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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #06 - Discussion Itemerty OP MIAMI. 01.6I111fiA us IN` rLP-rorFICI MtMONIANC' UM To: Cesar Odio, City Manager December 27, 1985 OVLA- surr,ccrMerging Off -Street Parking Authority and DDA Xavier L. Suarezp Mayor A., nam- ✓ 011WIERENcta: cNcLosu01981 I would like to place the following item on the January 9th Commission agenda: I would like to propose merging the Off -Street Parking Authority and the Downtown Development Authority into one unit which would be named the Downtown Facilities Authority. The authority would function with a board, appointed by the City Commission and parking rates would also be approved by the Commission. XLS/kds cc: Vice Mayor Miller Dawkins Commissioner Joe Carollo Commissioner Rosario Kennedy Commissioner J.L. Plummer in '-7' :-�' r CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM ° Mayor Xavier L. Suarez DATE January 10, 1986 FILE 5'.;B_E- i FROM at Hirai City Clerk Special Transcript Request - Excerpt from minutes of 1 /9/86 REFERENCES meeting. ENCLOSURES Pursuant to your request, enclosed herein please find an excerpt from the minutes of the January 9. 1986 City Commission meeting, which this office has completed on Agenda Item "B" - discussion of proposed merging of Off -Street Parking Authority and Downtown Development Authority. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call. cc: Honorable Members of the City Commission Cesar Odio, City Manager MH:ld A. is e'. 0. DISCUSSION PROPOSED MERGING OF OFF-STREET PARKING AUTHORITY AND THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY. Mayor Suarez: Item B was my item and I understand there has been a standing committee that has been reviewing the whole issue of the Off -Street Parking Authority and/or the DDA, and if that is the case, and 1 understand that Commissioner Plummer has been a part of +hat_. Maybe you could tell us how far we have progressed with either one of those +wo items. Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, being as brief as I can, you might recall that last year the Legislature in their so-called "infinite wisdom", kthat is quotation marks) removed the DDA, of all, around the State of Florida, from the special miilage and put it under the 10 mill cap, which meant tnat last year it was proposed that some S'100,000 ...$760,000 - was that correct? kINAUDiBLE BACKGROUND COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD) Mr. Plummer: About 4i755,000 was proposed to come out of the General Funa. There were those of us that felt that was worthwhile to explore and to pursue, which I then was appointed as a committee to sit down and to negotiate with the Off -Street Parking Authority and the DDA, to try to find out areas of duplication and where monies could be saved. There was a great deal of effort that was put forth at that particular time to get us over the hurtle of last year's budget, which saves some S365,000 for the budget, which was proposed by the Off -Street Parking Authority to underwrite the budget of the DDA. This year, we are pursuing four different alternatives - number one, to continue the merge between the two organizations, number two, to look for the possibility of consolidating the DDA with ketropolitan Dade County's Economic Development, number three, that it be a combination of public and private sector and of course, the fourth, which I don't think at this particular time is warranted, the elimination, or, in fact, the assimilating into the Planning Department. That is what we are pursuing. We started to have a meeting over the holidays and it was impossible to try to get all of the parties together. As a part of that negotiation, of course, at the time last year was Sergio Pereira and it is our hope and desire that Cesar Odio will continue in those deliberations, even though the Manager was not named as a member of that committee. We do intend to have a meeting in the next two weeks and to continue these deliberations to come forth with some further recommenda+ions to this Commission. I will answer any other questions that anyone might have. Mr. Dawkins: I have a stdtemeut to make. Mayor Suarez: Commissioner. Mr. Dawkins: I have been saying ever since 1 have been on the Commission that I do not see the necessity of the Downtown Development Authority. We have a Planning Department of our own, and the, for the lack of a better word, the establishment constantly comes up with methods and means to do what they want to do, and you have got something now called the Beacon Council, that is supposed to be doing the same thing that DDA is supposed to be doing, so somewhere along the line, somebody has got to tell me, you know, what we are doing! Now, if the DDA is going to do this, then we don't need to give no money to the Beacon Council. If you are going to give money to the Beacon Council to do what DDA is doing, you don't need DDA, and you really won't need DDA when you have got your own planning department and we are paying some good salaries in that. Now, that has been my position ever since I have come on here, and it will continue to be my position. Mrs. Kennedy: Mr. Mayor, unlike Commissioner Dawkins, 1 am new 'to this Commission, as are you, and the way I feel, is that I need more time to study this proposal. 1 would like to see some kind of white paper, or call it wnat you may - perhaps asking them for a reasonable amount of time to do a study z and come back to us. That is the way 1 feel. �E id 1 January y, 1966 Mayor Suarez: Let me express, in addition to what has been stated, and to the report of Commissioner Plummer's committee, that my own concerns are a total of four. Commissioner Plummer made reference to one of them - the duplication of effort, and that is an important one, 1 think, in the minds of all of us, and as Commissioner Dawkins has stated, we now have +.fie Beacon Council, which apparently is going to lose its funding, by the way. 1 gather they didn't take into consideration the feelings of the electorate when they passed that famous, or infamous symphony tax and are about to lose all their funaing, except whatever they can get from the private sector. The duplication is one concern out of four from my perspective, and particularly as it regards the Off -Street Parking Authority, and 1 have expressed this to the Executive Director. I hope my message got through, and I hope the standing committee will consider these, Commissioner. Number one, in addition to the duplication one is the exis`ence of parking meters throughout the City in ail Kinds of places that people are very upset about, particularly S. W. d Street, and S. W. 1 Street and Fiagler. The Miami News yesterday, I believe had an editorial in which they misunderstood my orientation on this. 1 nave no problems with the concept of parking meters downtown. We do need that, obviously, and evidently need the constant flow of traffic and the constant change in *he cars that are stationed downtown, so the people can stop and get accomplished whatever it is they have to do downtown, but, in these other areas, 1 see absolutely no need. I have objected in the memo that the Commission has a copy of, to proposed parking meters in the Jackson -Memorial area, and kr. Carlton has told me that they intend to have hearings from concerned citizens and merchants to discuss the viability and the need for those, but as a general rule, our citizens, I think that those of us that just ran for election, were made aware of this, that they are very much against any new parking meters anywhere. Downtown already has them, so that is really a totally separate question, which might, very well be handled as part of the downtown facilities authority, because it is downtown, and it is a facility in some ways - parking downtown. That also applies, by the way, to parking structures and parking lot buildings. I really wonder if we are competing with the private sector in one end, and I wonder if we are not pushing our parking rates downtown by setting what appears to be the floor, and i've discussed this also with the Executive Director and we hope to have some demand, curves, or some marketing studies to establish exactly what we are doing downtown by setting rates, and the profit making aspect, the dimension of the Off -Street Parking Authority concerns me. People don't unaerstand why we should have an entity out there that seems to be totally oriented towaras making money, and particularly when it is at the cost of having parking lots all over the City, and we do not consider it a return, Mr. Carlton, frankly, to the community that are paying these parking meters, to have more parking lots built there. As you have stated, that simply is not compensation. That is an additional burden. I can't imagine anyone in Little Havana that wants to see any more parking lots built anywhere near Little Havana, and private developers have not come to us crying that they need for us to provide more parking facilities for them. If and when they do, that would be something interesting to consider, but so far, I have never heard that particular request. Finally, I am concerned about the autonomy issue. Citizens keep asking us why we don't appoint the members of these boards, and why we only have consent powers, 1 oeiieve in one case, and in the other case I am not sure we even have that, both as to the DDA and the Off -Street ParKing ` Authority, and 1 would like the committee to consider whether the Miami City Commission should not appoint all of the members of both of these boards, as we do the members of other commissions and boards that we have in the City of Miami. Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, excuse me. There was one other option that 1 failea to mention. The other option was to go back to the Legislature and there is an effort on that behalf going on presently to take the millag� rai.s�u by the DDA back out from under the 10 mill cap, keeping in mind that prior to +i,.:+ action, that that monies, which is the operation of the DDA, was paid for by the people who benefited. That was the CBD, the Central Business Distric+ and at the time, and most of the years that it ran, that was the feeling. Those people wanted it, they were willing to tax themselves a half a mill outside of the 10 mill cap. That was fine, let them have it and let them develop as they saw fit, because they were paying for it. That is one of the viable alternatives that is presently being considered, to try and petition the Legislature to take it back out, not only by this City, but every other City in the State of Florida that has a DDA. Mr. Mayor, I will notify all of you "+ Id 2 January y, 1966 by memo a+ the next Commission meeting, to either come forth personally and make your thoughts known, or by memo, and it will be considered at that, meeting. Mrs. Kennedy: Mr. Mayor, could we ask the City Manager to make a study ana let us know what would be lost by consolidation in perhaps 45 days? Mr. Plummer: Yes, that is what we are doing. Mrs. Kennedy: Okay. Mayor Suarez: It is to provide the necessary input to the committee too, and technical support, in case you need it. Mr. Plummer: Well, that is what it had been in the past. Mayor Suarez: Is that an independent district, what you were just talking about? Is that the definition? Mr. Plummer: Yes, there is a definition of the DDA, runs up to 17 Street, to the expressway, down to ... and now it encompasses Brickell, because Brickell was the expanded ... Mayor Suarez: And it is provided for in State law that it does not come under our millage cap if it is an independent district. Thdt is ... Mr. Plummer: No, excuse me, it does. The law changed two years ago, and that is where the problem emanated from. Prior to that law, the CBD taxea themselves a half a mill, which was outside of the 10 mill cap. In the wisdom of the Legislature, they said it must be included in the 10 mill cap, and because of that, it passed, is where then it had to come from part of the City funds, and that is when I started raising hell, and that is why me and my big mouth got me to head one more committee in the City! So, but. I think we are accomplishing something. I really do. Mayor Suarez: But, the creation of an independent tax district, does that require legislative change, or just administrative change? Mr. Plummer: No, you cannot do it ... Mayor Suarez: Administrative interpretation? Mr. Plummer: No, if you have a special taxing district,, there are two forms - one is through the State Legislature, which has the power to do it. We, the City, do not have the power within ourselves to create a special district. Any special district that we propose has to be approved by Home Rule Charter by Metropolitan Dade County. For example, if we wanted to go out and create a district for lighting, and only paid for by the people of that district, we do not have the authority to do such. We can propose it to the Metropolitan Dade County; they have to approve it. At this particular time, there are no special taxing districts in the City of Miami. Mayor Suarez: Okay, I don't believe we need a motion on this. i believe Commissioner Plummer has noted our concerns, ... Mr. Plummer: Just for discussion. Mayor Suarez: ... my particular concerns and those of Commissioner Kennedy and Dawkins, and will take those into account and prepare a report that will come back to us for action, I presume in the next couple of months. Mrs. Kennedy: Mr. Mayor, before we get off, Manager to do a feasibility study with the DDA Latin Quarter project, and then come back to meeting? Mr. Cesar Odio: You mean Off -Street ... Mrs. Kennedy; Off -Street, I am sorry. Mr. Odio: Yes, Ma'am. I will be glad to. ld 3 could we ask also the City funds to do some kind of a us at the next Commission January y, 19d6