HomeMy WebLinkAboutM-88-0826I
CITY OF MIAM1, FLORIDA
97
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO The Honorable Mayor and DAn
Members of the City Commission
•UIPACT
Cesar H. Odi
FROM City Manager ItEF[11[NC[{
ENGlO{UIIE•
August 29, 1988 rnE
Coconut Grove Special
Events Meeting held
August 23, 1988
Commission Discussion Item ,
September 8, 1988
Based on the question that the City Commission raised at the July
14, 1988 City Commission meeting regarding events and festivals
occurring in the Coconut Grove area and the negative impact on
its residents, the Department of Community Development on August
23, 1988, met with festival and event organizers, civic and
community based organizations, representatives and producers of
music festivals from the area. ,
According to the residents the quality of life has been affected
as follows:
a) Concern over the safety of attendees of events at the Grove
and the massive law suits that could result.
b)
Negative impact of congestion of area by excessive shortage
of
parking facilities and excess of garbage and litter.
c)
Noise derived by events is excessive when hours of festivals
are
extended longer than stipulated.
d)
Residents in general are not economically impacted by events.
e)
Streets, parks aml other green areas are destroyed by the
constant
pedestrian traffic and general traffic in the area.
f )
Festivals getting bigger anti city services could not cover
the
area effectively.
Suggestions
by the group were as follows:
a)
The establishment of a special events committee to review new
festivals
and closely monitor existing events. The Cosmdttee
would
have these functions:
Handle funds that are donated by festival organisers to A;
enhance the Coconut Grove. area.
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Recommend funding to the City Commission through the
Department of Community Development.
Recommend improvemens to Peacock Park even though no specific
plans were stated for the park.
Establish guidelines that may be enforced for festivals,
promoters and organizers in terms of safety, such as fire
lanes, safe electrical outlets etc.
Designate a "Festival Area" conditioned to the festivals or
events. Some sites were recommended.
b) The city of Miami should provide festival organisers and
sponsors with incentives to move out of the Grove area into other
neighborhoods of the City. These areas should be conditioned to
have events in an appropriate manner. Downtown Miami was
discussed as an area with great potential.
The Department of Community Development recommends the followings
-The establishment of a Special Events Committee composed of
representatives of all segments of the population in the Coconut
Grove area. This committee should strike a balance for the
benefit of the black as well as the white residents of the area.
Represented equally should he residents, community based
organizations, civic groups, festivals and events organizers and
City staff.
-The committee should have an advisory capacity to report the
concerns and issues to the Department of Community Development,
who in turn should pass these recommendations to the City
Commission for consideration and action.
-The committee should set guidelines and monitor new and existing
events and festivals.
-Other meetings should be scheduled
establishment of the committee.
Attachment
to discuss the actual
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Minutes
Special Events in The Coconut Grove Area
1145 N.M. 11 Street, Miami, Florida
August 23, 1998
Item I.
The meeting was called to order at 18:88 A.M. by Frank Castane4a,
Director of Community Development.
Item II.
Present at the meeting were festival aml events organisers, civic
and community based organizations representatives and producers
of musical festivals.
The following staff from the Department of Community Development
were present: Espe Avalon, Gracie Lovin and Magda Rodriguez from
Special Eventst Officer Aguirre from the Police Departmenti Danny
Kresky, Tony Garcia and Steve Tadlock from Parks, Recreation and
Public Facilities.
Item III.
Frank Castaneda# Director of Community Development announced the
teasov fothe meeting. Re explained that the City Comisfton
had raised a concern about too many events and festivals ocurring
in the Coconut Grove area. The idea was to create a mechanism to
control and coordinate the different activities, and perhaps
explore new ways to encourage events and festivals to go to other
areas of the City of Miami, he stated.
Mr. Castaneda mentioned that input from the community was
necessary to establish if festivals and events were impacting the
Grove area negatively and affecting the quality of life of the
residents .of the area.
Mr. Castaneda opened the floor for discussion.
Item IV.
Tucker Hibbs, President, Coconut drove Civic Club, stato*' that-'
was concerned about the amount of litter and q z,�iri
left after the events in the Grove area.! 1"
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quality of life in general was being affected. 1p"O rit-41
as the Coconut Grove Arts leetivals'kept g'tting
area could not handle it.
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Mr. Gibbs, continuer] saying that there was no economic impact in
the Grove by events aril the residents had enough. Their
children don't feel safe in their own front yard. He suggested
that as a group we find a mechanism by which we can control the
events we have now and limit new ones.
Michael Peyton, Miami Runners Club gave a brief update on all the t events at were held at the Grove by his organization and said
that they were all low key events starting early in the morning
and were completely over by 10t30 A.M. or llt00 A.M.
Mr. Peyton mentioned that their events were carefully monitored
and all their sites were left clean. His organization produces 30
running events within the City of Miami and Dade County every
year and out of those events only two ( 2 ) were held in the City
of Miami, which were the "Coconut Grove 5 Miler", and the "Baby
Boom 10 K Race ". He said that if concerns of these events were
expressed earlier the organization would have relocated them to
another site.
Joanna Holshouser, private citizen from the Coconut Grove area.
e explained that she had lived in the Grove for twenty five
years ( 25 ) and had assisted every festival held in it, and noted
that she was very familiar with every event and their particular
problems that they bring to the area.
Mrs. Holshouser commented that the City's services could not
cover the amount of problems that impacted the area after the
events and festivals. It jeopardized the safety of the attendees
and we are facing massive law suits as a result, said Me.
Holshouser. Traffic is terrible at all hours of the day and the
litter is just as bad. She questioned the right of all these
festivals and events to be held at the Grove.
Mrs. Holshouser also said that the only festivals that had the
right to be at the Grove were the Bahamas Goombay Festival and
the King Mango Strut. She suggested that people involved in the
decision making process of festivals and events take a long look
at these events since the residents were not receiving any
benefits at all. She continued saying that these events should
be relocate] to Downtown Miami were City's services were
appropriate and transportation was available.
Terril Stone, of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, mentioned that
their festival impacted positively on the residents of the area
through art scholarships, and grants to different eomunity
organizations such as the Coconut Grove Local Development
Corporation (CGLDC), Gibson Memorial Center etc. She felt that
it was their responsibility to enhance the quality of life of the
residents. In addition, She mentioned that the organization had
given an excess of $30,006 to the Department of Parks in the City a,
of Miami to fix up, reclaim the park and the surrowding area
utilized by their festival. She questioned the allomtiow of -tho k
grant for this purpose and suggested that a "waster plan" Yal#ati
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in place for this purpose. (Marshall Steingold, Coconut Grove
Foundation commented on the existence of a "master plan" by the
City of Miami to refurbish the entire area. Mr. Jack Luft, he
said, Chief Planner for the City of Miami, had knowledge of it).
Ms. Stone stated that there was an urgent need to establish a
committee authorized to disburse funds donated by festivals and
events organizers to enhance the Grove area. She said that these
funds should not be placed in the hands of the City of Miami for
distribution. This "clearing house committee" should represent
the white and black Grove residents, civic organizers, festivals
and events organizers etc
Me. Stone suggested that parking should be identified in the
area, and work with public transportation people to coordinate
efforts to avoid traffic problems. She felt that there was a
"hidden agenda" by the City of Miami Commission to bring more
events Downtown Miami and she suggested that incentives be given
to festival's organizers to relocated or establish their events
in other areas of the City. In addition , she suggested that a
program should be instituted to assist new events and work in the
establishing of these events in other neighborhoods of the City.
Mr. Castaneda, Director of Community Development clarified for
the recorr-tat the City Commission had not criticized any event
in particular. The City Commission had expressed concern and
wanted to explore the possibility of moving some festivals to
other areas of the City, possibly Downtown. He said that the
City was extremely happy to have a great number of festivals and
events in the Grove area, but questioned the frequency.
David Alexander, Executive Director of the Coconut Grove Local
Development Corporation (CGLDC) stated that in his opinion the
festivals were here to stay in Coconut Grove. His main concern
was that these events would positively impact the residents of
the area in general blacks as well as whites. He noted that
there were problems anal the people impacted should work together
to solve them. fie said that perhaps we should look for
alternatives such as considering utilizing the empty area behind
Commodore Bay, expand Peacock Park or build a facility to the
effect.
Mr. Alexander in response to the needs of the area suggested that
a system should be implemented by the festival organizers , all
the civic organizations and concerned residents to aAdress the
different problems resulting from these events. He said that if
residents would receive benefits and their lives would be
impacted favorably they would in turn embrace events in their
area and would back them accordingly. "Let's get an scenarJ4
favorable for both of them", he stated.
Mr. Alexander mentioned that a Committee should be orgaaised .wO
an agenda should be compiled by all of those eon"rRed -+ :4.
committee with no power except for advisory capacity , he stag* t;
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He noted that the Department of Community Development should
receive the committee's input and through their appropriates]
channels pass it on to the Commission - this committee should
incorporate.
Frank Castaneda, Director of Community Develo ment took the floor
and clarified the issued being considered as followst
1) The reducing of impact of traffic and trash in the Coconut
Grove area.
2) The minimizing of activities to a number of blocks in the
Coconut Grove area .
3) The establishing of n clearer traffic pattern to avoid
confusion of festival attendees, and the posting of "no parking"
sings in appropriate areas by the Police Department. like the
Orange Bowl's event.
4) The creation of a screening committee that would review
festivals and what persons should sit at the committee.
5) The relocation of events and festivals to other areas of the
City, mainly Downtown Miami area.
Frankie Rolle, Bahamas Goombay Festival, noted that all festivals
a -events organizers do have guidelines that they must follow
required by the City before having an event. All the departments
concerned with services are involved in the process, and the City
demarxis that the rules are enforced. "If the rules are followed,
I do not see a problem in this area", she stated.
Bill Dobson, King Mango Strut and Coconut Grove Jaycees suggested
that the City would give consideration to building more parking
facilities in the area to avoid traffic congestion. Mr. Dobson
added that perhaps festival's attendees should be educated as how
to use Metro Rail and other type of transportation available.
He concurred with the rest of those in attendance at the meeting
that a festival board should be established to handle special
events. . He added that in his opinion this board should be
subsidized by government, as other cities in the nation had done,
as Chicago and San Francisco in California Mr. Dobson, said that
these cities encourage special events and make their
contributions through services such as police, sanitation etc..
Rod Graubman, Producer of the Coconut Grove Music Festival
explained that he had produced PACE concerts for fourteen (14)
years and felt somehow responsible for the dilemma created by
events in the Grove. He felt that was a question of
"sophistication" and growth as a direct result of good events
that had great publicity through marketing and media exposase.
He concluded that festivals get bigger end no one coulA holA th"
back. The issue, he felt was more with the educating of the
public as to parking and transportation availability.
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Mr. Graubman recommended to take a look at these festivals as a
group and define a way to invent a system to make them work
better. He said that problems are obstacles or they present
opportunities to bring about some kind of creative solution.
He further explained the need for articulating criticises of
events through a committee to open up channels of communication
from all the people impacted. He stated that the refusing of
events in the Grove area would be detrimental to the area, but in
reality events will get bigger and will require monitoring to
avoid a law suit.
Frank Castaneda, Director of Community Development suggested that
a surtax a ditional tax) should be imposed on those
organizations taking advantage of the Coconut Grove area for
events. He said that this may encourage organizers to stage
their events in other areas of the City. This surtax, when
collected would be allocated to the Grove area to enhance their
parks, streets etc. (Terril Stone strongly objected to the
establishment of a surtax, stating that festival organizers
already pay a lot for the cost of City services).
Mr. Castaneda reminded everyone that care should be exercised to
avoid the mistake incurred by Broward County, in which they
devoided their tourist revenue by putting too many restrictions
to students that flocked the area during "Spring Break"
Tony Garcia, Staff in charge of permits for the Department of
Parks and Recreation, stated that consideration should be given
to some level of funding for these parks that were constantly
utilized for special events. He said that after the festivals
better lighting was needed to perform better cleaning services,
more restrooms facilities were needed to accommodate the
attendees etc.
Billy Rolle, Miami Goombay Festival suggested that a specific
est val area" should be assigned in certain area of the Grove,
and conditioned to serve the events appropriately. He indicated
some of the needs such as hanging hooks for street signs, fire
and safety lanes, safe electrical outlets, hookup for electrical
facilities etc.
Mr. Rolle stated that certain guidelines were absolutely
necessary to regulate the area and make it safe to those people
attending the festivals. in addition he voiced his complaint on
the high level of noice brought about by the extended hours of
the events.
Joe Avalos, Great Coconut Grove Bicycle Race stated that there
was an evident lack of coordination between the festivals
organizers. There should be a central focus with guidelines for
everyone where problem could be not and solved. =k
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Mr. Avalon announced proudly that Coconut Grove is the Center for
the action in Miami, primarily because residents of the area have
a high level of tolerance for this type of things. He thought
that the idea of having a Special Events Committee was great.
Bob Fitzesimmons, expressed concern about the negative impact of
events, ma my big festivals in the Grove area, and suggested
that perhaps relocation to other areas of the City was the best
avenue. He questioned the festival organizers as to what was
needed to motivate them to move out of the area in question.
Terril Stone, Coconut Grove Arts Festivals answered his question
by n cat ng that it was up to the City of Miami Commission to
upgrade and uplift different areas of the City to make it
attractive for the organizers to relocate or initiate events in
those areas. She further stated that it was not fair for
promoters and sponsors to uproot a successful festival and move
it to a "waste land ". in addition, she said, that it was of
utmost importance to motivate these organizers/promoters through
incentives, if the Commission really wanted them out of the
Grove. She felt that some events would willingly move because
they were crowded for space.
Marshall Stein old, Coconut Grove Foundation said that everyone
that had moved in the Grove area in the last 10 years must
realize that festivals are part of the life of the area. The
only reason for their existence is because they are wonderful and
generate a lot of good publicity for Coconut Grove.
Mr. Steingold confirmed that the problem was not that the
festivals are too successful, but that we must manage thew in
such a way that the natural resources are not destroyed - "we
must live with our own creation and plan accordingly".
He further explain&.i that the Coconut Grove Foundation last year
had conducted a $25,000 research study in the Grove in which 656
people were interviewed in the streets for a two (2) week period
and they generally confirmed that what they wanted the most was
festivals in the Grove. He agreed with the rest of the group
that a committee was needed to coordinate anti guide the process
to give the residents of the Coconut grove area whatever they
were entitled.
Frank Castaneda, Director of Community Development said that if a
comet ttee was organized, it was of utmost importance to make sure
that it stroke a balance and represented all the segments
impacted by events in that particular area.
Officer Juan Aguirre, from the City of Miami Police Departsmt
took the floor and agreed on all the concerns raised by the group
as follows:
a) The traffic situation was bad and could be ixWoved by
arranging and or constructing parking facilitiee in the arse.
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b) More "no parking signs" are needed to be placed at strategic
areas.
c) it was impossible to control the amount of people atten4ing
the festivals or events since it was an open situation on public
parks and streets.
Officer Aguirre stated that the Police Department could work with
any situation presented to them if it was arranged properly and
through the right channels, as long as they were compensated for
their services. The City Commission had the ultimate decision on
any given situation, he reminded those present at the meeting.
Item V.
The meeting was adjourned at 1.06 P.M.
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