Ms. Francena Brooks: They'll be placed in different City departments.
a Various departments.
Commissioner Plummer: And you're once again this year telling me we can't use
these people to clean up this community.
?4 Mr. Odio: Can... You said all public places. Yes, you can in public places.
,� Sidewalks, buildings that we own...
Commissioner Plummer: Parks. City Parks.
Mr. Odio: Parks. City Parks. Yes, we can and we will. I think it's a great
idea that Commissioner...
I Commissioner Plummer: And how many of them are you delegating to that duty?
Mr. Odio: Well, Commissioner Dawkins just mentioned it this morning and we
need to sit down and plan it out now.
Commissioner Plummer: No, I'm saying is, that the parks in this community
need tremendous help. Cleaning up, sprucing up. How many of those four
hundred and fifty are going to be dedicated to the Parks Department.
is
Mr. Odio: Well, I don't want to give you a number now. Let me plan it.
i=
Commissioner Plummer: I want a number. Well... I'm entitled to a number.
Mr. Odio: Four hundred and fifty.
j Commissioner Plummer: All four fifty will go to the parks?
1 Mr. Odio: I'm... I don't know, Commissioner. I don't know.
I
Commissioner Plummer: I move it.
Alk
Mr. Odio: No, no. Don't...
Commissioner Plummer: No, you have a com...
Mr. Odio: Don't.
Commissioner Plummer: What?
Mr. Odio: We don't know if we can place four hundred and fifty kids in the
parks. Let me...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, damn it. Tell me what you're going to do with
them. I want to know. How many are going to go to parks? How many are going
to clean up this City? What are you going to do with them?
Mr. Frank Castaneda: We're working on...
Commissioner Plummer: Don't tell me you're working. I want something in
front of me saying a hundred are going to go to parks,...
Mr. Odio: I'll tell you what. I'll bring it...
Commissioner Plummer: ... a hundred are going to go to Administration...
Mr. Odio: No, we don't want any in Admin... I will bring a plan to you in
writing with where these people are going.
Commissioner Plummer: Move to defer.
Mr. Odio: No, we need the...
Mr. Castaneda: We'll bring you a plan.
Commissioner Plummer: What?
i
Mr. Castaneda: We'll bring you a plan.
j Mr. Odio: We'll bring you the plan.
Mayor Suarez: Don't defer.
Commissioner De Yurre: Why don't we defer the rest of the meeting?
Mr. Odio: We need to start getting...
Commissioner Plummer: That's a damn good idea.
{= Mayor Suarez: There's a motion to defer life for its duration.
Commissioner Plummer: No, till this afternoon when they bring me an outline
of what they're going to do with it.
Mayor Suarez: Table item 16.
9
i1
97 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Four hundred and fifty kids that are just going to be
running around. I want to know what they're doing.
Mayor Suarez: OK. The item is tabled at the request of the Commissioner.
Commissioner Dawkins: You want to bring it back this afternoon, J. L.?
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, if...
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine.
Mayor Suarez: ... it's tabled, it's to be brought back in the afternoon.
Item 17. It's a companion item.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor. 16, 17 and 18 are basically the same.
Mayor Suarez: All right. 16, 17 and 18...
Commissioner Plummer: And I'm asking...
Mayor Suarez: ... are tabled...
Commissioner Plummer: ... that they be tabled until the afternoon.
Mayor Suarez: ... until the afternoon and until you're satisfied. Somebody
flag that, please.
Mr. Odio: Actually, 17 is the first reading accepting the... establishing the
revenue.
Commissioner Plummer: When you come back and give me an outline... And 19
also, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Mr. Castaneda: No, 18 and 19 are different.
Commissioner Dawkins: Oh, you're deferring 17 and 16 and 18?
Mayor Suarez: So far, he wants to defer all that are related to 16.
Commissioner Plummer: Exactly.
Mayor Suarez: Which are the ones related to 16?
Mr. Castaneda: That's 16 and 17.
Mayor Suarez: 16 and 17. All right.
Mr. Castaneda: 18 and 19 are slightly different.
March 12, 1992
24. ACCEPT A JTPA TITLE II -A GRANT ($52,000) FROM SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT
AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM (SFETC) -- PROVIDE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES PROGRAM
TO RESIDENTS OF WYNWOOD AREA.
Mayor Suarez: Item 18.
Mr. Cesar Odio: 18 is to provide employment service programs to the area of
Wynwood.
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
Mayor Suarez: Item 18.
i
Commissioner Plummer: Now when you provide those services, what are you
doing?
Mr. Odio: It provides recruitment, employability skills training and
— ,•l
specialized job development and placement services.
3
Mr. Frank Castaneda: Basically, this program is directed to the Wynwood
neighborhood. It's part of the Manager's strategy to bring services to the
public and we're going to have somebody in the Wynwood area getting jobs for
Wynwood residents.
Commissioner Plummer: And that's fifty-two thousand dollars?
Mr. Castaneda: That's correct.
Commissioner Plummer: And who's going to implement that program?
is
Mr. Castaneda: We are.
Mr. Odio: We are. Right there in Wynwood.
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
$�
Commissioner Plummer: It will be Luis Carrasquillo who's there and the
1 training people will be moving over the Wynwood office.
H
Commissioner Dawkins: And the fifty-two thousand dollars is for salaries or
for what? Because I just don't...
f
Mr. Castaneda: One counselor and also wages to... The forty percent wages.
Commissioner Dawkins: Huh?
Mr. Castaneda: One counselor and then the rest...
Commissioner Dawkins: How much are you going to pay the counselor?
99 March 12, 1992
Mr. Castaneda: Twenty...
Mr. Odio: Twenty -some thousand.
Mr. Castaneda: Twenty -some thousand dollars, Commissioner.
Commissioner Dawkins: Twenty thousand. That leaves thirty-two...
Commissioner Plummer: Wait, wait, wait.
;11
Commissioner Dawkins: That leaves thirty-two thousand.
'I
Commissioner Plummer: Miller. I can't accept that, Frank. What is
twenty -
some? Is that twenty-nine or is that twenty?
t?
Mr. Castaneda: I think it's twenty-six, Commissioners.
Commissioner Plummer: You think, but you don't know.
Mr. Castaneda: Well, I'll bring it back this afternoon.
Commissioner Plummer: It's twenty some.
Mr. Castaneda: That's... In the twenties, Commissioner. Twenty-four to
is
twenty-six thousand.
Commissioner Plummer: In other words, a third of the money doesn't
make any
difference. I think we need to know.
Mr. Castaneda: We'll get it for you, Commissioner. This afternoon.
Defer it
and we'll bring it back this afternoon.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. And let me know how many... After you
get the
counselor, how many... Is this for you, or just for any citizen?
I'
Mr. Castaneda: Any citizen in the Wynwood neighborhood.
Commissioner Plummer: The Wynwood area.
Commissioner Dawkins: Any citizen in the Wynwood area?
Mr. Castaneda: That is qualified. That means that is unemployed, low
income...
Commissioner Dawkins: And let me know how many citizens will be serviced and
for how long.
Mr. Odio: OK.
Mr. Castaneda: This is for a year's time or until the money is expended.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. There's no way in hell you can service
Wynwood with thirty... twenty-six thousand dollars.
100 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: That's...
Commissioner Dawkins: You're going to pay a counselor twenty-six and you're
going to take twenty-six thousand dollars to service the Wynwood area for a
year? Come on.
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioner, we're looking for money everywhere...
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, then. No, no, no. Tell me three months, I can
go along with you. Tell me two months, I can buy two months.
Commissioner Plummer: How many...
f
Commissioner Dawkins: But twenty-six thousand dollars divided by twelve
equals what? Somebody. Anybody over there.
y
Commissioner Plummer: Two thousand. A little over two thousand.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. Two thousand.
Mr. Castaneda: Twenty-two hundred dollars.
Commissioner Dawkins: Two thousand divided by four weeks gives you five
hundred.
i
Mr. Castaneda: That's right.
Commissioner Dawkins: So you're talking about spending five hundred dollars a
week to assist the people in the Wynwood area who cannot eat, have no jobs and
got nothing. Come on. It's a joke.
a
Commissioner Plummer: But you're going to give twenty -some to a counselor.
'
i
Commissioner Dawkins: I mean... But you see...
Commissioner Plummer: That counselor will eat pretty damn good.
�-'
Commissioner Dawkins: We sit up here and give people false hope and have
people looking for something when we know there's nothing. No, I cannot be a
party to this.
t�
Commissioner Plummer: How many of the youth are you going to take out of
�!
Wynwood?
i
Mr. Castaneda: For the summer youth program, Commissioner?
i
i
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah.
Mr. Castaneda: It's, you know, we're taking City residents.
Ms. Francena Brooks: Yeah. The enrollment is open and when we start taking
applications, which is mid -May, we'll do some outreach in Wynwood. In fact,
the actual intake will be in Wynwood and other neighborhoods in the City. But
it's hard to say how many we'll actually serve.
101 March 12, 1992
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: May I say something?
Commissioner Plummer: You know, let me tell you something. Bill Rios, you're
right. Wynwood, the forgotten community. Now, you know, here it is. Miller
Dawkins screaming in behalf of Wynwood and it's a joke. Five hundred a week.
It's a joke. The counselor's making twenty some. It's got to be the
counselor's making two thousand dollars a month. You know, and we're going to
go out there and we're going to stand there at reelection time and other times
when we're there and say, we're doing for you, Wynwood.
Commissioner Dawkins: We love you, Wynwood.
Commissioner Plummer: You know what they're going to tell us. What the hell
are you doing for us?
Commissioner Dawkins: We want you to love us, Wynwood.
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioners, just for clarification. We have been able to
get through the consortium services for two specific areas. One of them being
Wynwood and the one being for the enterprise area and these are the only two
areas that have specific programs...
Mr. Odio: The others don't get any.
Mr. Castaneda: ... and the reason for that is that, you're right. Wynwood
has been underserved so they have allocated some money, you know, specifically
for the Wynwood area. That doesn't mean that we cannot use the rest of the
money that we have received in the past to also help the Wynwood area. But
this is a start in the right direction. And...
Commissioner Plummer: Can I put a stipulation on the four hundred and fifty
youth, that a hundred of them have to come from the Wynwood area?
Mr. Odio: Fine. Yes, you can.
Commissioner Plummer: Is that within our purview?
Mr. Odio: Yes, it it.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. No, wait now.
Commissioner Plummer: We'll bring that up this afternoon.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait, now. We haven't done anything for the summer
youth in Little Haiti. I mean, I'm looking. I've read. Now, we're talking
about Wynwood. We've got Overtown. We've got Liberty City. We've got the
youth in Little Haiti who need something. So get another... Get fifty of the
same youth, J. L. from Little Haiti. If we have to put them to work at the
school in Little Haiti or the park or whatever.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Come back with a proposal this afternoon. We'll
look at it.
102 March 12, 1992
Mr. Castaneda: OK. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Are we going ahead, proceeding with item 18, Commissioners?
Commissioner Plummer: Well,...
Mayor Suarez: Anybody have any problem with it?
Commissioner Plummer: ... I think what we're saying with 18 and 19 is we want
to do no less, but we think that this is a joke.
Mr. Odio: But this is the first time that we ever got additional... This is
additional monies from the main program.
Commissioner Dawkins: I agree with you, Mr. Manager. But just because they
give us...
Mr. Odio: It's not enough.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... additional money does not mean that we should tell
them how we would like to spend it.
Mr. Odio: No, I agree.
Commissioner Dawkins: We should not accept it and just say, OK, fine, we got
it. Right?
Mr. Odio: OK. I agree.
Commissioner Dawkins: You know yourself. You've got too many problems to
address...
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... that you could address with this, if we assist you.
Mr. Odio: Right.
Commissioner Dawkins: But you have to go them and tell them, my Commission
wants this...
Mr. Odio: OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... and they'll listen. You can't go over there and
say, well I think and I know. So all we're doing is giving you the ammunition
to go over there and tell them what we want done.
Mr. Odio: Fine. I got it.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: May I say something?
Mayor Suarez: No, sir. We're not even voting on these items.
103 March 12, 1992
N't
Commissioner Plummer: I'm going to move 18, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So moved.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded.
Commissioner Plummer: As just a start and a beginning.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. Any discussion on 18, from the Commission? You'll
be able to speak in the afternoon, sir. You can jot down all the items you
want to address us on and address us at that point.
Commissioner Plummer: God help us.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga, sir, this is not a public hearing. It
will be in the afternoon, beginning at 4:00 p.m. Have a seat, sir.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Have a seat. We don't need the constant...
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: I'm sure. No, no.
Mayor Suarez: ... interruptions on the microphone. Don't comment, sir. Just
have a seat. Follow orders for once in your life. All right.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: You follow morality.
Mayor Suarez: Sir! You're going to be removed from here the next time you do
that and that you're out of order. We've given you plenty of warnings. I
don't anyone has ever been given so many warnings in the entire history of the
City Commission, although I'd have to look in the transcript to see.
Commissioner Plummer: You never met Ernie Fanatto.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, Ernie could test your patience, but don't mention his
name because he's with the County and so on and...
Mr. Odio: You need to do 19, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Did we call the roll on 18?
Ms. Hirai: No, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Call it please.
104 March 12, 1992
1
,i
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-174
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT A
JTPA TITLE II -A GRANT FROM THE SOUTH FLORIDA
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM (SFETC) IN THE
AMOUNT OF $52,000 FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING AN
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES PROGRAM TO RESIDENTS OF THE
WYNWOOD AREA; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
ENTER INTO THE NECESSARY IMPLEMENTING AGREEMENT, IN A
FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, WITH THE SOUTH
FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM SUBJECT TO
THE CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS HEREIN AND IN THE CITY
CODE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
1
a NOES: None.
1
j ABSENT: None.
7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: JTPA
TITLE II -A WYNWOOD SPECIAL INITIATIVE (PY 191) -- APPROPRIATE $52,000
FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR THROUGH SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND
TRAINING CONSORTIUM (SFETC).
� Mayor Suarez: Item 19.
Commissioner Plummer: Move 19.
I Mayor Suarez: Moved.
I
{
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
1 Mr. Jones: Read the ordinance.
's
105 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Read the ordinance. Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND
ENTITLED: "JTPA TITLE II -A WYNWOOD SPECIAL INITIATIVE
(PY 191)" AND APPROPRIATING $52,000 FOR SAID FUND FROM
THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR THROUGH THE SOUTH FLORIDA
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM; CONTAINING A
REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
Was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso
and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
26. DISCUSS AND DEFER (TO APRIL 2ND MEETING) CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) FOR
MANAGEMENT, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF BICENTENNIAL PARK FOOD AND
BEVERAGE CONCESSION AREA (1075 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD).
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I'm going to ask that item 21 be deferred.
And the reason for the deferment. There's with, possibly some great help, as
you are well aware as it relates to the improvements of that Bicentennial
Park, I think a new RFP (request for proposals) might even be drafted in the
future, very near future, once this Commission decides what it wants to do in
Bicentennial Park with that money, if in fact it is forthcoming. So I would
move at this time that this matter be deferred until a future meeting so that
we can in fact put together, hopefully, a good RFP...
Mr. Cesar Odio: Well... OK.
Commissioner Plummer: ... with enhancements to that Park.
Mr. Odio: I just want for the record, the reason I brought it back is that we
were told to do so and...
106 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Yes. I understand that.
Mr. Odio: OK.
Commissioner Plummer: Yes, sir. I understand.
Mr. Odio: OK.
Commissioner Plummer: But at that time, Mr. Manager, Mr. Manager, the County
had not allocated near nine million dollars for improvements and enhancement
to that park. That is now a good possibility, more than a possibility, and I
think that if you're making an RFP towards Bicentennial as it stands today,
you're going to put in "X" number. If nine million improvements are made, I
think that you could expect better numbers.
Mr. Odio: I didn't want to have to hear that we didn't bring back an RFP.
That's al I.
Commissioner Plummer: Sir. I fully acknowledge. Defer it and bring it back
after we decide what we're going to do with the park.
Commissioner De Yurre: When is that?
Mayor Suarez: OK. Do you want it moved to...
Commissioner Plummer: Hopefully, I'm...
Mr. Odio: What's happening, Commissioner De Yurre, what he's saying... We are
in the process of obtaining, because of the Grand Prix, probably nine - eight
or nine million dollars to improve Bicentennial Park. So he says to hold
off...
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. Does that include...
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.)
Mr. Odio: That's right. You have not.
Commissioner De Yurre: Does that include improving the restaurant?
Mr. Odio: I don't know.
Commissioner Plummer: It could...
Mr. Odio: I have no idea.
Commissioner Plummer: ... and it could not. That has not been stipulated. I
will be bringing back, Commissioner De Yurre, hopefully at the next meeting in
April, for this Commission, who has first right of approval, for a discussion
item before this Commission, what this Commission wants to do about
`., Bicentennial Park. And once that is determined, then I think we must go
forward, if we're going to, with the total package. Could it include the
restaurant? I don't think it is prohibited. OK? But this is the total
package of nine million dollars available...
107 March 12, 1992
Mr. Odio: Well, if the restaurant is a clubhouse for whatever you're going to
do there, then you can. That's what...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, of course. But here again, it doesn't preclude,
I don't think, Mr. Manager, that it still can't go out to a private individual
that would be as it is now or as it was originally designed.
Commissioner De Yurre: You guys going to be ready to go by April?
Commissioner Plummer: Hopefully I will have it back before this Commission in
April, yes.
Mayor Suarez: We can't delay forever, you know, the improvements to those two
parks, the FEC (Florida East Coast) and Bicentennial, on the possibility that
whatever the Grand Prix...
Commissioner Plummer: This only refers, this only refers to the restaurant.
Mr. Odio: No, no, no. Mr. Mayor. On the FEC, we're working separate from
and that's why we are really actively pursuing the monies. When Commissioner
Dawkins and I went on the Burley Marx, that will improve FEC immediately.
Right up front, and plus...
Mayor Suarez: If a component of this... If this RFP could improve by adding a
component that is otherwise compatible with everything else, with the Jack
Luft Master Plan for Bicentennial and FEC, we should try to move on it. Now,
if you want to wait till April, hey, that's fine. But we have to move on
them, J. L., we can't just sit around and wait for...
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor. I agree with you. It is my intent to bring
it back in April, but I want to remind you that that restaurant, so-called
restaurant, has sat vacant for nine years.
Mayor Suarez: Of course.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Now, I was the one who pushed the Manager...
Mayor Suarez: And we're not accelerating that change there by, you know, not
taking up this matter, I don't think. I mean...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, all I'm saying to you is...
Mayor Suarez: You want to do the whole thing together with the possible...
Commissioner Plummer: I would like to get it as...
Mayor Suarez: That's fair enough.
Commissioner Plummer: ... part and parcel together, is what I'm saying.
Mr. Odio: I think what we need... We need to establish, according to the
County, a plan for Bicentennial so we can get the money. And so that has to
come before you...
108 March 12, 1992
i
Commissioner Plummer: Hopefully in April.
Mr. Odio: You approve and then it goes there.
Mayor Suarez: Right. Bicentennial and FEC because...
Mr. Odio: That's correct. That's correct.
Mayor Suarez: ... the track also goes through FEC.
Commissioner Plummer: That's correct.
.;1
Mr. Odio: That's correct. So you can...
Mayor Suarez: And Carter McDowell is here. I have got no idea why. What is
your interest in this?
t Carter McDowell, Esq.: For the record, my name is Carter McDowell. We
represent Specialty Restaurants. We've been working with the City for almost
two years now to try to bring the Matrillo to Bicentennial Park. It's a three
( hundred foot, four -masted ship. It is set up as a restaurant, two hundred
seats restaurant and a lounge that would go in the same area. We believe that
the deferral is well taken so that all of those plans can be coordinated...
Mayor Suarez: And because you're hoping to get Plummer's vote, etcetera,
etcetera.
Mr. McDowell: This Commission has already approved the docking of the
Matrillo...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mr. McDowell: ... at this Park in the past and we have been trying to work on
that...
Mayor Suarez: I thought we had, yeah.
F
Mr. McDowell: ... and we would suggest that the deferral is well taken so
that all of the plans can be coordinated so that you don't preclude one by the
other.
Mayor Suarez: OK. We haven't...
Mr. McDowell: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: ... lost that idea of the ship, restaurant and all of that.
Somehow, some way that might still be done.
i
Mr. McDowell: We're working on it. We are filing applications with DERM
(Department of Environmental Resources Management) as we speak.
Commissioner Plummer: Where, Carter?
i
109 March 12, 1992
01 0
Mayor Suarez: And the improvements to the parks adjoining it in the process.
At least it...
Commissioner Plummer: Give me an idea where it would be located.
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.)
Commissioner Plummer: Yes, sir.
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.)
Commissioner Plummer: That's in the slip, but not on the outside.
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.)
Commissioner Dawkins: You're right on the turning basis, J. L.
Commissioner Plummer: I don't think you can do it.
Commissioner Dawkins: You're right on the turning basis.
Commissioner Plummer: It's on the turning basis and you would be precluded
from doing it.
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.)
Commissioner Plummer: There's also, Mr. Mayor just for your edification, only
talk at this time that my three little ships might be coming back.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He calls them his.
Commissioner Dawkins: And next time they leave, they will leave with you. If
they come back, you go with them.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Item 21.
Commissioner Plummer: If I can have the money they took with them, yes sir!
They got me right now.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioners.
Commissioner De Yurre: But I do want the RFP for April in the agenda because
I don't want to delay any further.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, it has to be rescheduled for April.
Commissioner Plummer: No, no.
Mayor Suarez: We can't waste any longer on it. So, J. L., let's...
Commissioner Plummer: Do it in April.
Mayor Suarez: ... get together on the other...
110
March 12, 1992
Unidentified Speaker: April.
Commissioner Plummer: April, yeah.
Mayor Suarez: ... improvements and see if they can be compatible with what
we'd like to see in the parks and the race that takes place once a year but
seems to...
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, do you fix to move to defer it?
Mr. McDowell: I would also note that we, part of our delay was meeting with
Mr. Sanchez and working out the details. Mr. Sanchez has approved our plans.
Mayor Suarez: Great.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, that's fine.
Mayor Suarez: That's great that he's approved something.
Commissioner Plummer: That's nice.
Mayor Suarez: All right. We have a motion and a second that the item be
deferred for the first meeting in April which is the one on the 9th. How's
that?
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine, sir.
Mayor Suarez: With a specific date in mind. And please, Mr. Manager, if that
should be withdrawn, it should not be simply at the Administration's...
Commissioner Plummer: Let's go to lunch.
Mayor Suarez: ... prerogative. We want this item to be considered and let's
get moving with it, please.
Commissioner Plummer: Let's go to lunch.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the
roll.
THEREUPON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER PLUMMER AND SECONDED BY VICE
MAYOR ALONSO, THIS ITEM WAS DEFERRED TO THE FIRST MEETING IN APRIL BY THE
FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
_ Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
111 March 12, 1992
T
d..
�3
Commissioner Dawkins: Ringo, what are you in here on?
What item are you here
on?
Commissioner Plummer: Community development.
Commissioner Dawkins: Community development.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: Does anyone up here have any
idea what time we will
here this so that Mr. Cayard and the people will not be
sitting here all day?
Commissioner Plummer: His portion is 9:05.
Mayor Suarez: Where is it scheduled on here, so I can
give you some idea? We
do try to follow the agenda...
Mr. Odio: It's advertised for four o'clock.
Mayor Suarez: But what item is it? What number?
Mr. Odio: Forty-one.
Mayor Suarez: We're going to shoot, certainly no earlier
than 4:00 p.m. and
as close to 4:00 p.m. as we can.
Mr. Odio: Forty-one.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: At this point, it was announced
that agenda item 41 would be heard as close to 4:00
p.m. as possible.
THEREUPON THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO A LUNCHEON
RECESS AT 12:09 P.M. AND RECONVENED AT 2:42 P.M., WITH
ALL MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION FOUND TO BE
PRESENT, EXCEPT COMMISSIONER DE YURRE.
3
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Memo from the City Manager
withdraws agenda item 28.
112 March 12, 1992
�A
27. AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO APPLY TO FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CITIES FOR A LOAN
($5,000,000) FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF MIAMARINA AT BAYSIDE.
Mayor Suarez: Item 22 then. Now the payment back...
Commissioner Plummer: Hello.
Mr. Odio: That was on...
Commissioner Plummer: Hello. Hello. Hello.
Mayor Suarez: Dawkins did that to you during lunch time?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Oh, boy.
Mayor Suarez: Disconnected his mike.
Vice Mayor Alonso: They are sending you a very loud and clear message.
Mayor Suarez: There we go. Not so loud. We don't want to give him that
much...
Commissioner Plummer: I'll take a Bud Light.
Mayor Suarez: ... sound. You're not going to tell us of course that the five
million dollars are going to come from the Florida League of Cities. You're
telling us that...
Commissioner Plummer: Indirectly. Yes, sir it is.
Mayor Suarez: ... the Florida League of Cities has a loan program for low -
interest loans, etcetera. Kind of like the Sunshine State Pool.
Mr. Odio: Right. It's at a very low interest of four and a half percent.
Mayor Suarez: But who and where are we going to get the five million dollars
assuming that all of the rest of this is in order?
Mr. Carlos Garcia: From the Florida League of Cities who has a program
similar to the Sunshine State Financing Committee. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, I
missed your question.
Mayor Suarez: We're not getting through. All right. Somebody makes some
money available to us at low interest.
Commissioner Plummer: Correct.
Mayor Suarez: We obviously have to pay it back.
ii
Commissioner Plummer: Correct.
i�
113 March 12, 1992
0: 0
Mayor Suarez: Where are we going to pay it back from?
Mr. Odio: You have to pledge the revenues from the marina to pay for this.
Mayor Suarez: Not including now the possible collection of certain amounts
from the lawsuit.
Mr. Odio: And of course what we expect is that the lawsuit will definitely be
in our favor here. Definitely.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Now have you been offered any particular amount that you
wish to publicly state or would you prefer...
Mr. Odio: No.
Mayor Suarez: ... to discuss that privately?
Mr. Odio: Yes, privately.
Commissioner Plummer: There's been an offer.
Mayor Suarez: When are we going to know of the progress of that lawsuit and
of the possibility of a large recovery?
A. Quinn Jones, Esq.: Mr. Mayor, my best recollection now, it was on the
calendar, it's been taken off several times. I think it's scheduled for trial
the two week period... I think it's July or August. First week in July or
August.
Mayor Suarez: Logical question, why not wait till we see what we can recover
before we try to start borrowing money that we're not sure...
Mr. Odio: I struggled with that one, Mr. Mayor, and believe me to get to this
point, it took me a long time is that... Let me see how I would say this.
Commissioner Plummer: You could lose the loan.
Mr. Garcia: Yes, that is a danger. There's a number...
Mr. Odio: But that's one factor...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You know. Please
tell the Mayor exactly what's going on. OK? Mr. Mayor, this is money... We
are not making the loan as direct, it's indirect. The money was allocated to
the Off -Street Parking Authority. They were the applicants. They are not
using five million of that money, and we are trying to take that allocation
and use it for City business. I will tell you, I sit on that Loan Committee,
Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Odio: His question was, why not wait to do anything in the marina...
Commissioner Plummer: Because we are meeting next week and we could call the
money back, is what I'm trying to tell you. Plus, you need to know, Mr.
114 March 12, 1992
Mayor, that a great deal of that money we have made money through arbitrage,
and I can't speak to this particular loan because I'm not that up on it as far
with the Off -Street Parking...
Mr. Garcia: Well, we're not making arbitrage any longer on these funds, but
if we were not to reserve the funds, other cities are waiting for these monies
to become available.
Commissioner Plummer: Over ninety million is in the wings being asked for
money that's not being used. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor, to answer your question. The marina is
unsafe, the marina is a liability. We stand a chance of being sued any day
because of the conditions of the marina, and they're also losing money because
they cannot rent slips in half of the marina, and why they don't tell you
that, Mr. Mayor, and tell you that they are interested in attempting to fix
the marina so that we are not liable any longer, and that we can make money on
renting the slips, I don't know.
Mayor Suarez: Very good. Thank you.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, let me ask a question. I've got... Mr. City
Attorney.
Mr. Jones: Yes, sir, Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: Tell me if I have - I don't think I have - but do I
have any conflict of interest as being a Commissioner in this City possibly
applying for that loan and being a member of the Florida League of Cities Loan
Committee. Do I have any conflict there other than I'm going to make damn
sure the City gets what it wants?
Mr. Jones: No, I don't think you have a prohibitive conflict, Commissioner,
and as long as you disclose the relationship that you're in, I don't foresee a
problem.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. I just wanted to make sure that... Because I sit
with two hats.
Commissioner Dawkins: The conflict is if we don't get the money, you will no
longer be there.
Mayor Suarez: That's a conflict right there.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's a serious one.
Commissioner Plummer: Only for my kids.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. City Attorney, have you contemplated the possibility that
when we hitch on to a loan pool of some sort and incur an obligation without -
unless they're creating a revenue bond instrument here that I'm not aware of.
There's no revenue bond in this, is there?
115 March 12, 1992
AWL
Mr. Garcia: There are revenue bonds that the Florida League of Cities issued
prior to 1986. That's where they got their monies from. I don't recall the
amounts. Three hundred million dollars.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, no. That's to their money. Their money, I don't care
where it comes from. It's their money. As to how we intend to pay it back,
you're not creating a revenue bond or anything like that.
Mr. Garcia: No, we're not.
Commissioner Plummer: But it's commercial paper.
Commissioner Dawkins: It comes from tax anticipated bonds. We'll pay with
paper back.
Mayor Suarez: It's paper and it's commercial. It's commercial paper. All
right.
Commissioner Plummer: Right.
Mayor Suarez: Let me see if I can get this point across here. If we're going
to pay back from future revenues of a facility, but we're not pledging those
revenues in any way, right? There's no...
Mr. Garcia: Yes we have to, of course. We have to pledge the revenues as
security for that loan, as collateral for that loan.
Mayor Suarez: The full faith and credit of the City is not involved?
Mr. Garcia: No, sir. No, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Who is going to do a transaction where they're going to accept
the revenues from a marina that's not working well, as Commissioner Dawkins
just described it, in return for a five million dollar loan?
Mr. Garcia: We may have to add some other revenues as additional collateral,
as we did with the Orange Bowl. As you recall, when we received the money for
the Orange Bowl, we pledged Orange Bowl revenues as well as two million
dollars from guaranteed entitlement from the State of Florida.
Mayor Suarez: That's the kind of revenue bonds that lately we've been able to
use. I think the thing closest to a simple stream of private sector type
revenues was Bayside. And even that was on a minimum payment per year that
they give us.
Mr. Garcia: So that kind of detail we'll have to work out later...
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, but...
Mr. Garcia: ... with the Florida League of Cities...
Mayor Suarez: Right.
Mr. Garcia: ... and their bank.
116 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez:
City Attorney.
incurring here?
This is not particularly directed at you, Carlos, more to the
Doesn't this smack to you of a general obligation that we're
Mr. Jones: As opposed to a...
Mayor Suarez: Special obligation...
Mr. Jones: ... revenue bond?
Mayor Suarez: ... and something that has to go to a referendum?
Mr. Jones: No, I don't think so.
Mr. Garcia: No, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Not even close. The Manager says not even close.
Mr. Garcia: When you...
Mr. Jones: No, I don't think it takes on the... I think it distinctly takes
on the character of an obligation bond.
':.
Mr. Garcia: It's a special obligation. In any case, it would be similar to a
special obligation bond of the City in which a particular revenue source is
pledged for the repayment of the bond.
i
i
Mayor Suarez: How much more paperwork will be involved after Plummer and
Company approve the participation in the loan pool and the actual issuance of
our debt here?
Mr. Garcia: Substantial. We have to...
Mayor Suarez: How many... You'll be coming back to the Commission?
Mr. Garcia: Several times. Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: This basically allows us to hitch on to the loan pool? I do
want to clarify once again, Mr. Manager, maybe of course you disagree, in
which case there are disagreements.
Mr. Odio: Sure.
Mayor Suarez: But to your staff, and to you, and to everybody, folks, the
money is not being lent by the League of the Cities. The League of Cities is
making available a loan pool which means fairly low interest. The money is
being lent by ourselves, if we have to issue revenue bonds, pledging future
marina funds or by whatever other means. The State of Florida, you know, is
not in the business and neither is the League of Cities or anybody else, in
giving us credit, per se. They're going to give us low -interest loan pool
facilities and when we ask, when the Commission wants to know how we're going
to pay back something, where are we borrowing the money from, who is indebted,
you know, we need the simplest possible answers to those questions so that we
117 March 12, 1992
01 t
can estimate for ourselves how much indebtedness we're incurring, to what
extent it's within the Charter, to what extent it's a general obligation as we
understand it, etcetera. And I would really...
Mr. Odio: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: I think you have a lot of paperwork to do here before you
explain to me...
Mr. Odio: No, not only that, Mr. Mayor. This is just to get this going.
Before we spend one dollar we would have to come back to you, show you the
proposed...
Mayor Suarez: Financing tool that's actually being used.
Mr. Odio: ... new marina, the design and whatever, and also the Rouse Company
has to agree to a few changes on their lease.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Before you do... Wait a minute. Hold it now.
What's the Rouse Company got to do with this?
Mr. Odio: Well, they have a restriction on their lease between the Rouse
Company and the City...
Commissioner Dawkins: All right, well let them fix the marina.
Mr. Odio: That's the point. If they want us to fix the marina because it's
convenient for their business, they have to change that clause.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute. No, no, no.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How... What is that?
Commissioner Dawkins: If they're going to fix it and finance it, that's fine.
I won't bother them. But if we are going to obligate the City of Miami's tax
dollars for the repair, I'm not going to let them dictate to me how to fix it.
Mr. Odio: Yeah, but Commissioner see, back in 178 you approved, the
Commission I mean, approved a lease with the Rouse Company that says that we
will not rent slips in that marina on a monthly basis or yearly basis. That
only transient slips will be used. That has to be changed for the marina to
become feasible as far as profits are concerned.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. OK. Let me... OK.
Mr. Odio: So they have to agree to this before we spend a dollar.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right, let me tell you where I am. In the event
that this passes favorably, I want that money put into a fund with legislation
spelling out that, that money will only be spent on the marina, all interest
from the money will be spent on the marina, and if there's any money left
over, it will be returned back to pay off the debt.
Mr. Odio: I agree.
118 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: I do not expect you to take that money and use it any
way, talking about you're going to pay it back or do anything, if this passes
favorably.
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: All right. On the item at hand. I am intrigued by a member of
the general public wanting to make a presentation. Yes, sir. What is your
interest in this, sir?
Mr. Richard Bunnell: Good afternoon, Commissioners and Mayor. I'm Richard
Bunnell, the Vice Chairman of the City of Miami Waterfront Advisory Board and
President of Bunnell Foundation Marine Contractors.
Mayor Suarez: You're another one of the John Brennan and Company gang?
Mr. Bunnell: The gang? No, I...
Mayor Suarez: What does the Waterfront Board feel?
Mr. Bunnell: Well, we on the Waterfront Board for about the last six months
have been discussing this situation with the marina, and we're four square for
the removal of that, you know, removing of that marina and rebuilding it, and
not spending any more money on trying to refurbish it. So we're all for the
getting this started right away, if possible.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Very good. Thank you and relay our greetings and
so on to the rest of the board members. I'll entertain a motion on the item.
Commissioner Plummer: I prefer not to move it. I'll move it, if you want.
Mayor Suarez: Want to move it?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I move it.
Mayor Suarez: Vice Mayor. Want to second?
Commissioner Dawkins: Oh, that's right. He can't second it down there. OK.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded by Commissioner Dawkins. Any discussion? If not,
please call the roll.
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Have a seat, Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga. At four o'clock we'll hear
from you, sir. And by the way on this item, you'll have more opportunities
because we're just beginning to apply for loan pool. We're not anywhere close
to approving final documents.
119 March 12, 1992
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved
its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-175
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY TO
THE FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CITIES FOR A LOAN IN AN AMOUNT
NOT TO EXCEED $5,000,000 FOR THE PURPOSE OF
RECONSTRUCTING MIAMARINA AT BAYSIDE; FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO TAKE THE NECESSARY
ACTION TO SECURE SUCH LOAN FUNDS, SUBJECT TO THE
REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF ALL FINAL LOAN DOCUMENTS BY THE
CITY COMMISSION.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
28. APPROVE ISSUANCE OF $16,000,000 HEALTH FACILITIES AUTHORITY HEALTH
FACILITIES REVENUE BONDS (MIAMI JEWISH HOME AND HOSPITAL FOR THE AGED,
INC. PROJECT), SERIES 1992.
Mayor Suarez: Item 23, Health Facilities Authority. Any questions on this
item? Obviously we're not primarily, secondarily or in any way liable for
this.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: The purpose is meet the requirements of State law.
Mr. Carlos Garcia: That is true.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the
roll.
120 March 12, 1992
n
s
Commissioner Dawkins: Why the... Back up. We did this. Why are we doing it
again?
Mr. Garcia: We did it... the City Commission approved this transaction for
fifteen million dollars. Subsequent to that, the hospital decided to do
parking further, so they need sixteen million instead of fifteen. That's why
it's brought back to you today.
Commissioner Plummer: Because we approved their zoning change. It's no skin
off our nose, Miller. I move it.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-176
A RESOLUTION, WITH ATTACHMENTS, APPROVING THE ISSUANCE
OF AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $16,000,000 CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA HEALTH FACILITIES AUTHORITY HEALTH FACILITIES
REVENUE BONDS (MIAMI JEWISH HOME AND HOSPITAL FOR THE
AGED, INC. PROJECT), SERIES 1992, FOR THE PURPOSES OF
SECTION 147(F) OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986,
AS AMENDED; APPROVING THE MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC
HEARING HELD BY THE AUTHORITY PURSUANT TO THE TAX
EQUITY AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1982; AND
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the resolution was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
121 March 12, 1992
--------- - --------------------------- -------- --- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- -- - - - - - --
29. REJECT ALL BIDS RECEIVED IN CONNECTION WITH PURCHASE OF A RESCUE VEHICLE
(SPIRIT OF MIAMI) -- FOR DEPARTMENT OF FIRE, RESCUE AND INSPECTION
SERVICES -- INSTRUCT CITY MANAGER TO REBID.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Item 24.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor. I got a problem here. If this same company
can do it for twenty thousand less, that's the name of my game. I'm not going
to waste twenty thousand dollars because they failed to put a signature on a
bid. I'll throw them all out and go for a new one. I don't think it should
take that long, but there's no question we can save twenty thousand dollars,
we should. This company that bid the twenty thousand less is the one that's
been making them for us in the past, they know exactly what our criteria are
and I understand the reason they were thrown out or one of the reasons was
that they didn't put a signature on a piece of paper. And, personally, if I
can save twenty thousand dollars, I'm going to do it. And I don't know how
you go about it. If it is to throw all of these out and rebid, then let's do
it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Go ahead. I'll second.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. City Attorney. You advise me. You understand what
I'm trying to do is to save twenty thousand. The lower bidder is twenty
thousand less...
A. Quinn Jones III, Esq.: Certainly, Commissioner, if it's the Commission's
will. If they want to throw out all the bids, certainly that's an option that
you have.
Commissioner Plummer: I so move.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: So moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call
the roll.
122 March 12, 1992
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-177
A RESOLUTION REJECTING ALL BIDS RECEIVED BY THE CITY
IN CONNECTION WITH THE PURCHASE OF ONE RESCUE VEHICLE
(SPIRIT OF MIAMI) FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FIRE, RESCUE
AND INSPECTION SERVICES, BID NO. 92-92-035; FURTHER
DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SEEK NEW BIDS BASED ON
SUCH SPECIFICATIONS AS HE DEEMS APPROPRIATE FOR THE
PROCUREMENT OF SAID VEHICLE, AND TO BRING BACK SAID
SOURCES AND SPECIFICATIONS TO THE CITY COMMISSION FOR
REVIEW AND APPROVAL.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Agenda item 25 was withdrawn.
Commissioner Plummer: Now, what do I do with 25? The same thing?
Unidentified Speaker: That's withdrawn.
Mr. Odio: I'd like to with... That's withdrawn.
Commissioner Dawkins: They withdrew 25.
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
Mayor Suarez: Item 26.
Mr. Jones: Excuse me, Commissioner. Just back to 24 a moment, where... As
part of the motion, are you authorizing or direction that that be rebid?
Mr. Odio: Yeah.
Commissioner Plummer: That was my instructions.
123 March 12, 1992
Mr. Odio: Yeah, we go out again.
=1
—, Commissioner Plummer: Throw it out and rebid.
4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30. DISCUSSION CONCERNING PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO RATIFY THE ENGAGEMENT OF
GREENBERG, TRAURIG, HOFFMAN, LIPOFF, ROSEN AND QUENTEL, PA, FOR SERVICES
RENDERED CONCERNING TAX MATTERS INVOLVING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
CITY'S RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM ($7,863.90). (Note: Motion to
approve said resolution died -- See label 43).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioner Plummer: Is this for another window to be opened? What is 26?
Does this relate to the last early retirement...
Mr. Odio: Oh, no. No.
Commissioner Plummer: ... or does it possibly relate to another one that's
going to be opened up?
Mr. Od'io: No, I will speak to the law firm. This was prior to the early
retirement plan put in place.
Commissioner Plummer: And if we don't agree to it, it comes out of Queenie's
pocket, right?
Mr. Odio: Right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, this is...
A. Quinn Jones III, Esq.: This was prior...
Mr. Odio: This was of vital importance because we didn't want to make any
mistakes as far as tax...
Commissioner Dawkins: You know, I got a problem with this. You know. You
all ran around here telling me about how much you were saving having people
retire, and now that you've done that, here you come back and tell me you're
spending eight thousand dollars for somebody to tell you how to do it.
Mr. Jones: Commissioner, if I might. This was an engagement of course by my
predecessor and...
Commissioner Dawkins: That doesn't make it right, Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones: And I'm not trying to say that it's right or not.
Commissioner Plummer: I'd like to have a dollar for every time...
Mr. Jones: My understanding is that there were several questions relative
to...
124
March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Hold it, Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones: ... tax...
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Jones, you weren't here. Let me ask the Manager.
There was no black, Latin or female firm that could have done this?
Mr. Odio: Commissioner, I hate to pass the buck, I never do, I have nothing
to say about who hires what lawyers around here.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I have a question. Can we send the bill to the previous
attorney? Is it legal? I'm serious. Can we send him a bill?
Mr. Jones: Commissioner.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He never came to us. Why the City of Miami should pay for
something that was done because he wanted to do it. He did not consult us. I
don't know if he checked with the rest of the Commission. He never talked to
me about this. Why should the City of Miami pay for this? Can we send a bill
to him?
Commissioner Plummer: Well, I'm sure he made that engagement...
Vice Mayor Alonso: The first time we do this, no one else will dare to go
ahead and then come for approval. Why so much of after the fact?
Mr. Jones: Commissioner, it wouldn't be legal for you to send the...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Why not?
Mr. Jones: ... bill because that attorney, or any attorney for that matter,
would not be personally liable. The City would be liable. The contract was
to provide services to the City of Miami. You're absolutely right. The City
Attorney, as well as the City Manager, has the power to engage or enter into
professional services up to forty-five hundred dollars without Commission
approval. And you're absolutely right that anything beyond that should come
before you for your approval. I can't begin to tell you what happened here or
why it didn't come. The only thing I can tell you is that the City has a
liability here that needs to be taken care of.
Commissioner Plummer: You know, we got no choice. I move it, Mr. Mayor.
j Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me just go on the record. Queenie, if you do it,
4! putting you on the record, Mr. Manager, if you do it, the next one is coming
} out of your pay.
Commissioner Dawkins: Or for your next job. Either one.
Mayor Suarez: So moved and I'll second.
Commissioner Plummer: And his severance pay.
125
March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Call the roll, please.
MOTION DIED. THEREUPON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER PLUMMER AND
SECONDED BY MAYOR SUAREZ, A PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO RATIFY AND APPROVE
ENGAGEMENT OF GREENBERG, TRAURIG, HOFFMAN, LIPOFF, ROSEN AND QUENTEL,
PA, FOR SERVICES RENDERED CONCERNING TAX MATTERS INVOLVING THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CITY'S EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM,
ALLOCATING FUNDS FOR SAID SERVICES IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,863.90, DIED BY
THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
COMMENTS MADE DURING ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Plummer: I don't like it, but I have no choice. I vote yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, I feel that a minority firm...
Commissioner Plummer: Uh oh.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... should have had this work.
Commissioner Plummer: Uh oh. It just died.
Commissioner Dawkins: I didn't even want it. But I keep saying over and over
that these...
Commissioner Plummer: It just died.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... big law firms to continue to get work that small
minority firms could do, and I vote no.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No. No. They have to start learning that they have to
count. One, two, three. We don't have three, so it's a no.
COMMENTS MADE AFTER ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Plummer: The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Commissioner Dawkins: We have to table it?
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, this is...
Mayor Suarez: Pretty simple mathematics.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, we have to table it till Victor gets back.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah. OK. Item is...
126 March 12, 1992
i
Commissioner Plummer: Manuel. How would you vote?
Mayor Suarez: The item is...
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: I would vote to expel all the twenty-two City
Attorneys and get independent counsel under negotiated basis.
Commissioner Plummer: Thank you, sir.
Mayor Suarez: I will...
Mr. Jones: Mr. Mayor, can we table this until...
Mayor Suarez: ... not rule you out of order because I think there was an
intimation that one of the Commissioners wanted to hear from you. Let he be
blamed for that.
Commissioner Plummer: I needed some wisdom, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: The item is... No action was taken by a two -to -two vote, so
maybe later on, I suppose, it could come back to haunt us.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
31. DISCUSS AND DEFER CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
MANAGER TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT ##1 TO AGREEMENTS WITH: (1) MANUEL G. VERA
AND ASSOCIATES, INC., (2) WEIDENER SURVEYING AND MAPPING, (3) FERNANDO
Z. GATELL, P.L.S., INC., (4) LANNES AND GARCIA, INC., AND (5) BISCAYNE
ENGINEERING COMPANY, EXTENDING SAID AGREEMENTS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Item 29.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I have a question. I realize that we have money left from
the same contract, so you're extending the contract.
Mr. Jim Kay: Extending the contracts, right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Could we use the money and open for bids so other
companies can participate?
Mr. Kay: OK. Well, that would be the RFP (request for proposals) process.
That's what we would have to do. We'd go through it. We're doing this now,
at this point in time, to forego another six-month RFP process. We want to
just extend it another year.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Why?
Mr. Kay: It's a long process and there's... These firms have been doing good
work for us and they have not really exceeded the amounts that we wanted.
127 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: We pay them on the basis of different contracts, right?
They assign the amount for whatever the work they are going... How is this
done? Explain to me how it's done.
Mr. Kay: OK. The money comes from either a, usually from a CIP (capital
improvement project) project...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, and you have the money located.
Mr. Kay: And then there are established rates...
Vice Mayor Alonso: How do you arrive at how much will be paid to each
company?
Mr. Kay: OK. There are established rates for each crude working day. OK.
And they are paid by each day that they work. In other words, we call them up
on the phone, we want them to work a week for a survey...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Why couldn't we open it for more companies, or different
companies, or perhaps getting better deals? Do we have that option?
Mr. Kay: Well, we have five firms here. We can open it up again, say to...
Vice Mayor Alonso: You don't think that we will do any better?
Mr. Kay: I don't think we're going to do any better. These are all local
firms.
Vice Mayor Alonso: This is for how long?
Mr. Kay: This would be for the calendar year of 1993. Ending 1993.
Vice Mayor Alonso: At the end of 193?
Mr. Kay: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: If we don't take any action today they will continue to
serve.
Mr. Kay: Well, they'll continue to serve through the end of this calendar
year. At that time, we won't have any contract.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I would like to inquire a little bit more about this. So
I would like to defer this item.
Mayor Suarez: Move to defer 29.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded, Commissioner Dawkins. Call the roll.
THEREUPON A MOTION DULY MADE BY VICE MAYOR ALONSO AND SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER DAWKINS, THIS ITEM WAS DEFERRED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
128 March 12, 1992
- AYES:
Commissioner
Miller J. Dawkins
_
Commissioner
J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
=
Mayor Xavier
L. Suarez
NOES:
None.
ABSENT: Commissioner
Victor De Yurre
ilk
-------------------------------------
�t
32.
AUTHORIZE MANAGER
TO EXECUTE AGREEMENT
WITH FULLER AND SADAO, PC -- TO
COMPLETE THE NOGUCHI DESIGNS AND CONSTRUCTION PLANS FOR SOUTH END OF
-
MILDRED AND CLAUDE
PEPPER BAYFRONT PARK
REDEVELOPMENT (CIP 331305).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Mayor
Suarez: Item 30.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor. This was a negotiated out settlement. I
want to tell you that this item, in particular, what is being designed will,
in fact, be within the monies that are readily available through the State
grant after everything else is said and done. This comes with a
recommendation of the Bayfront Park authority. It follows and completes the
design for the entire Bayfront Park and all this does is allow to go to final
design, which is necessary by this Commission.
Mayor Suarez: You recommend it, obviously?
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, we have no choice. We would like to do better,
but we're sticking with what this Commission said...
Mayor Suarez: If it's the best we can do, it's the best we can do.
Commissioner Plummer: ... and that is we are not going to do anything that we
can't afford and it's within the dollar framework that we can afford.
- 3
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
-� Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
_ Mayor Suarez: Second. Mr. Cuenca, I previously said to Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga
that we'll start public hearings at 4:00. Is there anything you want
i clarified on this item or a point of... Are you sure this is the item you're
interested in?
Mr. Cuenca: No, I would want to say something. You see, I never talk in
here. I'm really glad you give me permission to talk for thirty seconds.
When we spend so much money, right, in this community then have them write in
the newspaper about the problem of drugs, and the problem of kids when they go
after the school, they don't have nothing to, why they don't make all kind of
sports in Overtown, Little Havana and have people in charge to talk to
juveniles and see what really need them.
129 March 12, 1992
_ NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Commissioner De Yurre entered
the meeting at 3:08 p.m.
.s-
Mayor Suarez: OK. There's a gentleman around here somewhere from the Parks
and Recreation Department, and let me tell you, I have recently sent to the
one daily English newspaper that we've got a - without mentioning names -...
Commissioner Plummer: Jewish Floridian.
Mayor Suarez: ... list of the - I think it's weekly - a list of, you know,
some recent program initiated by the City and it's really incredible, if you
add them all up, how many are being done. So, I'm very proud of that. But,
perhaps you ought to be more familiar with that, Mr. Cuenca, before you make
that comment. And anyhow,... Susan.
Ms. Diane Johnson: Diane.
Mayor Suarez: Diane.
Ms. Johnson: That's my sister.
Mr. Cuenca: OK. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: I'll get it down. Diane can brief you a little bit on some of
the programs.
Ms. Johnson: I would be happy to.
Mayor Suarez: We have a motion and a second, do we, Madam City Clerk?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll, please.
130 March 12, 1992
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-178
A RESOLUTION, WITH ATTACHMENTS, AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE
ATTACHED FORM, BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA AND
FULLER AND SADAO, P.C. TO COMPLETE THE NOGUCHI DESIGNS
AND CONSTRUCTION PLANS FOR THE SOUTH END OF THE
MILDRED AND CLAUDE PEPPER BAYFRONT PARK REDEVELOPMENT
UTILIZING MONIES THEREFORE PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED BY THE
STATE OF FLORIDA FOR SAID PROJECT, AND ALLOCATING
FUNDS THEREFOR FROM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT NO.
331305, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $67,000.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the resolution was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Item 31, appointment to Office
of Professional Compliance Advisory Panel, was
deferred.
33. BRIEF DISCUSSION AND DEFERRAL OF PROPOSED RESOLUTION MAKING AMENDMENTS
TO THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ADVISORY BOARD.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Item 32. Affirmative Action Advisory Board.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Suarez and Dawkins.
Mayor Suarez: Which is my appointee?
Mr. Odio: Alicia Baro resigned.
Vice Mayor Alonso: She resigned.
131
March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Where's Dawkins?
Mayor Suarez: I don't see Emilio Lopez anywhere out there. Let me appoint
Emilio on the assumption, nominate Emilio on the assumption that he will be
able to serve.
Commissioner Plummer: Emilio Lopez. VENGA ACA.
Mayor Suarez: Do they have to live in the City of Miami? Could they have a
business or some other?
Commissioner Plummer: Says here, "members must be residents of the City of
Miami." That's what it says here.
Mayor Suarez: Makes it a little tougher. OK. I'll hold off on that then,
because I think Vice Mayor is right. I don't think he lives in the City. Any
others that can be nominated at this point?
Commissioner Plummer: Just Dawkins and you, sir.
Mayor Suarez: You don't live in the City of Miami, do you, Emilio?
Mayor Suarez: You're a schmuck.
Commissioner Plummer: I remember a Judge who went down for that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34. APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUAL TO SERVE AS MEMBER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL COMPLIANCE ADVISORY PANEL (Appointed was: Jorge
Cristin).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioner De Yurre: Mr. Mayor, going back to item 31.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, sir. Commissioner.
Commissioner De Yurre: I'll appoint Jorge Cristin, C-R-I-S-T-I-N, Police
Officer, City of Miami.
Mayor Suarez: So moved. Are you seconding it?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second it.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
132 March 12, 1992
aid.._. ..
l
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner De Yurre, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-179
A RESOLUTION APPOINTING AN INDIVIDUAL TO SERVE AS A
MEMBER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL
COMPLIANCE ADVISORY PANEL FOR A TERM OF OFFICE TO
EXPIRE DECEMBER 6, 1993.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso the resolution was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
�; 35. APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUALS TO SERVE AS MEMBERS OF CITY OF MIAMI
URBAN DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD (Reappointed was: Albert Perez).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Any others on 32?
Mr. Odio: Dawkins to appoint one.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Dawkins and Suarez.
Commissioner Plummer: 33 is Dawkins and De Yurre.
Mayor Suarez: Item 33 Urban Development Review Board.
Mr. Odio: Commissioner De Yurre...
Commissioner De Yurre: I reappoint Perez.
Mayor Suarez: So moved, reappointment.
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any other discussion? If not, please call the roll.
133 March 12, 1992
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner De Yurre, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-180
A RESOLUTION APPOINTING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS TO SERVE
AS MEMBERS ON THE CITY OF MIAMI URBAN DEVELOPMENT
REVIEW BOARD FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Mayor Suarez: Yes. Item 30. Any others on 33, Guillermo?
Mr. Guillermo Olmedillo: Commissioner Dawkins has Ed Wright who passed away.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Grab him. Please see if you can get suggested
appointments from him.
---------------------------------------- -------- ---------- -------------------
36. APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUALS TO SERVE AS MEMBERS OF THE LATIN QUARTER
REVIEW BOARD (Reappointed were: Daniel Perez-Zarraga, Mariano Corral,
Tessi Garcia, Angel Saqui II, Hector Gasca, Luis Sabines, Silvio Diaz,
Tony A. Wagner, Gloria Rosello, and Mario Pestonit).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: 34.
Commissioner Plummer: I nominate Hector Gasca and Luis Sabines as a
reappointment.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Vice Mayor Alonso: May I address this Board for a minute, please?
Mayor Suarez: Which one? 33 or 34?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Latin Quarter Review Board. This Board is something
that... perhaps we should defer this item and study a little bit. I think it
has some value at some point in the process of Latin Quarter. I don't think
134 March 12, 1992
that it is helping at all. It's delaying constructions, it's delaying people
to come and invest in the area and I think that we should really address the
value of the existence of this Latin Quarter Review Board. Even the members
of the Board have come to me and explained that perhaps it should not be in
existence any longer, and maybe we should defer this item and address the
value of the Latin Quarter Review Board in relation to the area and analyze
whether we should continue it or not.
Mr. Guillermo 0lmedillo: As part of the permitting process.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Exactly.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me just go on the record, Miriam, and that
is, my two members have asked to be reappointed, which indicates to me that
they do want the Board to continue. I don't dispute in any way that what you
say might be true. I think that if we were to disband this Board, we can do
it whether we reappoint today or we don't.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. We can...
Commissioner Plummer: So 1 am prepared to reappoint my two and if the day
were to come that we're to disband, we will deal with that as an individual
item.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. I just felt that perhaps it was a little bit easier
rather than extending the process and having then to eliminate the Board.
Some of your appointments have discussed with me the value of the Board and
have suggested the possibility of not having it any longer because it does
affect the investment in the area. Sometimes what it causes, it's unnecessary
bureaucracy. It delays the process, demands things that it takes a long time.
How many times they have their meetings, Guillermo?
Mr. 0lmedillo: Once a month.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Once a month. They say the delays are tremendous and it's
one of the problems. So do whatever you want, if you want to make the
appointments today, it's fine with me, but I think we should bring this as
soon as possible, so we analyze the possibility, and it should come with a
recommendation from your department to us.
Mr. Olmedillo: We'll report back to you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: OK. I'll move to reappoint my two. Is that what you agreed on?
Commissioner Plummer: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. That's fine.
Mayor Suarez: I reappoint, renominate Silvio Diaz and Tessi Garcia. And
J.L., Commissioner Plummer has renominated his. Any others?
Commissioner Plummer: Right.
135 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I'll reappoint mine, too, Saqui and Tony Wagner.
Mayor Suarez: So moved. As to all six of those. Any others?
Commissioner De Yurre: Yes, I am reappointing Daniel Perez-Zarraga and
Mariano Corral.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner Dawkins: I am reappointing Gloria Rosello and Mario Pestonit.
Mayor Suarez: So moved, as to all of those members of the...
Commissioner Plummer: Second all of those proffered.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
The following motion was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved its
adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-181
A MOTION REAPPOINTING THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS TO
SERVE AS MEMBERS TO THE CITY OF MIAMI LATIN QUARTER
REVIEW BOARD: HECTOR GASCA AND LUIS SABINES; TESSI
GARCIA AND SILVIO DIAZ; ANGEL SAQUI, II AND TONY
WAGNER; DANIEL PEREZ-ZARRAGA AND MARIONO CORRAL; AND
GLORIA ROSELLO AND MARIO PESTONIT.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
136 March 12, 1992
11
0
37. APPOINT / REAPPOINT INDIVIDUALS TO SERVE AS MEMBERS ON THE COMMISSION ON
THE STATUS OF WOMEN (Reappointed were: Alicia Baro, Nikki Beare and Judy
Miller).
Mayor Suarez: Yes, item 35, second and final term. What does that mean,
second and final term? It sounds like the end of the Commission on the Status
of Women?
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, some of the appointments, perhaps they have a
limitation in time. Could be that that's the case. I so move.
Mr. Odio: They had recommended Alicia Baro, Nikki Beare and Judy Miller.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I move that we reappoint...
Mayor Suarez: Is there a limitation in fact as to the number of terms they
can serve? Do we have any concern about that at this point?
Commissioner Dawkins: How many of them live in this City of Miami?
Mr. Odio: That's a good question.
Commissioner Plummer: Alicia does not.
Commissioner Dawkins: Nikki Beare does not. No problem.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Do they have to live in the City?
Commissioner Dawkins: No, I don't know. It's not a requirement. I just need
to know.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, but there is no regulation that says...
Mayor Suarez: Curiosity killed the cat.
Commissioner Plummer: But is there a two year limitation on these?
Mr. Odio: Is there a limitation?
Commissioner Plummer: Why is it final? That's what I don't understand.
Mr. Jones: Because it is a two -term limitation, Commissioner. Two three-year
terms.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's what it is.
Commissioner Plummer: We can change that at any time? Right?
Mayor Suarez: You certainly can.
137 March 12, 1992
M
Mr. Jones: That can be amended.
Commissioner Plummer: I don't like that limitation of terms.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll on those three appointments.
Commissioner Plummer: So move.
Mayor Suarez: Moved by Vice Mayor Alonso, seconded by Commissioner Plummer.
Call the roll.
Commissioner Dawkins: On discussion.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: Why is it for the Office of Professional Compliance Ed
Santos cannot serve because he is not a City resident, but yet when I enquire
as to the residency of the people on the Affirmative Action, it doesn't
matter. Somebody explain that to me.
Mayor Suarez: We've tried, I think, over the years to...
Commissioner Plummer: It does matter.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It does matter. The Affirmative Action, my appointment
had to resign.
Commissioner Dawkins: I mean Commission on the Status of Women. I am sorry.
Mayor Suarez: We've tried over the years, that boards that are most pressing,
that people know the issues of the City, and so on. I think, Commissioner
Dawkins, to impose that requirement. We've left a few that didn't have that
requirement. I am not sure that we should impose any more because pretty soon
we're going to have a tough time finding people to fill all positions.
Commissioner Dawkins: But you see I can find you all the people you need.
Now, like you said, I just don't understand why is it the County has a
Commission on the Status of Women. All of us are County residents, so I can
understand the County not having people totally on it. But I don't see why,
if you got a Commission on the Status of Women in Coral Gables, they shouldn't
live in Coral Gables, if it's Miami, they should not live in the City of
Miami. That's just my personal feelings.
Mayor Suarez: It has a lot to do with the function of the Commission and
whether people are active in the City. We have some boards that you either
have to live in the City or have your principal..
Commissioner Dawkins: Residence, I mean occupation.
Mayor Suarez: Right. I think, for example, the Downtown Development
Authority may be that way, and the idea is to catch people and involve them in
City matters in an advisory capacity who at least have a principal activity in
the City.
138 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I think there's something there that ought
to be considered, especially when you bring up DDA (Downtown Development
Authority). It's not that they have to reside, it's either they reside or
have a business, where it shows that they have a vested interest.
Mayor Suarez: I would think that they have some involvement in the City...
Commissioner Plummer: Right.
Mayor Suarez: ...and does the Commission on the Status of Women at least
require that? - business in the City, something in the City? No direct nexus
to the City.
Mr. Jones: Their bylaws don't require anything relative to residency or
business interests.
Mayor Suarez: Well, if anybody felt on the Commission that for whatever
reason that particular, I mean on this Commission, that Commission on the
Status of Women should have that requirement, that's something we should
consider. If anyone wants to have that.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, the only thing that I recall at the time
that this was established was that they wanted to get some of the members of
the County Status of Women on this Committee to help them get it organized, to
get it started and to give guidance and also so that they could work hand in
hand, and I think that was the reason for the request.
Commissioner Dawkins: So in other words, people in the City of Miami did not
have the expertise nor the intelligence to start a board like this? They had
to go out and seek help?
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, you'd have to speak to those who asked and not me.
Commissioner Dawkins: I don't care who answers. Anybody. I am just asking a
question. You know, all I am saying here is I would like for there to be some
consistency.
Commissioner Plummer: I don't have any problem with it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He has a good point. Either everybody for every board
must live in the City. Or everybody from every board can live at large.
That's all. And if you tell me now that it's consistent, that people, I'm
sure Commissioner De Yurre thought Ed Santos would have been a good person or
he would not have recommended him. And this gentleman cannot serve because he
does not live in the City. But then you come down to the Commission on the
Status of Women and tell me that they can live any place and still be on the
Commission. I would like... I'll tell you what, I'll make a motion that this,
this Commission for me set a policy today that people either have to live in
the City of Miami to belong to boards or they don't.
Commissioner Plummer: Or, excuse me, would you consider live in the City or
have a business in the City which gives them a vested interest?
139 March 12, 1992
N
Commissioner Dawkins: Everybody on the Miami Police Department has a business
of working in the City of Miami. They don't live in the City. Everybody on
the Miami Fire Department has a business of working in the City of Miami.
They don't live in the City of Miami. All the garbage people collect garbage
in the City in the business of collecting garbage. They don't live in the
City. And yet they take all the City of Miami tax dollars to the County and
we don't have any money on the tax base. So you all figure it out.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That is a good point.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Dawkins, not that I'm in total opposition, but, for
example, would be knocking out half the DDA.
Commissioner Dawkins: We do not have a DDA.
Commissioner Plummer: We do have
think, at least half of the members
that they must live in the City.
Commissioner Dawkins: J.L.
a DDA, but you would be knocking out, I
on that board if you make it a requirement
Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me, I am not saying I'm in opposition...
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute now, wait now. No, I did not say... I
say make it one way or the other. I didn't say which way you could make it.
Commissioner Plummer: Oh, OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no no. I'm just saying, let me know consistently
what the rule is. If we have to rake it where people live outside of the City
so that we can get the DDA Board, I don't have a problem with it. But let's
don't have a person on give me a sheet of paper that says a person cannot
serve because he is not a City resident and then come down four items below
and tell me, yes, these people can serve even though they are not a resident
of the City of Miami.
Mayor Suarez: Well, there is a basis for distinction. At least that's my
view. And the basis, the one that I feel strongest about are any that have
policy -making powers. Planning Board, Zoning Board are two that come to mind,
and any that get any compensation or insurance et cetera, and those two again
come to mind. I have always been very strict on those because I feel the
analogy you just used, I think, is a very proper one. They are almost like
City employees. They are almost like people who are deriving a great benefit.
When you start getting to boards that are more advisory and that have no
particular benefit, and people are willing to serve on them and have a
knowledge of the topic at hand, it bothers me a lot less that they don't live
in the City of Miami. If they have a nexus. That's why over the years we
have specified, must at least have a place of business and that's the way I
would come down on it. But any that get paid, any that receive a benefit, I
fully agree. They should live in the City of Miami. If I, if we have any
boards that they don't live in the City, that it's not a requirement for
people who are getting paid or deriving any benefits, insurance or otherwise,
I would like to know about that, Mr. Manager. Because I don't think we have
any, but just in case, because he would have my favorable vote on that.
140 March 12, 1992
I
Commissioner Plummer: Where are we?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thirty-six.
Commissioner Plummer: What is the motion?
Ms. Hirai: To...
Mr. Jones: To be consistent in terms...
Commissioner Dawkins: Forget it, go ahead.
Mayor Suarez: He has withdrawn the motion.
Vice Mayor Alonso: To set policy.
Mayor Suarez: He said to forget it, which I understand to mean that he has
withdrawn the motion. If he wants to make it, certainly he can do it. OK.
Item 36.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Item 36.
Mayor Suarez: Little Havana Art District.
Ms. Hirai: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Ms. Hirai: We had an original motion on item 35 moved by Commissioner
Plummer, seconded by Vice Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Oh, we didn't vote on the members?
Ms. Hirai: No, we have not called the roll on it.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Please call the roll on that.
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved
its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-182
A RESOLUTION REAPPOINTING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FOR A
SECOND AND FINAL TERM TO SERVE AS MEMBERS ON THE
COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI, FLORIDA.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
141 March 12, 1992
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
ABSENT: None.
COMMENTS MADE DURING ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Plummer: What the hell was 35? Oh, OK.
38. DESIGNATE S.W. 8 STREET BETWEEN 17 AND 27 AVENUES AS: THE LITTLE HAVANA
ART DISTRICT.
Mayor Suarez: Item 36. Vice Mayor Alonso.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I'd like to request that we name Eighth Street
between 17th Avenue and 27th Avenue, Little Havana Art District. We are
trying to encourage the establishing of art galleries, and different
activities. We will have a plan. I am working with several organizations in
order to establish specific guidelines for the area but at this time I'd like
to move that we accept that the area be named, known as Little Havana Art
District, and that's all I am requesting at this time.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
Commissioner De Yurre: Hold it. Hold it. I'd like to have some more on this
issue, because all I have is this one sheet of paper. I have no idea if we
have any input from the area as to how they feel about this. We don't have
any information as to what is going to be done there. 1 really, you know, I
really can't support this just based on this one two line paragraph.
Vice Mayor Alonso: The only idea, the only thing. Whatever question you have
I'll be happy to try to answer, Commissioner. The only thing we are
requesting, since we are trying to encourage in the area the opening of art
galleries, are the - we are going to establish in 18th Avenue, the Lydia
Cabrera Museum, the Afro-Cuban museum. We are going to have the Creation
Ballet open in the next few weeks. We are going to have different art
galleries. We have one that already opened and we are encouraging this in the
area. The Latin Chamber of Commerce, neighbors and organizations in the area,
we are working on the idea of presenting a plan to the Commission for further
approval. All that we are asking at this time is that the area be known as
Little Havana Art District.
142 March 12, 1992
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. Let me tell you how I feel about this. Usually
when you want to create, and again I reiterate myself that I don't have any
input about what is actually being done. This is just kind of a spur of the
moment kind of informational situation. When you create a district usually
It's because the conditions in the area have created already the concept and
then you just name it as such and you continue developing it. The Latin
Quarter was created not because we wanted to create Latin Quarters because it
is full of Latins in that area. And I feel that if we see that we have a
number of art -related businesses in the area already existing, not that they
are proposed, but are already existing, then it makes more sense to look into
the possibility of naming something an art district, a this district, or
whatever district. But you know, I'd like to get some more information, and
see something more tangible and I'd like to hear from, you know we have some
members here from the Latin Quarter from 8th Street, to see what they have to
say along these lines, before I can vote on this.
Mayor Suarez: Who would you like to hear from?
Commissioner De Yurre: Whomever in the area. I mean, like I... we'd like to
get some input from the neighbors or the business people.
Mr. Elio Rojas: My name is Elio Rojas. I'm Secretary Director of the Latin
Quarter Association. This minute, I don't see anything. I guess whatever
increase coming to the area, we are very pleased to accept, but on some
specification, like Victor De Yurre said, I don't know. This specification to
address the area in the way Commissioner Alonso said, I don't know.
Mayor Suarez: At this point I think it is a conceptual thing or a
terminological, it doesn't have a particular set of premises.
Commissioner De Yurre: I don't mind the concept because...
Commissioner Plummer: It's nothing more than just naming it. At this point
there's no money involved. It's a concept, which I think it will have to have
a lot of work go into it and everything would have to be approved by this
Commission especially if it relates to dollars.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, that is my position. I don't see any input, but
maybe we can approve it in principle to some degree and then come back and get
some input from the people because I don't see any input here at all.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I have a motion on the table, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And we have a second and I'd like that you take a vote
and if it passes, fine, if it fails, fine.
Mayor Suarez: Right, but you are not closing off debate? I mean...
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, I am not. I am just saying that my motion is to
approve it as such...
Mayor Suarez: You're not withdrawing your motion in its entirety. Right?
143 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...if not, I am not changing in any way my motion.
Mayor Suarez: Caroline Weiss. What could you possibly want to add to all of
this? I think you have another item you hope to see before us today.
Ms. Caroline Weiss: I am sorry, I think I can add quite a bit to what Mrs.
Alonso wants to do. I would like to point out that Hispanic Heritage Week was
implemented and started by me in the area. And the reason that Hispanic
Heritage Week was implemented and started with me, I was successful in getting
Susquehanna Broadcasting, University, Federal and Royal Trust Bank to
participate in the ground opening of Hispanic Heritage Week back in 1976. And
- now this is a current affair and it has been widely accepted in the area. The
Calle Ocho festival, again, I was very influential in implementing the Calle
Ocho festival...
Mayor Suarez: I don't think this relates to festivals, particularly, as much
as an art district.
Ms. Weiss: No, no, I know, I know, but I think I am setting a dialogue, and
now that has become a widely accepted affair which is drawing over a million
people. Mrs. Alonso has requested some facilities to donate to the art and to
be displayed in the Royal Trust tower and I have given this freely. For the
past fifteen years I have donated one complete floor every December for ACA
which is having to do with all of the Latin America and Dade County art which
is displayed each year at the building. And I think the idea is very good,
because you have to start some place so as to get it accepted by the public,
and I think that the people in the area would be very happy to cooperate
because I have spoken about this situation. And the reason I got involved in
this, one, because of hardship, and now it has become part of the community.
Mayor Suarez: Your tower would be at the western end of the district?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Ms. Weiss: Yes, yes.
Mayor Suarez: ...and included within it..
Vice Mayor Alonso: Of course.
Ms. Weiss: Sure.
Mayor Suarez: ...because I guess the idea is that...
Ms. Weiss: I think the tower lends itself for the display of art. We have
over fifty thousand square feet of ground space and...
Mayor Suarez: And you're dying to make it available at no charge
for all...
Ms. Weiss: Yes, sir.
144 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Very good. We got something out of this yet, other than a
concept?
Ms. Weiss: No. I have done this on a regular basis so that it can be free of
charge, including for this Thursday, for all of the runners to operate out of
the building and park their cars there free of charge. So I think somebody
has to put their foot in and participate in the community. I think the idea
is good and we should support it.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Thank you.
Ms. Weiss: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the
motion? I believe the motion is as the matter was presented, which is to
declare the area an Arts District and beyond that it does not have any other
implications.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Intention, at this time.
Mayor Suarez: Any further discussion? If not, please call the roll.
The following motion was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved its
adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-183
A MOTION DESIGNATING THE AREA OF S.W. 8TH STREET
BETWEEN 17TH AVENUE AND 27TH AVENUE AS "THE LITTLE
HAVANA ART DISTRICT."
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
ABSENT: None.
145 March 12, 1992
.'s
39. RESCIND RESOLUTION 90-523, WHICH APPROVED IMPLEMENTATION OF A PLAN TO
INLAY PLAQUES ALONG A PORTION OF S.W. 8 STREET (CALLE OCHO) BETWEEN S.W.
12 TO 27 AVENUES, TO HONOR INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS, SPORTS FIGURES, AND
OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS OF THE LATIN COMMUNITY.
Mayor Suarez: Yes. Item 37. Status on "Latin Stars" program. I know that
this has been of great interest, and I was approached by one of the organizers
and told that one of the stars that we thought had been placed was not really
placed. In which case, I don't know what, on the whole, to do about it,
except that I think the Commission has made it pretty clear that until you get
specific approval from this Commission you may not place anything on the
City's sidewalks.
Mr. Odio: Mr. Mayor, I'm, I'm...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mister...
Mr. Odio: I'm sorry, Commissioner.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Go ahead.
Mr. Odio: I was going to recommend something up front and then see if I get -
Vice Mayor Alonso: May I respond first to the question...
Mr. Odio: OK.
Mayor Suarez: Surely, Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...that the Mayor addressed? The problem is that a star
was given. The Miami Herald, all the newspapers, published the presentation
that Mr. Soto made of a Latin Star to be installed in Eighth Street to Hansel.
It was stated that yes, this was one of the stars to be played in Eighth
Street. Even though it was not installed, the impression was given to these
artist that, yes it was approved, and I think that that's a matter of very
serious concern, because the City of Miami has stated very clear that we need
approval sixty days in advance prior to any star being given to anyone.
Mr. Odio: That is right. I agree. Mr. Mayor, this is going to go on and on
forever, and I would recommend that we rescind any permissions we have given
them to place any stars on any of our sidewalks and that if anybody is going
to do it, it would have to be the City of Miami. If we wanted to have a Star
Gallery, whatever, controlled by you and nobody else. There's been too many
questions raised because of what's happened there. Then we always get the
blame for the negatives. We don't get the credit for the good things, so we
might as well say - that's it, no more. This is our sidewalk. This is the
taxpayer's sidewalk.
Mr. Javier Soto: Can I speak, please? OK. My name is Javier Soto. I am the
founder of the Latin Stars organization on the Calle Ocho Walk of Fame. I
146 March 12, 1992
would like to explain something about this. At the end of December 1991, I
called Dr. Luis Prieto, Director of Public Works Department of the City of
Miami, to notify him that the Latin Star Organization would like to present a
new list of elected artists to the City Commission. Dr. Prieto recommend me
to do it as soon as possible because in the month of November and the month of
December they would only be celebrated two Commission meetings, one each
month. So on October 4, I myself delivered the list to Public Works. And I
handed it to Mr. David Hernandez. On December 6, after the last 1991 meeting,
I called Dr. Prieto to ask him about if everything went OK with the list. And
he told me, OK, that everything was OK with that list. He told me that you
can celebrate the ceremony but remember not to install the star on the
sidewalk like we had done before. If you remember when Rosio Jurado we did it
like that. We celebrate the ceremony but we didn't install the star until we
got the permit. He never notified me that he never presented the list in
front of the Commissioners. OK? And in February...
Mayor Suarez: But you see, that's a double negative. You cannot function
that way. You cannot allege that we did not notify you were not supposed to
do something. You have to be absolutely sure that we have notified you that
you are supposed to do something.
Mr. Soto: Yeah, but when I called him and I asked him if everything went OK
with the list, he told me everything is OK with the list, and even David
Hernandez from City Public Works...
Mayor Suarez: Well put it this way. We're going to institute something here,
possibly, that will require that the City officially give you the kind of
document, you or anyone else, the kind of document that will allow you to do
this and it will be so clear... Mr. Manager, whatever we end up doing, whether
this group ends up managing it or anyone else, that there won't be any
equivocation that this has been approved.
Mr. Odio: That is why...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, It's crystal clear, it's very clear what we
have done. We have said, sixty days in advance it has to come for approval of
this Commission.
Mr. Soto: OK. That was in October.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It's very clear.
Mr. Soto: Yes.
By the way, may I also ask a question?
Vice Mayor Alonso: We approved a list of the stars to be installed in 8th
street. Have you installed any of the ones that we've already approved?
Mr. Soto: Well, some of them, because some of... We had to notify the artists
and they notify us the day that they're going to receive it. That doesn't
depend on the organization. That depends on the artist, when they're
available to receive the star. We cannot tell them to come on such date.
They are the ones who give the date that they want to receive the star.
147 March 12, 1992
la
Vice Mayor Alonso: How many are pending from the list that we already
approve?
Mr. Soto: I don't really remember right now.
Mr. Jim Kay: We have sixteen more plaques remaining to be installed where the
names have been approved.
Mr. Soto: Yes, but that...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Sixteen have been approved but not installed.
Mr. Kay: That's correct.
Vice Mayor Alonso: But then on the other hand, they went public with an
additional star that we never approved.
Mr. Kay: That's right.
Mr. Soto: I did it because Dr. Prieto told me that everything went OK with
the list, Commissioner Alonso. OK? That's what he told me, he never notified
me that he never presented the list in front of the Commission. That's what I
am saying.
Mr. Odio: I still think, Mr. Mayor, that we should take our sidewalk back.
Mayor Suarez: I like the idea of taking the sidewalks back. I have no
problem with that, but the idea of the City becoming a, certainly this
Commission, becoming a board for deciding who gets a Latin Star on the
sidewalks, you're not going to get my support for that. We got enough to do
here without getting into all of that in deciding who is an eminent artist and
who is not, and the whole point of having a board is to have people, or an
organization, is to have people who supposedly are knowledgeable, so I don't
know, what does anybody expect us to do today? Does anybody have any
particular action they want this Commission to take at this point. Vice
Mayor?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, I think the first thing, it has to be
clarified. These people have been requested a long time ago to have an audit.
Mr. Soto: Yes, that's right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And according to the information that we've been receiving
from the Administration, we have not received - Mr. Wally Lee and Jim Kay can
tell us - for about a year and a half we've been waiting for an audit of these
organizations...
Mr. Soto: OK. I'd like to say something about that.
Vice Mayor Alonso: May I have just one minute so I finish? The audit has
been requested, and according to Dr. Prieto, he had asked you on several
occasions to have the audit. It was never presented to us. That's one thing.
The other point is the question of the stars. We agreed, and you were here
and you were in agreement with us that, yes indeed, you were not going to
148 March 12, 1992
inform any artist of future stars until this Commission, sixty days in
advance, approved the star.
Mr. Soto: If he present like he said that he did - you know that he was
supposed to do it - the list on October, November or December, that was sixty
days in advance, because we celebrated the ceremony on the 14th of February.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Did you receive an official document requesting that this
be placed on the Agenda. Do you have any record of this organization
requesting approval for additional stars? - even though sixteen are pending,
have been approved by us but were not installed.
Mr. Soto: That doesn't...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Sixteen, to me, it's a lot of stars.
Mr. Kay: All I have is a list but I don't have any official request.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, I mean, did you receive? Do you have anything in your
files that a letter from Mr. Soto, the organization, or what have you,
requesting a formal presentation in front of us, for additional approval of
the stars, including Mr. Hansel?
Mr. Kay: I'm not aware of any. But I do have a list. I have a list in our
files here with Hansel's name on it, and a number of other people, but I don't
recall seeing the letter that requests that list be placed before the
Commission.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well I think something has to be done. Maybe they have
some explaining to do. Why they have acted the way they have. But I don't
think that it is proper for the City of Miami to continue in a relationship
with an organization that seems to ignore the City of Miami and the
legislation that takes place here, and I think that unless they understand
quite clear what it's supposed to be, I think the relationship should really
be terminated.
Mr. Soto: OK. I think, Commissioner Alonso, that it is very easy when one
organization has created a concept, worked their heart... you know, very hard
in that concept, create a monument and a tourist attraction with not, you
know, without any cost for the City. People that have been working for three
years doing good work, and now you're going to say is that it's better to
break the communication with the Latin Stars. Only because there being a
confusion or a misunderstanding or whatever? Eh? I don't think that's fair.
OK? Because I...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Let me tell you something. The original idea was not the
idea of your organization...
Mr. Soto: No?
Vice Mayor Alonso: I want you to go back in the records of the City of Miami
and you will see that Dr. Pacheco was the person who thought of this idea and
presented it to the City of Miami...
149 March 12, 1992
lu
'
Mr. Soto: Well...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Let me finish,
thoughts. I would like to hear
Commission can really grant you an
give you another opportunity. What
the City of Miami as to continue in
create problems sooner or later...
Mr. Soto: OK. Why...
please, and I will let you complete your
something convincing enough that this
extension and say, well, we're going to
we cannot continue to do is to embarrass
a relationship that is going, is bound to
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...You go around, let me finish please, you go around
promising stars to people that perhaps this Commission wants to say no. We
live in a community that it's not that easy. We have feelings, different
groups. You should not be taking upon yourself the decision on who gets the
star. We told you that we didn't want to be the bad guys. We wanted you to
come and check with us and get our approval. What if this Commission says no
to Mr. Hansel?
Mr. Soto: When I asked Dr. Prieto if everything went OK with the list, he
told me everything is OK with the list, and in that list, Hansel was the first
on the list, and if Mr. Kay has the list in his file, it's not because I'm
just sending a list of artists just to see what is going on, it's because we
submitted it to be approved.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Soto...
Mr. Soto: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You have been around long enough. You have appeared in
this Commission many, many times through the years. In the last two years
that I have been a Commissioner, I have seen you here several times. And also
some other occasions when we have addressed the question of Latin Stars and
you were not here but some representative of your organization came on your
behalf. You should know well enough by now that Mr. Prieto did not have...
Dr. Prieto didn't have the power to tell you either yes or no...
Mr. Soto: He is the one...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...because he does not make decisions...
Mr. Soto: I know that.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...on behalf of this Commission, and if someone is
confused about the powers of this Commission, they have to start learning that
we set the rules in the City of Miami, and people abide by them.
Mr. Soto: Yeah, and...
Vice Mayor Alonso: And we have told you, crystal clear, what's to be done,
and if you cannot really abide by simple regulations, I don't think that your
organization is responsible enough as to be taking a space in the streets that
belong to the citizens of Miami. I think that it's about time that you
understand, your organization understands and everyone understands the way
this is done.
150 March 12, 1992
11�
IN
Mr. Soto: Uh-huh.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I agree with the City Manager that something has to be
done. He has made a very strong proposal saying that we should take care of
these or perhaps open for RFP (request for proposals). Some other
organization, perhaps, will come and take over. Maybe the same organization
will reorganize and do it differently. But the way you've been doing this,
it's not really proper at all...
Mr. Soto: Well, that's very easy...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Are you the president of the organization, Mr. Soto?
Mr. Soto: No. I am the founder of the...
Vice Mayor Alonso: What is your position in the organization?
Mr. Soto: I am the founder.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You are the founder. Who is the President?
Mr. Soto: The President is Emilio Sauma.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You are the President?
Mr. Emilio Sauma: Uh-huh.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. May be you should address this Commission to tell us
why we should continue with this and how we're going to do it, and also the
department should tell us have they presented the....
Mr. Odio: They have not.
Vice Mayor Alonso: They have not, the audit...
Mr. Odio: They have not complied with the certified audit.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So we don't know the finances how they are...
Mr. Soto: OK. The certified audit. I want to explain something about the
certified audit. OK, if you don't mind. In March 1991, we received a letter
from the City of Miami informing us, among other things, that we have to
_ present a certified audit in order to continue installing stars in the
sidewalk. We contacted Mr. Jorge Diaz, who identified himself as an
accountant, and as a member of the American organization of the CPA (Certified
Public Accountant), and he prepared something that we sent to Public Works.
We never were notified, you know, if that was OK or if it was wrong or
whatever, OK? That's what I'm trying to say.
Mr. Odio: You've been notified repeatedly that you have not complied...
Mr. Soto: No, in November...
151 March 12, 1992
Mr. Odio: Excuse me. I let you talk.
Mr. Soto: OK.
Mr. Odio: ...that you have not complied with the certified audit. All we
have from this Mr. Diaz is a balance sheet.
Mr. Soto: No, it's not a balance sheet. It's a compilation.
Mr. Wally Lee: Well, that's what it says, sir.
Mr. Soto: Well, in November...
Mr. Odio: Do you want me to put it on the record what it says here?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Please do.
Mr. Odio: "I have compiled the accompanying balance sheet of Latin Stars
Inc., as of March 31st, 1991. And the related statement of income for the
year then ended. The compilation is limited to presenting in the form of
financial statements information that is the representation of management. We
have not audited or reviewed the accompanying financial statements and
accordingly do not express an opinion or any other form of assurance on
them..."
Mr. Soto: And then why...
Mr. Odio: "...This is not a certified audit."
Mr. Soto: OK. I want to know why, on July 18, when we were invited to a
program, a radio program with Lucy Paredes on WQBA, there was a representative
of the City of Miami over there on the same program, Mr. David Hernandez. He
said that they received the audit, and that they send it to the legal
department and they just were waiting on an answer from the legal department,
and in his opinion everything was OK.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Soto, we don't do business from a radio station...
Mr. Soto: No, no, no, what I mean, why...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...and that employee of the City of Miami cannot handle
the business of the City of Miami from a radio talk show. We do business from
this forum, here, and that's the way we address this legislatively.
Mr. Soto: Yes, but that's a person from Public Works, Mrs. Miriam Alonso,
that was a person from Public Works, from the department of Public Works with
his opinion about this. OK?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Did you ever present to the City of Miami an audit of the
finances of your group?
Mr. Soto: OK. When in December I talked to Dr. Prieto, he told me...
152 March 12, 1992
Mr. Odio: Sir, I am going to talk for Dr. Prieto with a letter he wrote you
on March 15 of 191 demanding a certified audit.
Mr. Soto: Ah-huh, yes. I know. I received that letter.
Mayor Suarez: Wait, wait, wait.
Mr. Odio: There was a prior letter to that November 14 of 1991 by the same
Dr. Prieto demanding the certified audit or you could not proceed.
Mr. Soto: Yes, I never received that second letter.
Mr. Odio: You did receive it.
Mr. Soto: No, I never received the second letter, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: Which letter? Which letter?
Mr. Soto: The one from November.
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, the one from November is part of the packet that
you just gave me and you didn't receive it?
Mr. Soto: Yes because Mr. Kay gave it to me last week when I went to his
office. He gave me a copy of that letter.
Mr. Odio: I feel, again, that we need to start all over again.
Mr. Soto: He gave me a copy of the letter and I told him that I never
received that letter.
Vice Mayor Alonso: But it is in the packet that you just gave the Commission.
Mr. Soto: Yes ma'am because Mr. Kay gave me a copy last week and I made
copies. If you can see the address over there, it's not the same.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Do you have recollection when you came in front of us, at
least twice you came in front of us, and we requested for you to give the City
of Miami, Dr. Prieto, the Public Works Department, an audit? Do you have
recollection of these experiences?
Mr. Soto: No, only once. I've never been in front of the Commission.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, let's say that it was only once.
Mr. Soto: But we are...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...Isn't that enough?
Mr. Soto: But we are ready to give one, here is Mr. Julio Morillas, a CPA
that I contacted, you know, when all this problem came now, and he is going to
do it. If you want to let him talk, please.
Commissioner Plummer: Are you the auditor? Who is the auditor?
153 March 12, 1992
Mr. Julio Morillas. I am, sir, Julio Morillas, for the record. We have been
retained...
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, you've two pages here...
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, he did not do that.
Mr. Morillas: No, no, no. I did not prepare that financial statement, Mr.
Plummer.
Commissioner Plummer: Who did?
_ Mr. Morillas: I don't know. Another accountant did. I said I have been
retained.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, can you speak to this?
Mr. Morillas: In reference to that financial statement? Not at all, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: Are you the treasurer?
Mr. Morillas: No, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, what part do you play in this?
Mr. Morillas: I was retained by Mr. Soto on Monday..
Commissioner Plummer: To do...?
Mr. Morillas: To prepare financial statements, certified financial statements
as of March 31, 1991...
Commissioner Plummer: Let me ask Mr. Soto, then.
Mr. Morillas: ... and as of March 31, 1992. I have not looked at the books,
and I have not done any work so far.
Commissioner Plummer: I can't cut your throat until you pick up your pen.
Mr. Soto, on the first page you're showing a deficit of twenty-one thousand
eight hundred and 20 dollars ($21,820) as of March 3, 1991, basically three
loans. I don't know how you have a deficit in cash, that's a little difficult
to do unless you have a real friendly banker. Is those loans, part of the
gross revenue?
Mr. Soto: Sir, I didn't prepare the financial. That was the accountant.
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, you're the biggest loan in this thing.
Mr. Soto: Yes, I know. I've been giving money from my own pocket to the
organization, OK, so we can keep up with the program.
Commissioner Plummer: The question I have, sir, on the second page you show
gross revenues of forty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty-three ($45,953).
-� arch 12
154 M , 1992
—I
0
I am asking if the deficit of twenty-one thousand eight hundred and twenty,
which is primarily loans, is that part of the gross revenues or not?
Mr. Soto: I don't know, sir. I don't know, I have never been into numbers,
OK.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me ask you this.
Mr. Soto: This, all the paperwork for all the financial part of the
organization was taken care by the treasurer and he is not here right now.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Is he still a member of the organization?
Mr. Soto: No. He moved out of, he moved to the Margarita Island.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me ask you then this question. You show
gross revenues of forty-six thousand dollars, from where does that money come?
Mr. Soto: That comes from private money and from the sponsors.
Commissioner Plummer: And you don't have a breakdown of that?
Mr. Soto: We11, yeah. We have a breakdown. With a certified audit, we can
show everything, where everything is coming from and where the money is going.
I know that this work was not properly done. Now that I've been talking to
some other people and I find out that this person didn't do a good work so
that...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Let me tell you something. I cannot sit here in this
Commission and after what I have heard this afternoon and what I've been
looking through all of this time. I don't think we can continue holding this.
I think we should move today with the recommendation of the City Manager and
in case something is presented to us that make us see differently, we can
address that at that time. I will move that we take the recommendation of the
City Manager and move forward and take possession of the stars.
Mr. Emilio Sauma: Excuse me.
Mayor Suarez: To understand the motion, what is the recommendation of the
City Manager? The way it was just phrased "take possession of the stars"...?
Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me, Mr. Mayor...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, then perhaps an RFP...
Commissioner Plummer: ...it might be easier. Can I, can I inquire?
Mayor Suarez: Yeah. Absolutely.
Commissioner Plummer: They had a contract. Is that correct?
Mr. Kay: Covenant, that's what they have.
Commissioner Plummer: A covenant. And how long did that exist
155 March 12, 1992
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for?
Mr. Kay: There was no term.
Mr. Odio: You can simply rescind that covenant with a resolution.
Commissioner Plummer: No, but what I was saying, if there was a time factor
and the time has run, we don't have to take any action.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's right.
Mr. Jones: No, there's no term within the covenant, Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: So if it's a covenant, we've got to rescind it.
Mr. Jones: You'd have to rescind it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We have to take action. So actually the best... Mr. City
Attorney, will you guide us what will be the best move here. I think we have
to take action to rescind the...
Mr. Jones: Madam Vice Mayor, the proper thing for you to do is to pass a
resolution rescinding the resolution that you passed previously granting the
covenant to run with the land. That would be the proper course.
Vice Mayor Alonso: All right.
Mr. Sauma: OK. Emilio Sauma is my name. I am the present President of Latin
Star.
Mayor Suarez: But nobody has recognized you, sir. We appreciate your input
at the appropriate time.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Probably he misunderstood me, because I moved my hand like
that.
Mr. Sauma: Would you like me to repeat that again?
Mayor Suarez: Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Because we've got a motion and I
want to make sure we understand the motion.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I think it's proper that he address us. I'd like to
hear what he has to say before I move for...
Mayor Suarez: Please.
Mr. Sauma: OK. Thank you. I am the new president of Latin Stars for the
last five months and I would like to ask the Committee for an extension, since
I am the new president and I am trying to recollect and get some of the things
in order for the organization and until then to please ask you for an
extension. Mr. Mayor and Mrs. Alonso.
Vice Mayor Alonso: What kind of extension are you asking us?
156 March 12, 1992
Mr. Sauma: Well, we're working with the accountant right now and we're trying
to get everything that the Commission asks in order Is that too much to ask?
Mayor Suarez: You know what troubles me...
Mr. Sauma: We can have that ready...
Mayor Suarez: ...if we don't find... wait, wait, wait.
Commissioner Plummer: If Commissioner Alonso's motion passes, and you come
back in the next thirty, sixty, ninety days with an organization that shows
something proper, I think that this Commission would definitely consider that.
But, sir, at this time to let you proceed anything further when the demand is
over a year for a certified audit, it has to make us tend to believe that it's
not going to be forthcoming.
Mr. Odio: May I suggest something?
Vice Mayor Alonso: What I suggest, if I may, what I suggest is that we move
and take possession at this time, and then wait, let's say for a reasonable
amount of time before we take any further action of going into an RFP or
taking any further action. If you have something to show to us that
everything is in order with your organization, then we will address that at
that time.
Mr. Sauma: Along the way, within that time?
Vice Mayor Alonso: You told me that a reasonable time. Let's say 30 days,
sixty days.
Mr. Morillas: I could prepare a certified audit by say June 30th.
Vice Mayor Alonso: June?
Mr. Morillas: June 30th. Which from now until April 15th I will not being
doing any certified audits, but after April 15th, you know.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I don't know if the Commission wants to wait such a long
time, but whenever you're ready you come back to us and we'll address the
issue.
Mr. Morillas: Because the earliest I believe I could prepare a financial
statement for this company would be, you know, no earlier than June 1st.
Mr. Jones: Yeah, yeah. Commissioner, again, all you have to do if the
contemplated action is to rescind the resolution which originally 90-523 which
was amended by a subsequent resolution and amended further by another
resolution. So what I'm saying is just adopt a resolution rescinding.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Rescinding? OK. So move.
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
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March 12, 1992
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Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded as to rescind the resolution. Keep in mind,
what was your last name again?
Mr. Sauma: Sauma. S-a-u-m-a.
Mayor Suarez: Keep in mind that at some point we talked a little bit about
the idea, the inception of the idea and maybe that it was Freddy Pacheco's?
Commissioner Plummer: Yes, very definite.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: ...and of course there is the issue about control over the
sidewalks. Control over the sidewalks ultimately rests with this Commission,
there's no doubt about that. That's a right-of-way. You have, however, I
presume, and I don't mean to be your attorney in any way, but you have the
name "Latin Stars." I presume you have taken all kinds of steps to protect
that. I think this Commission would like to.... At least I know this
Commissioner, like myself, would like to preserve the concept of Latin Stars.
I think it has a good tone to it and an organization such as yours, if it was
functioning exactly right, would be the ideal one, because as I said before, I
don't want this Commission to become the forum for deciding who is and who is
not a Latin star, worthy of having some kind of a marker. We are going to go
crazy. I think it will be very difficult, for us, to ever simply, if you get
your act together, it would be very difficult for us to give this whole
concept to someone else, because they would probably have to come up with a
whole different name and everything else and I don't think we want to do that.
There is continuity here. So for myself and for my vote on this motion, I am
going to vote favorably, but I am going to indicate to you that this is not an
indication that I am ready to simply give this whole power and authority and
concept to anyone else. I am not sure that we can legally do that as to the
name Latin Stars, but otherwise, I think it would be unfair. So I would have
preferred that this motion be simply, again, a more clear suspension of your
rights until we get your house in order.
Commissioner Plummer: That's what it's doing.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's exactly what it's doing, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: I think it's stronger than that. I think it takes back the
initial resolution and I don't think we have to go that far. But you know, we
have got other items to do.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, the problem is that we went the other route for
a year and a half and it didn't work.
Mayor Suarez: We are concerned that, like the Vice Mayor just said, that all
the messages sent have somehow not been conveyed properly. I even heard a
sort of double negative from Javier where he said, I forget how he phrased it,
but we did not know that we were not supposed to do this, and the whole point
is that you're supposed to be absolutely sure that we've authorized it by the
most formal process because it is a City sidewalk and it involves the use of
public property. So I am going to vote with the motion, but let me tell you,
once again, that for myself and for my vote, you don't need to lobby me. I
158 March 12, 1992
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appreciate your grabbing me out in the hallway and trying to convince me. I
think Latin Stars, and I think your organization, should ultimately, if you
get your house in order, be able to continue its work. And to me this is a
step to make you understand how important it is for you to get your house in
order. It is not an effort to revoke your ultimate authority to come back in
and continue this work. All right?
Commissioner Plummer: I can tell you for this vote. If you reorganize and
you do become what this Commission considers to be a viable organization, one
of the three members of the Latin members of this City Commission is going to
be on your board.
Mr. Sauma: Thank you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: One more comment. Two questions. From the previous
members of the Latin Stars, are you the only one that remain on the board,
Javier?
Commissioner De Yurre: It's not going to be either Miller or me. OK?
Mr. Soto: No. I am not the only one.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You are not the only one?
Mr. Soto: No.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Could you name the rest?
Mr. Soto: Excuse me.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Could you give me the names of the other members?
Mr. Soto: Sara Soto
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's your wife, right?
Mr. Soto: That's my ex-wife.
Commissioner Plummer: Ex-wife?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Ex-wife?
Mr. Soto: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK.
Mr. Soto: Maria Iglesias.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Maria Iglesias?
Mr. Soto: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: She is an original member?
159 March 12, 1992
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Mr. Soto: Yes, and Alva Igan.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Is she related to you?
Mr. Soto: No ma'am.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK.
Mr. Soto: Alba Igan.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Who?
Mr. Soto: Alba Igan.
Vice Mayor Alonso: She was there from the beginning?
Mr. Soto: Yes, ma'am.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. That's it?
Mr. Soto: Well, the members of the different committees. They've been the
same.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Could you give me a list of the names?
Mr. Soto: There are a lot of them.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Because I have had, and that's why I am so upset with the
entire process, so many people that resigned...
Mr. Soto: Resigned?
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...from the organization and then they want to talk to us,
and they call our offices, and they want to tell us the long story of what has
happened within the organization. I really have a lot of things to do and I
don't appreciate all of the problems of what has happened. That has given to
us the appearance, if nothing else, of impropriety, plus the action of not
responding to the demands that this Commission has placed on your organization
to meet certain deadlines that you have ignored for over a year and a half.
The other thing is that we have an embarrassing situation and that is with Mr.
Hansel. He has been promised a star. And I think that this Commission has a
problem because it's the name of Miami. These people have taken up on
themselves the... taken the authority to inform this person that they were
going to issue a star and I think that that's something that perhaps, not
today, because we've other things that we have to take care of, but I suggest
in the very near future, address your problem of how we resolve this star.
Mayor Suarez: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: One comment.
Mayor Suarez: It's after four. I guess at some point...
Mr. Gonzalea-Goenaga: Very short.
160 March 12, 1992
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Mayor Suarez: Wait, wait, wait, you've not been recognized. Yes, sir. Go
ahead.
Mr. Sauma: I wanted to thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Why don't you let Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga make a comment.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Well, I am going to be a little more blunt than the
Commissioners. I thank the Latin Stars organization, that feels that eternal
figures like Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernandez is not there, Pedro Flores
is not there.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga, you can give them all the submissions of
names you would like...
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: No, I don't want them to be there. It would be
embarrassing to me. Because they are dead, they cannot pay.
Mayor Suarez: We're not going to take up your suggestions today, we're not
here for that, sir. All right, anything else? You were going to thank us for
something and it's always nice to be thanked. Mr. Sauma, you were going to
thank us for something, sir, before we voted?
Mr. Sauma: No, it's all right.
Mayor Suarez: You're going to wait to see how the vote comes out?
Mr. Sauma: If you allow me.
Mayor Suarez: Were you, in fact, going to say that you think that this will
allow you to work with us, that you will comply, and hopefully, be in a
position to continue this work?
Mr. Sauma: It definitely will, yes.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Then we'll put that in the record as interpreted by
me. From your effort to say thank you. All right, call the roll on the
motion.
161 March 12, 1992
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved
its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-184
A RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 90-523, AS
AMENDED, ADOPTED JULY 12, 1990, WHICH APPROVED THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF A PLAN TO INLAY PLAQUES ALONG A
PORTION OF THE DEDICATED PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY OF
SOUTHWEST EIGHTH STREET BETWEEN SOUTHWEST 12TH AND
17TH AVENUES TO HONOR INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS, SPORTS
FIGURES AND OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS OF THE LATIN
COMMUNITY, THEREBY TERMINATING THE RIGHT AND LICENSE
GRANTED TO LATIN STARS, INC. TO INLAY AND MAINTAIN
SAID PLAQUES.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
40. (Continued Discussion) FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CODE SECTION 2-
305 CONCERNING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND DISCLOSURE OF REAL ESTATE OWNED
BY CERTAIN OFFICIALS, THEREBY ADDING MEMBERS OF THE NUISANCE ABATEMENT
BOARD (See Label 19).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: I deferred Item 10 this morning and I understand that
the lawyer for that board is here. Will he come forward please and tell us.
Mayor Suarez: Sir?
Commissioner Dawkins: Item 10.
Commissioner Plummer: Item 10? Oh, is this the Nuisance Abatement?
162 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: 1 understand that the Judge imposed an injunction last
evening?
Doug Broeker, Esq.: A temporary injunction, that's correct.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait now, J.L. I brought him up here for one thing and
you're philosophizing.
Commissioner Plummer: All right, I can ask afterwards.
Commissioner Dawkins: Go right ahead Doug, please.
Mr. Broeker: I am Doug Broeker...
Mayor Suarez: Somebody take him out to a nice place for lunch. Something
happened here. Still acting up. All right. Mr. Broeker?
Mr. Broeker: I am Doug Broeker, 538 N.E. 55th Terrace, here as Counsel for
the Nuisance Abatement Board. Item 10 is a proposal to add the Nuisance
Abatement Board to several other boards and the Commissioners on the
disclosure requirements of the conflict of interests ordinance. This has been
discussed within the board and the board members recognize that along with
their responsibilities as a quasi-judicial body of the Nuisance Abatement
Board, they have the responsibility and they have no objection to having this
ordinance passed.
Commissioner Plummer: You're saying that all of the members want themselves
to be considered under this?
Mr. Broeker: Well, my understanding is that based upon the quasi-judicial
nature of the Board, this is a requirement and if the ordinance is going to be
amended in order to meet this requirement, then so be it. I mean nobody wants
to be forced to make disclosures and what not, but it comes with the
territory.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So you're asking us to move to approve as presented to us?
Mr. Broeker: That's correct.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner Plummer: So moved.
Mayor Suarez: And seconded and thirded. Call the roll, before we change our
minds.
(AT THIS POINT, THE ROLL WAS CALLED, AND THE COMMISSION VOTED
UNANIMOUSLY IN FAVOR OF THE MOTION.)
Commissioner Dawkins: All right, J.L., you have the floor.
163 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: No please, don't, don't put it into his mind.
Commissioner Plummer: No, no, no. Would you please, you can forward to me
your first decision. I understand an injunction was entered into to stop your
action of closing the motel.
Mr. Broeker: You should understand that that's a temporary injunction without
notice to the City and that a response will be filed on behalf of the City and
the hearing will be had within five days.
Ms. Hirai: Read the ordinance.
M Mr. Jones: Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Suarez: Read the ordinance and then we'll take the roll call, on Item
10.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2-305 OF THE CODE OF THE
CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, CONCERNING
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND DISCLOSURE OF REAL ESTATE
OWNED BY CERTAIN OFFICIALS, THEREBY ADDING THE FIVE
(5) MEMBERS OF THE NUISANCE ABATEMENT BOARD TO THE
ENUMERATED ELECTIVE AND APPOINTIVE OFFICERS OR
EMPLOYEES OF THE CITY, SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE.
Was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso and seconded by Commissioner Plummer
and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
164 March 12, 1992
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
41. DISCUSSION CONCERNING COMPETITIVE SEALED BIDDING VERSUS NEGOTIATED SALE
OF BONDS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Yes. Item 38. Issue competitive sealed bid versus negotiated
sale of bonds. Is there any Commissioner that needs for that to be discussed
today any more?
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I asked for it. I can wait until the next
meeting. You know, it has been a very hot issue in the County as to whether
what is best or what is best for the County, what is best for the City, I
think that the Finance Department, who obviously is the one that's going to be
discussing, that should send each of us a memo on it, and then be prepared to
speak to it at the next Commission meeting. I have a real problem when you go
away from competitive anything. Competition, in my estimation, is great,
usually derives the best. I'll be happy to wait until the next meeting.
Mayor Suarez: Very good.
42. DISCUSSION CONCERNING THE MIAMI ARENA CONTRACT.
Mayor Suarez: Item 39. That's also your request...
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I put on the...
Commissioner Dawkins: Thirty-nine.
Commissioner Plummer: ... agenda for discussion, there's many, many things
that we have heard and we have read about in reference to Miami Arena and the
so called "Heat negotiations." And the primary reason I put this on the
agenda was so that I didn't have to read about it from a newspaper, and I
would be able to know firsthand from someone in authority as to exactly what
is going on. I have heard rumors that may or may not be true, and I think
this Commission is entitled to know the facts. For example, that there
supposedly has been better than a hundred and twenty thousand dollars spent in
legal fees, and I don't know where that money is coming from, if it's in fact
true. There have been negotiations that supposedly have been going on. I
don't know what those negotiations are, and I fully understand that I, as a
City Commissioner, do not have the right to interfere with the Sports
Authority, yet I am responsible as a City Commissioner for appointing those
members and also responsible for approving their budgets. So I am
responsible. And I think it is only right if there is a renegotiation of any
kind that this Commission should be appraised of what's going on, and at least
165 March 12, 1992
have our right of input prior to any final settlement. We, this Commission,
and from what I understand, the Sports Authority did not instigate the
lawsuit. The lawsuit was instigated by the Heat, and now, regardless of that
going to court, there is the potential of a negotiated settlement, which I'm
always in favor of, but I think we are entitled to know exactly what is going
on. What I understand is that the big fight is over sixty thousand dollars.
Sixty thousand dollars. They pay one player a contract for twenty-eight
million dollars, and somebody's quibbling about sixty thousand dollars. I saw
one of the Heat players today on Grand Avenue. I'm told he's never played,
and he's been paid two million dollars. Yet there's a quibble over sixty
thousand dollars that's owed. I don't understand. I'm still waiting to look
for the key to the three million dollar community center that the Heat was
going to build for the Overtown community. And I don't know where that key
is. I am merely saying that I fully understand that I do not have the right
to say "yea" or "nay" on a negotiation, but I do feel that I have the right to
have the information. I asked for a copy of whatever a so called "final
settlement" is to be proffered, and I understand it is not ready as of today,
and if it's agreed upon that that will not be entered into until such time as
this Commission has the right to go over it, I'll defer this item today and
enough said. I think I have that right. I have not that right. I have that
obligation to this community to know what is going on if I'm going to appoint
members, and I'm going to be for the budget. Amen, and if it's not ready
today, and as I understand it's not ready, the final settlement which is going
to be proffered, then I'm willing to wait. I'm in no hurry. But I do feel
that we should see it.
Mayor Suarez: All right. There is at least one memo that has been
distributed recently. Maybe as recently as today. Is it not, Commissioner,
on the basic components of what might be a settlement?
Commissioner De Yurre: Well I think that was delivered more than one day ago.
What date do you have on that?
Mayor Suarez: Oh, maybe I'm a little late...
Commissioner Plummer: March loth.
Mayor Suarez: ... looking over my...
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. No, no. We all have this. This is Commissioner
De Yurre's answer to Commissioner Dawkins. This is not the entire settlement,
as I understand it. What I asked for, Mr. Mayor, is...
Mayor Suarez: Is what the actual settlement might look like?
Commissioner Plummer: ... what the actual settlement is. Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: All right. And presumably that will be...
Commissioner De Yurre: That we're working on right now and it's not in print
yet.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
166 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: I'll be glad to wait till the next meeting...
Commissioner Dawkins: OK.
Commissioner Plummer: ... as long as I have assurances...
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner Plummer: ... that, that will not be entered into until such time
as this Commission has had the opportunity to see it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Well I agree...
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner De Yurre: The members of the Commission will receive it
immediately, as soon as we have it printed. As soon as there is an agreement,
before it's signed.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, but I don't want it signed off in court prior to
this Commission having its right to speak.
Commissioner De Yurre: First of all, it would have to be signed off by the
Heat and Leisure Management, and then it would have to go for approval before
the Authority. Now, between the signing off and the approval time, this
Commission will have copies of the instrument for input.
Commissioner Plummer: You're saying that between the time of the sign -off and
it goes to the Sports Authority for final?
Commissioner De Yurre: Before its final approval.
Commissioner Plummer: You're saying I will have the opportunity prior to the
final say so?
Commissioner De Yurre: To the final Authority say so.
Commissioner Plummer: That's all I'm asking for.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: I have more problems with this than J. L. does. I,
too, would like to know where the center is that the Heat was going to build,
I'd like to know where the building sits and where they key is. I also would
like to know from the Attorney, who did the State of Florida give the
directions to for negotiating settlements with the Heat? Was that spelled out
by the board members we appointed? I don't know how it got taken from them.
I also would like to tell everybody concerned that we're following - since
I've been here just a little less time than J. L. - this is the same scenario
of Joe Robbie. Every time he wanted something, be came to the City of Miami
and he got it. And if we didn't give it to him, he threatened to move out of
the Orange Bowl. The more he wanted, the more we gave, the happier he was.
And then when it got to the place where the City of Miami could no longer meet
his demands, he still built the stadium and left. I don't see anything in the
167 March 12, 1992
agreement which says the Heat will not leave. It says the Heat's obligated
not to leave. I don't care what we give them. It does not say that they will
stay here and honor their lease. They want more advertisement, they've got
all they need. If there's any more advertisement should come in, it should
come to the City of Miami. I disagree with J. L. I do think that this City
Commission, being responsible for the debt service on that facility, has to,
even through their appointees, give some directions as to how the City of
Miami will not have another Hyatt Hotel to pay for, or another one of these
other "white elephants" that the taxpayers pay for.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Anything further, Commissioners?
Commissioner Dawkins: The other thing I would like to put in, say that, when
we started this Commission chairmanship, we said that it would rotate. When
this comes back on the 9th of April, I would like a discussion, and I'd like
to nominate myself to become chairperson of the Miami Sports and Exhibition
Authority because I would like to serve at least one year as the chairperson.
Commissioner Plummer: Commissioner Dawkins, I would strongly suggest to you,
sir, that you consider June which is the resolution that was adopted that we
consider it in June as so indicated by the ordinance.
Commissioner Dawkins: But, see, I'm like you. I've been here long enough to
know that if we do it in April,...
Commissioner Plummer: You'll get to it in June.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... I'll get there in June. OK?
Mayor Suarez: All right. Anything further, Commissioners?
Commissioner De Yurre: Yes. Just for the record, I want to quote from the
Ordinance 10715, which is the one that regulates appointments of Commissioners
to authorities, where it reads "It is the intent of the City Commission that
each Commissioner be considered for appointment to an authority, board or
committee before any one Commissioner shall have served a consecutive term.
However, there shall be no prohibition against any Commissioner from being
reappointed to serve consecutive terms." So this concept about rotation does
not exist, as per the ordinance.
Commissioner Dawkins: But, it says... Read it again now, because I think I've
got, you know, the same command of the English language that you have. I
think you said that a Commissioner can serve. It didn't say you couldn't
succeed yourself, but it said if another wanted to, what does it say? Read it
to me again.
Commissioner De Yurre: I'll read it to you again. "It is the intent of the
City Commission...
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... that each Commissioner be considered for
appointment...
168 March 12, 1992
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2
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... to an authority,...
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... board or committee...
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... before" - be considered, OK, just...
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... you can look at him and that's consideration...
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Commissioner De Yurre: ... "... before any one Commissioner shall have served
a consecutive term.
Commissioner Dawkins: Right.
Commissioner De Yurre: However, there shall be no prohibition against any
Commissioner from being reappointed to serve consecutive terms."
Commissioner Dawkins: That's right. Also, but see, if I decide that I want
to be it, that means that you cannot be reappointed.
Commissioner De Yurre: No, it just says that we can consider it.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. I just wanted to know. I just wanted to know.
Commissioner De Yurre: It just says consideration.
Commissioner Plummer: Once again for the record, anyone that I have, you can
have with pleasure.
Commissioner Dawkins: We may decide to give you this one.
Commissioner Plummer: I can't find anybody that will take Bayfront Park. I
can't find anybody that will take International Trade. You know, if anybody
wants this rotation, I do to get out from under some of this, but it don't
work that...
Mayor Suarez: You're not going to get out of Bayfront Park, I'll tell you
that.
Commissioner Plummer: Thanks, guy.
Mayor Suarez: That was my motion...
Commissioner Plummer: Friends like you...
169 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: ... a couple of years ago, and that's been magnificent. All
right.
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43. (Continued Discussion) CONCERNING PROPOSED RESOLUTION RATIFYING
ENGAGEMENT OF GREENBERG, TRAURIG, ET AL. FOR SERVICES RENDERED
CONCERNING TAX MATTERS INVOLVING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CITY'S EARLY
RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM. (See label 30) (Note: Two further
attempts to approve this issue ended as failed motions. No further
action was taken.)
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Mayor Suarez: Item 40. Submit the attached grant program final statement...
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor. I hate to... But 26 was a item I think the
Manager needed and it was a two -two vote.
Mayor Suarez: Is that the payment of fees to the law firm...
Mr. Cesar Odio: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: ... of Greenberg Traurig...
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner De Yurre, the vote was two to two. I'm not going
to tell you who were the two on each side.
Commissioner De Yurre: I can imagine.
Commissioner Plummer: I bet you can't on that one.
Commissioner De Yurre: Huh?
Commissioner Plummer: I bet you can't on that one.
Commissioner De Yurre: I know where one was. I know where he was for sure.
Mayor Suarez: In any event, if you've thought about it and you're ready, we
could entertain a motion on that as before and possibly it would pass.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, what is the issue?
Commissioner Plummer: I'll make a motion to reconsider.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Well, there's no need to reconsider. The motion would be the
motion in chief because the...
170 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: The motion died.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It died.
Mayor Suarez: Right. So there's... The matter is still on the table as
presented. There's no...
Commissioner Plummer: Two -two is a defeat.
Mayor Suarez: No, there was no action. We're still on the same agenda.
Commissioner Plummer: Two -two is a defeat.
Mayor Suarez: All right, Commissioner...
Commissioner Plummer: The motion failed.
Mayor Suarez: You know Mason's rules and procedures better than I do. If you
want a motion to reconsider, we'll do it.
Commissioner Plummer: Am I right or wrong?
Mayor Suarez: The item is still pending, but motion to reconsider by
Commissioner Plummer...
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Do we have a second? Second. Thank you. Call the roll.
Commissioner Plummer: Why do you think you're arguing with your wife? I
mean, you have to win every time?
Mayor Suarez: That's right. No, I'm not going to win with you. I know that.
I could never be here twenty-one years.
Commissioner Plummer: Twenty-two.
Mayor Suarez: Twenty-two?
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-185
A MOTION TO RECONSIDER PRIOR VOTE TAKEN ON AGENDA ITEM
26 (A RESOLUTION SEEKING TO RATIFY AND APPROVE
ENGAGEMENT OF GREENBERG, TRAURIG, HOFFMAN, LIPOFF,
ROSEN AND QUENTEL, PA, FOR SERVICES RENDERED
CONCERNING TAX MATTERS INVOLVING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE CITY'S EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM).
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
171 March 12, 1992
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
A. Quinn Jones III, Esq.: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: All right. In case... Do you need more information on it?
Commissioner Plummer: You want to really laugh, he moves to deny.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah. He votes no on the motion to reconsider, then we really
got an impasse.
Commissioner Plummer: Poor Jorge is over in Sarasota under that coconut tree.
He's going to become homeless.
Mr. Jones: Mr. Mayor, are we talking about...
Commissioner Plummer: Go ahead, shorty.
Mayor Suarez: Now you touched a nerve, see, when you mention his predecessor.
He's...
Mr. Jones: May I very briefly bring up a matter of concern to me. I think
most of you know that the former Chief of Police has filed a lawsuit naming...
Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, we're on 27.
Commissioner Plummer: We're on 26.
Mr. Jones: No.
Commissioner Plummer: Would you...
Vice Mayor Alonso: You mean you have also... ahead of time...
Commissioner Plummer: You used money for the former Police Chief?
Mr. Jones: No.
Mayor Suarez: On the Greenberg Traurig matter, Commissioner De Yurre, have
you got an idea what it's about or do you need more clarification?
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, I'd like to have an idea what it's about.
What's... Now this was...
172 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: The payment was pending for what matter was it, Mr. City
Attorney? On item 26.
Mr. Jones: Apparently information was, or should I say legal advice, was
requested to provide clarification or edification as to the tax implications
of implementing the early retirement incentive program and my predecessor
apparently was requested to engage someone with that expertise and apparently
this particular firm was engaged to give that advice.
Commissioner De Yurre: And?
Mr. Jones: Now apparently there was a bill outstanding that was never paid in
the amount of...
Commissioner De Yurre: Has that bill been reviewed?
Mr. Jones: Yes, it has been reviewed.
Commissioner Plummer: We're going to delegate you as a committee of one to go
to Sarasota and tell Jorge to pay it.
Commissioner De Yurre: No, just send him the bill.
Commissioner Plummer: That's what the two negative votes said before.
Mayor Suarez: Al right. Commissioners, you are incredibly humorous today,
but we have other items and I wish that somebody would decide if he's ready to
vote and if the rest of us are ready to vote again as we did...
Commissioner De Yurre: Where is the money coming from? You have the money?
Mayor Suarez: I'll take a motion from the same person who moved it before?
Commissioner De Yurre: You have the money, Mr. Jones?
Commissioner Plummer: I think I did.
Mr. Jones: There has been an account number identified that this would be
paid from.
Commissioner De Yurre: Is that your account number, or is that the
Administration's account number?
Mr. Jones: No. Apparently this was from the Administration that requested
this.
Commissioner Plummer: Why would be pay legal fees from the Administration?
Why wouldn't it come from the Legal Department?
Mr. Jones: I don't know what agreement or what arrangement was made in terms
of identifying a fund for these fees to be paid. All I know is there's...
173 March 12, 1992
0 0
Commissioner Plummer: I'll move that it be paid from the Legal Department of
the City of Miami.
Commissioner Dawkins: Oh no.
Commissioner De Yurre: They don't have the money.
Commissioner Plummer: What do you mean they don't have no money? They got
three and a half...
Mr. Jones: We don't have it. I don't...
Commissioner Dawkins: You know, I could understand paying it from there. I'm
voting against it anyway.
Commissioner Plummer: Well then be quiet.
Commissioner Dawkins: I could understand paying it from there if the Manager
had not requested this and knowing that perhaps the other City Attorney said
I'm not going to do it and the Manager said I'll pay for it.
Commissioner Plummer: Did you say that, Mr. Manager?
Mr. Odio: Honestly, I don't remember. I really don't. I don't remember.
Commissioner Dawkins: Good. Perfect. That's a good answer.
Mr. Odio: I know we asked for legal advice. I don't remember...
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. But I'm voting against it although I know the
lawyers performed the services and they got to be paid, but I'm still voting
against it.
Commissioner Plummer: I move that it be paid from the Legal Department of the
City of Miami. Period.
Mr. Jones: I don't have... I can tell you, Commissioner...
Commissioner Plummer: Don't tell me you don't have it.
Mr. Jones: I don't have the money.
Commissioner Plummer: Tell me you don't want to find it. You can find seven
thousand dollars in your budget.
Mr. Jones: If the Manager is willing to help me find it, we'll find it.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, I'll tell you where to start. And it's called
Jones's salary, if you can't find it somewhere else. I guarantee you, you'll
find it.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. As long... OK. Nothing.
174 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Do we have a second? Who was it that moved it and second
before?
Ms. Hirai: Commissioner Plummer moves it, and you second, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: I second. I second. Madam.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Please call the roll.
THEREUPON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER PLUMMER AND SECONDED BY MAYOR
SUAREZ, THE HEREINABOVE MOTION FAILED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
ABSENT: None.
COMMENTS MADE DURING ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Dawkins: I'm voting no for the same reasons I voted no before.
I think that seven thousand dollars should be spent with a small Latin, black
or female firm and not with Greenberg Traurig and those, and I vote no.
COMMENTS MADE AFTER ROLL CALL:
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And I voted no before and for the reasons stated before.
Commissioner De Yurre: I'll vote yes if it doesn't come from the City
Attorney's budget.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well now we have to move again.
Mayor Suarez: All right. The item failed...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Twice.
Mayor Suarez: ... and if there's anything anyone wants to try, I'll entertain
that. If not, we'll go on to the next item.
Commissioner Dawkins: I'll move it so I can vote against it, I move that it
be paid from the City Manager's budget and I'll be voting against it.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner De Yurre: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Second. Any further discussion? If not, please call the roll.
175 March 12, 1992
40
THEREUPON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER DAWKINS AND SECONDED BY MAYOR
SUAREZ, THE HEREINABOVE MOTION FAILED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
ABSENT: None.
Mayor Suarez: Folks, I'm not dealing with that anymore today. Somebody's out
seven thousand dollars.
Commissioner Plummer: You want to play tic-tac-toe again?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Now they know that they cannot get, to order anything and
then come to collect after the fact.
Commissioner Plummer: I want to see Bob Traurig sue the City. It'll be a
cold day in hell.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He's too nice of a person to do that.
Commissioner De Yurre: The issue is not the law firm that does the job. The
issue is the person that authorized it without coming before the Commission.
Commissioner Plummer: That's true.
Commissioner De Yurre: So it's the person that sits in that seat. That's the
one you have to look to, not the other law firms.
Mr. Jones: It wasn't my authorization, Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: He's not responsible.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, I'm saying... But that's the person...
Commissioner Plummer: It's that guy in the palm tree over in Sarasota.
Mayor Suarez: We should build it right into the contract with the City
Attorney that the next...
Commissioner Plummer: Pick up all previous debts.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah. No, no. The next step is Sarasota.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Send him...
Mr. Jones: I have no intentions of going to Sarasota. None whatsoever.
Mayor Suarez: What would you take?
176 March 12, 1992
1
Mr. Jones: What would it take? A whole lot of money.
Mayor Suarez: No, give us a place.
Commissioner Plummer: Will you take a down payment?
Mayor Suarez: We have to know in advance...
Vice Mayor Alonso: We better move on on the agenda.
44. DISCUSSION AND MOMENTARY DEFERRAL OF CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MANAGER TO SUBMIT APPROVED GRANT PROGRAM FINAL
i STATEMENT TO U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD),
REQUESTING $13,156,000 FOR CITY'S PROPOSED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
DURING 1992-1993 (See label 46).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Item 40. Don't even fight with him on the microphone because
we've been fighting with him all day...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no. For the whole year.
Mayor Suarez: ... and all year and if he's going to speak on a matter which
is in fact a public hearing, which this is, we may as well let him have his
two minutes. Doesn't matter if it's at the beginning, at the end. So far it
has not... His comments have not proven to be relevant to anything that we've
done today. Maybe on this particular item, Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga will have
some relevant comments. Now ladies and gentlemen, I understand that this is
the recommendations for the whole package. It includes the economic
development and the social services portion.
Mr. Frank Castaneda: Everything. Thirteen million one hundred and fifty-six
thousand dollars, Commissioners.
Mayor Suarez: A few years ago... Are both of those contained in item 40?
Mr. Castaneda: Yes. Yes, it is, Commissioner.
Vice Mayor Alonso: What is that?
Mayor Suarez: A few years ago, I was not present during the discussion
because I arrived late and Commissioner De Yurre was then Vice Mayor and he
handled it, I think if I remember correctly, and something started in the City
of Miami which, for lack of a better term, is the De Yurre procedure on this,
which is we don't argue with you, we let you make your presentations and we
try at the end of that - because we haven't found any better way of doing this
folks - we try to follow either the Community Development Advisory Board's
recommendations or the City staff recommendations. We hope generally they
agree, which I understand in this case they do. Generally, generally, yes
they do.
177 March 12, 1992
t
E
(NOES FROM AUDIENCE)
Vice Mayor Alonso: You should have never said that.
Mayor Suarez: All right. No one has been recognized yet. As much as I
admire and respect you folks. Now, at the appropriate time, I, myself - and
I'm saying this in case there's a consensus up here - will be inclined to vote
exactly and identically as recommended by the people that we have appointed to
serve on that Board. Some groups and some worthy programs will always be
pending and we can always look around us as we always have in the past, to try
to compensate for that. But otherwise, the process of selecting where we take
and who we take from boxed down this Commission to the point that it makes it
practically impossible to get anything done and certainly, as far as the rest
of the duration of this Commission meeting, we argue about it and then we get
into trade-offs and prioritization and so on and it gets... That's precisely
why we set up the Board. So, just an introductory statement. All groups,
unless any Commissioner has any other...
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: ... procedural suggestion, will be allowed two minutes, exactly
two minutes, and then this Commission will deliberate and vote very quickly
and hopefully we can get out of here at a reasonable time. Yes, Commissioner
Plummer.
Commissioner Plummer: If you're on procedural and procedural only,...
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: I have a statement I want to make...
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: ... but it's not procedural.
Mayor Suarez: Well, what I was saying is that if we get into too much of
that, this will never end and I remember that time that...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, it's up to you, sir. I'll be glad to wait or...
Mayor Suarez: OK. Could you?
Commissioner Plummer: Whatever you wish.
Mayor Suarez: I would appreciate that. All right. We have... Yes,
Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: I got only one thing to say. I'll follow your
recommendations only, but I feel that PS 43 where we're giving City of Miami
Homeless Project a hundred and eleven thousand dollars, that we have a project
that has never been back to us since we gave them money which is called the
New Life Family Center and that is where we gave the money to them and they
have ran their organization ever since we gave them the money...
178 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: And I think that can be solved because I think that that
recommendation is that we put that into our own outreach program and if we
were inclined to go that way, I don't think it creates any problems for any of
the folks that are here. Is that correct?
Commissioner Dawkins: No, because we're going to take the money that the City
of Miami wanted for itself and give it to them. I don't have a problem with
it.
Mr. Castaneda: The Board recommended taking the money from the City's
homeless program and giving it to three other programs however.
Mayor Suarez: Oh, I see. Not one, as he suggested.
Mr. Castaneda: Right.
Mayor Suarez: Well, but if we were to be inclined to make that variation that
Commissioner Dawkins is suggesting, I know, because I spoke to Claudia
yesterday, I know the Homeless Coalition, among others, has no particular
problem with that. I don't think the City should, myself, so I don't think
that'll be a traumatic one. It doesn't create any major problem with all of
these others because it doesn't affect their allocations in any way.
Mr. Castaneda: That's correct. That's correct.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, all right. Now you...
Mayor Suarez: It affects the two entities that wouldn't receive it as opposed
to the one that Commissioner Dawkins is suggesting...
Mr. Castaneda: Right.
Mayor Suarez: ... but not anyone else.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, Commissioner Plummer.
Commissioner Plummer: Now that you've made statements that were not
procedural, I'll ask that...
Mayor Suarez: That's correct.
Commissioner Plummer: ... mine be made.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, there are literally thousands of dollars
that are being spent on the homeless. I mean, tremendous amounts of money
which this City cannot afford. Of all of the organizations that are the
beneficiaries of monies to the homeless to assist, the one that is not
recommended for a dime I am going to fight like hell for and that is the only
organization that addresses the homeless families.
179 March 12, 1992
11
Commissioner Dawkins: That's the one that I just recommended.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Which... The Miami Christian...
Mayor Suarez: Christian Community Services runs the New Life...
Commissioner Plummer: I'm sorry. I didn't know it by that name. What do you
recommend that they get?
Mr. Castaneda: Staff recommendation...
Commissioner Dawkins: That we take the hundred and eleven thousand dollars
from the bottom down there, PS 43, and give it to them.
Commissioner Plummer: Bless you, son.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Now,...
Vice Mayor Alonso: I couldn't agree more.
Mayor Suarez: ... so those that so far agree with the way things are heading,
you might want to make your comments very brief, supportive of that general
concept and not negative towards any other group and otherwise allow us to go
through the procedure as briefly as possible. It is a board that we set up.
I think'we received a very strong letter from the chairman to the effect that
we should follow your recommendations and I think we may be inclined to do
precisely that. All right, Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga you have two minutes as does
everyone else and I will follow the request as stated here, but if you're on
the mike and you need to say something, that's fine too. We're going to try
to go through this quickly. Measure two minutes for everyone and please stick
to that.
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: May I start now?
Mayor Suarez: Yes, sir.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Well, my dear friends, I see this house, the people's
temple full of people. And there is one reason for that. Because you are
coming here to look for money. I come here every Thursday raising hell
against some of these Commissioners. So let me start. I'm going to be very
brief. I have to invoke this morning the patients to Chango and Yemaya and I
am telling, generally speaking that there is an old proverb in Spanish that
says, "Think wrong and you'll be right with politicians." Number two, and I
want this to be the guidance of giving away this money to the less fortunate
people from down to the more fortunate. In other words, I'd love to have all
this fourteen million dollars distributed to the less fortunate people of this
community. And I see here a lot of rich people who do not even deserve one
penny. They contribute to this fund to help the less fortunate people. And
180 March 12, 1992
a
r
:.
to finish up, I again invoke "Viva Chango." Thank you very much. Let me get
the hell out of here before they pick me up.
Ms. Frankie Rolle: My name is Frankie Rolle and I'm chairman of the Community
Development Advisory Board and I want all of the Community Development
Advisory Board members to please stand up right over here.
Commissioner Plummer: What are we supposed to do, throw rocks at them?
Ms. Rolle: It's more than that.
but everybody doesn't know who
board with eight persons being
appointed by the Commissioners.
with the recommendations that WE
information that we had to
whatever...
No. I want to... I know you appointed them,
appointed who. This is an eighteen -member
elected from their target areas. Ten are
We worked hard and long to try to come up
made. One of the members brought all of his
read through, digest, dissect, ingest or
Commissioner Plummer: It's one Commission meeting.
Ms. Rolle: ... and we spent many hours... No, he happened to bring his. We
spent many hours going through this information and I might say to the
Commissioners this time that you notice that this board frequently kind of
turns over and that's because we feel sometime that we're doing our work in
vain. We are not compensated in any way and we work very, very hard and it
made me feel real good to hear the Mayor say that hopefully all of you will
approve the Advisory Board's recommendation. And that's why we're here. This
year we have ten new people on this board. That's because people have become
disillusioned and they quit. They say well I'm just wasting my time going
through all of this for nothing and we don't want to feel that way because we
want to serve our community. Again we ask you, we plead with you to please
take a look at this, do not sign this resolution today and take our
recommendations into your hearts and do something about them. I thank you.
Any other members want to say something?
Mayor Suarez: Go ahead, next speaker.
Mr. Emilio Lopez: Mr. Mayor, my name is Emilio Lopez. I'm on the Advisory
Board and I represent the Wynwood Community. I want to back up what our
president said, you know. We spent many, many hours, you know, not only
reading the materials that were presented to us by your staff - and they do a
fantastic job - but we also spent many nights and many hours in front of
people coming and presenting to us all these projects and, you know, some
people take this very seriously. The staff made a recommendation. We went
over the recommendation of the staff and we went piece by piece and looked at
their recommendations and I think that we came up with probably - it's not
going to be a perfect solution, because, you know a lot of people are going to
get angry and, you know, whatever - but at least we would like you to take...
It was really bad for us, you know, and many of us were ready to raise hell if
we needed to because, you know, we did this and we worked with the staff and
we made the recommendations and not only, I think not even one of our
recommendations was heeded. So, you know, I think it's, you know, it is a
waste of time for us for you to appoint us to different boards and for the
community to appoint us to the board and then say that you are empowering us
181 March 12, 1992
to deal with the issues and then, you know, the staff - and I mean they've
done a fantastic job, you know - but then to come and tell us that not even
one of our recommendations was going to be heeded, so you know, there might be
some changes, you know. I know how you guys do your thing, but please be...
What we are requesting from you and from the whole board is to stick to
recommendations of the board and that's what we would like you to do.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Emilio, let me tell you as far as my vote is concerned,
your recommendations are looking pretty good to me. So, I thank you. We are
going to follow your advice.
Mayor Suarez: Very good. OK, Emilio. Thank you.
Mrs. Silvia Quintana: My name is Silvia Quintana and I'm representing Miami
Mental Health Center, Casa Nueva Vida Program. We were not recommended for
funding because of some sort of misunderstanding and we're here basically
requesting a hundred and ninety-nine thousand dollars. A onetime request in
order to better the facility where we provide substance -abuse services to the
residents of the City of Miami. And I have here one of the consumers and I
have various consumers here and one of the consumers is going to speak to what
he goes through when he receives the services because the facility is in such
a bad shape.
Mayor Suarez: Did you fill out one of these forms, ma'am?
Mrs. Quintana: Yes, I did.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Mr. Luis Ascunce: Ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, good afternoon. My
name is Luis Ascunce and I'm a grateful recovering addict. I'm here in a
desperate plea for financial help and support for Casa Nueva Vida, House of
New Life and Villa Madonna, which desperately and direly need improvement and
expansion. The program is impeccable and it works. We are in the process of
recuperation which we need structure and order. These things are extremely
difficult under the cramped conditions which we live in. It is next to
Impossible to start the day off right with sixteen people waiting in line to
use the same bathroom and two people in the same room dressing practically
trample over each other. These are some of the following conditions that
exist: windows have no screen and glass, we use cardboard. The AC (aid
conditioner) is practically nonexistent. It's going to be torture in the
summer. Cramped rooms are really a problem. There's like five people in an
eight by ten foot room and we all have to use the same closet space which is
also a problem. The roof leaks from time to time when it rains. The
facilities for addicted mothers with children are also very necessary.
Bathrooms again, now there's one urinal, one toilet and one shower for sixteen
people. The electrical needs upgrading, the plumbing is very bad. We need
bed and furnishings and recreational facilities and quite a few other things
that I can't get into. All these things are disillusioning and distracting
during our recuperation process.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you and I think most of this Commission knows the work of
the Miami Mental Health Center. I guess, in my case, I go way back with the
Miami Mental Health Center as the unpaid attorney for you many, many years
182 March 12, 1992
ago. So if we are not able to do anything for you today, let's battle it out
in Tallahassee which is where the funding should be coming and you can count
on our support for that. Thank you for being here.
Commissioner Plummer: Tallahassee is worse than we are.
Mayor Suarez: Freddie.
Mr. Fred Santiago: My name is Fred Santiago. I'm a member of the Advisory
Board and for the last twenty-one years I've been serving this City and I've
been on many boards. I think is the most sophisticated, the most educated and
the most concerned board that I have ever been on and it would be a true
shame... The board has spent so much time and energy...
Mayor Suarez: This only applies to your colleagues, not to yourself. Right?
Mr. Santiago: Not to myself, yes. It would be a true shame for this
Commission not to listen to this board, who has spent so many hours and days
listening to the needs of the community and I think that the proposal that we,
the budget that we have presented best serves the needs of the City and the
citizens of Miami. Not the staff's recommendation. The staff recommendation
only serves the needs of the staff. The needs of the City are represented by
the board's recommendation and I hope, and I beg that you approve our budget.
Thank you.
Mr. Mariano Cruz: Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, as you speak, the Vice Mayor is making a very good point
and a procedural point. Clarify right off the bat if you're speaking on the
area of economic development, capital improvements or social services. OK?
Let's clarify that.
Mr. Cruz: I'll be speaking on the...
Mayor Suarez: It's got to be an eighty-five to fifteen split. Is that
correct, Frank?
Mr. Frank Castaneda: Right.
Mayor Suarez: And, of course economic development includes housing.
Mr. Castaneda: Right. That doesn't matter.
Mayor Suarez: That's all the same thing. I mean, everybody is always
confusing the issue here. You either are social service, in which case we can
only give you fifteen percent of the total amount of thirteen million, or
you're economic development. So tell us from the beginning which of the two
categories you're in. If you're not social service, you're the other. OK?
You're on the board, so you...
Mr. Cruz: I'll be... No, I am not on the board.
Mayor Suarez: You're not on the board anymore?
183 March 12, 1992
Mr. Cruz: I was. I was on the board. But not anymore.
Mayor Suarez: They kicked you out.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He resigned.
Mr. Cruz: No. I get thirty City solutions last year. Whether...
Mayor Suarez: Ladies and gentlemen, I do want you to know, those of you that
don't know the speaker. When we first created this board, in certain
neighborhoods, the board was elected by the people participating freely in
elections and the one in Allapattah, this gentleman - I don't know if he
cheated, I presume he did not -...
Mr. Cruz: La Viajera.
Mayor Suarez: ... there was three hundred and some votes cast. He got each
and every one of the votes cast. Now, nothing like that ever happened in the
City of Miami Commission elections. I'll tell you that.
Commissioner Plummer: Very close.
Mayor Suarez: So, something pretty spectacular was at play there. The only
problem is he has been making it a habit of coming to Commission meetings and
giving us input because he had that unanimous vote of support from Allapattah
and so we've contacted the Postmaster General, who is his boss, and tried to
convince the Postmaster General to make him work late on Thursdays so he won't
he here, but obviously that hasn't worked. So, Mariano Cruz.
Mr. Cruz: Well, Mariano Cruz, 1227 N.W. 26th Street, Miami, Florida 33142-
7639 is the whole zip code, right? Today I'm coming here as a private citizen
and I was surprised when I listened to the remark, "follow the Advisory Board
recommendation, staff recommendation." Last year, they didn't follow them.
Because our neighborhood was cheated of a recreation room for the park that is
badly needed. That is the only park that serves the most poor people in the
neighborhood and doesn't have a recreation room where children can do their
homework after they finish, or it is raining, or something. And the street...
The money that was... Instead they gave the money to Jackson which got the
half percent tax, they got money from HUD (Department of Housing and Urban
Development), they got fifty-two million and they got money from Miami -Dade.
But, no the community votes for those necessities over there and I have here
the guidelines of HUD. Because after that I wrote to HUD and they said they
were going to investigate wherever the monies were going to be spent and what
we are asking today is that, go back to the recommendation last year and least
since the Commission and the City of Miami has said to put everything that
nobody wants in Allapattah, like the Better Way, the Beckham Hall, the
Camillus House, like the people in the Grove, they got the "NIMBY" factor, not
in my backyard. Because Commissioners live in the Grove, Mayor lives in the
Grove, Plummer lives in the Grove...
Mayor Suarez: Every once in a while you go off on a tangent and you might
never get back to the circle.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Little Havana.
184 March 12, 1992
Mr. Cruz: Right. Well, it is part of the soapbox....
Mayor Suarez: But you also have two minutes, as much as we respect your
community support.
Mr. Cruz: ... that's my on time to go here. Well the only thing we want is,
like I said I come here as a private citizen, but I'd like to see since many
of those children they can't come here, or a lot of the people are working at
this time of the day, I would like to see the monies that were taken away from
Allapattah last year for the recreation room at the park and the monies to fix
22nd Place, those monies be included in this eighteen year community
development. Thank you.
Mr. Duke McBride: Mr. Mayor, members of the Commission, my name is Duke
McBride. I'm here today as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of
Better Way. As you know, this morning you approved on second reading an
emergency shelter grant. The only municipal funding that Better Way has
received for the past three years has been a portion of that emergency shelter
grant, forty-two thousand and fifty dollars per annum, which was this morning
removed and defunded Better Way of our only municipal funding. I was also,
when we approached the Community Development Department and the board, we were
not recommended by staff for any funding out of Community Development dollars
and that was no funding at all would in turn then come this coming year to
Better Way from the City and we addressed both issues because we have capital
improvements we're making now to our new building as well as operational
funds.
Mayor Suarez: How much are the capital improvements that we... our
participation?
Mr. McBride: To date? So far? None.
Mayor Suarez: I guess other than giving you the property, right?
Mr. McBride: And also...
Mayor Suarez: How is that going? How is the ten-year lease going?
Mr. McBride: It's all executed on behalf of the City of Miami. It's going
tomorrow morning over to Metropolitan Dade County...
_ Mayor Suarez: Also the headline and the article in the Herald and all of that
saying that somehow we had not cooperated with you sufficiently on that. All
of that was apparently wrong then, I guess. Yeah.
Mr. McBride: Well, in actuality at the time the article was printed, it was
right. I think what... As of now, though, it has been...
Mayor Suarez: You should never agree with the Herald.
Mr. McBride: ... completely resolved...
Mayor Suarez: You should never agree with the Herald if you want our vote.
185 March 12, 1992
Mr. McBride: That's true. All we're asking is that... Also, our Metropolitan
Dade County level of funding, thanks to the influences of the Vice Mayor, is
directly tied to a matching contribution by the City, so if we are eliminated
from the funding loop for the coming year, we're also eliminated from access
to funds at Metropolitan Dade County. So, all I'm asking is that somehow,
some way we are able to maintain the same level of funding we've had for the
past three years at forty-two thousand oh five oh. Thank you.
Mr. Irby McKnight: Good afternoon. I'm Irby McKnight. I am the Vice
Chairperson of the Citywide CD Board and I am here to speak on behalf of our
recommendation. That is, the CD board recommendation. I support what our
Chairperson, Miss Rolle, had to say. I support what our former members of the
Board had to say. I'm there from another term, even though it is very
disgusting when we spend the amount of hours going through the amount of
material that is presented to us to not have any of our recommendations
considered. If none of them are going to be considered, then you need to
really consider whether or not there is a need for such a board. We ask that
you do what you think is best and let that be what the board thought was best,
whom you represented - whom represents you or were elected by the community
from which they come from. Thank you.
Commissioner Plummer: Irby.
Mr. McKnight: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: You and other members of that board are fully aware, as
Herb and I just discussed, that better than ninety percent of your
recommendations are going to be followed.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mr. McKnight: We are very happy to hear that, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: But leave us a little bit of mas o menos.
Mr. McKnight: You have it.
Mr. Carlos Luis Brito: My name is Carlos Luis Brito. I'm the Executive
Director of Allapattah Business Development Authority. It is true that staff,
I mean the Commission that you appointed has spent a lot of hours going
through those files to make their recommendation. It's also true that our
different organizations have spent dozens of hours creating good programs to
help the needy people. But most important of all, the needy people are
depending on you and our organizations to be helped. It is not the point of
hours of reading, hours of working. It is an emergency. These needy people
need help and the Advisory Board has made recommendations, good
recommendations, because they know that the needy people need their help. So
I'm asking respectfully to you all, please do not turn your back on these
people. They depend on you. Thank you.
Mr. George Lehor: My name is George Lehor. I'm a member of the Community
Development Advisory Board. We strongly recommend that you consider the work
and the efforts we have put in. Several weeks ago, I attended the meeting
186 March 12, 1992
here where Manager Odio addressed the community as far as the input in the
various areas from the community. I believe the Board is well represented by
the community that is going to be recipient of these funds plus the people
that were appointed by the Commissioners. We have a pretty well balanced
group of people there to consider all the needs of the community and we
strongly recommend that you consider our recommendations. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Go ahead. Proceed.
Mr. Ron Cordon: Well, my name is Ron Cordon. I'm a newly elected member of
the Advisory Board.
Mayor Suarez: Ron, did you fill out one of the forms?
Mr. Cordon: I don't believe I had the opportunity.
Mayor Suarez: How do you spell your last name?
Mr. Cordon: C-O-R-D-O-N.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Mr. Cordon: And I too am here to lend my support to the board's
recommendations. Although I had... It came out of compromise. One thing I
would like to point out to the City Commission is that if you look at the
staff's recommendations, the Haitian community was almost entirely excluded...
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's right.
Mr. Cordon: ... and, although that may not have been the intent, but it
certainly gives the appearance as though they're not considered a member of
the City of Miami and if you look at the boundaries of the geographic area
referred to as Little Haiti, they are mainly in the City of Miami and if the
ten percent that you would be reconsidering would reflect that acknowledgment
that Little Haiti as a new community probably needs a lot more services than
the other communities who had the opportunity to have services rendered to
them, then I would say that this was a wise decision. I support the
recommendations as they are, but if there are to be any changes, I would ask
that Little Haiti be given great consideration, because we all know the
problems that are occurring there now and we would like to see the City
Commission acknowledge the fact that there are problems and take some steps to
try and alleviate those problems. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Anyone else?
Mr. Viter Juste: My name is Viter Juste and I want to speak on behalf of the
thirteen million and some dollars that will be allocated to the City of Miami.
I live in Little Haiti and I have to say this. Mr. Mayor, dear Commissioners,
addressing Miami Mayor and City Commission has always been a pleasure because
I always have to present or defend a solid and valid case in the name of the
Haitian community. Once again today, here I am to have your attention and
justice ready to be committed against one of your fastest growing communities,
the Haitian community. At the time when every effort is done to give
democracy a chance in our Motherland, here in Miami the Federal government, in
187 March 12, 1992
my judgment, is trying to discriminate against us. Today, the Bush
Administration has provided the City of Miami with thirteen million dollars to
create jobs and opportunities in Miami for the taxpayers. Personally, as a
Haitian small businessman, I see this as a good gesture. Since the crashes of
Eastern Airline and Pan American Airline, home in the represented
the best American business had to offer. Now, the banks, big and small
businesses are going down the drain because of some kind of voodoo economy.
Miami and the City of Miami which are economically depressed have probably a
sense of relief and won't take time asking those questions, where was that
money before election time? Is it not that money coming too late and too
little now that the damages are already done. Honorable Mayor and
Commissioners, I only have the questions. Maybe you provide the answers.
That we, from the Haitian community, the most victimized by the economic
crunch, we are again victimized by the appropriation. Out of those thirteen
million dollars, only forty-five thousand are allocated for the Haitian
community, who represent, according to the last census, fifteen percent of
Miami population. If this is not racism and discrimination, help me find a
proper name. We are victimized by discrimination here and abroad. It is
inappropriate to remind to the City Commissioners, fellow Miamians, Cubans,
Afro Americans, Latins from South America, the kind of suffering endured by
Haiti, our beloved Motherland through its democratically elected President,
Jean -Bertrand Aristide. Fortunately enough we have enlisted a lot of support
from official and fellow Miamians. Now, again in the name of my community, I
am asking for the support by directing the City administrator to set aside
fifteen percent of those thirteen millions, about two million three hundred
forty thousand dollars for the benefits of the Haitian community. I am sure
that our demand will get your heart and your interest as guarantee of an
harmonious cooperation among members of the melting pot named, Miami. At the
primary, from West Palm Beach to Key West, Haitian Americans who
are living in the closet came out. By election time in November, we may have
a surprise in our sleeves. Commissioners, fellow Miamians, do not
underestimate our will to become a solid part of Greater Miami. Thank you.
Mr. Ricot Fertil: Good evening, Mayor, Manager and Commissioners. My name is
Ricot Fertil, Executive Director of Haitian American Civic Association. I
think you are aware of this organization and its interesting program. The
Haitian American Civic Association is the only organization in the Haitian
community that offers the following services: parenting educational skill,
individual and group psychological counseling in education, economic, socio,
home visit and referrals. Last year the City board members voted for an
allocation of fifty thousand dollars for the Haitian American Civic
Association. For some reason, however, we didn't receive it. This year again
they recommended for seventy-six thousand dollars for us. The organization
needs this money very badly. Therefore, we urge you, Commissioners, Mayor, to
approve the CD Board recommendation and vote for the seventy-six thousand
dollars so we can continue providing those services. On behalf of the staff
and members of the Haitian American Civic Association, I thank you for your
philosophy and your support. Again, thanks.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. Ringo.
Mr. Ringo Cayard: My name is Ringo
coming to the City Hall for the past
I've always been here as a volunteer.
Cayard, 492 N.E. 57th Street. I've been
fourteen years and I want it to be clear,
Never collected a dime, and I will keep
188 March 12, 1992
on coming here ever and ever as long as my community is not properly
recommended and properly seen. I find it's a big joke, out of thirteen
million dollars that we the Haitian community only have two recommendations.
One for forty-three thousand going to HACAD (Haitian American Community
Associations of Dade, Inc.) and fifty thousand going to the task force. I
think it's a joke since we represent sixty-five... We are sixty-five thousand
Haitians in the City of Miami of the city of four hundred and forty thousand,
which is over fifteen percent. We do feel this community needs services and
it's very nice to hear everybody saying we want to help the Haitians. Yes,
helping the Haitians is not just because it's easy to do. It's the right
thing to do. But when you come with such a recommendation, I think it's
definitely pitching one community against another one. It's not fair, because
we all are part of Miami and we are here to stay. We did not choose to stay
here, but nevertheless we are here. I hope that the Mayor and the
Commissioners will realize that Haitians are also human beings. Thank you.
Mr. Yves Vielot: Good afternoon. My name is Yves Vielot. I'm the Executive
Director of the Haitian Task Force. We were funded by the City for fifty
thousand dollars for administrative support but we also submitted a proposal
for three hundred and fifty-nine thousand one hundred twenty-eight dollars and
the purpose of it is to provide after -school tutoring for Haitian children.
In speaking about economic development, since I became the Executive Director
of the Haitian Task Force, I felt that you cannot really speak about economic
development without addressing the real issues. That is, the issues of
unemployment in the area. We are running anywhere from forty to sixty percent
unemployment in Little Haiti. How can you provide technical assistance to a
businessman who has no customers? So it is very important that we have to
address the real issues. And the real issues are Haitians do not speak
English fluently. Haitians just are getting adjusted to the system here and
we need to provide them the technical assistance that way they can be trained
and placed in jobs. And we feel that the right place to start is really with
the children because when you have children who are not well equipped after
they graduate from high school, they cannot read or write, obviously these
children are not going to find jobs. So we are submitting a proposal and we
feel that we've been funded by the City since 1982. We feel that we have the
capability to handle this proposal if it's approved. So I'm urging the
Commissioners to reconsider. We have not been recommended by the staff and
City for that project. So we feel that we are in a position to handle this
project and we are urging the Commissioners once again to reconsider and allow
us to provide these services to our community because it's very much needed
and it's something that will benefit the community as a whole and benefit the
Haitian community in particular. Thank you.
Mr. Florentino Perez: My name is Florentino Perez. I am a voluntary Chairman
of the Latin Quarter Association. I'm here today to ask you to reconsider.
The Community Development has denied our grant for fifty thousand dollars, but
we are helping the merchants, we are helping the residents and we are doing a
great job, as Frank Castaneda knows. He can recommend us. He would be the
best that can recommend us. I thank you in advance and let Rojas speak.
Mr. Elio Rojas: On behalf of the Latin Quarter Association, I'm the Executive
Director. The grant will be denied by Community Development and think that
the City Commission should reconsider it in accordance with what we are doing
in Latin Quarter Association for the merchants and neighbors. We have created
189 March 12, 1992
jobs, we are recommending people to come to the area and we are looking for
investments, my office is busy all day around and calling for many, many
complaints. This office is like a headquarters for the neighbors and
merchants in the Latin Quarter and the only association, the only office that
we have in the Pequena Havana and the southwest side in the Calle Ocho who can
come, and explain the situation, the complaints we have all around for
merchants. Besides we created jobs. We opened up sidewalk cafes and it's
many, many things, the people are coming, they open the new stores, it is the
only office, as I said, I repeat again. I'm very, very pleased to keep the
grant for the next 1982 and 1983. Please take it into consideration and see
how much you can do about. We would appreciate it. Thank you very much,
Mayor and Commissioners.
Commissioner Plummer: Frank, how come they weren't funded or recommended?
Mr. Castaneda: They were not funded or recommended because we already have
three agencies in Little Havana. We have SBOC (Small Businesses Opportunity
Center) and Little Havana Development Authority and in addition to that we
have East Little Havana Development Corporation doing housing. We are the
following the same recommendation that we made last year, you know, for Little
Havana.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, I'll tell you right now for my vote to approve
this, they are going to get their fifty thousand. So that's on the record.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Did they use the entire money last year, the one that was
approved?
Mr. Castaneda: They are in the process of using it. They have from July 1st
to June 30th, Commissioner.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How much?
Mr. Castaneda: They have from July 1st through June 30th, the contract
period. So they are in the process of spending it right now.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How did they use the money last year? To what it was
applied?
Mr. Castaneda: Basically, staff cost and office supplies and things like
that. If you want, I can send you a copy of their budget.
Commissioner Plummer: My question is, on this page called "Economic
Development Projects," we can switch any of this money around as long as we
don't alter the total. Is that correct?
Mr. Castaneda: That's correct, Commissioner. Besides, there are only two
caps, one is the cap for public services and then there is the cap for
administration.
Commissioner Plummer: But you can't switch this page with the other page...
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, you can.
190 March 12, 1992
1
Commissioner Plummer: With social services?
Mr. Castaneda: No, not with social services.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. But on this particular page, if I want to take
from one and give to another...
Mr. Castaneda: That's fine.
Commissioner Plummer: ...that's within the purview of the Commission?
Mr. Castaneda: That is correct.
Commissioner Plummer: Thank you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You mean physical improvements and...
Commissioner Plummer: Well this is economic...
Mr. Castaneda: Yeah. Basically, you have three categories. You have
administration, which is 20 percent. You have public services, which is
fifteen percent and then you have everything else and within that everything
else, you can play around.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, we can cut down on administration if we want.
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, you can, but the cap is twenty percent. But, in case you
were inclined to give us more, you couldn't.
Commissioner Plummer: Don't hold your breath.
Mr. Rojas: The technical assistance we are doing over there are being
considered and Frank Castaneda knows the last 1991...
Commissioner Plummer: Well...
Mr. Rojas: ... when we started.
Commissioner Plummer: Question. Frank, in your opinion and that of staff,
did they do a good job?
Mr. Castaneda: They're doing, for a first -year organization, they're doing a
good job.
Commissioner Plummer: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Rojas: Thank you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Thank you. Ann Marie.
Ms. Ann Marie Adker: Yeah. I'm Ann Marie Adker, 407 N.W. 5th Street and
that's Overtown. I am an elected, from my community, member of the Community
Development Board. I didn't attend the February meeting because I was in bed
ill. After reading how they lumped all of the CDCs (Community Development
191 March 12, 1992
Corporations) or CBOs (Community Based Organizations) for funding, I don't
know whether I can along with staff or the Community Development Board.
However, I would like to talk about the Overtown Advisory Board and the
proposal that we rendered to that Board and neither the Advisory Board or
staff probably looked at it. You have heard, I am quite sure because it got
enough publicity, my community health center that was done without a quarter
from this City of Miami. OK? And what that Overtown Advisory Board, with its
committees can do, in Overtown because we don't have to look for no economic
development project or a social service project. It's not looking for the
proverbial "needle in the haystack." It is there and we can do the job.
We've had a CDC there that you have been funding for sixteen years and by this
time should have been able to stand on its own two feet. I've never in my
life heard of donations to something that has been a fiasco. I'm going to ask
you to consider funding the Overtown Advisory Board and if Frank Castaneda
throwed [sic] the proposal in file 13, then I'll see that you all get a copy.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thank you.
Ms. Adker: Thank you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thank you, Ann Marie. Yes, please. Did you file a form?
Mr. Bret Clark: I'm going to file on, but just as a point of order, I don't
know if now is the time that you accept comments from people that are in
opposition to...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Just state your comments for the record. Yes.
Mr. Clark: Any comments? Either pro or con?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I suppose so if it has to do with what we are talking
here today. Yes, we'll listen.
Mr. Clark: This one is con, so that's why I wanted to make sure.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, this is the time.
Mr. Clark: OK. Well, my name is Bret Clark. And I live at 713 N.E. 71st
Street. There are many members of the community in northeast Miami that are
scheduled to arrive here at 5:30. I notice it's now 5:15.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, why don't you wait?
Mr. Clark: I'll wait. That's why I just wanted to make sure that...
Commissioner Plummer: I guarantee you, sir, we will be here beyond 5:30.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Yes.
Mr. Clark: On this matter? OK.
Commissioner Plummer: Rest assured.
Mr. Clark: I just wanted...
192 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: Would you rather wait...
Mr. Clark: I'll wait until the people arrive...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... for them to get here?
Mr. Clark: ... as long as the debate isn't cut off.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Fine. No problem.
Commissioner Plummer: Is this Judy Clark and company?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Judy...
Mr. Clark: These are residents. I think they speak in their own right,
pretty much.
Commissioner Plummer: But is that Judy Clark and gang?
Mr. Clark: No, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Well, Judy's the one been banging my head.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Are you saying Bayside neighborhood?
Commissioner Plummer: I'm saying up yonder.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Who is next? Do you want to address? State
your
name for the record.
Mr. Alex Prado: My name is Alex Prado, Executive Director of One
Art,
Incorporated located at 180 N.E. 39th Street. I'd just like to simply
thank
you for...
Vice Mayor Alonso: In advance.
Mr. Prado: ... recognizing... Yes. Well, actually no. It's just to
thank
you for recognizing our children today. I really believe that made
a big
change in their lives and I really hope that you also stand behind them
today
in making your recommendations. Thank you. Very simple.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thank you. Anyone else? I can't believe this. This
is
it? Wonderful.
Commissioner Plummer: Speak from either side you want.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, then maybe... I can't believe... Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: No, you're kidding me.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No. I can't believe it. Oh. I spoke too soon.
193 March 12, 1992
Mr. Dick Fosmoen: I'll be very brief. My name is Dick Fosmoen, I'm the
planning director with Dade County HUD (Housing and Urban Development). Last
year you all were kind enough to fund HUD for some improvements to properties
that we manage within the City of Miami. I know that there has been a lot of
press recently about Dade County HUD being fortunate enough to receive a
rather substantial amount of Federal money. We have again requested this year
consideration for additional funding through a Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG). We're asking for a similar amount that we received last year.
Let me point out that although we have been fortunate to get a very large
chunk of change from the Federal government to do rehabilitation, those
dollars are not available to do what we've asked assistants to do. Just like
block grants that come to this City, we cannot spend them any way we wish to
spend them. We have to do comprehensive modernization. A vast majority of
those funds are being spent in this City. What we've asked for is
consideration for funding to make repairs to our elderly projects, most of
which are located in the City of Miami, and also to provide security measures
to those elderly properties within the City. Eventually that will get done.
But, the sooner that it gets done, the more secure our residents, your
residents, are going to feel in those properties. We can eventually get it
done in two, three, four, five years if you'll provide us with some funding
now, we can provide jobs and we can also provide security for our residents.
Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you.
Ms. Ruth Wells: My name is Ruth Wells and I'm the project director of the
Douglas Gardens City of Miami Senior Adult Day Health Center in Legion Park.
I would like to thank the Community Development Board for recommending
continued funding for this program for the frail, elderly of the Northeast
section of the City of Miami. This program has been a community alternative
to nursing home placement for low-income minority blacks, Hispanics and Anglos
of the Northeast section and the over seventy-five frail, elderly, poor
population in need of long-term care services and I ask the Commission that
they continue to consider the importance and need of daytime assistance and
supervision that adult day care provides for these elderly citizens. Thank
you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. Armando.
Mr. Armando Rodriguez: Hi, my name is Armando Rodriguez. I am the president
of Edgewater Economic Development Group. I am here for Jim Stover and Jan
Grigsby and Juan Cresca and so on and I would like you please to approve the
recommendation of the Board. Thank you.
Commissioner Plummer: Give me the name of your organization again.
Mr. Rodriguez: Edgewater Economic Development Group. It's there on the list.
We have been approved.
Commissioner Plummer: And how much are you down for?
Unidentified Speaker: (OFF MIKE) Fifty thousand.
Mr. Rodriguez: Fifty thousand.
194 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Carmen.
Commissioner Plummer: But that's on the CD Board.
Mayor Suarez: Carmen. We have... Carmen.
Ms. Carmen Maine: Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon. Mr. Plummer, Mrs.
Alonso, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Dawkins and Mr. De Yurre. My name is Carmen Maine. I
am the executive director of the Useful Aged Association, Los Viejos Utiles.
I am here to request that unless the recommendation of the board that
recommends the exact amount of what we had last year, forty thousand one
hundred and ninety six and I request sixty thousand because we are in an area
in which every minute we have a new people requesting or asking for help.
What is the help? All kinds. Food. All kinds of services. We have a lot of
people, it's more than a thousand people that we are serving every day for the
whole year. The situation, all of us know how is the situation in this City.
We are in an area in which really is destroyed. So I please ask to all of you
reconsider this amount because we really need sixty thousand. We need more,
but we feel very happy if all of you approve the sixty thousand. Thank you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thank ,you. Carmen Maine. I have a question. Frank,
there was a misunderstanding or something with the association last year and I
understand they received less than the amount they were assigned. Could you
clarify that for me, please? If that happened.
Mr. Castaneda: I don't believe so.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How much did they receive? Do you have the numbers?
Ms. Maine: Yeah. Forty thousand one hundred and ninety six.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I'd like a clarification on that.
Mr. Castaneda: Forty thousand one ninety-six.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's what they received.
Mr. Castaneda: Last year.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And you were given that amount.
misunderstanding. You received what you were awarded.
Ms. Maine: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: RECIBISTES EL DINERO EXACTO.
Ms. Maine: That's what I'm telling but I requested...
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, no. What she wanted is...
Ms. Maine: No, I request...
Vice Mayor Alonso: It's not what I meant. I had the...
So there is no
195 March 12, 1992
Ms. Maine: No, I requested fifty last year. We got forty, but I think, but I
believe when you talk with Frank that it was a little bit more. Around two
thousand more, approved by the Commission. That's what...
Vice Mayor Alonso: And you never got that?
Ms. Maine: No.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Frank, please take a look and see if they still have about
two thousand dollars that has been given to them, and it was approved by this
Commission?
Mr. Castaneda: No. They haven't spent...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Would you look into that?
Mr. Castaneda: I looked into that, Commissioner.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Please. I'd really appreciate that.
Ms. Maine: OK. Thank you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And I really think that if an organization should get
more, it's this organization.
Mr. Jim Stover: I'm Jim Stover. I'm here to support the request of the Board
and I'm vice president of the Edgewater Economic Development Corporation. We
have asked for fifty thousand and I hope the Commission will approve it.
Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Very good. Thank you, Jim. All right, Commissioners. Any
last statements?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, there was a group who wanted to address us in six...
Commissioner Plummer: The northeast wanted to address at 5:30, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner Plummer: Why don't we, the Commission, go ahead and if we want
to make statements and then...
Mayor Suarez: OK, but we've got a couple of last ones. Xavier is going to
say something and Tony.
Mr. Xavier Cortada: Mayor and Commissioners, we're here to present to you a
proposal that's really exciting and it's one that the partnership between your
Police Department and the University of Miami in mobilizing Wynwood as a
community. And I can't think of a more effective way of developing a
community, which is what these CDBG grants are for, developing communities,
than mobilizing a community like Wynwood. We went to the Police Chief and
presented this proposal last fall with the hope of getting law enforcement
trust fund monies to implement the community mobilization plan whereby we
196 March 12, 1992
i
would work with the churches, with community organizations, and with the
parents in the community to turn that community around and to eradicate the
gang delinquency problem they have there. Unfortunately though, due to some
budgetary crises, the Chief can only provide twenty-five percent of our
funding, funding of ninety-six thousand dollars and to that end, over here at
the last minute, but before the "fat lady sings" we're coming to you asking
for some support. And I bring with me Father Pedro Corces who we work with
intimately over at the Mission of San Juan Batista and Dr. Szapocznik who is
head of the Center for Family Studies at the University of Miami under which
this program would be housed.
Mayor Suarez: You brought the big guns. All right.
Mr. Cortada: Well, we're all working together in unison here.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It seems to that Xavier is always here at the last minute.
Mayor Suarez: He prays a lot and then comes in and...
Vice Mayor Alonso: He does well at the end.
Mr. Cortada: Let's hope that happens today, too, Miriam.
Reverend Pedro Corces: I met Xavier Cortada around September.
Mayor Suarez: Father could you put your name on the record, please.
Reverend Corces: Yes. My name is Father Pedro Corces. As I said I met
Xavier in September and I invited him to come to Wynwood and to talk to our
parents, the ones who attend the Mission of San Juan Batista and they
expressed the need to have something for our youth in that area in Wynwood.
Xavier started meeting with a group of the kids, fifteen... Right now we have
thirty-five meeting three times a week. They organize a football game every
Saturday morning in the church grounds that we have around sixty to seventy
kids coming every Saturday morning. There is a tremendous need in Wynwood to
address the problem of drugs and delinquency among our youth and we really
need, badly need, a program that supports and helps and addresses this need of
our youth and that's why we're here today. Through the University of Miami
we're planning to start this program, to employ someone who is going to be
there in a full-time basis talking to the kids, working with the parents which
is something that we are willing and really desiring to start as soon as we
can. Visiting homes, working with them, helping them to cope with the problem
of drugs. And that's why we're here this afternoon.
Mayor Suarez: Very good. Doctor.
- Dr. Jose Szapocznik: Hello. I'm Jose Szapocznik. I'm director of the Center
of Family Studies at the University of Miami.
Mayor Suarez: It's not spelled that way. Your last name.
Dr. Szapocznik: It's not... You want me to spell it?
Mayor Suarez: You might want to do that just for the record.
197 March 12, 1992
Dr. Szapocznik: S-Z-A-P-0-C-Z-N-I-K.
Mayor Suarez: You need some vowels there, you know. Make it a little easier
for us.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Dr. Szapocznik: It's all my father's fault.
Mayor Suarez: How do you pronounce it again? I mean I always see it
everywhere and I know I identify with it and I know I relate it to you, but I
can never pronounce it.
or. Szapocznik: Szapocznik.
Commissioner Plummer: Call him anything but late for supper.
Dr. Szapocznik: We've been providing services in this area of the City of
Miami for twenty years now, since 1972. In Little Havana, and the Wynwood
area and throughout the City and over these twenty years we've seen literally
tens of thousands of individuals and the major focus of our work has been in
kids in trouble. Drug abusing adolescents, delinquent adolescents, antisocial
adolescents, runaways, all the kinds of problems that kids present and earlier
in this year, the Mayor appointed me to the City of Miami Youth Task Force and
that's where I started to work with Xavier and I realized that, you know, we
have been treating for these twenty years these thousands and thousands of
kids and what we have to do is go to the source and change what's going on
over there. Because there's no way that we're ever going to be able to help
all of these kids by treating them one at a time. We have to change the basic
organization what's going on in that community. And I think what we developed
here is a very ambitious proposal, even though the budget is only ninety-six
thousand dollars, but it's a proposal - something that we call technically,
social re -engineering where we change the social organization of that
community so we can get all the pro -social groups together to be at the
forefront of the fight against the antisocial groups. And we see this only as
a first step. What we want to do is to be able to get a director on board,
and there are a lot of Federal funds available for fighting violence, for
fighting delinquency. So what we want to do is to use these funds to be able
to go after Federal funds, but we have to have something in place.
Mayor Suarez: We have an entire separate category of funds, since you mention
that, which is the Law Enforcement Trust Fund and it results from seized
contraband and other forfeitures and we make quite a few allocations including
some for organizations that Mr. Cortada is involved in and possibly Father
Pedro, but... So I just want to alert you to that and I don't know what the
status of the Fund but there may be at least one pending application related
to...
Mr. Cortada: We are. We went there...
Mayor Suarez: ... Regis House or otherwise.
Mr. Cortada: No, no. We went to the Chief to propose this program.
198 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Oh, this program with the Law Enforcement Trust Fund.
Mr. Cortada: This exact program and the Chief can only provide twenty-five
percent of it...
Mayor Suarez: Oh, you did get twenty-five percent.
Mr. Cortada: ... to the tune of twenty-five thousand dollars and he'll be
bringing that up to you.
Dr. Szapocznik: By the way, the Chief - I don't know if Major Walsh is here
today - but the Chief said he's fully supportive, he really wants to see this
and, in fact, the program is written as a partnership where the director would
be under the University of Miami and the deputy director would be from the
Police Department. So it's a partnership program with the Police Department.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Has he offered perhaps to give some in -kind contributions
to make up for the cash that he cannot provide at this time?
Dr. Szapocznik: Well, we need basic funding just to get like a director in
place.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I see.
Dr. Szapocznik: Now he's providing in -kind contributions in terms of, you
know, police officers to participate in some of these activities, vans to
transport the families and the kids to activities so that they are providing
in -kind contributions. But what we need now is to be able to get a program in
place that can make all of these things happen and also that we can utilize
when we apply for Federal funding and the timing is very important because a
lot of Federal funds are going to be made available between now and September
30th, the end of the Federal fiscal year. And in order for us to be able to
compete for those funds and bring them down, we've got to have something in
place in Wynwood. So that's why we're so desperately asking for these funds.
Commissioner Dawkins: What is the in -kind contribution being contributed by
the University of Miami?
Dr. Szapocznik: Well, the University of Miami, which I represent, is
contributing my own time and the administrative support...
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. In the equivalence of dollars, what would you say,
what percentage of the total budget would be in -kind contributions from the
UM?
Dr. Szapocznik: Well, as you may know, the University of Miami's usual
indirect cost rate is fifty-four percent of... which in this case would amount
to some fifty thousand dollars, so that it specifically in this case of that
about forty-three thousand dollars have been waived. In addition to that, my
time whatever it has been up to now and it will be in the future, plus the
rest of the staff of the center that we're working on this project, we're
donating, we're not asking for any of that. What we're asking for is just for
the funds that it takes to operate this program that's going to be in Wynwood.
199 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: And all of the other Federal grants that you apply for,
the University of Miami will take no administrative cost? You'll just give it
all to them out of the generosity of the University of Miami?
Dr. Szapocznik: Well, you know the answer to that.
Commissioner Dawkins: I damn sure do. You can bet your sweet life I do.
Dr. Szapocznik: Federal grants do draw administrative costs and that's
negotiated between the University...
Commissioner Dawkins: So, therefore, when you stand here and project yourself
as the University of Miami being the great benevolent father...
Dr. Szapocznik: No, wait, wait.
Commissioner Dawkins: It doesn't work that way, sir.
Dr. Szapocznik: Let me say something. I work for the University. I bring in
every penny of my own salary...
Commissioner Dawkins: And they pay you. They pay you for working at that...
Dr. Szapocznik: No, sir. Wait a minute.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute now.
Dr. Szapocznik: Sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait now. Wait now. You don't do this benevolently.
You just said every penny that you get paid, you bring it in. But you get
paid.
Dr. Szapocznik: Yeah, I bring...
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. Well, so... Go ahead from there now.
Dr. Szapocznik: But I think it's very important to know that, you know, all
of my programs are programs that serve the community. I pay all of our staff
through grants that we bring down to serve the community and we are housed at
the University and the University does take a percent of indirect costs from
the Federal grants and, you know, unfortunately I shouldn't be penalized for
that. I don't like it...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, but I don't want you to be penalized, but I don't
want you to project the University of Miami as giving away something when they
are not.
Dr. Szapocznik: No, not the University. I am.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. All right. Now...
Dr. Szapocznik: I am giving up my time.
200 March 12, 1992
2
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Commissioner Dawkins: OK. I guarantee you, sir, that for every grant you
want to apply for, I can find somebody else that will apply also and can get
the grant. OK? All right. That's all I'm saying.
Mayor Suarez: All right. We are not going to engage in debate, we just want
to hear from the rest of the people. This is the rule that we established and
I know Tony's been waiting to speak, and if anyone else... Go ahead, sir.
Mr. David Harder: I'm Dave Harder, volunteer director for Little Haiti
Housing Association. First of all, I'd like to apologize for our president,
Jackie Michele, who wanted to be here but has not been able to come. I would
like to solicit your support for our low-income housing program in Little
Haiti. We have applied for a CD grant of fifty thousand dollars and our
program involves purchasing abandoned properties through FHA (Federal Housing
Agency), repairing them, using an extensive...
Commissioner Dawkins: Frank, I wish you would listen to him because I'm going
to ask you some questions when he finishes, please. I'm sorry, sir. Go
ahead.
Mr. Harder: That's OK. Purchasing abandoned properties, repairing them up to
Code, current Code level standards, using a lot of volunteer help. I guess
our latest major achievement was to have Home Depot come out and do some
volunteer work for us on one of our properties and then to sell them to low-
income families. We also provide a home ownership training program and as we
get more families, we also want to provide a follow-up program so that as
families may find themselves having questions about home ownership, that they
would then have a place to come. We are currently renovating three properties
and we have completed two properties and our goals are to complete and sell
eight properties a year. Again, I would just like to solicit your support in
our program. Thank you very much.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Castaneda, why were they turned down?
Mr. Castaneda: No, they were funded. You're the Little Haiti Housing...
Vice Mayor Alonso: They have been recommended.
Commissioner Dawkins: They got the fifty thousand dollars?
Mr. Castaneda: We are recommending them and the Board is recommending them.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. OK. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Anything further, Tony?
Ms. Tony Gary: My name is Tony Gary. I'm the associate dean and executive
director of the Entrepreneurial Education Center, Mayor Suarez, Vice Mayor
Alonso, Commissioners. I just basically want to make a statement. We have
proposed a project which I'm very, very excited about and I understand from
staff that there may be some additional funds somewhere during the middle of
201 March 12, 1992
the year which could be considered for funding this project, that somehow or
another you met and exceeded your administrative cap. But I'd like to take
this opportunity publicly to invite you all out, including staff, to see what
we're doing at the EEC, which I think is an innovate model and could become a
design for the nation. If I can brag a little bit. In training
entrepreneurs, we are proposing to work directly with the merchants on 7th
Avenue and I understand that similar kinds of attempts have been proposed and
even initiated before with little success. But in the past two years or so,
we've been working on a formula which is resulting in some very positive
turnarounds in terms of the direct benefit of individual business owners.
Unfortunately, we don't really have the program to capture the merchants
because of the nature of the merchants. They work six days a week, sometimes
fourteen hours a day, can't get away from their businesses to fit into the
schedule of the community college classes. We've been trying, but it hasn't
worked. We're proposing to take the program to them. It's a very intensive
program which is designed to write prescriptions, very specifically, for every
individual merchant to address their needs. And it is very expensive. But we
think that even if it's just funded for one or two, three, four, ten of the
merchants in the area that we can demonstrate some very positive success. So
I invite you and staff and anybody else interested to come out, see what we're
doing and perhaps we can revisit this initiative some time in midyear.
Mayor Suarez: A lot of the merchants can apply for lobbying jobs because this
is the first time we've received correspondence that is illustrated with
pictures of the individual writing the letter. I find that most creative.
Ms. Gary: I did that not so much to lobby you, but to indicate that there was
interest in the area...
Mayor Suarez: Oh, it was your idea. I thought it was spontaneous of all the
letter writers.
Ms. Gary: You notice they're all dated the same date except one.
Mayor Suarez: Well, I also noticed they all sent pictures, you know. I got a
kick out of that.
Ms. Gary: But the letter writing was specifically done to illustrate that
there was in fact support in the area of the 7th Avenue merchants. We did not
go outside of the area. We stayed right on 7th Avenue and the immediate
environment to demonstrate that there was support for this project.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Ms. Gary: I think the community college has demonstrated that it can deliver
a quality project.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. That's it? Anyone else? Jan?
202 March 12, 1992
Ms. Janet Grigsby: Jan Grigsby. Edgewater. I'm here to ask that you all
support the recommendations of the Community Development Advisory Board. They
have worked for hours and hours to go over everything and we appreciate
everything that they have done. I also am asking that you support Edgewater.
You know how hard we've worked, and we would really appreciate your support.
Thank you very much.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Tom, I know
that... Should we make a decision that somehow deviates from the Board's
recommendations, or should the issue of the depletion of the housing
conservation fund by roughly a million, I guess, from what is recommended by
staff come up on behalf of the Board are willing to engage in that debate.
I'm not sure that we need to do that. I gather that the staff is aware that,
for the first time ever, they're entitled to this year they're going to be
handling some five point four million dollars in home funds - H-O-M-E - which
our City was declared eligible for. Hopefully, that will find it's way into
some newspaper somewhere. In any event, one other thing. The CD Board's
recommendations on the economic development side do leave available a mini-
UDAG (Urban Development Action Grant) total amount Citywide of two hundred
thousand dollars which could be one or more? Is that correct?
Mr. Castaneda: That's correct.
Mayor Suarez: And it obviously could be applied for in any neighborhood in
the City. I, myself, would kind of like to see it possibly from Little Haiti
because we really have not had that many applications that have... I've
received mini-UDAGs and we haven't had that many economic development
applications. We've had none that use the CD loan float or anything like
that.
Mr. Castaneda: The only one that we worked on was for the one for the Little
Haiti Shopping Center which Kapustein and I believe Ringo Cayard was involved
and that never actually developed.
Mayor Suarez: Right, that never materialized. So we're primed, and I think
this Commission - and this is a message because actually it's kind of first -
come, first -serve but get that application ready and get a good project.
Ringo, I think you're pretty creative and...
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD)
Mayor Suarez: Right. I know you've made a plea today that makes it sound
like we've ignored Little Haiti. I think over the years we've been pretty
fair in our allocations. Today it doesn't look that way when you look at the
various funding, but some of it has come from different sources. In any
event, I see a two hundred thousand dollar mini-UDAG available there, but
you've got to fulfill the requirements of the mini-UDAG funding.
Commissioners, I think we're going to close off debate.
Commissioner Plummer: We had put off the people from the northeast.
Mayor Suarez: Oh, I'm sorry. Other than the northeast group, we're closing
off public hearing with that one. Who are the representatives that are going
to speak?
203 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: Here he is. The northeast.
Commissioner Plummer: They said that their group would be hear at five
thi rty.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So it's...
Commissioner Dawkins: Are they here?
Mayor Suarez: OK. And you've requested three speakers for a total of six
minutes, or six minutes combined, or how do want that?
Mr. Clark: Well, I don't want to cut off anybody's freedom of speech.
Mayor Suarez: No, we will.
Mr. Clark: Oh, OK.
Mayor Suarez: We'll cut it off. It's two minutes period, so, I mean, if you
want to use it for one person six minutes as I thought that you informed the
Vice Mayor that's...
Mr. Clark: Well, I'm a lawyer so I'll keep talking until you tell me to shut
up.
Mayor Suarez: Oh, don't let the lawyers speak, whatever you do.
Commissioner Dawkins: Watch the red light.
Mr. Clark: I know that there are people that are receiving the funds that
would like to respond. And it's only fair that they should have...
Mayor Suarez: Well, but I mean, just try to be representative of the whole
group. I mean, there's no need to have...
Vice Mayor Alonso: You will be talking against...
Mr. Clark: Against funding that is...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... some funding that has been recommended?
Mr. Clark: That is correct.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I see.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Go ahead, sir.
Dr. Joan Lutton: And I'm here to talk...
Mayor Suarez: You're in favor, Doctor. All right.
Dr. Lutton: Yes.
204 March 12, 1992
Mr. Clark: OK. I'm going to be very brief, or as brief as I can, it's very
complex what's going on here today. We're having a "love -in" almost, but I
think that there's a lot of problems...
Mayor Suarez: Before we get to the "love -in", you've got to give us your name
and address any everything.
Mr. Clark: All right. I gave my name before. It's Bret Clark. I did fill
out a form. I am a citizen and a taxpayer.
Mayor Suarez: Address, sir.
Mr. Clark: 713 N.E. 71st Street. As you all know, we're in bad economic
times right now. But apart from that, for the past, well say, twelve years,
almost exactly twelve years, the difference between the rich and the poor is
getting wider and wider. We question the use of poverty funds by one
particular group, and I see other people here vying for funds that maybe
should be better spent elsewhere. The group that I'm referring to is the
Greater Biscayne Boulevard Chamber of Commerce. And in 1987 the Commission
took an action where they arbitrarily, I would argue, extended the boundaries
_ of the Edison Little River target area to include Biscayne Boulevard,
specifically for the purpose of including Biscayne Boulevard and to
accommodate this group. Since that time, people in the area have had a lot of
complaints about the Chamber of Commerce. I don't have to tell you all how
_ often you have problems between a Chamber and/or business interests in a
community. Maybe it's usually some kind of a development or some zoning
problem. In our area, we have a real serious problem with crime, and it's
entrenched and it's on Biscayne Boulevard, and it has been there for years and
years and years and years, and for the past five years, this group has
received two hundred and forty-three thousand dollars, and we have nothing to
show for it. When you dig into the specifics of it, there are a lot of things
that you can question about CBO (Community Based Organization) funding in
general. In particular, this group. And Congress right now, a subcommittee,
is looking at our City and the way that we're spending the poverty funds that
the taxpayers of the United States, all over the United States, are paying
for. We don't approve of the funding for this group. We think that maybe it
should stay in Little Haiti. Maybe some of the funds could be diverted to a
group or an area that is more deserving of it, and that is the reason why the
people have, of the northeast area, object to the funding of this group.
Mayor Suarez: Very good. Thank you, sir. And you were within time, too,
which we appreciate. Doctor.
Dr. Lutton: I'm Dr. Joan Lutton, and I'm past president of the Greater
Biscayne Boulevard Chamber of Commerce, and before I reply to that, could I
ask who he's representing? He's talking about representing the northeast.
Mr. Clark: No, I didn't say I represent anybody.
Mayor Suarez: He said he was an attorney.
Dr. Lutton: He's just a regular person.
Mr. Clark: I represent myself.
I guess we assumed that meant...
OK.
205
March 12, 1992
U
Dr. Lutton: OK. Fine. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: And he certainly lives in the northeast because he gave us his
address.
Dr. Lutton: He lives in the northeast. OK. I just wanted to thank you
first, the Community Development Board and the staff for recommending us.
Some of the things that the Greater Biscayne Boulevard Chamber of Commerce has
_ accomplished is the crime situation has improved. I have worked on the
Boulevard for the past fifteen, thirteen years. At the time I first went
there, and until about five years ago, the crime was so bad that I had to go
out and work the area myself, and some of you that have heard me speak before
know that. I had hooker patrol every day in front of my business. I don't
have to do that anymore. I haven't had to do it because the Greater Biscayne
Boulevard Chamber of Commerce was instrumental in getting a mini -station in
our area which has greatly improved the situation. The police response time
has come down to a fine line. We had to call the police just two weeks. They
were on our campus in less than two minutes. I don't think you can ask for
better service than that. I think we have also worked to help the merchants,
not put them out of business, we don't think that's the way to go. The
problems that we have had have been basically with the residents because we
are for economic development. Economic development isn't always the way the
residents would like to go. Very often we have had some disagreements with
residents because we believe in economic development and that's what the money
is granted for, and we have been very successful in that area. We have helped
some of the motels to clean their act up. Again, the Commission is aware of
this. Some of you have been out there to see that. It has gotten better. We
have also had a good mission conference only five weeks ago. It was very well
attended. Some of your staff people helped us with that. Again, the
merchants were very, very happy. They're a resident association who belong to
our group. Baypoint does. Morningside does. Shorecrest and Belle Meade.
Bayside was until very recently also a member. This is a group that thinks
very hard about spending their money. All of us work for nothing. Nobody on
the board receives pay. I have been on the board for five years. I've served
as president.
Mayor Suarez: Who is the executive director?
Dr. Lutton: Melanie Broeker. She's sitting right here. And we have all
worked a lot of hours as, again, many of you Commissioners know because some
of those hours...
Mayor Suarez: She's not related to Doug?
Dr. Lutton: Maybe. I'm not related to anybody. I just come down here
because I like a nice place to work.
Mayor Suarez: No, just two hundred and fifty kids and their parents and...
Dr. Lutton: But I want the neighborhood...
Mayor Suarez: ... to lobby us and...
206 March 12, 1992
Dr. Lutton: ... that I have to work in to be crime free and nice. And it is
getting better, and I think one of the reasons it's getting better is because
the Greater Biscayne Boulevard Chamber of Commerce has worked very hard to
make it better. This is not something easy to do and all of you are aware of
that. It takes time. It is better. Those of us who work on the Boulevard
day in and day out know it's better. We are not there to help the residents
east of the Boulevard. Our service area is Biscayne Boulevard, 36th Street to
87th Street and west. We service those people.
Mayor Suarez: Very good.
Mr. Clark: Do we get rebuttal?
Mayor Suarez: Does that constitute support and we don't need to hear any
further? Thank you.
Mr. Clark: Do we get rebuttal time?
Mayor Suarez: Rebuttal?
Mrs. Jennifer Clark: (OFF MIKE) Yes. Please. Please.
Mayor Suarez: How about... You're welcome to use it counselor, but maybe you
ought to have one of the other members... Folks, I can't imagine...
Mrs. Clark: (OFF MIKE) I would prefer to allow him.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Unidentified Speaker: (OFF MIKE) We grant him our time.
Mrs. Clark: (OFF MIKE) He's bearing documentation to go into the record.
Mayor Suarez: Yield the time to your lawyer. That's always a big mistake,
but maybe it'll work.
Mr. Clark: OK. Well, I think that she basically said what the entire problem
is. Is that a community based organization is not... This is not what it's
intended for. If you ask Mr. Castaneda, I'm sure he'll inform you, or the
City Attorney, that a chamber of commerce does not qualify for these funds.
They have the constitutional right to associate and do whatever they want. In
fact, they should do that and they should raise their own funds just like any
other chamber of commerce. Unfortunately,...
Mayor Suarez: Is that what's really bothering you? Because I'm interested in
that argument...
Mrs. Clark: (OFF MIKE) No, wait a minute.
Mayor Suarez: ... and I'm sure we all are. We certainly don't want to have
to go to Congress and be answering for our use of CDBG funds for an
association that one could argue is somehow not dealing with a true target
area. Although I think the demographics there now show that it would be
pretty fairly a targeted area. But there must be something else that bothers
207 March 12, 1992
r
you about the way they're spending the money that... Or unless you're just
thinking as a Federal taxpayer, we're administering Federal dollars. I can't
imagine that they're not using at least some of the money efficiently, so it
must be something else. You're not seeking it for anything else? - and you
don't object to... Do you object to some of their plans? - or some of their...
She's very restless to say something. Maybe we ought to hear... You're
repeating the same argument.
Mrs. Clark: (OFF MIKE) Yeah, why don't you let me say something? I would
like to say something.
Mayor Suarez: Give us a name and address, please.
Mrs. Clark: Jennifer Clark. 713 N.E. 71st Street. I beg to differ with
everything that this woman has said. OK? The Chamber has done nothing
criminally to clean up Biscayne Boulevard. OK? Bayside has been doing crime
report studies, productivity reports, everything else since November with
regards to the Police Department and what's going on and what's happening in
our community. We were inundated last November with burglaries to the tune
of, for two weeks, forty of them. All right? And the Chamber had nothing to
do with cleaning that up. In addition to that, they have members on their
board of directors that have been arrested for possession of cocaine that are
under investigation right now with the Hotel/Motel Nuisance Abatement Board.
These people have a lot of problems. OK? I mean, these are the people that
brought Yahweh Ben Yahweh, and you're sitting here telling me that they should
be funded. These people should not be funded, and this Commission should
investigate what they're doing, and how they're doing it and why they are
being funded in perpetuity. This is wrong. This money is for poor people.
It's not for substantial businessmen to do the "Robin Hood" theory in reverse.
OK? Which is basically what you're doing here. Instead of taking money from
the rich to give to the poor, you're taking money from the Federal government
that's delineated for poor people, not for people that have businesses...
Mayor Suarez: Did you make the same argument to the CD Advisory Board? - The
Community Development Advisory Board?
Mrs. Clark: I didn't even... Mayor Suarez, let me tell you something. I
didn't even know what a CBO...
Mayor Suarez: Can you answer a question yes or no and then you can explain
anything you want.
Mrs. Clark: No, sir.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Mrs. Clark: I didn't even know what a CBO was three weeks ago. I didn't even
know these people were getting HUD dollars. I had to go down with the
committee and educate myself as far as what they're doing. OK? You know,
John Q. Public, if they're not entitled to anything and they don't know about
these things...
Mayor Suarez: OK. All right. Well, you're pointing a lot of fingers, and I
was just asking if you had begun to point them at the Community Advisory Board
208 March 12, 1992
level, so that a board that we've constituted precisely to delve into some of
these things might be able to give us input. I'm still somewhat at a loss to
know if your complaint stems from the fact that you don't want Federal dollars
to be spent by this organization, or if you really have something that you
disagree with what they're doing. I have a hard time.
Mrs. Clark: Sir. I don't believe that our area is a target area. I don't
believe that we need Federal money in our area.
Mayor Suarez: I see what you're saying.
Mrs. Clark: We are perfectly...
Mayor Suarez: You think it hurts?
Mrs. Clark: ... capable... I think it hurts us more than it helps us. We are
perfectly capable, and if you look at any of the filings by this organization,
you will see, in particular with Dr. Lutton, who applied for CDBG funds, she
does not qualify. Neither do the other merchants. Some of them slip through.
I don't know how.
Dr. Lutton: I didn't get any. I didn't get any.
Mayor Suarez: Why are you saying anything about Dr. Lutton? I thought that
the thing had to do with the Greater Biscayne association?
Mrs. Clark: Well, no. She's on the board.
Mayor Suarez: Right.
Mrs. Clark: OK. And she applied...
Mayor Suarez: But she's not applied individually, or on behalf of any other
entity, has she? Other than her...
Dr. Lutton: I applied for the facade program. We did apply for the facade
when we were redoing our school. And it was turned down.
Mayor Suarez: For the school?
Dr. Lutton: Yeah. So, you know, even if we had gotten the facade money, it
wouldn't have benefited personally. I don't own the school. It's a nonprofit
organization.
Mayor Suarez: You did not receive funds...
Dr. Lutton: No, sir.
Mayor Suarez: ... for the facade program?
Dr. Lutton: No, sir.
Mayor Suarez: If we're going to do a facade improvement along Biscayne
Boulevard, a historic avenue in our City, OK? - and one of the facades
included a school...
209 March 12, 1992
Dr. Lutton: Which is a historic building.
Mayor Suarez: ... whether it was nonprofit or for profit, an historic
building, whether we feel that that's the best priority or not, it might
include the school simply to maintain some kind of a uniformity. But anyhow
apparently it was not granted.
Dr. Lutton: It was also not true that we don't have poor students in the
school as this board is well aware. We do. We have two hundred and seventy-
five thousand dollars worth of financial aid students. Ten of those are
minority set -aside who go for free.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
Ms. Judy Clark: Good evening, Commissioners. Judy Clark, 5930 North Bayshore
Drive, Morningside. This is a very uncomfortable issue for all of us here
today. I worked with the Biscayne Chamber of Commerce for two years. These
people are my neighbors and we all try to cooperate in the area. Our purpose
of this today is to... a couple of things. Number one, I agree with Jennifer
and Bret that the target area is incorrect. I do not think that Biscayne
Boulevard is the right place for a CBO. I don't know when... The boundaries
were apparently changed in 1987. I will tell you, at Cesar's brainstorm
session, he asked the people of the Northeast, the community leaders, the
people from the civic associations to come. We came forward and within a very
short period of time on that first evening that we met, we were able to define
the boundaries that we felt represented our community. That went from the
railroad tracks to the bay, and from 36 Street to 87 Street. I think that it
is correct that as a community we can work together as we have in the past
through our umbrella group and through also your very own, Mayor Suarez's
Northeast Task Force. We have accomplished a great deal. In the civic
associations themselves, you are talking about a lessening of crime in the
Boulevard. You can count that Morningside group as one of the rowdiest ones.
They are the reason, and the homeowners' phone calls, and the homeowners'
desires to change that boulevard is what counts. I do not think anyone
necessarily objects to funding for any organization that does the right thing
for a specified group of people.
Mayor Suarez: Are you suggesting, for example, that instead of funding an
association or a CBO, community based organization, we should be taking the
money for capital improvements in the boulevard...
Ms. Clark: I would suggest most strongly...
Mayor Suarez: ...as recommended by the task force?
Ms. Clark: I would suggest two things. I would suggest, number one, that
you place any monies that come into the Northeast in a funding session such as
this, into a capital improvement fund, most assuredly. I would also suggest
that you review the boundaries of this particular organization.
Mayor Suarez: You know, that is part of the argument that we sometimes have
in other boards and commissions in the City and in the City itself, but
particularly we have had a lot in the Downtown Development Authority between
bricks and mortar.
210 March 12, 1992
Ms. Clark: That's right.
Mayor Suarez: You know, building things and improving things and bureaucracy,
which is not a particularly fair comparison. But the bureaucracy sometimes is
the one that is able to, by having the people there, seek federal funds, or
seek private developers, or facilitate...
Ms. Clark: This is being done by the civic groups, and we have never...
Mayor Suarez: ...certain improvements in an area.
Ms. Clark: It is all being done by civic groups and the task force. You know
how much money the task force has asked for, not one penny for administrative
purposes. Not one penny.
Mayor Suarez: That is the beauty of the task force. That it is all
volunteers and nobody is...
Ms. Clark: Absoluteiyl In the middle of trying to accomplish certain things,
we find ourselves almost in a competitive relationship with this other group
simply because one of their desires is to maintain funding. It seems to me
that if you simply take the funding for this particular group, place it into a
capital improvement fund that we can look at one day... You have spent over a
quarter of a million dollars with this group over the last four of five years.
We have nothing to show for it. Tell me there is a mini station there. Yes,
there is. It cost you another $70,000, and it took away the only green park
we had that faced Biscayne Boulevard. Who is thrilled about that? I'm not.
So I will tell you this. No one wants to just destroy any group that is doing
something good. But let them do good in a neighborhood that truly needs it.
We want our railroad track. We want our boulevard. We want our communities
to work together. Hands across the boulevard, from 36 Street to 87 Street, we
are doing the job. As a matter of fact, the task force actually includes the
Edgewater group all the way down to the OMNI. We have a marvelous
relationship and we have done more in two years than this group has done in
five, with no funding.
Mayor Suarez: All right, thank you. Melanie.
Ms. Melanie Broeker: My name is Melanie Broeker. I am the executive director
of the Greater Biscayne Boulevard Chamber of Commerce. The business of a CBO,
community based organization, is to provide technical assistance for lower to
moderate income neighborhoods. The way you do this is to service the business
community that provides services for the lower to moderate income
neighborhoods. The boulevard and west of it has been designated a blighted
area. If you travel down the northeast sector of Biscayne Boulevard, you can
see for yourselves it is blighted. We have businesses that are struggling to
stay in business. If they go under, if they receive no support, no help from
an administrative part of the City to stay in business, to provide technical
assistance, loan packaging, to promote them with the zoning, to teach them, to
educate them, you are going to lose every business on the boulevard. The
Chamber is instrumental with crime as far as educating them. Again, working
with the Nuisance Abatement or any of the crime Northeast subcouncil
committees. Without a CBO in this area, the neighborhoods are not going to
211 March 12, 1992
work on the boulevard. The neighborhoods are going to protect their
residential interest. They are east of the boulevard. The blighted area is
the boulevard and west. If you lose the businesses from there, it's going to
hurt the residential neighborhoods also. You have got to have a CBO in this
area. You have an influx of all sorts of different cultures that are trying
to live and work together and run businesses. They need your branch, your arm
of the City there. This is truly a blighted area. We have made major inroads
in 1991 and we can get letters of tons of businesses that might have gone
under had it not been from the Greater Biscayne Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Suarez: All right, folks, I'm sure we could argue this forever, and if
it was a trial, there would be all kinds of time allocated for closing
statements, et cetera, but we have to make some decisions that affect a lot
more than... What is the funding recommendation?
Mr. Castaneda: Fifty thousand.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Fifty thousand.
Mayor Suarez: I tell you
concerns have been raised
prioritization of funding,
made specific allegations.
of that. I just don't wan
Congress, as you have had t
Mr. Castaneda: Next week.
t
o
though, for myself, whatever we do tonight, enough
by this group, not only in terms of the right
but in terms of individuals. I mean, they have
We obviously ought to satisfy ourselves as to all
to have again to answer to HUD, to answer to the
do this week, or next week?
Mayor Suarez: Next week. We should talk about that because I am inclined to
send them a letter too, asking them how come they set those norms for the loan
floats, you know. But, there is enough raised there that I think that
regardless of how the vote comes out, we want to get some answers. The
general statement that the Biscayne Boulevard, the Greater Biscayne
Association, which I think - wasn't it? - sort of a brainchild of Jim
Angleton?
Unidentified Speaker: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: In five years for $243,000 has not borne as much fruit as you
would like to see for that kind of money. To me, with all due respect to all
friends of mine, I think everybody meant well, has a certain veracity to it.
I think it is a fair statement. That, by the way, is true of almost every CBO
in the City, though. Their effect is felt in many intangible ways. We have
had complaints from HUD about the other CBOs. Some we have disqualified.
Some we have had to replace. Typically, we encourage them when we require
them to come up with some actual hard projects that show improvement. I would
strongly suggest, if they end up with their funding, that they apply
themselves to the task, with their bureaucracy, of implementing the task
force's recommendations of bricks and mortar, because a full-time staff person
can help a lot. When you guys get together and you are all volunteers, you
are probably not from deprived environments and very few of you are probably
poor. As you have stated yourselves, you are taxpayers, you are residents in
an area of the City that should be a lot nicer than it is, but has a lot of
basic richness to it. I don't see necessarily a divorce here. It could be a
212 March 12, 1992
marriage. But I think you have raised some valid points, and I think we ought
to take them to heart. Unfortunately, this whole thing is recommended to us
as a package. If they convince the CD, Community Development Advisory Board,
and... you know, to go back on that recommendation is kind of tough. OK,
Commissioner De Yurre.
Commissioner De Yurre: Can I suggest, maybe, the following, if it is doable.
That we approve the monies in this case, pending an investigation by the
administration as to exactly what is going on and whether legally we can do
it, and the effectiveness of the organization, et cetera.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, it should be a double evaluation.
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, sure, yes.
Mayor Suarez: It should be a very, very critical evaluation, first of all...
Well, first an investigation of any of the allegations about improprieties or
illegalities by board members. But more importantly, an evaluation of just
how effective are they being.
Commissioner De Yurre: For that matter, every other CBO.
Mr. Castaneda: I agree.
Commissioner De Yurre: Let me tell you, I keep hearing that some of these are
not that effective.
Mayor Suarez: We do that on a yearly basis. I think it is a HUD requirement.
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, we do.
Bret Clark, Esq.: Yes, let him do all of them.
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioner, may I suggest something? Leave the funding in
at the present time. I will come back either at the first meeting in June
with contracts to approve contracts. At that time, I will give you an
evaluation on all the agencies, so you can feel comfortable whether to enter
or not to enter into contract with the agencies at that time. Do not confuse
that issue with the whole issue of the thirteen million.
Commissioner Plummer: But what you are saying is no monies will be disbursed
on this basis until July the first.
Mr. Castaneda: No, that is correct. Their contracts, anyway, do not expire
until June 30th. So what I am saying to you is that we would come back either
in May or in the first meeting in June with an evaluation on all the agencies
and a request to enter into contract with the agencies. If you feel that,
depending on our recommendation, we can make a decision at that time on
whether to enter into contract with the agency or not.
Mr. Tom Post: Mayor Suarez, may I make a comment? Very Brief. I just wanted
to remind the Commission that the situation with the Coconut Grove Playhouse,
this affects everybody in this room and all the taxpayers in Miami. $243,270
are going to have to be paid back to the Department of HUD if there is a
problem.
213 March 12, 1992
Mr. Odio: We already took care of that problem a year ago. I don't know why,
what's...
Mr. Tom Post: Well, I'm just saying that when this money is spent, it does
not mean that it can't be... it might not be ordered to be paid back. So that
this is something that affects all the taxpayers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
45. DISCUSSION CONCERNING PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FOR DE HOSTOS SENIOR CENTER -- PERSONAL APPEARANCE BY WILLIAM MORALES.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: All right. Before we vote, Vice Mayor Alonso suggested, I
think properly, that we ought to hear the whole issue presented by item 46, is
it?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah. William Morales.
Mayor Suarez: Which has to do with the...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Because I believe it's going to affect some way...
Commissioner Dawkins: Let me say something on this issue.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... the funding, and I think that...
Mayor Suarez: Yes. On the item 46 issue?
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, are we going to... Can we stick on this...
Mayor Suarez: She thinks that...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, I believe and...
Mayor Suarez: ... we ought to hear out whatever the issue is because it will
be affected by the...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... pretty soon, as he starts talking, we will know if it
does affect or not, but I think it does.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Because I've got a lot of questions.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah. It does affect. Oh, you mean related to the...
Commissioner Plummer: No, not necessarily to this.
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, I got some to this.
214 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: I agree with Frank to go ahead and approve, but not to
disburse any monies.
Mayor Suarez: All right. We're not closing off Commission debate, just that
the issue, maybe from the public ought to be presented of item 46, and then we
close up all public debate, all public input, and the Commission...
Commissioner Plummer: If that's what you want to do, it's fine with me.
Mayor Suarez: ... discusses it and decides. Do you need to say anything,
Tom?
Mr. Tom Post: Only if we would have an opportunity to respond if you ask
things from staff.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, once we close it, that's it.
Mayor Suarez: No, once we close it, that's it, Tom. So why don't you go
ahead and make the statement, whatever it is you want to make. Was it more or
less what I said or... Did I characterize it correctly?
Mr. Post: You characterized it correctly, Your Honor. All we were trying to
do was, if there were further questions, as it related to the budget and the
dollar amounts, we would be happy...
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely.
Mr. Post: ... to respond to those, particularly as it related to some
issues...
Mayor Suarez: And you're...
Commissioner Plummer: But we can ask that after they close the public
hearing.
Mayor Suarez: And you're staying around as a member...
Mr. Post: I'll be here...
Mayor Suarez: ... of the board, and perhaps some of the other board members,
I see, in case we need to consult you further.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, Tom, prepare this one for the answer and I'll go
ahead here. I want to know why it's proposed to give the DDA, the Downtown
Development Authority, from these monies five hundred and twenty thousand
dollars? OK? You come back with those answers. They have their own taxing
fund.
Mr. Post: There's somebody here from the DDA.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah. Let me clarify one point. Mr. Morales, according
to what Frank Castaneda told me, your case will not really affect the course
of what we are going to be doing, because the money, what you're going to
suggest, is either to go to this agency or to a new agency. So the funds
itself will not be affected. So maybe we should wait and address the...
215 March 12, 1992
Mr. William Morales: The problem is the elderlies are here since two o'clock.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And you wanted us to see that they are here. We have seen
it. So I don't think that... If they have to leave, it's fine, provided that
you stay and can explain to us what is the situation. Do we take him now? -
or... Frank Castaneda.
Mayor Suarez: I would be inclined to hear this.
Vice Mayor Alonso: To hear.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Let's do it now.
Mr. Morales: I'm going to submit a copy of my presentation.
Commissioner Dawkins: That's for you. That's for you.
Mr. William Morales: My name is William Morales. I just received a phone
call to enclose in my presentation a letter from Athalie Range. She asked me
to put it. It's enclosed. My presence here is to request your support
regarding administration for De Hostos Senior Center, located at 2902 N.W. 2nd
Avenue. Wynwood, Miami, Florida. On October 7, 1988, I was appointed by Holy
Cross Day Care Center, Inc. I'm going to summarize. I'm not going to read it
all.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Thank you.
Mr. Morales: On October 7, 1988, I was appointed by Holy Cross Day Care
Center, Inc. Board of Directors as the Program Director of De Hostos Senior
Center. At that time, with high hopes of being able to be of service to other
people, and the community in general in Wynwood, I committed myself to bring
back to life what the past administration had left. De Hostos Senior Center
mission is to serve as an advocate for the elderly, empowering this population
to achieving their self-sufficiency and proper interaction. This mission was
enforced and accomplished according to the City of Miami, participants, VIPs,
visitors and community businessmen. At the same time, it has been recognized
as the meritorious elderly center in Dade County. Certificate received in
recognition of my involvement with the community and the elderly matters
demonstrated that I had a successful career in aging, making life better for
those in great need. After researching material from the National Center for
Nonprofit Boards, and according to materials submitted to you previously, and
to my understanding, this board of directors has failed to establish clear
objectives and clarify expectations. The present board misunderstands the
mission and purpose of the elderly program. According to their bylaws, one of
the vice-president's responsibilities is to be the chairman of fund-raising
committee. It was never formed. I took upon myself the efforts and
correspondence for fund-raising, including the writing of sixty letters of
intent for possible grantor. This board violated due process by not allowing
a proper procedure for my job evaluation to take place. On January 24, at the
beginning of the regular monthly meeting, I was informed that the agenda was
my performance evaluation, not notifying me in advance. The January 24, 1992
216 March 12, 1992
P
evaluation form, which was given to me already filled out, and stating that I
had failed to pass the probation period. I was encouraged to submit my
resignation. After I declined the proposition, a motion was formed by the
president for a termination effective that day, even though some board members
received their copy of my evaluation that very same day at the meeting, not
having the opportunity to analyze the same and not take in consideration that
only six months had elapsed of my probationary period. Once again, this board
violated not only corporate law, but personnel policy and my individual right
as a U.S. citizen. The personnel policy reads that the board shall give the
executive director a one -month notice for his termination. This board has
been in conflict of interest. When two members of the board work for the same
entity, where one...
Mayor Suarez: Bill, can you paraphrase. We've got the document. You said
you were going to paraphrase.
Mr. Morales: OK.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And the problem is, since we are so pressed for time, and
also I think they will pay more attention if you go to the point.
Mr. Morales: OK. I have with me, as you can see, the elderlies with me, and
I have over three hundred signatures endorsing my petition. Thus, I petition
the Commissioners and Mayor of the City of Miami to declare by resolution the
termination of the contract as soon as possible in accordance with Article 4,
Section 4.12 and 4.13 of the existing contract of the City of Miami Social
Service Agreement for De Hostos Senior Center, to approve by resolution the
nonprofit corporation whose chairperson is Adarjisa Martinez and to enter into
to take over De Hostos Senior Center program and to protect the interests of
the participants until the July 1, 1992 with the understanding in the
resolution that a new nonprofit corporation which has been created and which
will be ready by July 1, 1992 will then take over the social service contract
for De Hostos Senior Center program July 1, 1992 at the beginning of the new
fiscal year, or as soon as possible before that. To declare that the new
corporation in paragraph 2 above be mandated by the City of Miami and the
Charter, by law, policies and necessary committees to enhance the concept of
- due process of law. Eliminate the pitfall of conflict of interest and adopt
in of the respect for the human rights of the participants. One which will be
the requirement that one of the participants be a board member, and to insist
on the Federal, State and local legal and constitutional guarantee and
requirement for integrity of the new board. A new executive director and
staff in accord with all the existing laws including the new Federal Civil
Rights Act which will be effective July 26, 1992, and the new Florida Civil
Rights Act which will be effective by July 1, 1992. To this end, I will
submit to you all the necessary documents for the execution of the new
contract. Also...
Mayor Suarez: Do you propose, I mean you've cited laws and you've cited...
Presumably, Bill, you have recourse to certain governmental redress, but I am
not sure that this Commission is the ideal place. Are we supposed to go
behind any board of any nonprofit in the City of Miami's determination that an
executive director should resign, or... I forget exactly how it happened in
your case. I think you actually resigned voluntarily, but you were perhaps
pressured as you state...
217 March 12, 1992
Mr. Morales: No, I didn't resign voluntarily. They forced me to resign...
—j Vice Mayor Alonso: No, they terminated him.
Mr. Morales: ... and I didn't ever put my...
Unidentified Speaker: He was terminated.
Mayor Suarez: Well, you said they forced you to resign. We've gone through
many of those here in the City where it isn't clear what that... In any
event,...
Vice Mayor Alonso: He was terminated.
Mayor Suarez: ... you were forced to leave.
Mr. Morales: Correct.
Mayor Suarez: You were dismissed, I don't know how to characterize it, and
that may or may not be a factor in some of your other recourse. But how do
you expect this Commission to go... I presume some of these are the board
members and other interested citizens. Are we supposed to reevaluate the
board's determination of your...
Mr. Morales: No determination. What happened...
Mayor Suarez: ... as if we were a super civil service board of every
nonprofit in the City? I mean, unless it was...
Mr. Morales: One is a conflict of interest. One of the board members who was
my termination, soon after, she voted for termination soon after, she became
the executive director for the center...
Mayor Suarez: Who is that? Who is that?
Mr. Morales: Abadia Escobosa.
Mayor Suarez: Is that person here?
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS)
_ Mayor Suarez: Abadia... What is her last name?
Mr. Morales: Escobosa.
Mayor Suarez: And she was on the board that dismissed you and then she was
hired by that same board?
Mr. Morales: Yeah.
Mayor Suarez: With the exception of herself, I guess. You know, she
presumably didn't vote on her own hiring. I don't think 501... Yeah, I think
it is. I think 501(c)3's are not able to do that.
218 March 12, 1992
_j
-�, Ms. Dorothy Quintana:
know, 1 never...
No, that was... I'm sorry that I'm going to speak. You
Mayor Suarez: I have a feeling you are going to speak.
Ms. Quintana: I never came to this floor to speak for anybody.
Mayor Suarez: OK. But quickly, quickly, quickly and take the mike right next
to you and give us your name and address.
Ms. Quintana: My name is Dorothy Quintana. I'm from Wynwood, and I never
came to bother you people with anything. But this is very unfair what they
did with him. He's a respectable, decent and a very quiet man. That's why
took advantage of that. And the board that they have, is a very
discriminating board because to do the things they did. First, they laid
off... They took... Nilsa Velazquez was the director. So, I guess they got
tired of her and they took her off. They can't fire her because she has a
nursery. But they decided they don't want her there, so they placed him.
Once they placed him, they had already that lady over there to be in his
place. So they started manipulating whatever they wanted to manipulate. The
way they always do in Wynwood. Because you don't know Wynwood, but I do know
Wynwood. I know the people in Wynwood. They manipulate, and they get to the
Commissioners and they do what they want because they're friendly with the
Commissioners. I'm sorry to offend anybody. But that's they way they do it.
When they want something, they get to the Commissioners because they're going
to vote for them, I'm going to get people to vote for them, and nobody votes
for them. I'm the one who gets the vote, and he knows it, and you know it.
And why they did what they did right now? Because they didn't want him in
there any more because they wanted that lady on that board. And let me tell
you, there's one girl on this board that I have speak to her. She's not
supposed to be on that board either. I'm sorry to speak.
Commissioner Plummer: But who elects...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me...
Vice Mayor Alonso: If I may, please. I think the situation is so complicated
that, due to respect to the rest of the people here today, I think we should
vote on whatever amount of money we are going to keep and then address this
issue at a different time when we have ample opportunity to see, and then we
have the legal opinion of our attorney to tell us the degree of invulvement
that we can have in this issue, and we will ample opportunity to hear from
both sides. But it is unfair to the rest of the people. It will not affect
you want the program to be funded regardless. You don't want us to say no to
the program. So the issue here is the board, and I don't think we should take
all of the time that is needed to address this issue. I will ask both sides
to please consider the special situation we have here. We do understand the
problem, and if you come back at a different time, I think it will be best.
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely.
219 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Who elects the board?
® Mayor Suarez: Absolutely. And...
Unidentified Speaker: She wants to say something.
Mayor Suarez: ... I'm not sure how... No, no, no. We can't go on forever and
ever. I'm not sure how we ultimately will do that. As the Vice Mayor
suggests...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, but we'll get a legal opinion, as well.
Mayor Suarez: ... we need to... No, but I mean procedurally...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Oh.
Mayor Suarez: ... how we kind of look at it. To what extent we can delve
into it, as she has mentioned, is exactly what we need to know from our City
Attorney, and it's unfair to expect him, to right off the bat, decide that
today.
Commissioner De Yurre: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: What procedure we use, whether we have a full-fledged hearing
of the Commission, some of the members of this Commission maybe on a committee
to look at, the City Manager or whatever. I do think we ought to take...
Vice Mayor Alonso: We should work out an understanding, and it will be the
best for the community if we can get...
Commissioner Dawkins: A public hearing...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... all of the people together and finalize...
Commissioner Dawkins: ... and let the Manager report back to us.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... and get an agreement and an understanding. And I
think for that we will need some time.
Mayor Suarez: And be assured that, as the Vice Mayor said, that we want to
maintain the program in effect and one person's determination, or any of these
other considerations will not stop that. I think both sides probably want
that. Commissioner De Yurre, you wanted to say something. Otherwise I'm
inclined to take a very quick statement from the board just so we have that on
the record.
Commissioner De Yurre: I'd say that so we can get the whole story of what's
going on here, that the Administration do an in-depth investigation, and to
withhold the funding of the monies that we're going to be allocating here
until that time.
Mayor Suarez: That's fair enough.
220 March 12, 1992
H
I)
Mr. Sanford F. Dernis: My name is Sanford Dernis.
directors and the staff. I was going to suggest...
I represent the board of
Mayor Suarez: Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait. We're talking about an
attorney?
Mr. Dernis: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Not a board member?
Mr. Dernis: I'm not a board member. Board members and their officers are
right here.
Commissioner Plummer: Who elects the board?
INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS
Commissioner Plummer: Who elects the board?
Mayor Suarez: It's a self-perpetuating probably.
Commissioner De Yurre: It's like Off -Street Parking.
Commissioner Dawkins: Plummer's Funeral Home.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute. How can it be a self-perpetuating
board?
Mayor Suarez: Most nonprofits are like that. I mean...
Mr. Dernis: The board is elected by its... according to the articles of
incorporation...
Mayor Suarez: Technically, by its members.
Mr. Dernis: ... it is not required to have elections out of the community.
The board is representative of those residents in the community, and those
people being served. It is the people involved on the board are the same
people that are involved in other aspects of the community activities. The CD
(Community Development) Development, Borinquen Health Care Center, other day
care centers, and other public community health institutions.
Mayor Suarez: Do you want to just put a quick statement on behalf of the
board so that... We're going to... None of the Commissioners...
Mr. Dernis: The only reason...
Mayor Suarez: ... seem inclined to really get into this today. It's not fair
to the other group, as was stated by the Vice Mayor and, frankly, it's not
fair even to us.
Mr. Dernis: The only reason...
221 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: So put in a quick statement of how the board feels about all of
this.
Mr. Dernis: The only reason I'm here is because it looked like this was going
to be a personnel issue, which I don't think it should be. I'm prepared for
that, but I don't think Mr. Morales or the Commission wants that. The City
has monitored...
Commissioner Dawkins: Nobody seems to want it but you. Nobody said anything
about personnel but you.
Mr. Dernis: All right. I'll move to the next issue.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. All right. Come on, now. Come on.
Mr. Dernis: The City has monitored the performance of this contract for
years, as long as it's been an issue. You have the information, and I suggest
that rather than an open meeting, you do exactly as has been suggested. You
have your staff investigate, make the report. At that time if there's an
issue, it can be dealt with at a board.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Thank you. Commissioner De Yurre suggested that in
the meantime the funds that are allocated be held in the hands of the
Administration, and we have yet to specify how the investigation would be
carried out. It's been suggested that it be the Administration itself, but it
could also be by the Administration first, and then a public hearing before
us. One other consideration, we had some allegations as to one of the other
CBOs (community -based organization) that is receiving funds. If this
Commission felt that, that made sense to withhold the funds from them, or hold
them in escrow, we might do the same thing for the Greater Biscayne Boulevard
Association in fairness in view of those allegations.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, I think so, provided that it does not stop the
services that have to be provided to the elderly, and that is the first
priority.
Mayor Suarez: That's where you're going to have a problem. The
investigations, certainly in both cases, should take no longer than one
Commission meeting. I mean, we're not talking about an investigation here
with, you know, paid investigators, or subpoena powers or anything like that,
although we have that under the Charter. We need basically just ascertain the
facts, and have someone in the Administration make a recommendation to this
Commission as to what extent we can get involved, first of all, and secondly,
what we should do, if anything, in regards to the resignation, or firing, or
whatever.
Mr. Morales: One more...
Mayor Suarez: You're testing our patience, Bill, but go ahead, sir.
Mr. Morales: Yeah, but I would like for them to make sure that the food is
not held because I understard the people who are supporting me, they are
holding food for the elderly, because they are supporting me.
222 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: What is that?
Mr. Morales: They are holding food to the people who are supporting me. And
they...
Vice Mayor Alonso: They are not providing services...
Unidentified Speaker: That's not true.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... to certain elderly...
Mr. Morales: And they...
Mr. Dernis: Absolutely denied.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... because of a personal battle?
Mr. Morales: The person was here and he had to leave.
Mr. Dernis: We didn't know who was supporting him until they appeared here at
the meeting. That is not a criteria service, has never been and will not be.
Mayor Suarez: Well, we don't even have to tell you that that would be a
mistake...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, Mr. Mayor, if I may. I would like to personally go
into the facility, and inquire if this is true, and I'd like to check that
this is not so, because I will certainly be very disturbed, and I will take
upon myself then to carry on whatever the extent of the law... No one is
supposed to withhold services...
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... to elderly for monies provided by government. So, I
do hope no one has done that.
Mr. Dernis: And do so without prior notice.
Mayor Suarez: Please. We decided roughly a procedure, unless any
Commissioner has any objections. I think what makes sense is for the
Administration to investigate. The Vice Mayor, I know, has pledged to make a
personal visit, and this Commission is encouraged to do the same thing and
then, ultimately, we will decide. Whatever we do, the funds should not be
held in escrow, Mr. Manager, I think any longer than our next meeting on the
26th. So, hopefully, you can get back to us with some recommendation by then.
It may be that the City Attorney will tell you, as I have a feeling he will,
that our scope is very limited in this.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, remember that this money is...
Mayor Suarez: And in fact, he's saying zero.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... for July. We don't withhold any monies at all.
223 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: This is the new money. We cannot hold up the old money
because the people are being fed with the old money.
Mayor Suarez: OK. I didn't mean as to the old money at all, whatsoever.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, this is for...
Mayor Suarez: That's right. That the fiscal year on that is July, so...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Exactly.
Mayor Suarez: there's no problems, there's no particular time constraint. It
may be that the City Attorney will say that we can do absolutely nothing about
this.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Exactly. So we'll see.
Mayor Suarez: Maybe that. So don't think that we don't care, we just don't
have... We can't go behind...
Commissioner Plummer: Well...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, but we have to look into this situation.
Mayor Suarez: Yes. Absolutely.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Something very seriously...
Mayor Suarez: And we can refuse to fund. I mean, frankly,...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... has been mentioned here, and that we will investigate.
Mayor Suarez: We can refuse to fund.
they're going...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Oh yes.
I mean, if we don't like things the way
Mayor Suarez: ... and we think there's something, you know, hokey we can
refuse to fund.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah, we can give the funds to some other organizations,
and the elderly will receive the funds. So if we find things that are
irregular, or whatever happens... first, let's investigate, and let's not...
Mayor Suarez: All right. And I don't think that is need in the form of a
motion.
Mr. Dernis: You're welcome.
Mayor Suarez: I am glad you said "you're welcome" because we were going to do
it any event, whether we're welcome or not.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Please.
224 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: I don't think we need a motion on this.
_{ Vice Mayor Alonso: No.
! Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but let me tell you where I got a problem.
u
Ms. Hildred E. Tutein: Honor.
Commissioner Plummer: I got this problem with the so-called "self-
perpetuating board".
Ms. Tutein: That's right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: They are not...
Commissioner Plummer: I got a problem with that. You know, I don't mind it
if they're using private funds, but when they're using taxpayers' funds and
it's a closed shop, I got a problem with that.
Mr. Dernis: Mr. Commissioner, we will have... We are interested in serving
the community. If the City, and pursuant to its contract terms, or its
interest in giving us the money, wishes to discuss the arrangement of a board
to represent the community, if you feel the existing one does not, we are open
for any discussion and any negotiation of the issue.
Commissioner Plummer: That's fair enough because that's what it's going to
be.
Commissioner Dawkins: There is...
Ms. Tutein: Honorable Mayor,...
Commissioner Dawkins: There is no negotiations if...
Ms. Tutein: ... please recognize me for one second. I'm one of the elderly.
Mayor Suarez: Well if you have one second, you've already used it up.
Ms. Tutein: My name is Hildred E. Tutein. I'm sixty-seven years old. I'm
one of the senior citizens. I don't really know about the food situation, but
please tell whoever the powers may be that is acting up, do not try to
intimidate us. Because when a petition was going around, I am told that the
board is to know everything and we can't do that. No one is to intimidate me.
Or my civil rights. Because the elderly wants me to represent them and make
up a petition to ask for the reinstatement of our director. So, I'm just
saying that.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Ms. Tutein: A lot of them is here today.
Mayor Suarez: You don't need to tell us that, you're not going to be
intimidated, but we'll take notice of it.
225 March 12, 1992
Ms. Tutein: Thank you, sir.
Mayor Suarez: I guarantee you, you are not going to be intimidated. I can
tell just by looking at you, you're not going to be intimidated.
Mr. Tutein: No, can't.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: That's ridiculous.
Commissioner Dawkins: On the last item that we discussed, I mean I am
confused by everything that was said. Having been with the - for the lack of
a better word - northeast corridor, I have watched them. We encouraged them
to have meetings, encouraged them to set up the task force, and now we have
division in that - for the lack of a better word - group. How are we going to
determine what we are going to do, knowing the nature of them up there? We're
going to have them and those as long as they are up there, and I just... I'm
at a loss as to how we plan to come to a consensus on what's to be done up
there, because I know the same people you hear arguing on one side, will be
arguing there until they die, and the other side will be arguing on that side.
So somewhere we're going to have to go back to the Bob Grill's group and the
other group and sit down with everybody, and say to them, hey look, you
started out for the betterment of the northeast area, you have accomplished
this and I don't understand why you want to split, and see if we can't get
them to collectively come back down here to tell us what the problem is
because if... We may even have to have a referendum up there. Because if
certain people in the area do not want to be classified disadvantaged and do
not want to accept disadvantaged funds, I think it's an injustice to them to
force them to accept the disadvantaged funds, per se, as being given to the
Chamber. So I think the Manager or somebody needs to come back and tell me
how you plan to determine who is going to determine what we do up there.
Mayor Suarez: All right folks, you may all have a seat. We're not deciding
anything on this today except that we're going to investigate and we're going
to delve into this.
Mr. Morales: Thank you very much.
Mayor Suarez: All right, Bill.
Ms. Tutein: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: It's time to vote. Now, I was corrected on the issue of the
northeast and Biscayne Boulevard Association, etcetera. No funds from this
fiscal year, from this grant year, are going to be spent in any event until
July, so if the Commission feels that we should delve into your allegations
and do the evaluation that was suggested before, as I think we're going to
decide,... OK.
226 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Aionso: Give them a minute to leave.
Mayor Suarez: Outside for the celebrations, consternations, congregations,
etcetera. Then we'll proceed with that and try to get some feedback. By the
way, on that issue, too, and I know Commissioner Dawkins was just referring to
that, the first year we get a complaint about a CBO not being particularly
attuned to the community, we get a little bit more curious about its
functioning, and a little bit more critical of its accomplishments, and
sometimes you don't stop the funding the first year, but you might the second
year. So, they might have to shape up,...
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, they have a tendency to be self-serving.
Mayor Suarez: ... assuming all of that happens, as I'm sort of hinting that
it might. I don't know. In any event, the Manager is expected to report back
on their allegations to any improprieties, illegalities, as to any board
members, any self -dealing, any of that, and also the effectiveness. The
effectiveness of that CBO before that funding is allocated, assuming we
approve it today. Commissioners...
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but like Commissioner Dawkins said, if they can't
get their act together and get united, then maybe it's up to us to dismiss
both and start a new one.
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely. All right.
227 March 12, 1992
(Label 46E-Amended)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
46. (Continued Discussion) AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO SUBMIT APPROVED GRANT
PROGRAM FINAL STATEMENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT (HUD) REQUESTING $13,156,000 FOR THE CITY'S PROPOSED 1992-93
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM -- AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO EXECUTE NECESSARY
AGREEMENTS. (See label 44) [Note: The herein Resolution was amended by
the following Motions.]
(A) INSTRUCT MANAGER TO ALLOCATE $103,461 TO THE NEW LIFE FAMILY CENTER (A
CITY HOMELESS SHELTER PROGRAM), FUNDS TO COME FROM INTEREST TO BE EARNED
FROM TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES.
(8) INSTRUCT MANAGER TO MODIFY RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY CITYWIDE COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD CONCERNING PROPOSED ALLOCATION OF THE
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM (1992-93) BY TAKING
$15,880 EARMARKED FOR THE CITY HOMELESS PROJECT (PS-43) AND TRANSFERRING
SAID AMOUNT TO THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE USEFUL AGED PROJECT (PS-5).
(C) INSTRUCT MANAGER TO ALLOCATE $49,800 FROM BALANCE OF INTEREST EARNED ON
TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES TO THE LITTLE HAVANA ACTIVITIES CENTER FOR
MATCHING FUNDS NEEDED TO OBTAIN A STATE GRANT FOR MEDICAL SERVICES --
PROVIDE THAT CITY BE REIMBURSED WHEN GRANT MONIES ARE RECEIVED.
(D) APPROVE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY CITYWIDE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY
BOARD CONCERNING THE PUBLIC SERVICE PROJECTS PORTION OF THE CITY'S
PROPOSED CDBG PROGRAM (1992-93).
(E) INSTRUCT MANAGER TO: (1) TAKE $1,000,000 FROM TOTAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
HOUSING PROJECTS AND AWARD SAME TO MIAMI-DADE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, SUBJECT
TO METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY MATCHING FUNDS ON A ONE-TO-ONE BASIS; (2)
TAKE $400,000 PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED TO DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY /
OVERTOWN PARK WEST PROJECTS PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS TO BE ALLOCATED AS
FOLLOWS: (a) $50,000 FOR LATIN QUARTER ASSOCIATION, (b) $50,000 FOR
OVERTOWN ADVISORY BOARD, (c) $100,000 FOR WYNWOOD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS, AND (d) $200,000 FOR LITTLE HAITI ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS; (3) REDUCE CODE ENFORCEMENT BUDGET BY $175,000; AND (4)
DECREASE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT'S ADMINISTRATIVE BUDGET BY
$220,000.
Mr. Bret Clark: Excuse me.
Mayor Suarez: But one board is not receiving money. We understand that,
obviously.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Just one.
Ms. Jennifer Clark: You missed one thing. I think a big point has been
overlooked by this Commission, if I may. The boundaries for our areas were
changed in 1987. No one in our community nor on the west side of the
boulevard was notified of this. We are not a target area.
Mr. Castaneda: No, you are not.
Ms. Clark: And you have done no economic studies...
Mayor Suarez: I said before, I did refer to that...
228 March 12, 1992
Ms. Clark: ...no marketing studies, nothing.
Mayor Suarez: Wait, wait. I did allude to that. I said that I think you
would be under all of the Federal standards, properly a target area. I said
that, I think so, demographically. If you don't think so, start giving that
information to him, to Mr. Castaneda, and he has to report back to us. That
will be part of our analysis, yes.
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioners...
Mayor Suarez: Whether it was done in 187 or 185 or 1887 or any other time, we
have to make sure that if the receiving CD funds, they have to be a target
area, and so we will check that. I don't see why you get the impression that
we are not going to check anything.
Mr. Tom Post: She just thought maybe you were overlooking it, I think.
Mayor Suarez: Well, we try to look at everything. Sometimes we overlook
somethings. Wow! All right.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, are we ready?
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Plummer, the rest of us, I think, are ready to
vote almost. But it sounds like you have this list of questions. That
worries me, but go ahead.
Commissioner Plummer: Sure do. I want to know, Frank, why this Commission is
giving DDA (Downtown Development Authority) a half a million dollars when they
have their own taxing authority?
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioner, can I take you through this a little bit?
Commissioner Dawkins: No. No. Nol
Mayor Suarez: No. No. Nol No way!
Vice Mayor Alonso: Just answer the questions.
Mr. Castaneda: I was trying to answer the question.
Commissioner Dawkins: Just answer his question. That's all.
Mayor Suarez: That was really dangerous. He asked one question and then all
of a sudden you thought that the whole world was open.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He got carried away.
Mr. Castaneda: We are not recommending any...
Mayor Suarez: They opened the door and you were coming in there, getting all
of that staff that's back there to support you and everything. No way! Just
answer his question. It is a very simple question!
229 March 12, 1992
M
d
Mr. Castaneda: We are not recommending any money for DDA, however, the
advisory board is.
Commissioner Plummer: OK, fine. Advisory board, why are they recommending
funding for DDA other than the fact that Tom Post is a member of the DDA?
Mr. Castaneda: That is a good reason.
Mayor Suarez: That's one reason.
Commissioner Plummer: They have their own source of funding. They are
allocated here to get $300,000 for incentives and $200,000 for Overtown/Park
West improvements. They have their one and a half percent. They draw a
million and a half dollars.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, half a percent.
Commissioner Plummer: Half a percent. I'm sorry. But it draws a million and
a half dollars. They did not want to give us money for the homeless. They
wanted to argue about the seventy-five thousand, demanding that it be a loan?
Why does DDA, and how does DDA declare as a blighted area kind of a concept?
I want to know what reasoning the advisory board used to decide to give a half
a million dollars to DDA.
Mayor Suarez: I see the reference here to one of the items you referred to,
which is DDA Economic Development Incentive Fund. I'm myself, as chairman of
the DDA, I'm curious about what that is, but Frank, do you understand what the
other funds are that he is referring to? I only see that one.
Mr. Castaneda: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: What are the other ones?
Mr. Castaneda: In effect the board approved 1.8 million dollars for downtown.
Mayor Suarez: Where are the other ones here, please, if you can answer. I
see one on page 3. Where are the other ones?
Mr. Castaneda: On page 3, there are three of them. You have DDA, Flagler
Street improvements, $20,000, DDA, Overtown/Park West improvements, $200,000,
DDA, Park West, Linear Park, another $200,000. Then on the second...
Mayor Suarez: Those are requests or those are recommend grants by the CD
board?
Commissioner Plummer: That's recommended by the board, the CD board.
Mr. Castaneda: That is recommended by the board.
Mayor Suarez: Overtown/Park West sounds to me like Overtown/Park West.
Commissioner Plummer: But don't give it to DDA.
230 March 12, 1992
Mr. Castaneda: And then you have $300,000 for the incentive fund and the
million dollars for...
Commissioner Plummer: I'll go along with the 20,000 for the Flagler Street
because that is the merchants. I'll give the money to the merchants, but I am
not going to give it to that damn bureautic [sic], highfalutin, high rent
district up there of another $700,000. It's ridiculous.
Mr. Tom Post: Commissioner Plummer, the reason that is in there was because
the DDA staff was asked to come up with some improvements for the Overtown
area, particularly...
Commissioner Plummer: That is what we have Herb Bailey for.
Mr. Post: Fine.
Commissioner Plummer: Where is Herb Bailey?
Mr. Post: Mr. Bailey, I...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Right here.
Commissioner Plummer: Why are they doing your job? Then we don't need you.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That is why he doesn't want them to get the money.
Commissioner Dawkins: While Herb is coming to the mike, I'd like to know what
are they going to do in Overtown/Park West for a quarter of a million dollars?
Mr. Post: There is a...
Commissioner Plummer: If they do like everything else, they will waste the
money.
Mr. Post: The DDA man is here. He can help explain as well, but I will tell
you what was reported.
Commissioner Dawkins: The DDA, who?
Mr. Post: A representative from the DDA.
Mr. Herb Bailey: What is the problem?
Mr. Post: Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: No, the question is, Herb, they are saying here that
they are going to give DDA $200,000 for Overtown/Park West improvements.
Commissioner Dawkins: $250,000, J.L.
Mr. Bailey: You mean they recommended it. We did not...
Commissioner Plummer: No, the board did.
231 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: No, the board gave it to them.
Mr. Bailey: The board recommended. The staff did not recommend that and for
a variety of reasons.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, staff did, Mr...
Mr. Bailey: No, we did not.
Mayor Suarez: Which are the items? That's why I wanted to go one by one,
folks.
Commissioner Dawkins: The bottom of page 2, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Bailey: We did not recommend it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, it is. They got it down here, Mr. Bailey.
Mr. Castaneda: No, you didn't, no.
Mr. Bailey: The board recommended. We would not recommend it.
Commissioner Dawkins: You all have amount requested, two fifty. Initial
staff, two fifty. Board recommendation, two fifty. Final staff
recommendation, two fifty, Mr. Bailey.
Commissioner Plummer: No, no.
Mr. Bailey: No, you are on the wrong page. It's on page three.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me tell you something. I will not vote to give a
dime to DDA from this money.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, but what is this on page two?
Mr. Post: Mr. Mayor and Commissioners, can I just respond to you and tell you
what it was for?
Mayor Suarez: Wait, wait, we are trying to get clarification of certain
things. I tried to do this and I was interrupted by my colleagues. Why is it
so difficult, folks? The one item that I have found, so far, is the one that
refers to $300,000 for something called DDA Economic Development Incentives
Fund.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Incentive fund is page two, but page three...
Mayor Suarez: That is one that we want to know about.
Commissioner Plummer: OK, right.
Commissioner Dawkins: That is what I'm saying.
Mayor Suarez: By whomever, whoever is recommending it. Commissioner Dawkins
is asking about one. I don't know if he has that resolved.
232 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Page three.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Page three at the top.
Mr. Odio: We did not recommend that.
Mayor Suarez: Now we got page three at the top.
Vice Mayor Alonso: The landscape of Flagler Street is OK, I think.
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. That's the merchants, but don't give the
money to DDA (Downtown Development Authority).
Mr. Post: I am happy to respond, and there is a representative here from the
staff of the DDA that's going to assist also.
Commissioner Plummer: Where is the director of DDA, that high priced
individual, that sits up there in the two hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollar a year rent?
Commissioner Dawkins: You put him up there. I don't know why you're
complaining.
Commissioner Plummer: No, I didn't put him up there.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, you did.
Mayor Suarez: DDA Overtown Park West Improvements. All right.
Commissioner Plummer: Is there any.... No, excuse me. The director...
Mr. Post. I am ready to respond if you're willing to listen to the response.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Please.
Mr. Post: OK. Number one, the twenty thousand dollars with Flagler Street,
we were asked to do that from the merchants...
Mayor Suarez: Don't worry about that. We're going to solve that.
Mr. Post: ...no problem. OK. The two hundred thousand dollar, Overtown Park
West. There is an abandoned municipal railroad right-of-way that runs through
Park West in Overtown. It used to run to the Port of Miami through the
Bicentennial Park. It has become a huge eyesore. It has become a place where
tremendous trash builds up. It is a dangerous crossing at the intersection of
Eleventh Street and N.W. First Avenue and it goes into the Overtown area and
crosses N.W. 2nd Avenue at approximately Thirteen Street. The DDA, because it
happens to be in Park West, and Overtown, put staff together came up with the
drawings, presented the program to enhance that area.
Commissioner Plummer: Let Public Works do it.
233 March 12, 1992
Mr. Post: Well, that's fine. I don't care who does it J.L. That's not the
point. They have the staff. They were using their staff. They've been asked
to do some things in Overtown and this was one of the things that was put
forward.
Commissioner Dawkins: Who owns the property, who owns the property on either
side of this railroad track?
Mr. Post: Florida East Coast Railroad. No. The City of Miami owns the
property.
Commissioner Dawkins: The City. It's all our property? Don't nobody else
owns any of it?
Mr. Bailey: No that's not correct.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute, Mr. Bailey.
Mr. Post: On the municipal railroad right-of-way the City of Miami owns all
the property.
Commissioner Dawkins: All the property on both sides of the railroad track.
Mr. Post: For, the right-of-way I believe is about fifty to sixty feet.
Commissioner Dawkins: I don't want to know about the right. Who owns the
property on both sides of the railroad track.
Mr. Post: The City of Miami.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Because the property on both sides of the railroad
track will be enhanced. The property value is going to go up if you remove
the railroad tracks.
Mr. Post: That's the same as if you put a new road in Allapattah, or if you
put a new road in Morningside, or if you put a new road or improve...
Commissioner Dawkins: But there are a lot of more things that need improving
in Overtown than a railroad. OK? That's all I'm saying.
Mayor Suarez: Emory, and folks and everybody, we've got to do this thing in a
little bit more dignified manner. Now...
Mr. Post: They came down and they presented...
Mayor Suarez: There's two hundred thousand dollars recommended. How would it
be used, Tom?
Mr. Post: The staff had a budget. Every organization...
Mayor Suarez: The staff of which?
Mr. Post: ...of the DDA submitted in one of those piles, Mr. Castaneda has
it. Every organization when they submit a request, has to fill out...
j 234 March 12, 1992
:
Mayor Suarez: The DDA is an agency of the City. It's a different thing. All
right.
Mr. Post: No, sir. Your Honor, please, let me respond. Every agency.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So now as Chairman of DDA, and Mayor of the City, I
can't characterize the DDA as an agency of the City because you don't want me
to...
Mr. Post: No, no, sir.
Mayor Dawkins: ...characterize it that way. It's not a very wise approach to
take with me, but...
Commissioner Dawkins: That's right, because I am going to vote with the
Mayor.
Mr. Post: No, sir. Your Honor, all I am...
Commissioner Plummer: I still don't understand how DDA has the gall to ask
for monies from this Community Development.
Mayor Suarez: The DDA is not so far, from what I can tell, asking for any
money to do anything except what it thinks, and what the CD Board apparently
agreed, is something worth doing. Whether DDA will presumably put all the
staff, all the planning and so on, whether it is a good idea...
Mr. Post: Correct.
Commissioner Plummer: And then, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: ...is something that we have yet to figure out, but don't let
it sound like somebody else is taking your money to do something for someone
other than us.
Commissioner Plummer: And then next year, I am going to have to hear the
great work of what DDA did.
Mayor Suarez: Let me tell you, as Chairman of DDA, I didn't know about this
- particular request. I am not sure I want those two hundred thousand dollars
because I have to answer to you guys...
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, those two hundred thousand dollars, we can
reallocate. Go ahead to the next one.
Mayor Suarez: At the end of the year, I am going to have to answer to you
guys as to what we're going to do with these two hundred thousand dollars, but
-Al
I'm trying to get a simple answer. Does anyone know how this two hundred
H thousand dollars will be spent?
Mr. Post: Yes, sir. They did a detailed report to Mr. Castaneda. Plans were
presented to the Board, and they have the program for spending the money in
the area of improving.
235 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: That doesn't really answer anything.
Commissioner Dawkins: Not yet.
Mr. Post: Mr. Chairman, now look, I am not here on behalf of the DDA.
Mayor Suarez: I know. You are here on the CD Board, yes.
Mr. Post: I am here on behalf of the Board. You asked a question about that.
There is a gentleman here from the DDA.
Mayor Suarez: Do we know, Herb, does it make sense in the context of Overtown
Park West to spend this money and if so, where should it come from? I mean
that's a logical question.
Mr. Bailey: That does not make any, well I won't say it doesn't make sense...
Mayor Suarez: It's not a high priority?
Mr. Bailey: ...but it's not necessary, it doesn't necessarily... it's not
necessary. We have all the money we need to do Overtown Park West, Mr.
Mayor, and it doesn't have to come from this.
Mayor Suarez: All right. As far as I am concerned, and I am chairman of DDA,
so I can certainly make that recommendation and I know the CD Board might be a
little bit upset with that, but I think they are not, according to Freddie
back there. To have peace in the family here we ought to take that two
hundred thousand dollars out for the moment...
Commissioner Plummer: Which two hundred?
Mayor Suarez: ...that doesn't mean we are going to allocate it now, folks.
We're just going to...
Commissioner Dawkins: Take it out. That's all. Keep it in reserve.
Commissioner Plummer: No, no, which two hundred?
Commissioner Dawkins: J.L. got two hundred.
Mayor Suarez: ...take it out. All right. The two hundred thousand listed
here on page three. I'll go through what it says and then hopefully everybody
sees the same page.
Commissioner Plummer: Are we speaking of the improvements?
Mayor Suarez: It says: "DD Overtown Park West improvements..."
Commissioner Plummer: That's coming out.
Mayor Suarez: "...and it is two hundred thousand dollars the CD Board
recommends, two hundred thousand were requested, initial staff recommended
zero." Madam City Clerk, now you are the one making all the noise.
236 March 12, 1992
Ms. Hirai: I am sorry, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. And let's see, final staff was zero and initial
staff was zero. That's the column I am talking about. Now, we got a three
hundred thousand dollar item.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute, what about the one right underneath of
it? The Linear Park.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Which is that?
Commissioner Plummer: The Linear Park.
Mayor Suarez: DDA Park West Linear Park.
Mr. Post: That is the Municipal Railroad right-of-way running from Biscayne
Boulevard.
Commissioner Dawkins: But that's what you just told me about the other one.
Mr. Post: No, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, you did.
Mayor Suarez: Wait, wait a minute. Let him answer.
Mr. Post: The first two hundred thousand went to Overtown Park West as a
park, I am sorry, primarily the Overtown Park of the railroad right-of-way...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, see, you did not say primarily, you said all
the way, now you coming back. OK.
Mr. Post: Fine. Fine. The other two hundred thousand is the Park West park.
It's very...
Commissioner Plummer: Leave them both.
Mr. Post: I would encourage you to drive down there through the old municipal
railroad right-of-way, to understand it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Hold it, hold it. I will not let you do that to me. I
live among them and I am over there every day. I don't have to drive through
there at all...
Mr. Post: No, no.
Commissioner Dawkins: ...You may have to drive through there coming and going
to work and back home, but I don't. OK. All right.
Mr. Post: No, this is the - Commissioner...
E
Commissioner Plummer: Can we get to the... Now, that's four hundred thousand
we have saved. The three hundred thousand, let's get to that one.
237 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Let's find out.
Commissioner Plummer: Who's here from DDA? Well, sir, will you come up here.
You're the one, I mean.
Mr. Joe Tyborowski: I'm the one who is going to get yelled at.
Commissioner Plummer: What capacity do you work down there?
Mr. Tyborowski: Urban Development Planning Coordinator.
Commissioner Plummer: And what happened to the Director?
Mr. Tyborowski: He couldn't make it tonight, he had a previous engagement.
Commissioner Plummer: He couldn't make it?
Mr. Tyborowski: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: Is he out spending his hundred thousand dollars?
Mr. Tyborowski: I don't know, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, what is, what is this Incentive Fund?
Mr. Tyborowski: This fund came up, the idea of attracting business downtown,
similar to what happened with MCI, looking to attract businesses...
Mayor Suarez: But this is not related to the MCI deal that this Commission
approved. This is a fund to be created for attracting...
Mr. Tyborowski: Exactly. For doing the same thing that you, the Commission,
did in relation to MCI. I am just explaining.
Commissioner Plummer: Can we scratch that one?
Mayor Suarez: I would be inclined to take the full seven hundred thousand
dollars and set it aside for the moment.
Commissioner Dawkins: I agree.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We are determined to get to one million.
Mayor Suarez: I think that the...
Commissioner Plummer: We are getting there.
Commissioner Dawkins: Oh, we're up to seven hundred thousand? Where's the
other three hundred thousand coming from?
Commissioner Plummer: Just hold, hold tight.
238 March 12, 1992
0 0
Mayor Suarez: I think that we're going to need the executive director.
Somebody sold all of this to the CD Advisory Board very well.
Vice Mayor Alonso: If we do, it will be seven hundred million. We are three
hundred thousand dollars short. We're almost there.
Commissioner Plummer: Hey, this is a magic show.
Mayor Suarez: But, folks, I think in fairness we should just set that money
aside and leave it there for the moment until we get more clarification on
this. Because, otherwise, God knows what, God knows what...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Chairman, they're going to kill you at the next
committee meeting of the DDA, so don't make it.
Mayor Suarez: ...Yes, then I am going to suggest that we have a new chairman
of the DDA and I have an idea of who would be the ideal one.
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, Miriam.
Vice Mayor Alonso: What gives you the idea?
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a second, where the seven hundred thousand comes
from?
Commissioner Plummer: Three here, two here and two here.
Mayor Suarez: It's seven hundred thousand dollars. Very simple.
Commissioner Dawkins: Where, where?
Commissioner Plummer: Three here, and two and two. Mr. Castaneda. Castaneda.
Mayor Suarez: Castaneda.
Commissioner Plummer: "GRANDE BOTELLA."
Mayor Suarez: Come at least close.
Commissioner Dawkins: He is a Southerner. He can't say it like that.
Mr. Castaneda: But a famous one, lately.
Mayor Suarez: You don't have to pronounce the "enya." At least you say
Castaneda. Castaneda, or something like that.
Commissioner Dawkins: Or anything close to it.
Mayor Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Plummer: It is better than, "Hey, you!"
Commissioner Dawkins: If you can say "Miama" instead of Miami, you can say
anything else you want to say.
239 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Sir...
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: ...as you know, for the twenty-two years that I have
sat here, my priorities in the social programs are feed the hungry and take
care of the sick.
Mr. Castaneda: Yes, Commissioner.
Commissioner Plummer: Tell me either category that you're doing in Little
Haiti.
Mr. Castaneda: We are funding the Asian American...
Commissioner Plummer: Do they feed?
Mr. Castaneda. Yes, they do.
Commissioner Plummer: How many do they feed? Do they take care of the sick?
Mr. Castaneda: They feed. It's a food voucher program.
Commissioner Plummer: Food voucher. For how many people? Basically what I
am looking at, Frank, in the interest of fairness, you are funding, from what
I can see, only a total, depending on which category you go, OK? But if you
go with the staff of fifty thousand dollars out of all of this money that's
going to Haiti.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Which is incredible.
Mr. Castaneda: I know that, I know that's what the Haitian group.
Commissioner Plummer: There's just, there's no equity here at all in my
estimation.
Mr. Castaneda: Nine hundred and sixty persons.
Commissioner Plummer: Nine hundred and sixty persons for fifty thousand
dollars? They are not eating a whole hell of a lot.
Mr. Castaneda: A fifty dollar voucher.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I cannot understand how the Haitian community has received
so little money. I already called you...
Mr. Castaneda: I understand.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...and told you this, Frank. It does not make any sense,
it does not.
Mr. Castaneda: Let me tell you what we did. Let me explain what we did.
Just to correct the impression. There are two programs that serve the Haitian
240 March 12, 1992
community here. One is the Haitian American Association of Dade County which
is PS 20.
Commissioner Dawkins: PS 20?
Mr. Castaneda: Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: What page is that on?
Mr. Castaneda: That's on page, on the last page. On page 5.
Commissioner Plummer: It has no page.
Mr. Castaneda: But it's page 5. And then the other program is the Notre Dame
Dade Care which is PS 9 which is a day care center operated by the Catholic
community services in Little Haiti. Those are the only two programs.
Basically what we did, Commissioners, was we maintained all the programs at
the same level as last year. These are the same programs we have funded and
we threw the amount due to the increase and the program that did not request
refunding in the amount of twenty $25,000 into the City of Miami Homeless
project and that created that fund at the level of $111,880. You know you're
right, you know Haitian programs are underfunded in relation to other
programs. The reason for that is that, as you know, in community development,
programs get funded year after year and it's very difficult, you know, to
defund, especially the meals program that we are funding. So the Haitian
programs that have been funded, the same is true of the homeless has been with
the increase in funding that we've been able to obtain from the federal
government and you know how little incoming that has been in the last few
years.
Commissioner Dawkins: How much, what's the total amount for feeding?
Mr. Castaneda: In general, or...
Commissioner Dawkins: For the Haitian community.
Mr. Castaneda: For the Haitian community, the amount is forty-nine thousand
six ninety-six.
_ Commissioner Dawkins: Forty-nine thousand divided by twelve - Four times
twelve is forty-eight. That's four thousand dollars a month. Is that right?
And that's a thousand dollars a week. You all buying a hell of a lot of food
in Haiti for a thousand dollars a week.
Mr. Ringo Cayard: May I say something?
Commissioner Dawkins: You know, and by the same token I asked you this
morning, see this went right by you when I keep telling you...
Mr. Cayard: It's not a correct figure.
Commissioner Dawkins: ...about what we do to the Haitian community. Now this
morning you spent all of five hundred dollars a week in the Haitian community
on unemployment, twenty-six thousand dollars a year, and now you coming back
241 March 12, 1992
spending four thousand dollars to feed - how many people they say they're
feeding, J.L.?
Commissioner Plummer: I'm sorry.
Mr. Odio: Nine sixty.
Commissioner Dawkins: They are paying nine sixty...
Commissioner Plummer: It is a voucher program.
Mr. Cayard: It is less.
Commissioner Dawkins: They're spending... a thousand people a week for a
dollar a month, I mean a week. They're spending all of a dollar to feed a
person. Now come on. No, no, no, no. I think he closed public discussion.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, it's closed.
Commissioner Plummer: I just don't understand this. I really don't.
Commissioner Dawkins: You see, Frank, the only thing, Frank, what makes this
bad is we got staff who sit down and supposed to have this together when you
get it here. We should not have to sit up here and go through an exercise
like this with you. You guys should have spelled all this out and looked at
this yourself. You should have seen that five hundred dollars a week in the
Haitian community, fighting unemployment, job training, will not work. You
also should have seen that you can't feed people for a dollar a day. But you
guys, you got people over there, all they do is look at something and say,
well, if the Federal reqs. (requisitions) say, and I am a grants writer, so
therefore, I am going to put this in the word processor and the higher it
comes out, I'll give it to them.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me ask this question. You stand up here and
you brag about...
Mayor Suarez: Yes, ask questions, please, Commissioners, that are geared at
making determinations today, rather than the general issue.
Commissioner Dawkins: No more philosophizing. Let's vote.
Vice Mayor Alonso: But, Mr. Mayor, one of the things is that the Haitian
community should receive a portion of this money.
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely, absolutely. And we're going to have to send the
staff back, hopefully with more money.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That is what is fair. And divide it and assign to them a
certain amount. It seems to me that giving to them the amount of money that
was provided from thirteen million, it's ridiculous. The Haitian community
has tremendous needs.
Mayor Suarez: And for that matter, there are some missing chunks. We're
talking about the Wynwood community too. I mean, I don't see a heck of a lot.
242 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: That's right, that's right.
Commissioner Plummer: But, Mr. Mayor, look. The staff, and I guess
rightfully so, they turn to the fact that the Haitian community, Notre Dame
Day Care Center, eighteen thousand dollars. Yet you go...
i
! Vice Mayor Alonso: And not only that, they need a new day care center.
i
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute, I've got to correct that. Wait a
minute, J.L.
Commissioner Plummer: ...You go to Holy Cross Day Care Center, and I don't
know what the difference is eighty-nine Thousand Dollars. There's just,
there's just no comparison.
Commissioner Dawkins: But let me correct something. J.L., let me correct one
— thing. It was not the Haitian community for the five hundred dollars a week.
_ It's Wynwood, where they're going to spend the five hundred dollars a week to
fight...
Commissioner Plummer: The Haitian community is going to spend it in Wynwood?
Commissioner Dawkins: No, they didn't get anything. They didn't say anything
this morning about unemployment in Little Haiti.
Mr. Castaneda: You're right, Commissioner.
Commissioner Dawkins: Nineteen here is the approach meant for the Wynwood
area is fifty-two thousand dollars for the purpose of fighting unemployment,
twenty-six thousand dollars was supposed to be for the director. And he paid
the director twenty-six. Simple math, twenty-six from fifty-two leaves
twenty-six. Therefore we got twenty - oh, I like that, City Manager, we've
got - look at him. And that leaves twenty-six thousand dollars to spend,
which comes out to about five hundred dollars a week. And that's in Wynwood.
I am sorry, I want the records corrected please.
Mayor Suarez: All right. My idea on this is that we send the staff back as
to both areas, actually, and there may be some others. I can think of at
least one program that was mentioned in Little Havana that may be worth
looking at again. And come back with recommendations.
Commissioner Plummer: Which one, which one, Mr. Mayor? Because there's one
in Little Havana that I think needs to be looked at again, too.
Mayor Suarez: Let me speak generally, rather than being which one, because
that might lead staff to think that we're going to vote. Better yet, that
they're going to have some more economic development monies, perhaps as much
as seven hundred thousand additionally. They should come back with
recommendations. In the meantime, folks, if we could stick to the rest of the
package so we can decide today and any other questions you have on that,
please.
243 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, may 1 suggest that we take the social
services program separately from the other parts of the program?
Mayor Suarez: That is fine. We can do that. We have always noted
separately. OK. On the social services package. Does anybody have any
questions, or is anyone going to, ready to make a motion?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, I would like to see a certain amount assigned
to the Haitian community like we say two hundred thousand, three hundred
thousand, something...
Mayor Suarez: From the economic development...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Something that makes sense.
Mayor Suarez: I think so. But I don't see the ability...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Because I don't see that there's equity in the way that
this money has been divided.
Mayor Suarez: If we take the seven hundred thousand dollars...
Vice Mayor Alonso: They need day care.
Mayor Suarez: ...that, even assuming that we took the whole amount of seven
hundred thousand that was otherwise earmarked for projects that DDA was going
to promote, all of that, I think, is from the economic development side, isn't
it? None of it was social programs?
Vice Mayor Alonso: But remember, also, we have housing, and we need at least
one million in the City of Miami.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, right. But what I am saying is that we've used up the
entire fifteen percent that the federal government allows us with the items
that so far.
Commissioner Plummer: That is on social.
Mayor Suarez: Right, on social programs.
Mr. Emilio Lopez: Mr. Mayor.
Commissioner Dawkins: So which one are we on?
Mayor Suarez: On social programs, we are only allowed up to fifteen percent
of the total amount. Commissioner Plummer suggests that we vote on that
separately. I think he is right.
Commissioner Dawkins: What page is social programs?
Commissioner Plummer: The last.
Mr. Castaneda: It's the fifth page.
244 March 12, 1992
t
Mayor Suarez: I don't know if there's much we can do there other than accept
the recommendations.
Commissioner Dawkins: Hold 1t, hold it, hold it.
Commissioner Plummer: I am not finished.
Commissioner Dawkins: Take one hundred eleven thousand and eighty dollars
from PS 43 and move it up to PS 12, which means that PS 43 is zero and PS 12
becomes one hundred and eleven and eighty dollars.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So PS 43...
Commissioner Dawkins: Zero.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...goes to PS 12.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, ma'am.
Mayor Suarez: If we take this recommendation, it's only fifty thousand.
Commissioner Dawkins: But all right. OK. The Mayor is right. So go back to
the seven hundred thousand we just had and take out one hundred and eleven
thousand dollars.
Mayor Suarez: Unfortunately we can't use that. But let's at least, let's at
least do the fifteen there.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no, no. Let's do a thousand and you all find
it. Let's do the hundred and eleven thousand and get somebody to find it.
Mayor Suarez: Well, but let's make the allocation of fifteen -eight- eighty,
at leas, so that we have that in there, and you can give instructions on the
other eighty-four thousand one hundred and twenty.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no, hold it, hold it. OK, Mr. Mayor, I'll make
a motion that PS 12, which is zero, be funded at one hundred and eleven and
eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So moved.
Commissioner Dawkins: That's my motion.
Mayor Suarez: We don't have, we don't have at this point identified where the
funding is going to come from, but we're going to leave it to your creative
minds to figure that out and get back to us. In the meantime, I don't think
anybody has any disagreement with the motion, in principle.
Commissioner Plummer: No well, Mr. Mayor, I fight like a tiger for that
organization, but I have to be reasonable and ask why are we giving them more
than they asked for? They asked for one hundred and three.
Mayor Suarez: We are not giving them anything. We don't have it. We're just
making the motion.
245 March 12, 1992
e t
Commissioner Plummer: Are you not making the motion to put it in PS 12, Mr.
Dawkins?
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, I am.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's what he is saying.
Mayor Suarez: He didn't say where it is going to come from, so it's a motion,
it's just a motion of intent. Why don't you, instead, make the motion of
taking the full fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty?
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no.
Vice Mayor Alonso: He said it was coming from PS 43.
Commissioner Plummer: I still ask the question, out of reasonableness, why
are you giving them more?
Commissioner Dawkins: J.L. Plummer, I will move that we give them what they
ask for, one hundred and three thousand four hundred and sixty-one dollars, if
you will second it.
Commissioner Plummer: You got it, Toyota.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right, then.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded.
Commissioner Plummer: Now, what are you doing with the balance?
Commissioner Dawkins: The balance goes in the other kitty with the rest of
it. We hold it.
Commissioner Plummer: I would like to consider...
Mayor Suarez: The balance of what?
Mr. Castaneda: Of one hundred and eleven eight -eighty.
Commissioner Dawkins: From one hundred and three from one hundred and eleven
leaves eight thousand. J.L. wants eight thousand dollars.
Vice Mayor Alonso: The balance of this amount. Mr. Mayor.
Commissioner Plummer: I would like to consider the additional.
Mayor Suarez: You can't, if folks, unless you are going to now start going
with the staff recommendations instead of CD Board's recommendations...
Commissioner Plummer: Not necessarily.
Mayor Suarez: ...you can't take money that you're not going to allocate if
you pass the whole package and change columns with it.
246 March 12, 1992
0 0
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, I think that what they saying in principle they
are...
y' Mr. Lopez: You have to take it from another place.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...but they are going to make minor changes. That's
intent.
Commissioner Dawkins: You don't work here.
Mayor Suarez: But where you're going to find the one hundred and three
dollars et cetera?
Commissioner Plummer: Right down here at the bottom line.
Vice Mayor Alonso: For this one.
Commissioner Plummer: And I would like to consider Mr. Dawkins...
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, sir
Commissioner Plummer: ...that the additional balance go to the Association
for the Useful Aged. They do a very fine job.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: So you're basing your calculation of that balance on a staff
recommendation not on the CD Board's recommendation.
Commissioner Plummer: That is correct, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Right. Then you are going to have to make all your
modifications from the staff. You can't do it both ways. You're going to
create an accounting nightmare.
Commissioner Plummer: No, let them figure it out. That's what I pay them
for.
Commissioner Dawkins: I second the friendly undertaker's motion.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I second.
Mr. Post: But by doing that you cut the Haitian American Civic Association
seventy-six thousand dollars...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Why?
Commissioner Dawkins: ...No, we don't know what we're going to cut.
Commissioner Plummer: He's right.
Mr. Post: ...You know it took me a couple of years to figure out what was
going on. Look at Line PS 22. Under the staff recommendations there was no
247 March 12, 1992
EV
recommendation whatsoever, zero dollars. The board recommended seventy-six
thousand. Commissioners, what you need to understand is, there is only
fifteen percent of the money that can be spent on public service projects
which totals one million nine hundred seventy-three thousand two hundred and
fifty dollars. You can cut it up anyway you want, but you can't get more than
one million nine hundred seventy-three thousand two hundred dollars. What the
board did was we recognized that staff, we did not think it properly funded
the Haitian community, and we attempted to spend the vast majority of the
homeless money in the Haitian community, which is why there are seventy-six
there. So I warn you, please be careful what you're doing because on one hand
you're giving to the Haitian community, on the one hand you're cutting them
off on the other.
Commissioner Dawkins: Who said that the Haitian community only needed help in
housing? And homelessness?
Mr. Post: In housing. Fine. You can spend...
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no, no. Who made the wise decision that the
Haitian people only needed help in...
Vice Mayor Alonso: They need day care, they need housing, they need jobs.
They need everything.
Mr. Emilio Lopez: May I, Commissioner, you know, we went through more or less
the same thing that you are going through when we did this thing over here.
One of the things that came out is, the biggest problem we had, like the staff
told us, you had one million nine hundred nine seventy-three to work with.
The Haitian community being one of the last communities who came into this
area, allow me, Mr. Commissioner...
Commissioner Dawkins: Uh-huh. I'm waiting until you finish. If you don't
want me to wait, I'll go ahead.
Mr. Lopez: ...so what happened was they were not funded, according to the
staff they were not funded at any level. That seventy-six thousand dollars
you see there, was not even there. It was a move at the last minute of the
board to come up, cut off the homeless and take the one hundred and eleven and
put it in seventy-six thousand dollars for the Haitians, for one project in
the Haitian community, based on the fact that if you look all these programs
over here been here already for ten or fifteen years. So there are programs
that continues to be able to take monies away from any of those, you have to
do what you 're doing, you have to cut the programs for everybody else, and
that's the problem.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, let's see what we can do. Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Let's do it this way. Mr. Manohar Surana...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Oh yes, he's the best.
Commissioner Dawkins: ...how much money are we getting from the McKinney Act
for the homeless?
248 March 12, 1992
e'_� # F-,
Mr. Castaneda: Two hundred and eighty-seven.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. I want you to take one hundred and three
thousand from that two -eighty and give it to this group.
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioner, you already allocated that...
Commissioner Dawkins: What did I allocate it to?
Mr. Castaneda: Two -forty-three to Beckham Hall and the rest for the under the
expressway program.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. So, now, the board says I can't bother with
their recommendation because they will resign, so therefore, I can bother with
the administration's recommendation because they can't resign.
Commissioner Plummer: And hope that they resign.
Commissioner Dawkins: So now, I move that we find... Mr. Mano, on the tax
anticipated notes, did you say we saved two hundred thousand dollars?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, and I asked them what they were going to do with it.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. Take the hundred and three thousand dollars
from the tax anticipated, two hundred thousand dollars interest that you
earning off the tax anticipated notes and put it here.
Mr. Lopez: Ride on, ride on brother, do it.
Mr. Post: And the board would firmly support that, I'm sure.
Commissioner Dawkins: Beg pardon? You got nothing to do...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Surana, would you go to the mike so that we can have
this on the record, please?
Commissioner Dawkins: You know, that came from the little general over here.
I didn't think of that, he thought of it.
Commissioner Plummer: So what you are doing then is actually taking out item
12 out of the social monies, entirely.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: Since they didn't give them...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, may I ask, if you want to go to the column of CD
Board recommendations, may I ask that item 43 be eliminated to zero and place
that up for the Useful Aged.
Commissioner Dawkins: You may do anything with 43 you want after you vote for
my one hundred and three thousand dollars from the tax anticipated notes.
249 March 12, 1992
i
t
Commissioner Plummer: Absolutely.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, Commissioner, if I may, you are only allocated one
{ hundred and three and the amount is two hundred thousand so we have a balance.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, you don't have to spend it, it's not burning a
hole in your hand.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. That's my motion.
Mr. Surana: Commissioner, Commissioner...
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, Mano, yes, sir.
Mr. Surana: The two hundred thousand was for last year but this year I got to
get the number from Carlos Garcia. OK.
Commissioner Dawkins: Hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So what you're trying to say is that perhaps we have more
than two hundred thousand.
Mr. Surana: I don't know, I can't say anything. I got to talk to Finance
Director.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I'm certain you're going to say we have.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait a minute. What did you sell the bonds? What
interest did we get off the bonds last year, Mr. Surana? What was the
interest rate?
Mr. Surana: I think I heard Carlos Garcia say about two hundred thousand.
Commissioner Dawkins: Sir, sir, what was the interest rate that you invested
the money in last year?
Mr. Surana: I don't know, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Come on, you do know, Mano.
Mr. Surana: No, I don't. That's Carlos Garcia does it.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. I'll give it one more try. What was the
going rate last year?
Commissioner Plummer: More importantly, when will the money be available?
Mr. Surana: Seven or eight percent.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right, let's take seven percent. What's the going
rate this year?
Commissioner Plummer: Four.
250 March 12, 1992
Mr. Surana: Four or five.
Commissioner Dawkins: Five? So you may get less?
3
Mr. Surana: Probably, yes.
y
Commissioner Dawkins: But you will get one hundred and three thousand
dollars.
Mr. Surana: I hope so.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Of course.
Commissioner Plummer: But Miller, when will that money become available?
{
Mr. Surana: In September.
Commissioner Plummer: Eh?
Mr. Surana: In September.
Commissioner Plummer: Of this year?
Mr. Surana: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: It has to be before the end of the fiscal year.
Commissioner Dawkins: There is a motion up. I have a motion on the floor.
Commissioner Plummer: I second it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Moved and second.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Would you clarify the motion, please?
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes ma'am. The motion is, since New Life Family Center
is a City of Miami homeless shelter, and wherein the shelter was built with
City of Miami funds, and everybody in the County says that the City of Miami
never does anything for the homeless, and we've never pointed out that we
built
this Center with our money and that it was run and this is the first time
since it was completed that this group has requested money, I move that we
grant this group $103,461 from the interest of the tax anticipated notes.
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second. OK. We have a motion and a second. Are you
going to say something, Commissioner De Yurre?
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, it was my idea, I am with it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Great. Please call the roll.
251 March 12, 1992
41
01
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Dawkins, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-186
A MOTION INSTRUCTING THE CITY MANAGER TO ALLOCATE
$103,461 TO THE NEW LIFE FAMILY CENTER (A CITY OF
MIAMI HOMELESS SHELTER PROGRAM), SAID FUNDS TO COME
FROM ANTICIPATED INTEREST TO BE EARNED FROM THE TAX
ANTICIPATION NOTES. (See R 92-190.1)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. I am finished now.
Commissioner Plummer: I would like to make a motion that we take the balance
in the CD Board of item 43, fifteen thousand eight -eighty, and place that at
item 5 to increase their funding by that amount of money. I so move.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. We have a motion. Do we have a second?
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Any comments? Please call the roll.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-187
A MOTION INSTRUCTING THE CITY MANAGER TO MODIFY THE
RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE CITYWIDE COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD CONCERNING PROPOSED
ALLOCATION OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
PROGRAM MONIES DURING 1992-1993 FOR SOCIAL SERVICE
PROJECTS, BY TAKING THE $15,880 PREVIOUSLY EARMARKED
FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI HOMELESS PROJECT (PROJECT NUMBER
PS-43) AND TRANSFERRING SAID AMOUNT TO THE ASSOCIATION
FOR THE USEFUL AGED PROJECT (PROJECT NUMBER PS-5).
(See R 92-190.1)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
252 March 12, 1992
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Plummer: My final question. Frank...
Mayor Suarez: Promise?
Commissioner Plummer: Maybe. Little Havana Activity Center. I don't know
the difference between the two requests. One, you fully funded, the second
one for forty-nine eight. I don't know what it is that they were asking for
that was completely denied. Can you tell me?
Mr. Castaneda: We will. We are researching it right now.
Commissioner Plummer: You what?
Mr. Castaneda: We are researching it right now. I'll give you an answer.
Commissioner Plummer: You don't know?
Vice Mayor Alonso: She can tell us. She is reading. Josefina.
Mr. Castaneda: No, not off the top of my head.
Commissioner Plummer: Josefina, can you tell me?
Ms. Josefina Carbonell: Hello. Yes. We requested a matching fund for the
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars that we received from the State of
Florida for the new primary health care center that we have opened for people
of the age over 55 years of age in the area to serve for people that don't
have any insurance or are under insured in the area to give primary care.
Commissioner Plummer: It says forty-nine eight.
Ms. Carbonell: Yes, the request, the City of Miami's forty-nine that will
match one hundred and fifty thousand dollars that was granted by the state.
Commissioner De Yurre: J.L., I don't think you can vote for that. I think
you qualify for the program.
Commissioner Plummer: You bet your life. I want to hear more about this at
55.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You cannot vote for it because you will benefit.
253 March 12, 1992
46 \
Commissioner Plummer: You're saying that if, Josefina, you're saying that if
we give you, let's call it for round numbers, fifty thousand, that you can get
an additional one hundred and fifty thousand.
Ms. Carbonell: That is correct, sir. I have been slated to receive
operational dollars to support the operation of the primary health care
facility.
Commissioner Plummer: And that's to take care of the sick?
Ms. Carbonell: That is correct, sir. For older individuals... the age
criteria is over 55, no insurance or under insured in the area, for primary
care.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So if you receive the funding you will get one hundred and
fifty thousand?
Commissioner Plummer: Three to one.
Ms. Carbonell: Yes ma'am.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I make a motion at this time that the
remaining balance of the anticipated fund money, or at least forty-nine
thousand eight hundred of it, this is not related to the social programs, be
given to the Little Havana Activity Center for the matching money of the
State for the medical portion. I so move.
Commissioner Dawkins: Where is it coming from? Where are you taking it from?
Commissioner Plummer: The anticipated notes is going to be one hundred and
fifty, or whatever. Where can you get a bargain like that?
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner De Yurre: And then we get reimbursed after they get the money?
Unidentified Speaker: But there is no fifty thousand in social.
Commissioner Plummer: If that's the case, so be it. But I am going to get a
freebie. I am going to be the first patient.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner De Yurre: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
254 March 12, 1992
0
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-188
A MOTION INSTRUCTING THE CITY MANAGER TO ALLOCATE
$49,800 FROM THE REMAINING BALANCE OF THE INTEREST
EARNED FROM THE TAX ANTICIPATION NOTES TO THE LITTLE
HAVANA ACTIVITIES CENTER AS MATCHING FUNDS NEEDED TO
OBTAIN A STATE GRANT FOR MEDICAL SERVICES; FURTHER
PROVIDING THE CITY SHALL BE REIMBURSED WHEN THE GRANT
MONIES ARE RECEIVED.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner De Yurre, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Commissioner Miriam Alonso
Vice Mayor Miller J. Dawkins
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
_ NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Plummer: Now, Mr. Mayor, my final.
Mayor Suarez: Final.
Commissioner Plummer: I have to ask Frank. Hello.
Commissioner De Yurre: I thought the other one was your final.
Commissioner Dawkins: Thought the other one was your final.
Vice Mayor Alonso: But remember the Haitian community because...
Commissioner Plummer: No, no, we're going to do that on the other page.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK.
Commissioner Plummer: Frank, the same question which surrounds Allapattah
Community action. You granted their request of the two -sixty-eight five -
sixty -three, both you and the board. Would you please tell me what is the
request for the eighty -five -five that it doesn't tell me what it's for?
Mr. Castaneda: That, that's for day care.
Commissioner Plummer: Elderly day care.
Mr. Castaneda: No, no. Day care.
Commissioner De Yurre. Day care. You don't qualify for that one.
255 March 12, 1992
4 0
Commissioner Plummer. No, I don't qualify for both. And you don't feel that
the money wasn't there or...
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioners, you know how tight things are.
Commissioner Dawkins: J.L., why don't you quit while you are winning.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. I am just asking. I quit making motions.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes. Quit because you're winning.
Mayor Suarez: All right. As to the entire social services package. Does
anybody have a motion?
Commissioner Plummer: I'll move that the Community Development Board with the
amendments so indicated, which is only one amendment really, that it be
approved.
Mayor Suarez: All right. That's what I was hoping that you would do. Moved.
Do we have a second?
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Second. Any further discussion?
Commissioner Plummer: And let the record reflect that almost ninety-nine
percent of their recommendations were approved.
Mr. Lopez: Thank you, thank you, Commissioners.
Commissioner Plummer: Go away and sin no more.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll on the motion.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-189
A MOTION APPROVING, AS AMENDED, THE RECOMMENDATIONS
MADE BY THE CITYWIDE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY
BOARD IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOCIAL SERVICE PROJECTS
WITHIN THE CITY'S PROPOSED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK
GRANT PROGRAM DURING 1992-1993, AS MORE FULLY
DISCUSSED BEFORE THE COMMISSION ON THIS DATE. (See R
92-190.1)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
256 March 12, 1992
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Dawkins: Now, why is it, I don't care who makes the motion, you
start out calling the roll with Dawkins. Madam Clerk, Madam Clerk, why is it
I don't care who makes the motion, you always start out with Dawkins first?
Why? You like me? You in love with me? OK. I just needed to know. Go
ahead.
Commissioner De Yurre: ...It's alphabetical. Tell him its alphabetical.
Mayor Suarez: You took away my inspiration with that last comment. What's
the next folks? All the ones that were here, all the people that were here on
Community Development Block Grant, Social Program requests, if you were
recommended by the CDBG Board, I think with one exception, which is actually a
— City of Miami program, you now have had your matter approved and you may go
home and sin no more.
Commissioner Plummer: Don't do that. That's not true, that's not true, Mr.
Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Any others? You said there was only one exception,
so was there any other?
Commissioner Plummer: No sir, I said there was one exception on the social
program.
Commissioner Dawkins: Right. That's what he said.
Mayor Suarez: Now, we are going to...
Commissioner Plummer: No, you said block grants.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, no. Social programs.
Commissioner Plummer: Social programs can go home, and hope to God nothing
changes.
Mayor Suarez: Assuming that this Commission doesn't change its mind about the
vote we just took, we are going to go to economic development which includes
housing...
Commissioner Plummer: That's right.
Mayor Suarez: ...physical improvements et cetera. All right.
Commissioner Plummer: That's correct.
257 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Now, of those programs, there are seven hundred thousand
dollars put in question, because the DDA was the one requesting it. Matthew
was just informing me, he's here, our Executive Director, that at least three
hundred thousand of that which is stated here to be, what is it, economic
incentive, what is it, how is it characterized?
Mr. Matthew Schwartz: As a, it says, the way it is read...
Mayor Suarez: Yeah. How does it read?
Mr. Schwartz: ...it says DDA economic incentive program, but it...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, look who showed up.
Mr. Schwartz: I couldn't spend the money so I had to come down here.
Mayor Suarez: What does it mean? Why is the DDA in a position of sounding
like it's the sponsor of something here as if it were going to benefit the
downtown structures or something? What does it mean?
Mr. Schwartz: The program, none of these things that DDA was the intention
that the money would come to DDA because it was that these are projects for
downtown and I am sorry I wasn't here earlier but I was in the office I was
not out there. But the three hundred thousand dollars really should be a
Citywide program. Money should be set aside as incentives as you found with
MCI to bring companies to Miami run by the City, so that we have tools so that
we don't have to go back each time, you know, to try to fund money here and
there, so we have a pool that we can attract businesses to Miami. With a 10.6
unemployment rate...
Commissioner Plummer: But why give it to you?
Mr. Schwartz: I don't, we don't want it.
Commissioner Plummer: Here it says DDA.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, DDA made the proposal.
Mr. Schwartz: We made the proposal. Commissioner...
Mayor Suarez: ...but are you saying that the City should set aside...
Mr. Schwartz: ...at least three hundred thousand dollars.
Mayor Suarez: ...three hundred thousand dollars for possible incentives to do
businesses to locate in the City...
Mr. Schwartz: In the City.
Mayor Suarez: ...during the next fiscal year...
Mr. Schwartz: Right.
258 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: ...from CDBG funds.
Mr. Schwartz: That's what it was meant to be.
Commissioner Plummer: That's great.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's I think that's necessary.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me tell you, Mr. Mayor, right now, we have on the
International Trade Board, I think we have four trade missions scheduled, and
to have that money available that when we go there to bring companies back to
this community, and we are doing all of that this year.
Mr. Schwartz: Actually, it should be more.
Mayor Suarez: Are you sure, absolutely sure, that that is contemplated within
the CDBG guidelines? I guess as long as ultimately the companies are
attracted into the target neighborhood, but only then.
Commissioner Plummer: You got to do it from another source.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mr. Castaneda: It is very difficult. In the case of MCI we were very lucky
because that is a public utility and you can pay for laying the cables of a
public utility. That might not be the case with another company. You would
have to...
Mayor Suarez: We are going to have to be very careful with that.
Mr. Castaneda: ...negotiate and that comes also under the Piracy Act and we
get into problems.
Mayor Suarez: The Piracy Act? I thought I'd never hear the Piracy Act. Mr.
Gonzalez-Goenaga, talking about piracy. Would you just be still, sir, and not
say anything at all. Like the rest of these people. Do you see how they
conduct themselves? You're not any different, please.
Mr. Castaneda: Piracy Act, that is to say you are offering CDBG money to
attract a company from one city to relocate to another city. You can't do
that.
Mayor Suarez: Please send me a copy of the so-called Piracy Act. I am not
aware of it at all.
Mr. Castaneda: For that matter, they are discussing in Congress one of those
cases up there.
Mayor Suarez: All right. That amount I think to set aside for that purpose I
think you'd probably get a consensus of the Commission. The other four
hundred thousand that were questioned were related to Overtown Park West and
seemed to be for improvements right around the existing municipal railroad
line which is sixty feet, or I don't know how many feet, and the City staff
wasn't recommending it. Why is the DDA going to be fighting here for four
259 March 12, 1992
hundred thousand dollars to spend in Overtown Park West instead of just saying
if the City should spend four hundred thousand dollars more for physical
improvements in Overtown Park West, let the City Planning Department with our
input, DDA can use our designers, you know, make that request. Why does DDA
have to put itself forward so that I have to come here and argue with my
colleagues that this is somehow the wisest expenditure of that money? Because
we have priorities Matthew, in Little Haiti, Wynwood, some communities in
Miami that are clearly 1n Little Havana, Overtown, Liberty City, Grand and
Douglas, et cetera, Flagami, that you know, that are very high priorities and
target areas. Downtown is important. But this is Overtown Park West
actually.
Mr. Schwartz: Right. And this is the Overtown Park West portion that lies
within the DDA district. This was a recommendation of the Park West
Association which all the property owners in Park West and with a conduit
information back. I think, in fact, that if there is money in the Southeast
Overtown Park West project, to at least, I think... to address the whole idea
of the municipal railroad, the City right-of-way, is to try and enhance that.
I know the property owners.
Commissioner Dawkins: What he is saying is they found out that there is some
money in Overtown Park West area, so they said what can we do to get it. And
they develop something to get it, so tear it up.
Vice Mayor Alonso: But I don't think they will get that money.
Mayor Suarez: Well, that four hundred thousand doesn't look real likely. I
mean, I... you know.
Commissioner Plummer: And as far as I am concerned, the three hundred
thousand is a program for incentives to bring business here. As long as it is
not in DDA, I think it's a great idea.
Mayor Suarez: All right. We're leaving that out...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Now we are in the Overtown.
Mayor Suarez: On the other four hundred, I think.
Commissioner Dawkins: Put it in the International Trade Board.
Mayor Suarez: In the four hundred thousand, I think we are going to try to,
if not allocate that today for economic development projects, at least hold it
for future reference and future allocation.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me just tell you something, sir.
Mayor Suarez: What?
Commissioner Plummer: Your International Trade Board this year, has sponsored
programs of computers. It has sponsored programs of free trade zones and I
want to tell you something. I am very, very proud to be chairman of that
board, and Kevin who works on that board, we have done some very, very fine
things this year. Now, you want to give us more money, we can maybe do more.
!: 260 March 12, 1992
i
But we are very, very pleased. We have four trade missions, which I think you
are going on two of them. We've a total of four of them that are coming this
year. Let me just give you one example.
Mayor Suarez: Give me a lot of advance warning before you send me on any more
trade missions.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, you're working on the Argentina.
Mayor Suarez: I've agreed to that. I have not agreed to Brazil, yet. I
think the Vice Mayor should go to Brazil.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me tell you. Your International Trade Board took
four thousand dollars and we put together a video for Brazil that was shown
down there for twelve minutes, and I want to tell you that we've had, what,
almost four hundred inquiries from Brazil...
Mayor Suarez: The Brazilian situation is really quite exciting for our
community. All right.
Commissioner Plummer ...about doing business in the City of Miami.
Vice Mayor Alonso: The truth is we are not going to Brazil because your wife
will not allow you to go to Brazil.
Mayor Suarez: My wife lets me go to Brazil, as long as I am back the same
day.
Commissioner Plummer: You know what you give me for total promotion? Eighty
thousand dollars total.
Mayor Suarez: This is very, very blatant commercializing by one City board.
All right.
Commissioner Plummer: You want to be chairman? Be my guest.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, no, I'm about to send you over to the DDA.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's his way to say he is pleased with your work.
Mr. Castaneda: Mayor, Mayor, my...
Mayor Suarez: And you've been insisting the Mayor has to be chairman of the
DDA. I can't understand why that can't rotate from time to time. I think it
should rotate pretty soon. All right.
Mr. Castaneda: My recommendation on the incentive fund is to leave that at
zero. If there's a need to use some CDBG money to attract some business, we
would reallocate money from an existing project, hold a public hearing, have
public input, and so forth, and do a necessary proper determination to select
the group. If...
Mayor Suarez: What are you talking about?
261 March 12, 1992
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Vice Mayor Alonso: He's talking about the three hundred thousand.
Mayor Suarez: What are you talking about?
Mr. Castaneda: Concerning the incentive fund. My recommendation...
Mayor Suarez: We're just setting it aside right now. As long as it's not
clearly illegal to set it aside for the moment, can we take that up at a later
time?
Mr. Castaneda: What I am saying is, that some bureaucrats could argue that 1t
does not benefit lower middle income people and make it illegal.
Commissioner Plummer: Put it in International Trade Board and I guarantee I
won't spend it.
Mayor Suarez: No, in International Trade Board, then you're going to really
have HUD coming down our backs to find out what you're doing with three
hundred thousand in the ITB.
Commissioner Plummer: Oh, I'm just.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Put it somewhere that is safe.
Mayor Suarez: We're just not allocating it...
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's all.
Mayor Suarez: ...folks, we're not going to have it until July. We're just
not allocating it today. We think that for the attraction of businesses, if
all the other criteria are fulfilled, that might be the way we would like to
spend it. All right. God, it seems so difficult. We are not allocating it
just now, so I mean we don't...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah. Let's talk about the two hundred thousand.
Mayor Suarez: There's two two hundred thousand, so there's a total of four
hundred.
Commissioner Plummer: No, it's...
Vice Mayor Alonso: We're taking both of them. We're not giving it to you.
Mayor Suarez: I would be inclined, either today or at the very next
Commission meeting, to begin allocating that to other worthy projects. In
Little Haiti, it sounds like an area...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. That's the area it should go to.
Mayor Suarez: ...that hasn't done particularly well.
Commissioner Plummer: All right. Can I ask this question, Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Suarez: Yeah.
262 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Where's Ringo?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Right there.
Commissioner Plummer: Ringo, you have these other community organizations,
which ones are yours?
Mr. Ringo Cayard: Haitian American Foundation. It's not mine, it's the
community's.
Commissioner Plummer: All right. Can that foundation do work that is
considered to be economic development?
Mr. Cayard: Of course.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Now, Mr. Mayor, my suggestion to try to find the
equity for the Haitian community is that we try to funnel some of these monies
into economic development, because we cannot do any more in social services.
Now, it will be up to this Commission to decide how much of that money we
would want to funnel into this organization and to other organizations in
Little Haiti.
Mayor Suarez: But I think we will let the staff work that and come back with
recommendations because we can't possibly do that today. The economic
development criteria are strict. They have to put together the plans and
question
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah. But we set aside the money...
Mayor Suarez: We can set it aside with the idea...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ...for the Haitian community, so we know the money is
there.
Mayor Suarez: Maybe we have to be a little broader and say, you know, there
is Wynwood, and some others. Yes, Commissioner.
Commissioner Dawkins: I would suggest that Mr. Cayard and somebody from
Wynwood who wants to apply, because we're going to have to open this up. If
they go to Miami Dade in the morning and tell Miami Dade to assist them in
preparing a proposal that will do what we want to do, rather than have them
out there by themselves trying to draw up something and bringing it to us and
we turn it back and shoot it back. So I would like to make that, you go to
Miami Dade in the morning.
Mr. Cayard: Oh, definitely.
Commissioner Dawkins: Provide it from the Wynwood area, and what have you,
and prepare some proposals, like J.L. said, along the economic development and
not a social service standpoint and bring it back in, so we can get the money.
Mr. Cayard: Fine. How much we're talking about, more or less, because
it's...
263 March 12, 1992
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Commissioner Dawkins: Go and prepare the proposal and then let us, let us
tell you how much money we're going to give you.
Mr. Cayard: OK. Thank you.
Commissioner Plummer: I would say, you want my opinion? Look in the
neighborhood of two.
Mr. Cayard: OK.
Commissioner Plummer: Not two dollars.
Mayor Suarez: You know, that idea of Miami Dade Community College is very
Important because one of the problems we've had is that there just hasn't been
enough programs applied for because people can't even get the soft cost aspect
of a proposal together. They just, they don't have the professional
infrastructure, they don't have the support, they don't have the agencies, and
so we don't get the applications. And that's a great idea.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, are you open for a motion?
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Unidentified Speaker: I would like to say something.
Mayor Suarez: No, no. We are closed to public debate. We're going to, I
think we're heading in the direction of saying that that money will be there
basically with the general idea of Little Haiti and possibly some other areas
of the City.
Commissioner Dawkins: That's not to say that only one proposal has to come
from Little Haiti.
Mayor Suarez: Right. There's no limitation.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Get as many as you can. I don't know how many we
will fund. OK?
Mayor Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I would like to propose at this time that in
the economic development, that we switch around, however staff wants to do it,
and allocate fifty thousand dollars for the Latin Quarter Association and
fifty thousand dollars for the Overtown Advisory Board.
Mayor Suarez: Would that come from the four hundred thousand dollars that was
previously...
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, I said, let staff decide where it's going to come
from.
Mayor Suarez: You can't vote, if you don't say where it's going to come from.
264 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Then I will say...
Mayor Suarez: From the four hundred thousand dollars.
Commissioner Plummer: You can take it from that. That would be fine, sir.
You can take it...
Mayor Suarez: Which is from a column of CDBG recommendations which was the
funds that were requested by ODA for Overtown Park West, et cetera.
Commissioner Plummer: All right, sir.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Excuse me, you're going to take it from DDA?
Commissioner Plummer: We've already taken it.
Mayor Suarez: The four hundred thousand dollars is being set aside. I think
you were heading in the direction of setting that aside for other...
Commissioner Plummer: Correct, sir.
Mayor Suarez: ...uses and he wants to go ahead and take one hundred of
that...
Commissioner Plummer: For these two organizations.
Mayor Suarez: ...and apply it right away. I wouldn't necessarily want to get
into that today, because then you're already telling the Little Haiti
community that they're a hundred thousand less. Maybe staff ought to make
those recommendations and come back to us. Could we do it that way?
Commissioner Plummer: Well, you're still leaving three.
Mayor Suarez: You're still leaving three. Well, you can do it that way if
you want.
Commissioner Plummer: I would like to make a motion to that effect.
Commissioner De Yurre: Second.
Mayor Suarez: All right. The motion is that we allocate one hundred thousand
of the four hundred thousand, meaning, two times two hundred, that was
previously recommended for the Overtown Park West area, as requested by DDA,
to the two organizations that Commissioner has just mentioned.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You said what? Latin Quarter Association?
Commissioner Plummer: Latin Quarter Association and the Overtown Advisory
Board.
Mayor Suarez: And I think that the intent of the motion, if I hear it
correctly, is that three hundred thousand be set aside for applicants from
Little Haiti.
265 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. My personal suggestion was that they
figure in the neighborhood of two hundred thousand. I think that balances out
and it gives a fairness of equity of dollars in the overall scenario of how
this community is developed.
Mayor Suarez: Al right. But at least, at least, that the three hundred
thousand are not going to be touched today and no less than two hundred of
that is our intent to fund at least one economic development effort in Little
Haiti. Yes?
Commissioner Dawkins: Can one hundred thousand dollars be earmarked for
Wynwood?
Mayor Suarez: And maybe the other hundred thousand should be earmarked for
Wynwood.
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine with me, sir. OK. But wait a minute.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, let me just say... hold it, hold it.
Commissioner Plummer: Let me clear up on this, Victor. Mr. Mayor, I am not
in any way indicating that it will only be a single organization.
Mayor Suarez: Absolutely right. That's something the staff is going to have
to recommend based on who applies. Commissioner De Yurre.
Commissioner De Yurre: We're splitting a whole bunch of monies and I haven't
said a word yet. I am going to request seventy-five so keep that in mind.
Commissioner Plummer: For?
Commissioner De Yurre: For One Art, Inc. The seventy-five that the CD
Board...
Commissioner Plummer: For what?
Vice Mayor Alonso: It has been recommended already.
Commissioner De Yurre: No.
Mayor Suarez: Well, it depends on what column we follow, I guess. On a CDBG
Board's recommendation, One Art is included, I think. Right?
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. I just want to make sure they're going to get it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Seventy-five thousand.
Commissioner Plummer: Where's that?
Commissioner De Yurre: In the physical improvements.
Mr. Castaneda: Page Three.
266 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: In the physical improvements, if we go with them,
seventy-five thousand.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So it is included.
Commissioner Plummer: It's there.
Commissioner De Yurre: Yeah. Make sure they get that.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Anything further, Commissioners? OK. Are we ready
for a motion?
Commissioner Plummer: What do you want it in, an all incorporating motion?
Mayor Suarez: I love those.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. I'll move...
Mr. Bailey: May I ask a question, please?
Commissioner Plummer: Yes.
Mr. Bailey: I just want some clarification for the staff and myself. We're
working only from the CD Board column now, so we can assume that whatever you
do not change that has been recommended by the CD Board, is the amount we are
to work with?
Mayor Suarez: Yes. Herb, what is that ... the most objectionable of the
recommendations? I think I know what you're going to tell me.
Mr. Bailey: I am not objecting. We just want clarification.
Mayor Suarez: What is the one that is the greatest discrepancy? It's the
million dollars from Miami Dade Community College that you would like to spend
instead, or Frank would like to spend instead on what? Housing?
Mr. Castaneda: Housing and Department of Planning and Zoning, and they also
cover the administration below twenty percent.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, I'll tell you what. I would...
Mayor Suarez: I just want to put things on the table, folks. I don't mean to
prejudice the discussion, but I think we ought to, in fairness.
Commissioner Plummer: Hey, Miami Dade does a hell of a good job, but I think
this Commission is also charged... I am not going to go with the Planning, but
I do think that we need as much money as this City can get for housing. OK?
I think, and I feel very strongly, we ought to participate with Dade Junior
without any question whatsoever, even though it is a double-edged sword
against us. It is a viable organization in the middle of downtown Miami. OK?
Mayor Suarez: Oh, I know what you're going to say. You're going to say it's
a double-edged sword because they don't pay taxes?
267 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Sir, we're buying the property, and they are not paying
any taxes. That's correct.
Mayor Suarez: One thing about you, you are consistent.
Commissioner Plummer: You bet your bippi.
Mayor Suarez: Even Miami Dade Community College is not a worthwhile enough
project because they don't pay taxes, but that's what government is for. I
mean government takes taxes so that they can do things like Miami Dade
Community College. Anyhow, I understand your philosophy. It's taken me six
and a half years, and finally I understand you.
Commissioner Plummer: Stick around.
Commissioner De Yurre: But let me say one thing. Mr. Mayor, with this
college situation, we've given them eight hundred and fifty thousand last
year, we're talking about one million dollars this year.
Dr. Eduardo Padron: And this is the last time they'll ask for it.
Mayor Suarez: How do we know that?
Unidentified Speaker: They just told us.
Commissioner De Yurre: They promised. The thing is that the County hasn't
given them a penny, yet. I think the County should be in a position to help
out. Certainly a lot more than we are.
Mayor Suarez: How do we square using...
Commissioner Plummer: You know, there's a good way to take care of that,
don't you? We match every dollar up to eight -fifty that the county gives
them.
Mr. Castaneda: We've given in addition to that.
Mayor Suarez: How do we square using all this money for a college from HUD
Community Development Block grant?
Mr. Castaneda: It's difficult, but what we've done is we've determined
that...
Mayor Suarez: It is a viable economic development effort?
Mr. Castaneda: No, at least 51% of the students that attend there are low and
moderate income individuals. They are providing computer printouts that
demonstrate that, therefore, the majority of these funds will benefit low and
moderate income individuals.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, there is also another facet to that, Mr. Mayor.
They are providing for many of the job placement program people. They are
using their facilities to in fact train these people. So, let me tell you it
goes a little bit further as far as that low income which are not basically
their students. They are assisting the job training programs.
268 March 12, 1992
Mr. Castaneda: Yeah. The majority of their students are low income.
Mayor Suarez: And this is kind of like the final block in an effort by Miami
Dade Community College to complete all of its development of that area and
improvements.
Commissioner De Yurre: No, it is to complete one building of the two.
Mayor Suarez: One building of the two. But it is clear that they are not
going to be requesting this kind of money in the future.
Dr. Padron: That's what they told us this year.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, why don't we roll the dice with you, Ed?
Eduardo, let's roll the dice. Let's try to do what's necessary. (APPLAUSE)
OK. I'il tell you what. You go to the County and tell the County that the
City of Miami stands ready to provide you up to a million dollars in matching
money, for every dollar the County gets you. Roll the dice, you might get two
million. Want to roll the dice?
Mayor Suarez: Let me ask a question, because you got me this morning very
early. So you already worked on me. And I just remember Miami Mental Health
Center. Were they an economic development applicant or a social service?
Mr. Castaneda: No, they were a physical improvement. They are not under the
social service cap, Mayor.
Commissioner Plummer: They are in economic development?
Mr. Castaneda: Well, they are in the physical part. They are not under the
public service fifteen percent cap.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think, Mr. Mayor, we ought to surely take that
into consideration.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, yes, yes, yes. By whatever means we possibly can.
Eduardo, want to roll the dice?
Dr. Padron: Well, let me suggest this to you. You will recall that we came
here last year, and we told you that we were going to come for two years, last
year and this year. You didn't give us exactly what we requested last year.
You were generous, though. And we are here for the last time. Because...
Commissioner Plummer: Don't bite the hand that feeds...
Mayor Suarez: You wouldn't want to give two hundred thousand of that million
to Miami Mental Health Center, for example? You wouldn't deny that to them,
would you?
Dr. Padron: As you know, I was one of the founders of that center, and I
continue to support the center, and they should be supported, but what you
need to also know is that we really needed 1.5 from you in order to be able to
do what we need to do, and we are only hopefully getting a million. We are
going to the County, have no doubt about that.
269 March 12, 1992
i
Commnissioner Plummer: But you go to the county with a clout. That if they
are the bad guys and don't give you matching dollars, I think you win.
Dr. Padron: Well, let me build the clout myself, don't build it yourself, and
I assure you that the County is going to support this effort, because, as a
matter of fact, they really understand, not as much as you do, but this time
around, I have, I think, the commitment from some enlightened people there to
help us.
Commissioner Plummer: I would like to make a motion.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: That we reserve one million dollars in the fund of Dade
Junior College to be matched for every dollar the County gives them, up to a
million dollars, with a deadline of October 1st. You can read between the
other lines. The money will still be there. Your chances of two million
dollars.
Mayor Suarez: I understand the motion to be that if we otherwise approve the
CUBG Board's recommendations with the modifications we have already made,
which have not been voted on, but I think the consensus was expressed that a
million is, in fact, awarded to Miami Dade Community College, but on a
conditional basis, conditioned on a one dollar for one dollar match from the
County. That's the motion, I believe.
Dr. Padron: I think that's fair.
Mayor Suarez: OK, we have a motion and a second.
Commissioner De Yurre: Now, let me tell the public what happened. J.L.
Plummer got a commitment from Dr. Padron that they will give a funeral
scholarship in Plummer's name at the North Campus.
Commissioner Plummer: Follow me? "In nomine Patrii, filii sancto." [sic]
Mayor Suarez: Will the moving party accept the rest of what I understand to
be the intent of this Commission so that we can approve the entire package?
That is to say, four hundred thousand dollars, previously placed under DDA
Overtown Park West projects, to be allocated in the following way: fifty
thousand for Latin Quarter Association, fifty thousand for Overtown Advisory
Board, one hundred thousand dollars to be set aside for Wynwood projects and
two hundred thousand to be set aside...
Commissioner Dawkins: Economic development projects.
Mayor Suarez: Right, to be set aside for Little Haiti economic development
projects. Is that the intent of the motion? Can we build all of that in?
270 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: And then we have a motion as to the entire CDBG economic
development recommendations. That is to say the entire package.
Commissioner Plummer: Are we going to discuss the housing?
Mayor Suarez: No, that's then included.
Commissioner Plummer: No, it's not. It's separate.
Mr. Herb Bailey: I would like to...
Mayor Suarez: You want to do that separately?
Mr. Bailey: No. Well, it's part of this recommendation.
Mayor Suarez: It's got to be part of it, J. L., because otherwise you can't
fund the request from staff if you allocate the million that you're about to
allocate to Miami -Dade Community College.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor. I'm sorry, sir, but under housing projects,
you come out with an "X" number and I think that maybe we might want to change
some of those numbers if we accept either column, sir. But I'd like to talk
about those separately because it is....
Mayor Suarez: All right. Why don't we hold the motion and see if we can make
those modifications without having to...
Commissioner Plummer: It is a separate... It is in fact a separate...
Mayor Suarez: Let's fill in the motion with any of those that you have in
mind.
Commissioner Plummer: Chunked up of money.
Mayor Suarez: We otherwise would be going with the CD Board's
recommendations. Is there any that you would like to try to convince this
Commission to alter?
Commissioner Plummer: I would like the Administration to talk on housing, the
first item, and I'd like for them to talk on the Greater Miami neighborhoods.
Those two items. And if...
Mayor Suarez: Which are the items?
Commissioner Plummer: The top item which is the one million dollars. And the
Greater Miami neighborhoods which is allocated for a hundred thousand.
Mayor Suarez: Well, CD Board recommends a million to housing.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. But I'd like to hear from them.
271 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: The staff two million. Basically the difference is the Miami -
Dade Community College money.
Commissioner Plummer: I'd like to hear from the Administration.
Mayor Suarez: They would like to have the two million I'm sure.
Mr. Bailey: Well, let me tell you what happens if we don't have at least two
million dollars. With a million dollars we will not be able to do any rehab
for single family or any rehab for multi family. And the way this two million
dollars is broken down, only one point three million of it is allocated for
rehab which is sixty-nine units totally, which fifty of them are single family
and nineteen are for multi family. Because of the home program that everyone
seems to think we're getting a lot of money for and we will be getting for
some new programs, that does not provide any administrative money. But HUD
has permitted us to use seven percent of the CDBG money to fund the
administrative part of it. And they have some very strict administrative
requirements on the home program to almost set up a whole new program. We
also have to pay twenty percent for the administration of the housing program.
That comes to six hundred and ninety-seven thousand dollars. Six hundred and
ninety-seven thousand from a million does not give you any money to do a
rehab. Rehab is very expensive because we're doing older buildings in older
neighborhoods and when an applicant comes in, you usually have to inspect it.
They need a new roof, new plumbing, new electric and the cost gets quite,
quite high.
Mayor Suarez: So we're gutting... In order to be able to implement the home
program which is five point four million dollars and in order to be able to
fund Miami -Dade Community College, we're basically gutting the rehab for one
year.
Mr. Bailey: You're gutting the administration for the home program which we
certainly need the five point four million dollars. We certainly need new
houses in these scattered sites in these neighborhoods.
Mayor Suarez: Well, what you're saying is that the million will provide most
of that, but then leaves you almost no money for single family rehab.
Mr. Bailey: Well, we don't have any work to do and we need to have rehab. We
have applications on our desks, we are backlogged.
Mayor Suarez: Right.
Mr. Bailey: We don't have enough money now to service all the requests in the
neighborhoods...
Mayor Suarez: And some of the home money cannot be used for single family
rehab?
Mr. Jeff Hepburn: Absolutely not.
-� Mayor Suarez: What is the basic thrust of it?
272 March 12, 1992
Mr. Hepburn: Well, basically what we planned to do with it, we're going to
continue to do multifamily rehab programs...
Mayor Suarez: It's all multifamily rehab?
Mr. Hepburn: Yeah. Set up a program that will allow us to provide financing
for new housing, rental housing and home ownership, and also to fund CDCs such
as St. John and...
Mayor Suarez: But home ownership, but not single family.
Mr. Hepburn: Home ownership, it could be condominiums, it could be coops, it
all depends on what kind of proposals we get from developers.
Mayor Suarez: Well, 1t sounds to me like a year where we're going to be
pretty busy with the home program. Do you expect that money in this fiscal
year?
Mr. Bailey: Yes.
Mr. Hepburn: Yeah, probably in the next couple of months. Sixty days, ninety
days.
Mayor Suarez: Would you ask... I know my brother Commissioner is going to
tell me this is useless, but would you make a presentation to the Herald
Editorial Board or somebody over there so they pay some attention to this home
program. And I think it's very exciting that we were rated as high as we were
and we obtained five point four million and I've submitted some information to
them on it, but can't get them to publish anything on it.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, give it to Jorge Maas. He'll get their
attention.
Mr. Bailey: I'll meet with the board, the Herald Editorial Board.
Mayor Suarez: I think, Herb, they may not realize the implications of it.
They may think it's something that we've always been getting. It's five point
four million dollars. And I think we did well in all of the applications
submitting all of our demographics and our need and it's exciting to have
that. Well, I don't know any other solution other than to go with the entire
package, J. L. Do you have any other questions?
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Mr. Bailey, what is Tri-City Community
Association?
Mr. Frank Castaneda: Tri-City Community Association is a nonprofit entity
that basically trains people on the art of rehabbing homes and they
basically...
Commissioner Plummer: They train them in the art.
Mr. Castaneda: Of rehabbing houses. They train them as...
Commissioner Plummer: Well who are they?
273 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: Are they here?
Commissioner De Yurre: They're from Coral Gables and Key Biscayne.
Mayor Suarez: It's a nonprofit board that's been around forever and ever.
Commissioner Plummer: No, no, no. Who are the Tri-City people?
(INAUDIBLE COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD)
Commissioner Plummer: Who?
Ms. Brooks: Jolita Dorsett is the executive director of the program.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, they're supposed to receive eighty thousand
dollars and I'd like to know what the money is being used for.
Ms. Brooks: No. They use... This money will be used to rehab... Well it does
Miami rehab on owner occupied single family homes in the CD target areas.
Mayor Suarez: And they hire their own people and their own people are trained
to do the work as they do the rehab. That's one of the nice things about it.
Ms. Brooks: That's the beauty of that.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. Now let me ask you. When we start playing with
this...
Mayor Suarez: I don't know that we've ever audited them or anything. I'm
sorry to interrupt you, Commissioner, but I do remember the... Wasn't Jessie
Trice involved in that to one point? No.
Ms. Brooks: No, not in that particular one.
Mayor Suarez: But, I've met the people and I've seen their work and they seem
to be... But perhaps we should have an audit at some point.
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Bailey, the area of the Coconut Grove St. Hugh
property, is that affected by anything what we're doing here today?
Mr. Bailey: No, it's not.
Commissioner Plummer: It's totally separate?
Mr. Bailey: Totally separate.
Commissioner Plummer: OK. That's all of the questions I have.
Mr. Bailey: I'm sorry. I'm reminded that the cemetery that we had made a
commitment to repair in front of it, that's fifty thousand dollars. That's
affected because the CD Board did not recommend it. But we had made a
commitment...
274 March 12, 1992
3
Mayor Suarez: Where's that, Herb? What line is that?
Mr. Castaneda: No, they didn't.
Mayor Suarez: Where are we?
Vice Mayor Alonso: It is recommended, isn't it.
Mr. Castaneda: Yeah, it's approved.
Mayor Suarez: OK. All right.
Mr. Bailey: Oh, OK.
Mayor Suarez: We can build into your motion, J. L., the entire package
including the housing projects?
Commissioner Plummer: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So understood is the motion. Madam City Clerk.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, I'd like a clarification.
Mayor Suarez: Vice Mayor Alonso.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Would you clarify, because there was some questions about
the two million and the one million, so I want to be clear.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, it's clear from the intent of my motion is, is
that the housing will be cut to one million and one million will be allocated
to Dade Junior College, not to exceed one million dollars matching every
dollar that they get from Dade County, not to exceed a million dollars.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So actually what we are doing exactly is taking away from
housing...
Commissioner Plummer: One million.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... that we have...
Commissioner Plummer: Instead of two.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... our people need the housing to give it to a positive
program that is education.
Mr. Bailey: That will completely...
Commissioner Plummer: And understanding... Eduardo, on the record. This is
the last year that you will show up here asking for money. On the record,
sir.
Dr. Eduardo Padron: I said absolutely, sir.
275 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: But it's not the last year that I may recommend some.
Absolutely, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: Who said you're going to be here?
Mr. Bailey: We have no housing program then.
Commissioner Plummer: What?
Mr. Bailey: I mean, you've completely diluted the housing program to a point
that we'll have to just turn applications away and stop doing rehab.
Dr. Padron: Just one year.
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioners, let me point out that there's also two changes.
You're reducing the budgets for Code Enforcement by a hundred and seventy-five
thousand dollars...
Commissioner Plummer: You ought to reduce it by a million.
Mr. Castaneda: .. and you're decreasing the amount of money available for
Administration by two hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
Mayor Suarez: All right. I figured there would be some screaming on the
_ Administrative side of this, but folks we can only, you know, do the best we
can and the CD Board recommendations is the best we can do, and if
Commissioner has in fact agreed to make that part of his motion, I think he
did...
Commissioner Plummer: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: ... and motion that's understood and we have a second. Any
further discussion from the Commission? No, sir from the Commission. You're
not on the Commission. Have a seat.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. The...
Ms. Hirai: Roll call.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Call the roll.
276 March 12, 1992
The following motion and resolution were introduced by Commissioner
Plummer, who moved its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-190
A MOTION APPROVING THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE
CITYWIDE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD IN
CONNECTION WITH PROPOSED ALLOCATIONS FOR ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS WITHIN THE CDBG PROGRAM DURING
1992-1993, WITH THE FOLLOWING MODIFICATIONS:
(1) $1,000,000 TO BE TAKEN FROM THE TOTAL
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE CITY'S HOUSING PROJECTS
AND TO AWARD SAME TO MIAMI DADE COMMUNITY
COLLEGE, SUBJECT TO METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY
MATCHING SAID FUNDS ON A ONE-TO-ONE BASIS;
(2) $400,000 TO BE TAKEN FROM THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY'S (PREVIOUSLY EARMARKED FOR PHYSICAL
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE OVERTOWN/PARK WEST AREA) TO
BE ALLOCATED AS FOLLOWS:
- $50,000 FOR THE LATIN QUARTER ASSOCIATION;
- $50,000 FOR THE OVERTOWN ADVISORY BOARD;
- $100,000 FOR WYNWOOD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS;
- $200,000 FOR LITTLE HAITI ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS;
(3) REDUCE THE CODE ENFORCEMENT BUDGET BY $175,000;
(4) DECREASE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT'S
ADMINISTRATIVE BUDGET BY $220,000.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-190.1
A RESOLUTION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO SUBMIT THE ATTACHED APPROVED GRANT PROGRAM
FINAL STATEMENT TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD) REQUESTING FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT
OF $13,156,000 FOR THE CITY'S PROPOSED COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT, PROGRAM DURING 1992-1993; FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER, UPON APPROVAL OF SAID
GRANT BY HUD, TO ACCEPT THE SAME AND EXECUTE THE
NECESSARY IMPLEMENTING AGREEMENTS, IN A FORM
ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY AND SUBJECT TO
APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the motion and resolution
were passed and adopted by the following vote:
277 March 12, 1992
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AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
_ Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
COMMENTS MADE DURING ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Plummer: Xavier, as good as he has been, you ought to give him
two minutes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I agree.
Mayor Suarez: If you want to recognize...
COMMENTS MADE AFTER ROLL CALL:
Mayor Suarez: A Commissioner would like to hear from you, Mr. Gonzalez-
Goenaga.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We have agreed that you have been so good.
Commissioner Plummer: He has...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Don't overdo it.
Commissioner Dawkins: Only one Commissioner would like that.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Just one question to the Administration.
Commissioner Plummer: Two minutes, Manny.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: No, no, half a minute.
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Half a minute.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: With all these agencies that some of them I insist they
should have never got one penny, they should have contributed to this fund,
how much of so many agencies goes to the executive directors in salaries? All
this help does not go directly to the people that need it. All this help, I
bet that more than twenty percent or twenty-five percent and maybe a hundred
percent in some cases goes strictly to a few guys.
Commissioner Plummer: No, no, no.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: I would like to have an answer to that. What
percentage of all these organizations, how much goes to...
278 March 12, 1992
I 'N
Mayor Suarez: All right, you asked your question. You got your statement.
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioners.
Mayor Suarez: No, if we gave answers to everything you asked...
Mr. Castaneda: Commissioners. Let me bring in a related issue to what has
just happened.
Mayor Suarez: The... Commissioner Plummer requested a two -minute recess and I
am inclined to say yes for two minutes until...
THEREUPON THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO A BRIEF RECESS
AT 7:52 P.M. AND RECONVENED AT 7:54 P.M., WITH ALL
MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION FOUND TO BE PRESENT
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF COMMISSIONER PLUMMER AND
COMMISSIONER DE YURRE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
47. (A) AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO ALLOCATE $30,000 FROM EXISTING CDBG FUNDS
TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION OF IMPROVEMENTS TO GRAND AVENUE, SUBJECT
TO REPAYMENT OF SAID FUNDS THROUGH 1992-1993 CDBG FUNDS.
(B) COMMENTS BY COMMISSIONER DAWKINS CONCERNING LACK OF FUNDING FOR
AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: We have people... I know it's community action, et cetera, et
cetera. Anyhow, Father Menendez, right?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Where is Father Menendez? I've seen Father Pedro, there's the
other... the lesser half of the duo. What is the item, Father?
Father Pedro Corces: The ticketing ordinance.
Mayor Suarez: Before we do that, Frank, I don't know how controversial it is,
what you wanted us to do to be able to fund the Grand Avenue improvements. It
was part of what we approved. It doesn't take effect until the next...
Mr. Castaneda: Right. This doesn't take effect until July 1st. What I
want...
Mayor Suarez: ... block grant year.
Mr. Castaneda: ... is to allocate thirty thousand dollars from existing funds
so they can start the project...
Mayor Suarez: Paid back then from...
Mr. Castaneda: And then we'll pay it back from next year.
279 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: All right, I'll entertain a motion to that effect.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I so move.
Mayor Suarez: So moved by Commissioner Alonso. He wants to borrow thirty
thousand dollars... He wants to take...
Commissioner Dawkins: He who?
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Castaneda says that the Grand Avenue improvements that we
have approved funding for today, the funding does not begin until July 1 and
he wants to take thirty thousand from this year's funding...
Vice Mayor Alonso: So they can start the process.
Mr. Castaneda: To start construction.
Mayor Suarez: And then pay it back from...
Commissioner Dawkins: OK.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Moved and seconded by Commissioner Dawkins. Call
the roll.
The following motion was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved its
adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-191
A MOTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ALLOCATE
$30,000 FROM EXISTING CDBG FUNDS TO BEGIN
CONSTRUCTIONS OF IMPROVEMENTS TO GRAND AVENUE, SUBJECT
TO REPAYMENT OF SAID FUNDS THROUGH 1992-1993 CDBG
FUNDS.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Commissioner Dawkins: Before we go any further, I must say something here.
Now, we are supposed to be committed to affordable housing. We just sat here
and gutted the housing program at the request of the CD Board, or whatever it
was. I want the Commission to know and the CD Board to know, I'm against it,
I think you're wrong and when you have no affordable housing, you have
yourselves to blame because you cannot go around and gut your housing program
because somebody thinks that that's the best thing to do.
280 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: The money that we got for housing. He's right.
Mayor Suarez: Yeah, reducing housing from two million, requested to one
million...
Commissioner Plummer: That's why I asked them to get up and defend their
position.
Mayor Suarez: Well, they did and we voted and we chose another priority this
year.
Commissioner Dawkins: All I said, J. L., is that you destroyed affordable
housing.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, hey, they should have screamed louder and louder,
I guess.
Mayor Suarez: I believe actually that what they should be doing is working a
little harder on those housing projects that are supposed to be off the ground
and also on the home program and a few other things that they're going to have
their hands busy with this year. Anyhow...
Commissioner Plummer: Where are we?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, we have to find a million somewhere.
Mayor Suarez: That's another way to look at it. I like that. I like that,
Miller.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Let's go to the Federal government. We need one million.
Let's find the money.
Mayor Suarez: You know, let's start looking for a million dollars. And we
have some properties we can sell, too. Hey, if it's for affordable housing...
Vice Mayor Alonso: I agree. They need the one million.
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, I just hope that when Jack Kemp decides to say
you need some matching money, you all got some.
Mayor Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, if we get rid of Bush.
281
March 12, 1992
a •
--------------------------------------------------------- ------ — -------------
46. (A) SECOND READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CODE CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE X --
CHANGE ARTICLE TITLE TO: CODE ENFORCEMENT -- ADD NEW SECTIONS
PROVIDING FOR: (a) CREATION OF POSITION OF HEARING OFFICER; (b)
QUALIFICATIONS, APPOINTMENT, AND COMPENSATION FOR OFFICERS; (c)
ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES FOR CIVIL INFRACTIONS, PENALTIES, HEARINGS
AND APPEAL, AND RECOVERY OF CIVIL PENALTIES, ETC.
(B) VICE MAYOR ALONSO VOICES HER DISPLEASURE CONCERNING
ADMINISTRATION'S FAILURE TO SHARE THE SCOPE AND DETAILS OF THE,
NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT TEAM (NET) PROGRAM PRIOR TO ITS
IMPLEMENTATION.
(C) ASSIGN STAFF TO WORK WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF PACT (PEOPLE ACTING IN
COMMUNITY TOGETHER) TO DEVELOP A PLAN WHICH WOULD ALLOW USE OF
FORECLOSED PROPERTIES AS AFFORDABLE HOUSING -- MANAGER TO MAKE
RECOMMENDATION ON MAY 14, 1992 (See label 50).
Mayor Suarez: Father Menendez, do you need to make a presentation or do we
hear from staff?
Vice Mayor Alonso: We are going to take item 56?
Commissioner Plummer: What item are we on?
Mayor Suarez: Item 56.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We're on item...
Commissioner Plummer: What happened to 42, 43...
Vice Mayor Alonso: We have to go back.
Mayor Suarez: Well, we have PACT (People Acting in Community Together) here.
We had promised them, I think, reasonably close to 7:00.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. 56.
Mayor Suarez: And they're like ninety percent of our entire audience here
today.
Reverend Pedro Corces: QUE SE PONGAN DE PIE LAS PERSONAS DE PACT. Stand up,
please.
Mayor Suarez: Don't you think you want to clear the Chamber, J.L.?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Yes. We got the message.
Reverend Corces: Thank you.
Commissioner Plummer: This is code enforcement writing the tickets, right?
Mayor Suarez: What are the initials again? People...
282 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: I move item 56.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I second.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion?
Vice Mayor Alonso: And I hope you have made the corrections as we stated in
the... Where are they? We trust our staff, so yes. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Do you want to make a statement before we vote, or after we
vote?
Reverend Corces: Before.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Go ahead, Father.
Reverend Corces: You asked me what PACT stands for, right? People Acting in
Community Together.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We know.
Commissioner Dawkins: We know.
Reverend Corces: He asked me.
Commissioner Dawkins: He who?
Reverend Corces: The Mayor.
Commissioner Dawkins: You didn't know that?
Vice Mayor Alonso: He likes to be reminded.
Commissioner Plummer: How about you sticking to the AGUA BENDITA and we'll
take care of the politics?
Reverend Corces: All right. Should I give my name again?
Ms. Hirai: Yes, on the record.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes.
Reverend Corces: OK. Father Pedro Corces from Corpus Christi. We're here
tonight again to support the ticketing ordinance, and we hope that we are
going to get another yes from you like last time. It's something that all
these people in the community at large believe that is very important for our
neighborhood, for the improvement and the beautification and the well being of
j the community at large. And the second reason why we're here tonight is
because we want to hear from you a very serious commitment to develop a plan
for the use, the right use of those vacant lots, and that's what Claudia is
just giving you now. Planning three months to be sure that those places are
283 March 12, 1992
not going to remain the same, but they are used properly. And we would like
to hear that yes from you, publicly hear it tonight, and that you advise Mr.
Odio to start developing such a plan.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Call the roll, Mr. Mayor and then we'll see this.
Mayor Suarez: Yes. I don't think you're going to have any problem with this.
At some point, we're going to have to try to pin down where some of the funds
are going to come from so that it isn't just an empty promise, Father. But
you'll have no problem passing that. In the meantime, we're going to call...
Reverend Corces: That's on number one, number two?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, both.
Reverend Corces: Both.
Mayor Suarez: Both.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Both.
Mayor Suarez: But I think that as the Vice Mayor suggested, we probably ought
to call the roll on the ticketing ordinance, and for that we need to read the
ordinance.
A. Quinn Jones, Esq.: Read the ordinance.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE -
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE X, OF THE
CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED,
ENTITLED "CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD", THEREBY CHANGING
THE TITLE OF SAID ARTICLE TO "CODE ENFORCEMENT", AND
BY ADDING NEW SECTIONS 2-401 THROUGH 2-409 TO PROVIDE
FOR: (A) THE CREATION OF THE POSITIONS) OF HEARING
OFFICER(S); (B) QUALIFICATIONS, APPOINTMENT, AND
COMPENSATION FOR SAID OFFICERS; (C) ENFORCEMENT
PROCEDURES FOR CIVIL INFRACTIONS, PENALTIES, HEARINGS
AND APPEAL, AND RECOVERY OF CIVIL PENALTIES; FURTHER
PROVIDING THAT PROVISIONS OF THIS ORDINANCE ARE
SUPPLEMENTAL TO OTHER CODE ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS AND
PROCEDURES; PROVIDING A FEE SCHEDULE OF CIVIL
PENALTIES; PROVIDING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Passed on its first reading by title at the meeting of February 13,
1992, was taken up for its second and final reading by title and adoption. On
motion of Commissioner Plummer, seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the Ordinance
was thereupon given its second and final reading by title and passed and
adopted by the following vote:
284 March 12, 1992
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ML
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
- Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
THE ORDINANCE WAS DESIGNATED ORDINANCE NO. 10954.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
Reverend Corces: To both requests, right?
Mayor Suarez: The ordinance.
Reverend Corces: The ordinance.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, now I moved to the PACT proposal, Commission
instructs the City Manager to assign staff from Legal, Housing, and Finance
departments to develop a plan within three months to use some of the
foreclosed property for affordable housing. I so move.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner Plummer: I'll second.
Mayor Suarez: Second.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute. Let's don't kid ourselves. I don't
think we've foreclosed on any houses yet, have we? You're in the process of
it, so don't let them walk out the door and think three months from today
there's going to be action when we haven't even foreclosed on the first one.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Remember that they have some vacant lots in the area that
have very unusual situations, and it might be what is not done in other areas,
we might be able to do it in their area.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, Miriam, you know...
Vice Mayor Alonso: So I agree it's more feasible there than in other
locations.
Reverend Corces: We spoke to Mr....
Commissioner Plummer: We know very well how long foreclosure action takes, so
all I'm saying...
Reverend Corces: We spoke to Mr. Canton about that.
285 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Padre, you got a way to rush it up? - super! But I
don't want anybody thinking when you've put within three months into this...
Vice Mayor Alonso: They are talking about the plan.
Reverend Corces: Uh-huh.
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine.
Vice Mayor Alonso: They're talking about the plan...
Commissioner Plummer: That's fine.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... not the action of foreclosure and taking over and
affordable housing happening. You have to have a plan first and then carry
on.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's what they are asking from us.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Manager. How does this fit in with your NET
(Neighborhood Enhancement Team) program?
Mr. Odio: This... 56?
Commissioner Dawkins: This... They are asking for...
Commissioner Plummer: No. Excuse me. This...
Commissioner Dawkins: ... staff from Legal,...
Mr. Odio: Oh, yeah. I see.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... Housing, and the Finance departments to be assigned
to them to develop the plan. Now how does that fit in with your NET program?
Mr. Odio: They will have an Administrator, PACT is Luis Carrasquillo to work
also with them.
Commissioner Dawkins: Where will the Administrator be housed in that area?
Mr. Odio: OK. Today I was talking to Emilio. There is a location on 29th
and 2nd that could be... It has to be donated.
Commissioner Dawkins: 29th and 2nd?
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: The...
Unidentified Speaker: May I...
286 March 12, 1992
Ell
Commissioner Dawkins: No, no, no. I don't need nothing from you.
Mr. Odio: No, no. Wait, wait. That's 29th and 2nd. We're going to talk
tomorrow, but...
Commissioner Dawkins: Father, where is the center point of your operation?
Reverend Corces: Well, PACT is... It's not just Corpus Christi. PACT is
formed like many other churches.
Mr. Odio: Right. He will...
Commissioner Dawkins: What is the center of this?
Mr. Odio: The center of PACT would be Wynwood.
Reverend Corces: The center of this is... For example, when the crack houses
were torn down years ago, after those houses were destroyed, nothing happened
in those empty lots.
Mr. Odio: No, Padre...
Commissioner Dawkins: And nothing's going to happen now because they just
gutted the housing funds. Nothing's going to happen now, Father.
Mr. Odio: The center location would be Wynwood, wouldn't you think?
Reverend Corces: Wynwood,...
Mayor Suarez: Geographically what would be the...
Reverend Corces: ... Allapattah...
Mr. Odio: Allapattah...
Reverend Corces: ... 17th Avenue close to the Miami River.
Mr. Odio: So you would have Fred Fernandez, who is an expert on this field
and Luis working on that...
Commissioner Dawkins: Where would they be housed?
Mr. Odio: ... together with this task... Huh?
Commissioner Dawkins: Where would they be housed?
Mr. Odio: Fred is going to be housed in the 23rd and 23rd in Allapattah. In
that building we have that is called the...
Commissioner Plummer: Fire station. Old fire station.
Mr. Odio: ... David Herring Fire Station. And this one will be on 29th
and...
287 March 12, 1992
Reverend Corces: 2nd Avenue.
Commissioner Dawkins: And there will be somebody there...
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... an Administrator and others...
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... who can develop this plan and get it back to us.
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. What's the deadline?
Mr. Odio: Well, I have to check how many houses we've got to have possession
of before, you know, we can make the plan, but... How many houses do you think
we'll have?
Vice Mayor Alonso: You know the problem with...
Mr. Odio: Well, why don't we bring the...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... this, Commissioner Dawkins, is that this Commission
knows nothing about NET and that's the problem. This should have come for
Commission approval and to let us know and the general public to know about
what NET stands for. What it is, what it's going to cost, where are they
going to be housed, how is going to be done, and for this Commission at least
to be informed. I don't know if the rest of my colleagues know anything about
the plan. All I have seen is a memo. I don't know enough, and the community
knows nothing. I don't think even the Administration they know how much it's
going to cost.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So that's the problem so all of your questions are really
very well taken.
Reverend Corces: We're not requesting only affordable housing. We could use
small lots for mini -parks for our children, things like that. We're not just
concentrating...
Commissioner Dawkins: No.
Reverend Corces: ... on affordable housing. There could be many other uses.
Commissioner Dawkins: No, Father. That's why we asked for staff, so you can
tell Staff what your desires are, and they develop the plan. That's what
we're doing.
Reverend Corces: To develop some... To use those vacant lots wisely and soon.
288 March 12, 1992
a
Commissioner Dawkins: But you... I don't know why soon, but I'm with you.
Reverend Corces: Because what happened is... If you remember years ago...
Commissioner Plummer: Best thing you can do is sell the damn things and use
the money.
Reverend Corces: ... when the crack houses were torn down, again we are in
the same situation.
Commissioner Dawkins: They got pushed down because PACT demanded that we push
them down. OK?
Reverend Corces: And then leave those...
Commissioner Dawkins: And nothing has happened since then.
Reverend Corces: ... lots abandoned for... Let the grass grow, people
throwing trash, people smoking grass...
Mr. Odio: Padre, we will bring... We can work together...
Commissioner Dawkins: Well, it was more fashionable at that time, Father, to
jump up on a bulldozer, push a house down and get your picture in the paper
and forget about it.
Reverend Corces: And then the City of Miami to do something about it...
_ Commissioner Dawkins: Um-hmm. But my...
Reverend Corces: ... afterward.
Commissioner Dawkins: But my...
Reverend Corces: Because that's not our job. That's the City of Miami job.
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but the best thing we can do is sell that lot and
put the money into a program. Because let me tell you. Not only do you come
from an aspect of maintenance to keep a lot up for a playground, you also come
with another thing which is today's market, the highlight called liability.
And let me tell you, you don't want to assume that liability for an unmanned
playground and neither do I.
Mr. Odio: We can bring a plan back in three months, Commissioner.
Commissioner Dawkins: Before we go any farther, I'd like to tell Mrs. Adker
that the NET program is a product of the Manager. The Charter allows the
Manager to make these decisions without any consultation with the
Commissioners, and there are some Commissioners who feel like you, but the
Charter specifically says that the Manager is within his rights, that he has
the perfect... to do this without any consultation with us. So that's... I
mean, I agree with you, but...
Mrs. Ann Marie Adker: May I answer?
289 March 12, 1992
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Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, ma'am you can answer me.
Mrs. Adker: You see, my disagreement is not with the Neighborhood Enhancement
Team, it might be a success. My problem is with wanting to change the
boundaries, and I'm afraid of that with Overtown, and with wanting to do such
a rush job, and do it like there is something else behind this, and then with
non -Commission approval of this, frustrates me no end. Mr. Odio does not have
to respond to one question I ask him. He is hired by you, but you are elected
by me and the rest of the people. And I have problems with a non -Commission
approved any program that has to deal with my neighborhood.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Manager.
Reverend Corces: I would like to concentrate again on our proposal, if it's
possible.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. That's what I'm...
Mayor Suarez: Wait, Father. Wait, Father.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Manager.
Commissioner Plummer: We're getting far afield.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Manager. You said that... When will some... OK.
Are you going to wait until you establish your mini -City Hall to start
developing this plan with them, or are you going to do it immediately?
Mr. Odio: We can do it immediately.
Commissioner Dawkins: All right. Now who...
Reverend Corces: Within the three months?
Commissioner Dawkins: Who are you going to assign to...
Mayor Suarez: They're talking about a whole different thing. In fact, you
could probably have a seat if you want, Father, because it's... It may be
related or not, but it's nothing to do with this particular proposal that's
been moved.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK.
Mr. Odio: I will assign...
Mayor Suarez: Although it may affect it if it's an issue of staffing, but
it's the NET program.
Mr. Odio: I will assign Luis Carrasquillo to lead on the program. To take
the lead on.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. All right, hold it now. How can Luis, whatever
his name is, be with you and develop your NET program and meet with them and
develop the plan that they want, I mean, simultaneously?
290 March 12, 1992
Mr. Odio: No, because...
Commissioner Dawkins: How can that happen?
Mr. Odio: He's not going to be with me here to develop any plan. His
assignment is to be out in the Wynwood and Edgewater community full time to
find out what the needs are of that community so we can take care of it.
Commissioner Dawkins: But you just told me that you're not ready to place him
out there...
Mr. Odio: Physically...
Commissioner Dawkins: But yet you just told me that you're going to work with
them immediately. I mean, I'm trying to find out where we are.
Mr. Odio: We will do that immediately. We will do that immediately and be
back in three months with a plan. We don't need an office to do this.
Commissioner Dawkins: You'll be back in three months with the plan?
Mr. Odio: With the plan.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. Three months, today is March what? 12th, right?
Mr. Odio: So it will be some time at the end of...
Commissioner Dawkins: Today is March 12th, right?
Mr. Odio: Say the first meeting of July.
Commissioner Dawkins: So May 12th you'll be back... May 14th you'll be
back... No, that's two months.
Mr. Odio: No. June. June. June.
Commissioner Dawkins: You'll be back... No, no, no. Tell you what. You
bring me a plan May the 14th that I can react to, and we'll get a final plan
in June. Because you see, we're going to end up here with a plan in June or
July and we recess in August, and we won't have nothing done, Mr. Manager.
Mr. Odio: OK, sir. We will have it here May 14th.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK. All right. Send them something in writing with a
copy to me as to what you're doing, who's assigned to it, with the timetables
of what's to be done.
Mayor Suarez: OK. We're trying to put some meat to the bones of that
proposal. We're concerned that if we just simply approve it and later other
programs get implemented including one that the Manager has been proposing and
actually implementing, NET, that somehow that would detract. And the
Commission is very concerned that that would not detract from your request,
which it's very easy for us to vote for it, but as Commissioner Plummer was
291 March 12, 1992
1
saying, the idea is to show and to prove to you and to ourselves that you'll
have the staffing. And more concern to me than staffing, to tell you the
truth, is to find where we're going to get the funding to actually build some
of the affordable housing that you're talking about, but maybe we'll be
digging into that in the next couple of months. Maybe the Home Program...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Actually I think that what they are trying to accomplish
is to have the tools to carry on what they have in mind, and in order to do
that, you have to show that they have a plan, and they want to have this plan
to be able to say well now we have something to go by and to complete the
process of what we have in mind. Once they have the plan, then they have to
make a decision. These empty lots, if finally the City can acquire the lots,
are we going to build, do we have the funds? We don't. Then maybe we'll sell
some of these properties and with the funds, we will invest in different
projects and that's the idea. But first, and the most important, too, is to
have a plan for the area and I agree. That's essential in order to continue
to carry on what they have in mind.
Mayor Suarez: Father, anything...
Reverend Corces: That's what we're requesting tonight. To hear that you are
going to implement a plan, that you're going to ask Mr. Odio to develop such a
plan within the three months. Do we have that...
Mayor Suarez: In fact, it's been advanced to two months, I thought...
Reverend Corces: Two months now, yeah.
Mayor Suarez: ... from Commissioner Dawkins's request.
Reverend: So we have that yes from you and we have that yes from Mr. Odio?
Mayor Suarez: If you have it from us, you're going to have it from him. I
guarantee you that.
— Reverend Corces: All right.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second on that,
do we?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah.
Mayor Suarez: Did you record that motion and a second, Madam City Clerk?
Ms. Hirai: Not on the last one, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: OK. You want to verify. Yes, I...
Mayor Suarez: Vice Mayor moves it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
292 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Plummer: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Plummer seconds.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, I did and instead of three months, it's two months.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Call the roll. Almost two months because it's May 14th.
The following motion was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso, who moved its
adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-192
A MOTION INSTRUCTING THE CITY MANAGER TO ASSIGN STAFF
TO WORK WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF PACT (PEOPLE ACTING IN
COMMUNITY TOGETHER) IN ORDER TO DEVELOP A PLAN TO
ACCESS AND ULTIMATELY USE FORECLOSED PROPERTIES AS
AFFORDABLE HOUSING; FURTHER DIRECTING THE MANAGER TO
MAKE A RECOMMENDATION AT THE MEETING PRESENTLY
SCHEDULED FOR MAY 14, 1992.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Plummer, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Mayor Suarez: Now the hard part begins is to make sure that after the plan is
on the drawing boards and everything else gets implemented, but we thank you
for your attendance and your support in getting the ordinance passed and in
beginning this project which is going to take a lot of effort to actually
implement, Father, both of you. MUCHAS GRACIAS.
--------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
49. RESCHEDULE APRIL COMMISSION MEETINGS TO NOW TAKE PLACE ON APRIL 2 AND
30, 1992.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, can I make a motion, if it's in order at
this time - it has nothing to do with this - to change the April 9 meeting to
April the 2nd if nobody has any objection.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
293 March 12, 1992
a
Commissioner Plummer: I think the Manager wanted to change the last meeting
also.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded as to April 2nd. Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Subject to everybody being able to check their
calendars.
Vice Mayor Alonso: April 2nd and...
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll on the...
Commissioner Plummer: Instead of the 9th.
Mayor Suarez: ... motion to change the first meeting in April.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, what's the problem? The 9th or that whole week.
Commissioner Plummer: From the 9th moving it to the 2nd.
Commissioner De Yurre: But you have a problem with the 9th?
Commissioner Plummer: Yes.
Commissioner De Yurre: But just the 9th or the whole week?
Commissioner Plummer: No, the whole week. I'm planning on leaving the City
on the 3rd and returning on the 12th.
Commissioner De Yurre: OK. Because we have to move up that 23rd meeting
also.
Commissioner Plummer: Well, you can move it up or move it back. Move it to
the 30th.
Mayor Suarez: Either the 30th or the 16th keeps it on a Thursday.
Commissioner De Yurre: Cesar.
Commissioner Plummer: Odio.
Mayor Suarez: Let's try to get this calendar for the second meeting. If we
move the 23rd, it could be to the 16th or the 30th.
Vice Mayor Alonso: 30th.
Mr. Odio: The 30th would be better.
Commissioner Plummer: Fine.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So we would go with the 2nd and the 30th.
Commissioner Plummer: The first and the last Thursday of the month.
294 March 12, 1992
a a
Mayor Suarez: The first and the last.
Commissioner Plummer: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Four weeks in between.
Mr. Odio: But we need to set the time on the last meeting of March. Right,
Lori?
Mayor Suarez: Why do we need to do that today?
Commissioner Plummer: Because it's the next meeting.
Mr. Odio: Well, because it's the next meeting.
Mayor Suarez: Then that's the meeting in March.
April meetings, April 2nd and April 30th.
Commissioner Plummer: I so move.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Mayor Suarez: Second anyone?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll.
Oh, OK. Well as to the
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-193
A RESOLUTION RESCHEDULING THE FIRST REGULAR CITY
COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL, 1992, TO TAKE PLACE ON
APRIL 2, 1992; FURTHER RESCHEDULING THE SECOND REGULAR
CITY COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL, 1992 TO TAKE PLACE
ON APRIL 30, 1992.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the resolution was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
295 March 12, 1992
------- - ------- ---------------------------------------------------
50. (Continued Discussion) SCHEDULE PUBLIC HEARING ON MARCH 26, 1992, IN
ORDER THAT THE MANAGER MAY REPORT TO THE CITY COMMISSION CONCERNING
THE NET (NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT TEAM) PROGRAM (See label 48).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, if I may. In reference to the NET
(Neighborhood Enhancement Team) program, I understand that the City Manager
has all the power to do all of these, but we do represent the citizens of
Miami, and I'd like to know about the cost to the taxpayers.
Mr. Odio: OK.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I'd like to know how much it will cost in overtime.
Mr. Odio: OK.
Vice Mayor Alonso: I'd like to know how much it will cost to house all of
these projects. I'd like to know if we will have to get additional staff.
All the costs involved in a very detailed fashion.
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: The locations of every neighborhood. If any employee is
going to receive any salary increase; I have heard that they are going to
receive ten percent increase. I'd like to know.
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And I think that we should get this information in the
next meeting.
Mr. Odio: If you want to, I can send you a memo next week.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, I'd like that you report to us. I think that an item
like this that affects the City of Miami, as a whole, and as a matter of fact
I would like to propose to the Commission that we have at least one public
hearing. That the citizens are informed of this project. They have a right
to know how the system is going to be changed without having approval of this
Commission, the costs, every information. I think that's the least that the
citizens of Miami deserve. I do feel that this Commission should really
deserve some sort of presentation in a formal fashion. I have not been
provided that. But I think that if you don't feel the courtesy to come to me,
at least I demand that on behalf of the citizens of Miami. And I would like
to move for this Commission's feeling on this matter, and I think it should be
done perhaps in the next Commission meeting, a public hearing that the
citizens of Miami know about this program. It shouldn't be only the so-called
leaders as appointed by the City Manager. It should not be the power of one
person when we have a Commission that has to respond to the citizens that was
elected to represent Miami. And I think that's the least that we should, on
296 March 12, 1992
behalf of the citizens of Miami, to demand that they have full information of
what's going to happen, because the changes are not going to be minor changes,
are major changes in the system of operation in the City of Miami. I think
it's only proper that we, as representatives of the public, demand that this
be done.
Commissioner Plummer: Nothing wrong with that at all.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Commissioner Dawkins: That's a motion?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: So moved.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
Commissioner Plummer: Of course.
Commissioner De Yurre: What is the motion?
Mayor Suarez: The motion is that the Manager report to this Commission in
_ full at the next Commission meeting on the scope and details of the NET
program.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And public hearing, as well.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, if it's going to be an item on the agenda, or is
it going to be a public hearing?
Commissioner Plummer: Well, may I suggest to you since we're going to be
changing the time of the meeting on March the 26th, instead of starting it at
2:00 why don't we start it at 1:00 and have this NET presentation at 1:00?
Mayor Suarez: There he goes again wiping out our lunch hour.
Commissioner De Yurre: That cuts into my lunch time.
Commissioner Plummer: Oh, I'm sorry.
Mayor Suarez: All right. 1:00. What can we do? All right. 1:00.
Commissioner Plummer: Eat an early lunch, Victor.
Mayor Suarez: Scheduled for 1:00 on March 26th.
Commissioner De Yurre: You see, your clients...
Mayor Suarez: Your clients don't have lunch with you.
Commissioner Plummer: Get out of bed before eleven o'clock in the morning.
297 March 12, 1992
Commissioner De Yurre: ... are on the other side already. Mine come to me
and I have to deal with them on a constant basis.
Commissioner Plummer: Go close your house.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So moved. Seconded, any discussion? If not,
please call the roll.
The following motion and resolution were introduced by Vice Mayor
Alonso, who moved their adoption:
- MOTION NO. 92-194
A MOTION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SCHEDULE A
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE MARCH 26, 1992 AGENDA, BEGINNING
AT 1:00 P.M., IN ORDER THAT THE MANAGER MAY INFORM THE
CITY COMMISSION AS TO THE SCOPE AND FULL DETAILS
CONCERNING THE NET (NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT TEAM)
PROGRAM.
RESOLUTION NO. 92-194.1
A RESOLUTION RESCHEDULING THE SECOND REGULAR CITY
COMMISSION MEETING OF MARCH, 1992 TO TAKE PLACE ON
MARCH 26, 1992, COMMENCING AT 1:00 P.M.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the motion and resolution
were passed and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
298 March 12, 1992
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
51. (A) GRANT REQUEST BY BILL RIOS OF WYNWOOD COMMUNITY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR DEVELOPMENT
OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON CITY -OWNED PROPERTY AT 229 N.W. 30
STREET.
(B) GRANT REQUEST BY BILL RIOS OF WYNWOOD COMMUNITY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION -- ALLOCATE $35,000 CONCERNING ACQUISITION
OF 34 LOW-INCOME RENTAL UNITS IN WYNWOOD AREA -- INCLUDE REVERTER
CLAUSE TO ENSURE THAT THE CITY WILL OWN THE PROPERTY IF EVER
VACATED.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: We're going to go to the personal appearances very quickly
because I feel...
Commissioner Plummer: We've got thirty-nine minutes.
Mayor Suarez: Item 44. Dynatech Building System of the year...
Commissioner Plummer: It's been withdrawn.
Mayor Suarez: Withdrawn. Item 45.
Commissioner Dawkins: What is... Where is my agenda?
Commissioner Plummer: Extension of time.
Mayor Suarez: What do you need on this, Bill?
Mr. Bill Rios: Two things. My name is Bill Rios, Wynwood Community Economic
Development Corporation. OK. We're asking for two things. Last year, we
requested the donation of two lots in cooperation with the Housing and
Conservation Department. There was a limitation on the amount of time that we
could have the lots, pending an application to surtax...
Commissioner Plummer: Is the money there?
Mr. Rios: Surtax did not have any funding for rental units. We're coming
back to you for an extension of that time. This year, they have money for
rental units, and we're asking you to extend the resolution for some lots in
Wynwood...
Commissioner Plummer: What's the recommendation of the Administration?
Mr. Jeff Hepburn: We recommend.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: Moved.
Mr. Rios: OK. Wait. That's "A." "B," there's two...
299 March 12, 1992
i
a �
Mayor Suarez: Well, let's do "A." Let's do "A," please, Bill.
Commissioner Dawkins: We've got to get through "A." Let's get through "A"
first.
Mr. Rios: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: That's a second from Commissioner Dawkins. Call the roll.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
uYS 1kniT130' 0telm
A MOTION GRANTING REQUEST RECEIVED FROM BILL RIOS,
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WYNWOOD COMMUNITY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR
DEVELOPMENT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON THE CITY -OWNED
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 229 N.E. 30 STREET.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dawkins, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Mayor Suarez: What do you need from "B"?
Mr. Rios: OK. We had an opportunity come across, a lady who was abandoning
thirty-four rental units in Wynwood. We presented it to the staff as to their
picking up these units and becoming involved with them. They could not do so.
We presented these units to private sector individuals, businesses, that could
take over these units. That was not possible. They were financially not
feasible. They're very, very low income rental units. They're around two
hundred dollar rents a months. We talked to our bank, and in coordination
with Housing and Conservation, what we decided to do was to go ahead and the
CDC (Community Development Corporation) acquire these thirty-four rental
units. The lady is Mr. Padron's ex-wife who is here from Miami -Dade. She has
to walk away from the property. She has a heavy tax due to the Internal
Revenue and if she walked away from the units, you know what they would become
eventually. The bank said they would lend us the money. Housing and
Conservation said they would work with us in rehabbing the units. The only
thing we need to give the bank is a down payment of thirty-five thousand
dollars to pick up the thirty-four units in Wynwood and everything else would
be assumed by us.
Mayor Suarez: Is it recommended and budgeted in your agency?
300 March 12, 1992
Mr. Hepburn: We would have to identify the funds, but I do recommend.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
Commissioner Plummer: There'll be a...
Mayor Suarez: Subject to the administrative review and identification of the
funds and...
Commissioner Plummer: With a reverter clause that the City will own the
property if it is vacated.
Mayor Suarez: And remember that you have to begin doing something with it by
a certain amount of time, too.
Commissioner De Yurre: Well, are people living there now?
Mr. Rios: The apartment... Excuse me, Victor. Let me answer one question.
Commissioner De Yurre: No, no, no. I had the question.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner De Yurre.
Commissioner De Yurre: Are there people living there now?
Mr. Rios: Yes, that's what I was going to answer. The buildings are all
occupied now by tenants. Average rent is a hundred and ninety dollars.
Commissioner De Yurre: What is it? One bedroom or an efficiency or what?
I
i Mr. Rios: Some of them are efficiencies. Some of them are one bedrooms.
Commissioner Plummer: Three bedroom penthouse.
Commissioner Dawkins: Bill.
Mr. Rios: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: If it's fully occupied,...
Mr. Rios: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... and it can't handle debt service, how are you going
to handle the debt service, man?
Mr. Rios: Because of two reasons. As a nonprofit community development
corporation we wouldn't pay the taxes on the property.
Commissioner Dawkins: Wouldn't pay no taxes?
Mr. Rios: Would not.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, you will.
301 March 12, 1992
Mr. Rios: Well, not on these properties we wouldn't.
Commissioner Dawkins: Yes, you will.
Mr. Rios: We believe not.
Commissioner Dawkins: Or you will not get J. L.'s vote.
Mr. Hepburn: I think he's...
Mr. Rios: We'll pay the taxes.
Mr. Hepburn: He has to pay taxes. Yes.
Mr. Rios: We would. Yes.
Commissioner Dawkins: You have to pay taxes, Bill.
Mr. Rios: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Bill, remember the forgotten community...
Mr. Rios: Yes.
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... is receiving a lot of funds.
Mr. Rios: Yes. Yes.
Commissioner Plummer: You can...
Mr. Rios: It is being remembered.
Commissioner Dawkins: I just want you... I don't want you to step in
something that you...
Mr. Rios: No, no.
Commissioner Dawkins: ... Hey, that's going to put you in over your head,
man.
Mayor Suarez: Maybe it's time to change the name of the program.
Mr. Rios: Right. I don't...
Commissioner Plummer: You're going to either pay me taxes or pay me a service
fee...
Mr. Rios: No, I...
Commissioner Plummer: Or provide your own police and fire.
f
Mr. Rios: I don't think that there's a large concern. The bank would not
accept...
302 March 12, 1992
a
Vice Mayor Alonso: Don't go into the tax...
Mr. Rios: No, no. I think that the...
Vice Mayor Alonso: ... because you will be in hot waters.
Mr. Rios: I agree. I think that the... I know what you're referring to. The
bank is not willing to do this if it didn't make sense to the bank, it
wouldn't make sense to us and I guess basically that's what your main concern
is.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: Moved on the... Within the Administration's discretion.
Commissioner Plummer: Trying to locate the funds.
Mayor Suarez: Moved.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second with the conditions as stated.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the roll.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved
its adoption:
MOTION NO. 92-196
A MOTION GRANTING REQUEST RECEIVED FROM BILL RIOS,
REPRESENTATIVE OF WYNWOOD COMMUNITY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, FOR AN ALLOCATION NOT TO
EXCEED $35,000 IN CONNECTION WITH THE ACQUISITION OF
34 LOW-INCOME RENTAL UNITS IN THE WYNWOOD AREA;
FURTHER PLACING A REVERTER CLAUSE WHICH ENSURES THAT
THE CITY WILL OWN THE PROPERTY IF IT IS EVER VACATED.
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Mayor Suarez: There is no "C."
Mr. Rios: No.
303 March 12, 1992
a a
Commissioner Plummer: No, better not be.
Mr. Rios: No there is no "C."
Commissioner Plummer: Go away.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's it.
Mr. Rios: No, I think that... No, thirty seconds. I absolutely...
Commissioner Plummer: Go away.
Mr. Rios: I just want to take an opportunity to say...
Commissioner Dawkins: I take my vote back. I vote no. I vote no.
Mr. Rios: No, no, no. I just want to thank you. That's all I want to do. I
Just want to thank you.
Commissioner Plummer: Good bye!
Mr. Rios: OK.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Send a fax to us.
Mayor Suarez: Send a fax!
Vice Mayor Alonso: Thank you. Send a fax.
Mr. Rios: It was very courageous what you did in following the Advisory
Board's recommendations. You are to be congratulated. Thank you.
Commissioner Plummer: Boy, I'm telling you. Hey...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Great.
---------------- ---------------------------------------- ----------------------
52. GRANT REQUEST BY CUBAN MUNICIPALITIES FAIR CORPORATION FOR WAIVER OF
SUBSECTION 906.9 OF ORDINANCE 11000 CONCERNING USE OF THE GROUNDS OF
FLAGLER DOG TRACK PARKING LOT IN CONNECTION WITH THE TENTH NATIONAL
FAIR -- GRANT WAIVER OF VARIOUS ZONING PERMIT FEES.
Mayor Suarez: Item 47.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes. Second.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the
roll.
304 March 12, 1992
a
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-197
A RESOLUTION RELATED TO THE CUBAN MUNICIPALITIES FAIR
TO BE CONDUCTED BY THE CUBAN MUNICIPALITIES FAIR
CORPORATION ON APRIL 9-12, 1992, ON THE GROUNDS OF THE
FLAGLER DOG TRACK; DECLARING THAT SAID FAIR SHALL NOT
BE CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE TWO ALLOWED EVENTS PER
SITE PER YEAR FOR ACTIVITIES OF THIS TYPE; CONDITIONED
UPON THE ORGANIZERS PAYING FOR THE NECESSARY COSTS AND
CITY SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH SAID EVENT AND SUBJECT
TO THE ORGANIZERS OBTAINING INSURANCE TO PROTECT THE
CITY IN THE AMOUNT AS PRESCRIBED BY THE CITY MANAGER
OR HIS DESIGNEE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso, the resolution was passed and
adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
53. PERSONAL APPEARANCE: PETER CHIN-TAI, OF CHIN-TAI MAINTENANCE AND
CLEANING SERVICE -- TO DISCUSS ALLEGED EXCLUSION OF ASIANS FROM THE
CITY'S SET -ASIDE PROGRAM FOR MINORITIES.
Mayor Suarez: Item 48.
Mr. Peter Chin-Tai: My name is Peter Chin-Tai for Chin-Tai Maintenance
Cleaning Service, 751 N.W. 167 Terrace. I came to discuss about the exclusion
of Asians in the City's set -aside program for minorities on the City ordinance
that took effect on 10-11-85, 10062. And again in 1-12-89 City ordinance
10538. I'm just kind of curious in three questions. Why are Asians excluded
from the Minority/Women Business Affairs? That's one. Two, does the City
council have any interest to include Asians into the Minority/Women Business
Affairs program? Three, what are Asians considered as in the City of Miami?
305 March 12, 1992
4 A -
Commissioner Plummer: The same as the Anglos.
Mayor Suarez: No, actually we, in some groupings, have a category called
other.
Commissioner Plummer: That's it. The same as the Anglos.
Mayor Suarez: And it's not a very descriptive or certainly a very nice name.
But why... Do we tend to follow Federal guidelines in our minority ordinances?
Ms. Judy Carter: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: That's the name of the game.
Ms. Carter: As you probably already know from the Federal EEOC (Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission) guidelines Asians are considered a
minority. However, local jurisdictions that identify preferential programs,
which ours is, require that a city does not have to recognize a minority,
particular groupings of minority, unless they exceed two percent of its
population. According to the 1990 population statistics...
Mayor Suarez: That makes sense. If they're such minorities that they don't
even reach two percent, then they're too minority to be considered a minority.
Ms. Carter: That's what the Federal guidelines essentially say.
Mayor Suarez: See...
Ms. Carter: According...
Mayor Suarez: You're too minority to be considered a minority. Now...
Ms. Carter: And as a result, they represent less than one percent.
Mayor Suarez: Hispanics are so minority that they're majority in the City of
Miami. We are a majority in the City of Miami. Figure that one out. Anyhow,
what do you suggest? What do you think is needed? What do you think is
called for? Is there any social ill that must be cured in relation this? Or
do you just feel that by being excluded somehow this is insidious? I mean,
what is the practical point? Have you ever tried to bid on any of our
procurement or construction or anything and felt somehow you didn't get fair
treatment?
Mr. Chin-Tai: I tried, but...
Mayor Suarez: What is your business?
Mr. Chin-Tai: It's more like a janitorial service, sir.
Mayor Suarez: And you really have... Have you submitted bids for any of
our...
306 March 12, 1992
Mr. Chin-Tai: Not for the City, sir, because I was told I have got to go by a
lady called Anne Whittaker, to go to California because... It's kind of
complex. That's what she said.
Mayor Suarez: Well, I'll tell you what.
Ms. Carter: Let me correct...
Mayor Suarez: If this Commission has no problem, I would be inclined to tell
you, because what's been happening lately is when we have a contract to award,
if one of my colleagues to my right and to my left don't find minority or
women involved in it, they question it and sometimes just defer or throw out
the bids. I would be inclined, if it was not illegal, to say that we could
maybe flag any Asian contractor in a situation like that and then have the
Commission know at least that that has been the winning bid and they might be
inclined to accept more of those and not throw them back and not rebid and
look for more minorities. So in that sense you would get, in effect, a lot of
the same kind of attention at least, if not actual preference that actual
minorities get in the City of Miami. So if you want to, we can try that. I
mean, I want to be absolutely sure that you're not being treated unfairly by
the simple fact that we might think that you're not two percent of the
population. It may turn out that you are actually. We certainly have quite a
few Asians in our City because at the higher levels of our departments we have
quite a few. In fact, one is right here with us. Mr. Surana. Maybe not as
far east as you would like us to go, but...
Mr. Chin-Tai: No, I'm Jamaican and Chinese, sir.
Mayor Suarez: You're from?
Mr.. Chin-Tai: Jamaica, sir.
Mayor Suarez: You're from Jamaica?
Mr. Chin-Tai: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: That's not very far east at all.
Mr. Chin-Tai: No, sir.
Mayor Suarez: All right. So it's not a geographical thing, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: And he's not an Asian, he's a Jamaican.
Mayor Suarez: You know you could probably qualify as one of many minorities.
Do you speak Spanish?
Mr. Chin-Tai: No, sir. Only Chinese and English, sir.
Mayor Suarez: You probably could qualify for almost all of our minorities.
Commissioner Plummer: Put a turban on him and everybody around here will be
scared of him. Especially when that bee gets in the bonnet. You know.
They'll all run for Venezuela.
307 March 12, 1992
A 4)
Mayor Suarez: Mr. City Attorney, can we flag Asian applicants for contracts
at least so that we know...
A. Quinn Jones III, Esq.: The problem is, Mr. Mayor, is that in order to
identify, as Ms. Carter said, any preferential treatment to be afforded any
minority and which the Supreme Court has...
Mayor Suarez: I just said to flag. I didn't say any preferential treatment.
Mr. Jones: OK. Well, to flag. The problem is you have to be able to
document that this particular group has been discriminated against and I
caution you that you'll run into problems if you would flag, you're going to
open up...
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor, let me bring this to a head. Sir.
Mr. Chin-Tai: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: I want you to bid on everything at the City of Miami.
All right. Send me a copy of your bid.
Mayor Suarez: That's a way to flag it right there.
Commissioner Dawkins: To me.
Mr. Chin-Tai: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: And then I will check with them to make sure that we
got a decent deal out of this.
Mr. Chin-Tai: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: I don't need all... I don't need the City Attorney, I
don't need nobody else to tell me how to do this.
Mr. Chin-Tai: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: Now you... And if you don't get some bid sheets from
them every two or three days, call my office so I can ask them why they didn't
mail you something.
Mr. Chin-Tai: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: OK.
Mr. Chin-Tai: Thank you, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: We don't have to go through all of this.
Mayor Suarez: All right. And believe me, if we find a legal way of doing it
in a more systematic way, we'll try it. But be advised of the fact and
apprised of the fact that at any time, the legal way that we have implemented
for the other minorities may be invalidated in any event. So who knows. I
308 March 12, 1992
mean, maybe it's just as well that you do it informally, as Commissioner
Dawkins is suggesting. OK?
Mr. Chin-Tai: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: And if you ever feel that you're being treated unfairly, let
him know and let all the rest of us know, too, because we want to know about
it.
Commissioner Dawkins: I'll let the rest of us know.
Mayor Suarez: All right?
Mr. Chin-Tai: Thank you very much, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Chin-Tai: Thank you very much.
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: At this time Agenda item 49 was
called for discussion, the record was marked to
reflect no appearance by interested parties.
54. PERSONAL APPEARANCE BY REPRESENTATIVE OF OPERASYON SOVE JE (OPERATION
SAVE EYES) REQUESTING STREET CLOSURES AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT IN
CONNECTION WITH THEIR MARATHON -- REFER TO ADMINISTRATION.
Mayor Suarez: All right. Item 50.
Commissioner Plummer: What technical support are they looking for?
Mr. Camille Merilus: Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Camille
Merilus. I am from Operation Save Eyes. Your eyes, my eyes. Almost a year
ago, we started this organization among the Haitian community because of the
fact that I understand the need for a lot of people with eyes problems to get
their problem solved and to date my organization has seen more than four
thousand people and that's the reason why, to commemorate that date, a year of
that organization, and we are planning some type of exercise. But the name of
this activity is going to be Special Marathon Save Eyes '92. We want to
popularize the concept of saving eyes to push more and more people to let them
know the necessity for them to know what their eye condition is.
Mayor Suarez: What is the technical support that you are requesting that says
here?
309 March 12, 1992
Mr. Merilus: Oh, technical support. I came to understand to date that the
technical support that I requested is no longer needed because...
Mayor Suarez: OK. All right. So as to the street closures and so on, has
that been considered by the Administration? We can recommend that? All
right, I'll entertain a motion on it.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait, wait. When and what street?
Mr. Odio: 62nd Street and N.E. 2nd Avenue to Biscayne Boulevard and 54th
Street, to North Miami Avenue and back to 62nd Street.
Commissioner Plummer: Is this for a parade?
Mr. Odio: It's a walkathon.
Mr. Merilus: So the idea is to... Every time I take a patient to an eye
doctor, cataract or glaucoma, they have to do something on the eyes, the
doctor always requests that that person be in good physical condition and
that's one reason why I want to do this type of exercise.
Mayor Suarez: That's a good reason for doing a lot of things but not a good
reason enough to close the streets. You can walk and run and do exercise in
many parts of the City without closing the streets.
Commissioner Plummer: I don't understand. Is this a street closure or a
parade?
Mr. Castaneda: This is a parade.
Mr. Merilus: No, no, we're going to have... It would be exercise. The people
are going to jog, to walk, because we are... We started that
individual really, calling up on people, like people forty-five years old,
fifty years old, fifty-five years old because we have a community... In our
community, people don't do...
Vice Mayor Alonso: How many people you think will attend?
Mr. Merilus: Oh, I think more than a thousand would attend.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How many?
Mr. Merilus: More than a thousand people would attend this activity. They
already called me up. They called me. Because a lot of people got high blood
pressure so they have heart disease and they do nothing, you know. They just
stay home, things like that. So through our program, these people - because
as you know, there is no cure for high blood pressure. So the doctor may give
you pills, things like that, but with exercise that's one way to stabilize.
Commissioner Plummer: It's not a street closure.
Mr. Merilus: So exercise that's one way of achieving these type of things
because we have a community whose people don't see doctors very often.
310 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: Can the Administration work with him in this and guide him =_
the best way to do this?
Commissioner Plummer: When is it schedule for?
Mr. Merilus: For June 7.
Vice Mayor Alonso: June 7 is not...
Mr. Frank Castaneda: Let him get with us and we will come back.
Commissioner Plummer: Why don't you do that. Send it to the Manager and come
back for next meeting for an approval.
Mr. Merilus: I already sent it to the Manager.
Commissioner Dawkins: What's the date again?
Vice Mayor Alonso: He said June 7th, but here it says May 31st.
Commissioner Plummer: June 7th.
Mr. Merilus: June 7th.
Vice Mayor Alonso: June 7th. So this date is wrong.
Mr. Merilus: Yes. I spoke to the police already. The police are excited
about it.
Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, they're excited of making the extra money.
Mr. Merilus: So...
Commissioner Plummer: They've already built up a head of steam.
Mr. Merilus: And in extension to that, Commissioners, because since I am an
interpreter, I don't want to, I would like to stick to like help from City
because we are people, these people when they come to me... People stop me on
the street. They say oh, Mr. Save Eyes - they call me Save Eyes among the
Haitian community -...
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's good.
Mr. Merilus: So, when they see me at the supermarket, they say I get my eye
scratched me. Then they give me a call, things like that. Seven o'clock
a.m., ten o'clock p.m. So people keep on calling us. Saturday, Sunday, you
know. That's the way it is. But to date, we never get any time from anybody
for this thing that we are doing. So any dime from any one. So that's why, I
can't tell you that we are overwhelmed because we started that thing almost a
year ago, we did not know that it would grow so fast. It goes like many
people come to us, they always come, always come. They got four of them. As
long as we are talking about them, they keep...
Commissioner De Yurre: Mr. Mayor.
311 March 12, 1992
Vice Mayor Alonso: You know, when you started I was not excited. By now I'm
ready to go.
Mayor Suarez: Time out. Time out. We've got...
Commissioner Be Yurre: Hello.
Mayor Suarez: We've got a zoning item yet tonight and we've got a couple of
other items and I'm not sure where this is headed. If you can figure it out,
anybody.
Commissioner Be Yurre: Well, is this a fund-raiser kind of thing?
Mr. Merilus: No, we're not going to raise money.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, it is the exercise.
Mr. Merilus: We're going to... These people have to do exercise.
Mayor Suarez: Fedy, Fedy, please, Fedy help us.
Mr. Merilus: You all are invited to join us and what we would like from the
City. We're going to run with our Save Eyes T-shirts.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Fedy is not excited because he doesn't have high blood
pressure but after this, he might.
Mr. Merilus: He may have eyes problem.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's right.
Mayor Suarez: All right.
Mr. Merilus: So that's right...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Talk to him.
Mr. Merilus: ... and another thing that I would like you to do.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, no. We've got to try and approve this and we have to
move to... You see the nice young man with the nice red tie...
Commissioner Be Yurre: I think they should talk to my assistant, Lopez -
Borges.
Mayor Suarez: ... he will help. We do have to be sure that the organization
is tight, that we have enough people participating that makes it worthwhile to
close the street, that all the other things are in order and you've got - it
sounds to me, I'm just guessing...
Mr. Merilus: What do I have to do at this point?
312 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: ... you've got a lot of work to do to prove all of that. But
I'm just guessing. Lieutenant, Mr. Manager, Frank...
Vice Mayor Alonso: And also ways to let the people know.
Mr. Castaneda: You got it.
Mayor Suarez: ... Fedy. We're approving this, but subject to all of the
usual administrative assurances that that organization has its act together.
Vice Mayor Alonso: And we assure the Mayor will be there running.
Mayor Suarez: We shall be there.
Mr. Merilus: Really. OK. We have Save Eyes T-shirts.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes, we will save his eyes.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Commissioner Plummer: Wait till he sees the bill. It'll open his eyes.
Commissioner Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins. All right. Do we need to move this
Item?
Vice Mayor Alonso: I've been...
Commissioner Plummer: What are we moving?
Mr. Castaneda: We'll come back.
Mayor Suarez: It'll come back? OK. All right. Commissioner Dawkins.
DISCUSSION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
55. DISCUSSION CONCERNING PENDING LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY AND CERTAIN CITY
EMPLOYEES FILED BY FORMER CHIEF OF POLICE PERRY ANDERSON.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioner Dawkins: The... I saw in the paper, and I am sure all of you
saw, that the City of Miami's being sued by the former Police Chief and I
think we have a problem in that he is suing the City Attorney and us and you
two lawyers up here will have to tell me, can the City Attorney defend himself
and us?
Commissioner Plummer: His department can.
313 March 12, 1992
Commissioner Dawkins: No, they cannot. That's a conflict of interest. Ask
the Mayor.
Mr. Jones: Under the...
Mayor Suarez: Well, what happened is that I was confronted with this by him
today and I thought it was not a conflict of interest and then he explained to —
me that there's a whole different issue that comes into play which has to with
the fact that the same attorney is handling this matter as is handling the
very issue in which he wants special counsel. Right?
Mr. Jones: Right.
Mayor Suarez: And that then gives him the ability to win the lawsuit to get
independent counsel, believe it or not. So, anyhow having said all of that
and not understood it myself too well...
Commissioner Plummer: Well, but why can't somebody in the City Attorney's
office defend us and the City Attorney?
Mayor Suarez: I think you're right on that. I think he can. There's another
problem. Explain the other problem. Explain the other problem because I
don't think I explained it too well.
Mr. Jones: The reason is Mr. Anderson is named as, in his individual capacity
and official capacity in seven separate lawsuits. The allegations against me
are in my individual capacity and also in my official capacity.
Commissioner Plummer: You or your predecessor?
Mr. Jones: Both of us, sir. Both of us have been sued individually and
they're seeking punitive damages as well. I am a firm believer in an old
axiom that he who represents himself has a fool for a client. And I am not...
Mayor Suarez: But you are not representing yourself. You have a bunch of
attorneys that work for you representing you.
Mr. Jones. That's still a conflict for me...
Mayor Suarez: They are the ones that represent us. I don't see why that...
Mr. Jones: I understand that. It's still a conflict. How can I...
Commissioner Plummer: Why?
Commissioner Dawkins: Because it's the same office. Because if you bury a
body, of if your brother buries a body, Plummer Funeral Home gets the fee,
that's why.
Commissioner Plummer: Eh, but the body is buried, that's the important part.
Mayor Suarez: But, Quinn, you are explaining to me that there's another
problem.
314 March 12, 1992
_ Commissioner Plummer: Heh, look, if he wants to go out and get private
counsel then it comes out of the Legal Department's budget.
Commissioner Dawkins: We know that. That's no problem.
Commissioner Plummer: The problem is he is asking for exactly what the Police
Chief asked for, and if he gets it, then the Chief was right.
Mayor Suarez: That's why I...
Mr. Jones: Sir, Commissioner, his interests were never demonstrated to be
adverse to the City. And these are the exact allegations and the nature of
this lawsuit that conflict me out from my office representing me, the City, or
the former City Attorney. -
Commissioner Dawkins: Heh, look, you have made a legal recommendation. Now,
if the City does not want to follow your legal recommendation, you go to Court
and try to defend us and lose, and let us pay the damage. That is no problem.
Come on, what's the problem?
Mr. Jones: The problem I have is that the time it's taking and I need to
respond to the complaint. Discovery needs to be done. I can't do it, I don't
have any...
Commissioner Dawkins: You've just been told, you've got to defend yourself.
You've just been told that.
Commissioner Plummer: No, he doesn't have to defend himself. He's got
twenty-one other lawyers there.
Mr. Jones: Those lawyers' interests are the same as mine. They cannot
represent my interests. It's as simple as that.
Commissioner Plummer: Why can't they?
Mr. Jones: What is a more discernible conflict when I am being sued and
having someone in my office represent me who represents my interest? Under
the canons of ethics it's a clear conflict.
Mayor Suarez: That's not a conflict. That's what you want them to do. You
want them to represent you.
Commissioner Dawkins: Don't worry about it, the City will be liable. What's
your problem?
Mayor Suarez: If it's a conflict for them to represent you, it's a conflict
for them to represent us.
Commissioner Plummer: Exactly.
Mr. Jones: You are not being...
Commissioner Dawkins: Wait, let me get something. Hold it, hold it, hold it,
hold it.
315 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: Wait a minute, Commissioner, I am inquiring, I am inquiring.
_ Commissioner Dawkins: All right. Will these three former, the two former
City Attorneys, come to the mike and the other one.
Mayor Suarez: No, no, no, no, sir.
Commissioner Dawkins: What's the matter? I can inquire.
Mayor Suarez: No, sir. No. no, no, no, no.
Commissioner Plummer: Hell, no. They are in the private sector, now. You
know what they're going to tell you. Right. You are going to get an unbiased
opinion. Like hell you are. Hal Ha!
Mayor Suarez: Look, this matter. I think.... You explained to me differently
today. I have to go through that again. I don't think we can resolve it now.
We've got at least one more personal appearance. This gentleman has been
sitting here all day. We've got two zoning items. Can we decide this on the
meeting of the twenty-sixth?
Mr. Jones: I understand, Mr. Mayor, and you have to understand, that an
answer is due. We have to respond and I need to get an answer. That's why
the urgency is.
Mayor Suarez: Can it be resolved on the twenty-sixth of March?
Mr. Jones: It needs to be resolved tonight, Mr. Mayor. I need to get someone
working on this case.
Commissioner De Yurre: Give us a legal opinion.
Mayor Suarez: I thought exactly the same way as J.L. when this whole issue
came up and I discussed it with him. He pointed to another rule that has to
do with the same attorney representing, I don't remember what it was. He
would have to explain it over again to me and if you want to assume that his
recommendation is valid, that we ought to get independent legal counsel, we
got to the other issue which always concerns Commissioner Plummer, which is
money.
Commissioner Plummer: Exactly.
Mayor Suarez: He wants fifty thousand. I said, no way, for my vote.
Commissioner Plummer: No way, no way.
Mayor Suarez: Twenty-five thousand?
Commissioner Plummer: No way.
Mayor Suarez: If you want to try for that. If not, you're going to have to
answer the complaint and come back on the twenty-sixth and convince us. We've
got some other items.
316
March
12,
1992
Commissioner De Yurre: You know what we need to do? We need to get
together...
Mr. Jones: I am just saying, I am not going to place myself, ethically, in a
situation where I am going to try to defend myself.
Commissioner Plummer: You're not supposed to.
Mr. Jones: I can't do it ethically and I don't think it's right.
Mayor Suarez: How can you not? How can you? I think you are overstating it.
You can ethically represent yourself. And you are not representing yourself.
You've got twenty-one lawyers representing you, but anyhow...
Mr. Jones: Under the canons of ethics that I have looked at, Mr. Mayor...
Mayor Suarez: The only thing I can suggest, unless the Commission wants to
vote to grant you a certain amount of money for independent legal counsel from
here until the twenty-sixth, or a smaller amount of twenty-five thousand
dollars, whatever you all want to do. Let's move on.
Commissioner Plummer: Why can't Knox do it pro bono? Just to answer the
complaint.
(INAUDIBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.)
Commissioner Plummer: There you go.
Mayor Suarez: He's going to do it. Thank you. And then on the twenty-sixth
I need to get with you for myself, and I am sure Commissioner De Yurre, who is
an attorney, and the rest of the Commission, to figure out why it is that
there is a conflict.
Commissioner Dawkins: You know, I don't need to get with him. If he feels
there is a conflict, that's it.
Mayor Suarez: You don't need to get together with Dawkins. You got his vote.
The rest of us...
Commissioner Dawkins: That's right. If you feel that there's a conflict,
then I accept.
Mayor Suarez: I was including you because I thought you want his explanation.
If you accept it, fine. I don't, I need to be convinced. All right?
Vice Mayor Alonso: I don't.
Commissioner Plummer: Are you saying that the Commission, since we are being
sued, should also have outside counsel?
Mayor Suarez: Then we have no legal department. Why have a legal department?
317 March 12, 1992
Mr. Jones: The Commission is not being sued, the City of Miami, the former
City Attorney, myself, are both being sued individually and in our official
capacities. Also...
Mayor Suarez: J.L., let's do this on the twenty-sixth...
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
Mayor Suarez: ...He's got counsel who is going to file an answer on his
behalf, pro bono. On the twenty-sixth, we'll take it up. -
Commissioner Plummer: OK.
----------------------------------------------------------
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: At the time agenda item 51 was
called for discussion, the record was marked to reflect no
appearance by interested parties at that time.
----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
56. DISCUSSION CONCERNING FUNDING REQUEST BY U.S. KARATE ASSOCIATION FOR
GRANT TO COVER COST OF USE OF JAMES L. KNIGHT CENTER IN CONNECTION WITH
1992 INTERNATIONAL KARATE CHAMPIONSHIPS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comnissioner Plummer: No, they are not here.
Mayor Suarez: Right. Sir, Mr. Pachivas. Mr. John Pachivas, the second.
Mr. John Pachivas: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: You need the use of the James L. Knight?
Mr. Pachivas: That's correct, sir.
Mayor Suarez: ...In connection with the 1992 International Karate
Championships.
Mr. Odio: Mr. Mayor, this is...
Mayor Suarez: The James L. Knight is managed by...
Mr. Pachivas: Manny Fernandez.
Mr. Odio: It's managed by Spectacor. We are bound by bond agreements that we
will not give that away for free. This is a for -profit organization and we
_ recommend totally against this. If he wants to have a profit, he can sell
tickets and hope he can recoup his costs.
Mr. Pachivas: Mr. Mayor, last year, 1991, we represented the International
Karate Championships. Along with the representation we had thirty-four
318 March 12, 1992
countries participate in that specific event. We had six thousand contenders,
we brought...
Mayor Suarez: Then it's a for -profit organization. Did you make any profit
on that?
Mr. Pachivas: We did not make any profit on it. We had two hundred room
nights at the Omni International Hotel and the overflow went to the adjacent
hotels. We had 117 million viewers in Spanish and English on Sports Channel
America and Univision in Canada, Mexico, United States and Guadalajara.
Mayor Suarez: If we deny this, and you decide to retaliate, make sure you
begin right there. No, no, no, with this guy here with the glasses.
Mr. Pachivas: What I am trying to get at, sir, is that the event harbors the
harmony between all ethnic groups and it is an international event. We simply
don't have, right now, the budget to hold the James L. Knight. I have a
letter here who Mr. Fernandez is well aware of the event in the past, and it
does have a track record.
Mayor Suarez: We don't have any money. This, but the bond indenture which is
what supports the James L. Knight and Hyatt requires that every event that's
held there, compensation be received. The only thing we could do is come up
with City money to pay for it and we don't have anything in our budget for
this kind of event, as much as we'd like to promote it, unless the Manager can
identify some.
Mr. Odio: No, I cannot.
Mr. Pachivas: Well, it already has promoted itself. We've had a total of six
sixty-second commercials on international, national and local television. We
played the City of Miami's commercials. I have demonstrated the tape to
Commissioner De Yurre's spokesman, Mark Coats, and I have also supplied the
tapes to your assistant, Mr. Laburu, and I feel the event, I can no longer
hold it where we held it last year, and you supported us last year because I
had to refund...
Mayor Suarez: How did we support you last year?
Mr. Pachivas: With the fire and police. I had to refund monies back to these
individuals and the spectators because we oversold the gate. And I need a
larger facility to house the event and the James L. Knight has five thousand
capacity and the Omni International...
Mayor Suarez: How about the Sports and Exhibition Authority, Commissioner De
Yurre?
Mr. Pachivas: Yes, Mr. Perry is supporting the event on a technical level
with the production.
Commissioner Plummer: Everything but money.
Mr. Pachivas: He is supporting it with money, Mr. Plummer, with the
production end of it. The production alone is one hundred and seventy-five
thousand dollars.
319 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: We don't have any money. We love your event. We will help
you. We'll direct you to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, to
the Beacon Council, to the TDC (Tourism Development Council), which Plummer _
-a has an involvement in...
Commissioner Plummer: He's already been to us.
Mayor Suarez: ...all the monies he has, he has turned them down, to the
Sports and Exhibition Authority which may or may not have some money. We '
don't have any money, but we will otherwise support you in all respects. All
right.
57. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND 11000 ATLAS -- CHANGE DESIGNATION AT
2340 S.W. 32 AVENUE, 3224-32 S.W. 23 STREET AND 3217-21 S.W. 23 TERRACE
FROM R-2 TWO FAMILY RESIDENTIAL TO R-2 TWO FAMILY RESIDENTIAL WITH AN
SD-12 SPECIAL BUFFER OVERLAY DISTRICT (Owner / Applicant: Sonia
Zaldivar).
---------------------------------
Mayor Suarez: Item 53.
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Second.
Mayor Suarez: Is there anyone here that wishes
application at item 53? Let the record reflect
don't think, unless you, Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga, are
Commissioner Plummer: Read the ordinance.
to be heard against the
no one stepped forward, I
intending to oppose this.
Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: No, because I don't have any knowledge of it,
but the things that I have knowledge I am not allowed to speak, so I cannot
speak because I am not competent, and I don't have the knowledge, but I would
love ...
Mayor Suarez: This is a public hearing, that's why I asked, you, you know.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: On what, fifty -what?
Mayor Suarez: Fifty-three.
Commissioner Plummer: It's a zoning item, Manuel.
Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: But the thing is, how do you call
Interamericana of Press is attacking Mr. Mas Canosa for
freedom of speech and I think that we should extend this
Commission, because on the issues that I am entitled an
d
320 March 12, 1992
'i
instead of going directly to the different, and there was a recess set for
two minutes, and please, I would love to have an answer from Mr. Castaneda.
What percentage of all these "cifarras" goes to salaries of these executive
directors of so many institutions? I will be satisfied with an answer for
that.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Mr. Mayor, in six minutes, I am leaving.
Mayor Suarez: All right. OK. I ha
related to the item, but at least we
any potential opponents who turned
unrelated. We have a motion and a
read the ordinance. Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
ve ascertained that your remarks were not
opened up the hearing for comments from
out. You spoke about something totally
second. Any discussion, if not, please
AN ORDINANCEAMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE NO.
11000, AS AMENDED, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI, FLORIDA, BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION
FROM R-2 TWO FAMILY RESIDENTIAL WITH AN SD-12 SPECIAL
BUFFER OVERLAY DISTRICT, FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT
2340 SOUTHWEST 32ND AVENUE, 3224 AND 3232 SOUTHWEST
23RD STREET, 3217 AND 3219-3221 SOUTHWEST 23RD
TERRACE, MIAMI, FLORIDA (MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED
HEREIN); AND BY MAKING ALL THE NECESSARY CHANGES ON
PAGE NO. 42 OF SAID ZONING ATLAS; CONTAINING A
REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
Was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor
Alonso. And was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
321 March 12, 1992
19
58. AFFIRM ZONING BOARD'S DECISION TO GRANT SPECIAL EXCEPTION TO ALLOW
CONSTRUCTION (AT 2340 S.W. 32 AVENUE, 3224-32 S.W. 23 STREET AND 3217-21
S.W. 23 TERRACE) OF A SURFACE PARKING LOT TO SERVE EXISTING RESTAURANT
(VICTOR'S CAFE) ON THE ABUTTING COMMERCIAL ZONING DISTRICT -- SUBJECT TO
SIX MONTH REVIEW BY ZONING BOARD ON THE ISSUE OF SIGNAGE, ETC. (Owner /
Applicant: Sonia Zaldivar).
Mayor Suarez: Item 54 is companion item?
Commissioner Plummer: Move it.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded.
Mr. Guillermo Olmedillo: Could you make it effective on the effective date of
item 53?
Commissioner Plummer: Of what?
Mr. Olmedillo: On the effective date of item 53. Because you cannot grant
i
the special exception until 53 is in place.
Mayor Suarez: All right. On the effective date of item 53. With that
proviso, it's moved and seconded.
Commissioner Plummer: I accept the amendment.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll. Yes, sir. Come up to the mike please. I need
to hear from you so we know if you have an interest in this.
Mr. Miguel Chavez: (INAUDIBLE STATEMENT)
Mayor Suarez: All right. Which item you want to address this Commission on?
Mr. Chavez: OK. My name is Miguel Chavez. I live at 3232 S.W. 23rd Terrace.
Does this have to do with Victor's Cafe?
Mayor Suarez: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Plummer: Yes, sir.
Mr. Chavez: Because I don't have a paper that says so.
Mayor Suarez: OK, because we voted on 53, so now we have to retroactively
take your, any remarks...
Mr. Chavez: Oh, I didn't know you were voting, I don't have a thing in front
of me.
Mayor Suarez: Oh, fine, fine. So now, Madam City Clerk, in case we need to
hear also from the other side, swear in both these gentlemen and anyone that
might testify for Victor, including his attorney.
322 March 12, 1992
AT THIS POINT THE CITY CLERK ADMINISTERED REQUIRED OATH UNDER ORDINANCE NO.
10511 TO THOSE PERSONS GIVING TESTIMONY ON ZONING ISSUES.
Mayor Suarez: All right, sir.
Mr. Chavez: OK. I was here the last time, on the 13th, I think it was on the
13th of December. I am opposed to this barrier. And they know the facts.
One thing is the traffic, OK? The traffic goes by there really fast and I
a don't think with ample parking they have now, any more parking is going to
make any real difference because there is still people parking on the streets.
They know my point of view. OK. The last time they said within six months we
will review to see if we will put signs up or how. If they can do it, let's
see if putting up the signs now, OK, there are no parking signs, and do
something about the traffic to slow it down, because there is kids playing on
those streets. That's a residential neighborhood before, long time ago,
before this parking expanded. OK? My concern is not only myself, it's going
' to be right across my property. The parking and the kids on the street,
something's got to be done about the parking and the traffic on that street. —_
I am not on the avenue. I am four houses away from the main avenue and right
across.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Are you suggesting that we put signage that says "No
Parking Anytime"?
Mr. Chavez: Something's got to be done about the parking, and about the
traffic that's going by there. Because I walk that area every day, around
that block and the cars, when it gets crowded, they park around the
neighborhood.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, what we could do is make a suggestion that the
Public Works Department work with him in finding a solution for the area. The
traffic and the signage, I don't think that's too complicated, we can work
with him in trying to find a solution.
Mr. Olmedillo: What the Zoning Board had decided and had recommended to you
was that the Zoning Board review the parking issue six months after building
permits.
Vice Mayor Alonso: But besides that, he is having a problem with parking in
the area and I don't see why not. Let's look at the situation. It has
nothing to do... We approve this tonight and we work with him in trying to
help them in the area. That has nothing to do. It's something we will have
to address. We take care of this tonight and we work with him in trying to
find a solution for the area.
Mr. Chavez: Why don't you do some kind of a traffic study to see the traffic
that is actually going through there?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yeah. Why don't you meet with the Public Works
Department. Sergio, will you look into this, that this gentleman meet with
them and we try to find a solution to the problem.
323 March 12, 1992
Mayor Suarez: There is a tendency to park closer and closer and closer to
whatever it is that's the avenue that sits on the back of 32nd Avenue, I mean,
no, whatever that street is, that's right behind the...
Mr. Chavez: Right now, they park around both streets, around 23rd and 23rd
Terrace...
Mayor Suarez: I guess it is 23rd. Right.
Mr. Chavez: ...park on the street when it is full around 23rd Terrace
anywhere they can put it. It's only about 100 parking spaces.
Mayor Suarez: ...and we have to figure out a disincentive so that people
don't park on your street.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Let them work with him and see if we can find. It will
not resolve the problem, but probably could alleviate the problem and that
will be good enough.
Mr. Chavez: But it is not going to do any good if, for six months ahead, it's
going to be three more months of hassling anyway.
Mayor Suarez: OK. We're going to get a report back from our - don't mind
him, he's picking up his things there - traffic engineers and from our
Planning Department on that, and we've got to give you some relief, because
people should not be parking all over your property.
Mr. Chavez: I mean, I haven't towed anybody away yet. I mean, I've talked to
a couple of people who have parked in front of my driveway and I don't want
any problems. I just told them, "Look, park somewhere else, don't block my
driveway." I could've been towing people away, but I don't want to be mean
Jim in the neighborhood either.
Mayor Suarez: You might want to have a couple towed away just to remind them
what rights you have.
Vice Mayor Alonso: But he has a point. Something that we should try to help
him.
Mayor Suarez: OK. With all of those instructions to the department they will
work with you and then report back to us and there will be a six-month testing
period. If they haven't given you relief come back within six months, because
we are concerned about that, too, as you are. Also, I think on 32nd Avenue,
people are driving a little bit too fast and when they start turning left on
to your property, you get all kinds of near accidents. I don't know how bad
it is, but...
Mr. Chavez: Yes. The property right on the corner. You can't see, where
the fire hydrant is at, that "stop" is far away back. Right?
Mayor Suarez: Clark, could you also look at the conditions at, yeah...
Mr. Chavez: And that's a lot of accidents on that corner. Because you got to
edge out on to thirty-second and usually there is one lane to turn right on to
324 March 12, 1992
AVA
twenty-third Terrace and far to the median to go straight, but you can't see
the traffic when you come out of twenty-third Terrace, so there's been a lot
of accidents lately.
Mayor Suarez: Twenty-third Terrace, is the one right behind Victor's Cafe
there?
Mr. Chavez: Right.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mr. Chavez: The one next to where the parking's going to be.
Mayor Suarez: Yes. That's it. You're blocked by the wall, you're blocked by
the wall.
Mr. Chavez: The parking's going to be right across the street from my house.
Mayor Suarez: You know about that? All right. Thank you for your comments.
We're going to try to take that into account as well as possible. Victor,
Sonia and the rest of the gang, you all better do the best you can to provide
signage if it has to be provided and otherwise make sure your patrons
understand they're not supposed to be parking all over his property, and next
to it, and on it, otherwise he's going to have everybody towed away pretty
soon. And, George, you're going to monitor all of that. I see your smiling
face in anticipation of a favorable vote. We have a motion and a second. Any
discussion? If not, please call the roll.
325 March 12, 1992
0
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-198
A RESOLUTION AFFIRMING THE DECISION OF THE ZONING
BOARD TO GRANT A SPECIAL EXCEPTION FROM ORDINANCE NO.
11000, AS AMENDED, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI, FLORIDA, ARTICLE 6, SECTION 612, TO ALLOW THE
CONSTRUCTION OF A SURFACE PARKING LOT TO SERVE THE
EXISTING RESTAURANT (VICTOR'S CAFE) ON THE ABUTTING
COMMERCIAL ZONING DISTRICT, SUBJECT TO A SIX (6) MONTH
REVIEW BY THE ZONING BOARD FROM DATE OF ISSUANCE OF
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION OF THE PARKING FACILITY TO
CONSIDER THE ISSUE OF SIGNAGE AND FURTHER SUBJECT TO
THE CITY COMMISSION APPROVAL OF THIS SPECIAL EXCEPTION
AND OF THE PENDING APPLICATION FOR AN SD-12 SPECIAL
BUFFER OVERLAY DISTRICT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT
2340 SOUTHWEST 32ND AVENUE, 3224 AND 3232 SOUTHWEST
23RD STREET, 3217 AND 3219-3221 SOUTHWEST 23RD
TERRACE, MIAMI, FLORIDA (MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED
HEREIN); ZONED R-2 TWO FAMILY RESIDENTIAL; SAID
SPECIAL EXCEPTION HAVING A TIME LIMITATION OF TWELVE
MONTHS IN WHICH A BUILDING PERMIT MUST BE OBTAINED AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner De Yurre, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
326 Marcn 12, 1992
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
59. ACCEPT GRANT FROM SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM
PROGRAM TEXECUTE
OOPERATE
IMPLEMENTI G AGREEMENT WITH S ETC EMPLOYMENT eTRAINING
(See label 23)
Mayor Suarez: What was the other item that had to be resolved today?
Commissioner Plummer: Item 16 and 17.
Mayor Suarez: Moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, please call the
roll. Summer Youth Employment Program.
Mr. Rodriguez: Seventeen is an ordinance, I believe.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Oh, yes.
Commissioner Plummer: Sixteen is a resolution, I move.
Mayor Suarez: Moved 16 or 17, I am sorry, which one did you move?
Ms. Hirai: It's been moved. Commissioner Plummer and Commissioner Be Yurre.
Commissioner De Yurre: I vote yes on both.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 92-199
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT A
GRANT FROM THE SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
CONSORTIUM (SFETC) TO OPERATE THE 1992 SUMMER YOUTH
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM; FURTHER AUTHORIZING
THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO THE NECESSARY
IMPLEMENTING AGREEMENT IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE
CITY ATTORNEY, WITH THE SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND
TRAINING CONSORTIUM, SUBJECT TO THE CONDITIONS AND
LIMITATIONS HEREIN AND IN THE CITY CODE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner De Yurre, the resolution was passed
and adopted by the following vote:
327 March 12, 1992
1
r
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's it.
60. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: SUMMER
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM (FY '92) JTPA II-B -- APPROPRIATE
$536,850 FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR THROUGH SFETC.
Ms. Hirai: Then 17. First reading.
Mayor Suarez: On Item 17. Moved again by Commissioner Plummer, seconded
somebody?
Vice Mayor Alonso: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: Seconded. Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCEESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND
ENTITLED: "SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
PROGRAM (FY '92) JTPA II-B"; APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR
THE OPERATION OF SAID PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF
$536,850 FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR THROUGH THE
SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CONSORTIUM;
CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY
CLAUSE.
Was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor Alonso
and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
328 March 12, 1992
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
61. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND: COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) (EIGHTEENTH YEAR) - APPROPRIATE
$13,156,000 -- FURTHER APPROPRIATE $1,400,000 FROM 18TH YEAR CDBG
PROGRAM INCOME, AS APPROVED BY DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT (HUD) FOR TOTAL OF $14,556,000.
Mr. Castaneda: 41. The ordinance of Community Development. You guys did not
pass it. The Commission didn't pass it.
Mayor Suarez: OK. We didn't move 41. It's been moved by Commissioner De
Yurre. The ordinance that implements Community Development Block Grants.
Vice Mayor Alonso: OK. Second.
Mayor Suarez: Read the ordinance, please. Call the roll.
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCEESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND
ENTITLED: "COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
(EIGHTEENTH YEAR)," AND APPROPRIATING $13,156,000 FOR
EXECUTION OF SAME; FURTHER APPROPRIATING THE SUM OF
$1,400,000 FROM EIGHTEENTH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM INCOME AS APPROVED BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD) FOR
A TOTAL APPROPRIATION OF $14,556,000; CONTAINING A
REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
Was introduced by Commissioner De Yurre and seconded by Vice Mayor
Alonso and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr.
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
Mr. Castaneda: Thank you, Commissioners.
329 March 12, 1992
4) 0
62. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND 11000 TEXT -- AMEND ARTICLE 219
ADMINISTRATION, ENFORCEMENT, VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES, SECTION 2105 --
REVISE TEXT TO EXTEND TIME LIMITS FOR OBTAINING BUILDING PERMITS AND
CERTIFICATES OF USE AND OCCUPANCY.
Mr. Sergio Rodriguez: Mr. Mayor, you have 55, which you asked us to have
today specially, which is the Caroline Weiss item on item 43. I'm just doing
my job.
Mayor Suarez: What are you saying? You're saying that Caroline Weiss, who
was here all day, and personally is not here any more.
Mr. Rodriguez: You asked us to have an amendment to the zoning ordinance as a
request from Caroline Weiss on the agenda today, item 55, to schedule for
today which is the one that will extend it.
Mayor Suarez: What happened to Caroline Weiss? Just out of curiosity. I
mean, we sti 11 have three members of the Commission, but we don't have any
Caroline Weiss.
Mr. Rodriguez: I don't know. I couldn't tell you where Caroline Weiss is.
But I can tell you that you asked us to bring this today and that you wanted
to vote on this today.
Vice Mayor Alonso: How could we? We need three. One, two and three. So
what do you need?
Mr. Rodriguez: You need to pass it on first reading today, item 55, which is
extension of the zoning ordinance effective date.
Mayor Suarez: Is there anyone here that wish to be heard against item 55?
Let the record reflect no one stepped forward.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Why do we have to do that today?
Mr. Rodriguez: Because you asked us to bring it today.
Vice Mayor Alonso: So we move.
Mayor Suarez: She and her attorney left. They didn't stay long around. Is
this for the big project? The one that Miami Today says is about to happen
tomorrow, the day after, with all the financing in place and everything, of
course, because that's...
Vice Mayor Alonso: Did she get the court approval? Did the bank sign?
Mr. Rodriguez: No.
Vice Mayor Alonso: They did not.
330
March 12, 1992
M
-------------
Miriam Maer, Esq.: As of the last thing this afternoon, they still had not.
Vice Mayor Alonso: They were here. Why?
Mr. Rodriguez: I don't know.
Vice Mayor Alonso: For hours. Did anyone bother to ask them? —
Mr. Rodriguez: Well, she didn't volunteer anything. -
=' Commissioner Dawkins: Are we going to vote on this? If not, I am going home. One way or the other.
Vice Mayor Alonso: You told me that we have to do it. I so move.
Mr. Rodriguez: No. I am telling you that you asked us to bring it today, so
this is here today per...
Vice Mayor Alonso: No, no. You better tell me what you think we should do.
No. No way.
Mr. Rodriguez: Following your instructions, we are presenting to you, and it
is in proper form before you and we recommend, and if you want to, approve it
today. It's the first reading, anyhow.
Ms. Hirai: It's first reading. You can change your mind.
Mr. Rodriguez: It's first reading. Second reading is in two weeks from now.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Well, let's do it. If not, we will always have someone to
blame.
Commissioner Dawkins: You can move it in principle. Move it in principle.
Vice Mayor Alonso: Sergio. Yes, I so did.
Commissioner Dawkins: Second.
Mayor Suarez: It's not in principle. It's actually an ordinance, right?
Mr. Rodriguez: First reading.
Vice Mayor Alonso: We can always turn it down in second...
Mayor Suarez: First reading. So moved and seconded by Commissioner Dawkins.
Read the ordinance. Call the roll.
331 March 12, 1992
AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED -
AN ORDINANCEAMENDING ORDINANCE 11000, AS AMENDED, THE
NEW ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, BY
AMENDING SECTION 2105, ENTITLED "STATUS OF
APPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT PERMITS"; EXTENDING THE
TIME LIMITS FOR OBTAINING BUILDING PERMITS AND
CERTIFICATES OF USE AND OCCUPANCY PURSUANT TO PRIOR AND CURRENT ORDINANCES; CONTAINING A REPEALER
PROVISION, SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Was introduced by Vice Mayor Alonso and seconded by Commissioner Dawkins
and was passed on its first reading by title by the following vote:
AYES:
Commissioner Miller Dawkins
Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Victor De Yurre
Commissioner J.L. Plummer.
The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and
announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and
to the public.
Mayor Suarez: That's it.
Vice Mayor Alonso: That's it?
Mr. Rodriguez: Well, on the other one you need four people. You don't have
them.
Mayor Suarez: We sure don't have that. This Commission is adjourned. Do we
need to continue any items? Under the Zoning Code?
Mr. Rodriguez: No.
Vice Mayor Alonso: No.
Mayor Suarez: All right. The Commission is adjourned.
332 March 12, 1992
w
L.
THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE CITY
COMMISSION, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 9:08 P.M.
ATTEST:
Matty Hirai
CITY CLERK
Walter J. Foeman
ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
Xavier L. Suarez
MAYOR
INCO H[' ()RATE' D
16 18 � 96
F�,,
333 March 12, 1992