HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2024-09-07 MinutesCity of Miami
City Hall
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, FL 33133
www.miamigov.com
Meeting Minutes
Saturday, September 07, 2024
10:00 AM
First Budget Hearing
City Hall
City Commission
Francis X. Suarez, Mayor
Christine King, Chair, District Five
Joe Carollo, Vice Chair, District Three
Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner, District One
Damian Pardo, Commissioner, District Two
Manolo Reyes, Commissioner, District Four
Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager
George K. Wysong III, City Attorney
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
10:00 AM INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Present: Chairwoman King, Vice Chair Carollo, Commissioner Gabela, Commissioner
Pardo and Commissioner Reyes
On the 7th day of September 2024, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, met
at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, for its
First Budget Hearing. The Commission Meeting was called to order by Chairwoman King at
10:13 a.m., recessed at 11:50 a.m., reconvened at 12:50 p.m. and adjourned at 12:56 p.m.
Note for the Record: Vice Chair Carollo entered the Commission chambers at 11:07 a.m.
ALSO PRESENT:
Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager
George K. Wysong III, City Attorney
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
Chair King: Welcome to the first budget hearing of the City of Miami. Today is September 7th,
2024, Saturday. I'm so happy to see all of you. As we do every meeting, we're going to begin
the meeting with prayer. We're waiting for our pastor to come out. It's my honor to introduce
Pastor Robert Jackson from St. Paul AME (American Methodist Episcopal) Church. He is
going to lead us in prayer today. Good morning, Pastor Jackson.
Robert Jackson: Can we all stand? Let us pray.
Invocation delivered.
Chair King: And at this time, Commissioner Reyes, would you lead us with the Pledge of
Allegiance?
Pledge of Allegiance delivered.
Chair King: Thank you. You may all be seated.
ORDER OF THE DAY
Chair King: At this time, we will have our city attorney read a statement into the record.
George Wysong (City Attorney): Good morning and thank you, Madam Chair. This morning,
the City of Miami is holding its first budget meeting, and the related first budget public hearing
for the purposes of fixing the proposed millage rate, adopting a tentative budget and approving
various agency budgets. There will be a final budget meeting and final budget public hearing
held on September 26, 2024, at 5: 05 p.m. at Miami City Hall, located here at 3500 Pan
American Drive, Miami, FL 33133. These hearings were set pursuant to Resolution Number R-
24-0284, adopted on July 25, 2024, and in compliance with Chapter 200, and Section 166.241
Florida Statutes, and all other applicable codes, rules, and regulations. Detailed information
about the processes, order of business, rules of procedure, and scheduling or rescheduling of
City Commission meetings can be found in Chapter 2, Article 2 of the City Code, a copy of
which is available online at wNw.municode.com. Any person who is a lobbyist pursuant to
Chapter 2, Article 6 of the City Code must register with the City Clerk and comply with related
City requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the City Commission. A person may
not lobby a City official, board member, or staff member until registering. A copy of Chapter 2,
Article 6 of the City Code entitled `Lobbyists' is available in the City Clerk's Office or online at
www.municode. coin. Any person making a presentation, formal request, or petition for the City
Commission concerning real property must make the disclosures required by the City Code in
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Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
writing. A copy of the City Code section is available at the office of the City Clerk or online at
www.municode.com. The City of Miami requires that anyone requesting approval, relief or
other action from the City Commission must disclose before the public hearing any
consideration provided or committed directly or on its behalf to anyone for an agreement to
support or withhold objection to the requested approval, relief; or other action pursuant to
City Code Section 2-8. Any documents offered to the City Commission that have not been
provided at least seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be entered
into the record at the City Commission's discretion. In accordance with Section 2-33(f) and (g)
of the City Code, the agenda and the material for each item on the agenda is available during
business hours at the City Clerk's Office, and online 24 hours a day at www.miamigov.com.
Any person may be heard by the City Commission through the Chair for not more than two
minutes on any proposition before the City Commission unless modified by the chairperson.
Public comment will begin at approximately 10:20 a.m. and remain open until public comment
is closed by the chairperson. Members of the public wishing to address the body may also do
so by submitting written comments via the online comment form. Please visit
www.miamigov.com/meetinginstructions for detailed instructions on how to provide public
comments using the online public comment form. The comments submitted through the
comment form have been and will be distributed to the elected officials and City administration
throughout the day so that the elected officials may consider the comments prior to taking any
action. Additionally, the online comment form will remain open during the meeting to accept
comments and distribute to the elected officials and City administration up until the
chairperson closes public comment. Public comment may also be provided here live at City
Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, subject to any and all Miami City rules as may be amended
from time to time. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to be
heard may be at such later date before the City Commission takes action on such a
proposition. When addressing the City Commission, the member of the public must first state
their name, their address, and what item or items they are speaking on. Any person with a
disability requiring assistance, auxiliary aids, and services for this meeting may notify the City
Clerk. The City has provided different public comment methods to indicate, among other
things, the public's support, opposition, or neutrality on the items and topics to be discussed at
the City Commission's meeting in compliance with Section 286.0114 (4)(c), Florida Statutes.
The public has been given the opportunity to provide public comment during the meeting and
within reasonable proximity and time before the meeting. Please note, commissioners have
generally been briefed by City staff and the city attorney on items on the agenda today. Anyone
wishing a verbatim record of an item considered at this meeting may request it at the Office of
Communications or view it online at www.miamigov.com/miamity. Not withstanding the
foregoing pursuant to Florida Statute Section 200.065 (3) and 286.0105, and Florida
Administrative Code, Rule 12D-17.005 (2)(c)(22), no verbatim record is required for the
appeal of any decision made during public hearings, required by Chapter 200. This meeting
can be viewed live on Miami TV, the City's Facebookpage, the City's X, formerly Twitter
page, the City's YouTube channel, Comcast Channel 77 and AT&T Channel 99. The broadcast
will have closed captioning. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chair King: Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. Mr. Manager, do you have any items that are going
to be withdrawn from this agenda or deferred?
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): No, Madam Chairwoman, City Commissioners, Mr. City
Attorney, Mr. City Clerk, there are no items to be withdrawn or deferred.
Chair King: Thank you. I'm going to ask my colleagues if they have any items that they would
like to withdraw or defer. Are there any pocket items today? No.
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Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ALL ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
16637 DISCUSSION ITEM
Office of the City PUBLIC COMMENTS SUBMITTED ONLINE BY MEMBERS OF THE
Clerk PUBLIC FOR THE SEPTEMBER 7, 2024, FIRST BUDGET HEARING.
RESULT: PRESENTED
Chair King: And at this time, I'm going to open the floor jbr public comment. Those of
you who wish to speak on behalf of any items on this agenda, the budget, please move
to the podiums, you will be recognized. Good morning.
Cecilia Stewart: Good morning. Cecilia Stewart, 1899 Northwest 1st Court. I come
before you standing on the shoulders of my ancestors and friend, Dr. Enid Curtis
Pinkney. I'm requesting for the trimming of trees on North Miami Avenue, namely the
west side entrance to the City of Miami Cemetery. These trees are obstructing the
pedestrian walkway, entryway, and visibility to the historic cemetery's name. These
trees are also obstructing visibility of traffic, posing a blind spot and safety issue
when egressing the cemetery. Your expeditious trimming of the overgrown trees to
eliminate these obstructions and safety issues on North Miami Avenue are greatly
appreciated. Thank you. In addition, I would like to support the approval of the
operating budget for Item H -- sorry, BH.17, support of the Omni CRA (Community
Redevelopment Agency). Also, BH.11, supporting the Liberty City Community
Revitalization annual budget. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you, Ms. Stewart. Good morning.
Cristina Beamud: My name is Cristina Beamud. I live at 5990 Northeast 5th Avenue.
I'm here to speak on behalf of the budget item that was removed from the budget, that
is the budget of the CIP (Civilian Investigative Panel). Now, it takes a team to deliver
excellent public safety services. The Commission is probably the head of that team,
the coach, the quarterback, it's whatever analogy you think is appropriate. However,
it takes a lot of different people and a lot of different points of view to provide good
services, and I think the City has done so and has improved its public safety services
tremendously. And the work of the CIP planed an integral part of that improvement.
The CIP has been around for 20 years. It is charter mandated, a charter that was
voted on by over 70 percent of the voters in the city of Miami on two occasions. That
charter demands that you fund the CIP, amongst other things. And removing it from
the budget at this point would eliminate the CIP and would cause harm not only to the
city, because you need the community in order to do these types of -- provide these
kinds of services. So, I urge you to please fund the CIP until the matter is adjudicated.
It shouldn't take very long. It shouldn't cost a lot of money. It's the right thing to do,
because there is a real disagreement as to the language of the state statute. And I
think that it is best decided in the courts, and I think that this Commission should
wait.
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Beamud: Thank you.
Chair King: Good morning.
Roy Hardemon: Good morning. Former Rep. Roy Hardemon, former chair of the
Model City Revitalization. for the City of Miami, the chairman of the Model City
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Advisory Committee for Miami -Dade County, 1292 Northwest 79th Street. I'm here
this evening after years of mourning and aggravation. I'm back because as the former
chair of the Model City, aka (also known as) Liberty City Trust, we built houses. We
fell short on 15th Avenue for business development. I'm asking that the City
Commission support the Little Haiti Trust as they've just begun, but at the same time,
I'm asking that we table, if that's a word, the Liberty City Community Revitalization,
because as the chair of the County, I'm looking at the fact that everybody is getting
economic development built. Unless we're doing it in a backroom brawl, I want it to
come on the table. I want to know what's going to help us economically come out of
the condition we are serving today, gun violence, drug violence, prostitution. I'm here
to actually say table the Liberty City Trust because all we've been doing is giving out
salaries. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Camilo Mejia: Good morning, Madam Chair, Commissioners. My name is Camilo
Mejia. I live at 3482 Frow Avenue, Miami, Florida, 33133. I'm a resident of District
2. I'm here to speak as a former member of the Community Advisory Board. I actually,
had the honor of serving with the city attorney who was then the liaison for the police.
We still have a great relationship, to this day, and I'm here to ask you not to dissolve
the CIP because of the great role that it plays within the community in order to foster
trust and increase public health for everyone. There's a misunderstanding that
community advisory boards and community investigative panels are anti police; they
are not. They're actually a channel of communication for improving police -community
relations and trust. And I think it would send the wrong message to completely
dissolve the CIP. I'm also here to speak, you know, in support of all your climate
resilience initiatives, including support for the -- more money for community outreach
for the climate action plan and the extreme heat action plan. Even to this day, a lot of
people don't even know what a cooling center is or where they are, what the hours of
operation are, what are some of the amenities for them to be able to go and take
shelter. So, I think it's really key for this and other great initiatives to receive funding
for community outreach so that community members can participate and take
advantage of the benefits. Last but not least, I'd ask you to boost affordable housing
support. I'm talking about initiatives such as the affordable housing program with a
focus on expanding the single-family home rehab program and the home ownership
preservation initiative. We have a great need to help people who are on fixed incomes
and who are homeowners to help them bring their properties up to code, because this
will have a ripple effect in terms of helping them lower their premium rates when it
comes to, you know, protections from the impact of climate change, which may in turn
help create more affordable housing for everyone. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Maji Ramos: Good morning. My name is Maji Ramos and I reside in Morningside.
I'm here for an item that should be on the budget and is not. This is an urgent matter,
and I really want you to consider this. I urge the City of Miami commissioners to
increase the budget for Marine Patrol to add a minimum offour additional full-time
marine patrol officers to the unit. There are over 76,000 registered vessels and over
18,000 personal watercrafts, including jet skis, on our waterways. However, the
number of marine patrol officers has not increased due to this. Meanwhile, the size
and speed of these vessels has increased substantially in the last 20 years. The
operators are not experienced. We have a lot of people that don't understand our
waterways and are inexperienced and don't know the rules and regulations, or where
the manatee zones are, or the speed limits. It's very confusing, extremely dangerous.
We have had numerous vessel -related crashes in city of Miami bodies of water that
have resulted in significant injury and death. This is critical. This is urgent. This
needs to be added to this agenda and this budget this year. Now, there are a number
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of ideas that we have in increasing the budget. One would be to increase the boat
ramp fees, increasing the fees for violations and citations by a lot, charging an
admission fee to the spoil islands, requiring vendors to obtain permits from the City
when taking large grips to the islands, requiring vendors to have a contract with the
City in order to have vendors on the islands. These are all ways that you can increase
and get money, generate income to support this agenda item. Please consider this.
This is a life safety issue. How many more people need to die or get injured? This is
very dangerous. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
David Ward: Good morning. Good morning, Chairwoman. Good morning,
Commissioners. My name is David Ward, a five-year resident of District 3 in Little
Havana, 219 Southwest 9th Avenue in Miami. 1 come today as a longtime supporter of
Brickell and Downtown, director ofAKAMProperty Management and a proud
member of Brickell Homeowners Association. So, I'd like to speak today is more
relevant to Commissioner Damian Pardo. I would just like to acknowledge that we've
had two really positive things in Downtown Brickell area over the last, gosh, five to
ten years. Huge influx of more residents, so the quantity of residents is an important
thing to consider, and a large increase in exciting construction. So, I'd like to talk
about the City of Miami Police has been incredible partners to us in Brickell and been
-- talking about engagement Commissioner Pardo with us in the BHA (Brickell
Homeowners Association), but they need more help. So, we'd like to ask to increase
salaries for police and recurring -- recruiting budget. There are currently four patrol
officers, my understanding, for all of Brickell. And we'd like to ask that to go from six
to eight would be amazing. Also, the City of Miami Building Department I think is
overlooked. Currently, the hours, my understanding, unless it's changed, when I was
an on -site manager, are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. All the
hardworking people in the building department break from noon to 1 from lunch and
they reopen for one hour from 1 to 2. So, when you're an on -site general manager, or
you're a vendor, or a contractor, or you're trying to achieve a permit, or you're trying
to move forward on a project, it's very difficult to get things done. That's five hours
per day for all the permits, new structural requirements for the state structural
integrity, the service studies, the recertifications. We ask to increase the budget for
salary and hours at the Building Department. Thank you very much.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Patricia Salinas: Good morning. Patricia Salinas, 1111 Southwest 1st Avenue, also a
Brickell resident, member of a Brickell neighbors group, called Brickell Advocates.
We are here to request more resources allocated to the police. We need the presence
of the police at night because there is reckless driving and noise violations. It's
interfering with our quality of life. And we are certain that if we impose higher fines
for the drivers that modified their exhaust or on purpose revved their engines, if we
have those fines imposed, those things will be -- will lessen. Just as an example, this
was taken last night at 4 a.m., sorry for the noise. So, we have to deal with that every
single night of the week. It doesn't matter if it's a weekend, it gets worse on the
weekends. So, we really need the support of the police, police presence at night, and
impose fines for enforcement of violations of the noise ordinance and the state laws
related to car noise and exhaust. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Jodi Levitz: Good morning. My name is Jodi Levitz. I'm also a resident of Brickell
Key, now for seven years. And thank you Jrogiving us this opportunity to come before
you today. I would also like to echo the devastating impact on the quality of life that
has happened in the last -- since COVID with the noise on the Miami River and the
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car noise. It's become untenable. Party boats are passing at every hour of the night.
There seems to be no enforcement.I personally called the police at 2 o'clock, 3
o'clock, 4 o'clock in the morning and gotten sympathetic responses, but it still
happens. Some of us actually do have to work also on weekends, so having these boats
going all night, Saturday, Sunday, and during the week, it's changed the quality of our
life tremendously. And I would very much like to urge you also to look at the nitty-
gritty of the budget when it comes to smaller things besides obvious -- the obvious
answer of having more police presence, having more police boats. And perhaps the
biggest thing of all would be installing noise cameras. I think it's about time we do
that. I would urge you, please, to study that. But also, just more fines and more signs
at all marinas. Why can't we have signs saying you may not play your radios on your
boats, you may not have music over a certain decibels, and also, frankly, Jro
restaurants too, but especially on the boats, why not have signs at every marina
saying you will be fined, and the fine is this amount of money. If it was $1, 000, that
would be amazing. So, I would urge you to consider both the small and the large
solutions to this and thank you again for the opportunity to speak.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Amina McNeil: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Amina McNeil. I'm the
president and CEO of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation,
and I'm here to ask for your continued support in the City budget for our Reclaim the
Dream event. With past years' support, especially this most recent year, we were able
to take 500 seniors from the Liberty City Brownsville community, bus them to the
Adrienne Arsht Center, which was a lot of their first time being there, and also feed
them a pretty good meal. If you've ever had any of our kitchen incubator participants'
food, you know, like, as the young people say, it slaps. So, we will ask that we have
continued support as this year will be our 20th year. So, it's a very big milestone of
our anniversary. We're still trying to have it at the Adrienne Arsht, which -- and have
Grammy award winning artists. And most importantly, it's a free event for our
seniors. It helps, you know, elevate the culture of Miami, expose people to outside of
just District 5, but the other districts of our city, and also allows for these artists to
come and see all that Miami has to offer and the world -class facilities that we have.
So, we just ask that that continues to be supported in this year's fiscal budget. Thank
you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Monester Lee Kinsler: Good morning. Good morning. All the commissioners,
particularly Commissioner King and Commissioner Pardo --
Unidentified Speaker: We can't hear you.
Ms. Kinsler: We can't wait to be able to say all the commissioners' names, but thank
you for your support, Commissioner King and Commissioner Prado [sic]. I am A
Leap of Faith, where we do HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) health and
wellness. I have Second Chance Health and Wellness here. I have Carrie's Resource.
I got all of the clinics that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) support, supportive letters. We're
here on a grassroot level. We've been on a grassroot level jroabout 14 years. And we
need y'all's support, because if we don't have healthy people, we can't have healthy
communities. We can't have climate change. So, we need to make sure we get them
when they're out in the streets. Narcan, condoms, testing, we need to be able to
provide these services. We do it by way of arts. We do it by way of events. Cancer is
just -- it's HIV -- a lot of people who have cancer, they really are HIV positive. They
will say they have cancer. So, we're here to remove the stigmas. We need your
support. We thank you for the support you're giving, but we definitely need your
support. This is one of the clinics in presence.
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Charlie Butler: Hi, my name is Charlie Butler. I'm with the Second Chance Wellness
Center, 1001 Northwest 54th Street, in Liberty City. We need some funding. 1 have
outreached people that hand out Narcan. Three out of -- three people die every day or
every other day in Liberty City from overdoses, so we need some funds for outreach
people.
Ms. Kinsler: Yes, so just imagine giving out the amount of condoms, Narcan, needles.
We need help because we've got to catch them before they have to get caught up
inside our systems. And then you'll have a productive community. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And, Chair, my apologies. If we could have the
speaker's name. Ma'am, just your name for the record. Your name.
Ms. Kinsler: Monester Lee Kinsler, A Leap of Faith Foundation.
Mr. Hannon: Thank you.
Chair King: Good morning.
Stanley Young: Good morning, Chairwoman and Commissioners. I thank you for
giving me this opportunity to stand before you. My name is Chaplain Stanley Young.
I'm a chaplain of Freedom Prison and Jail Ministry. I've been doing it for 30 years in
three states. I'm here now in Miami. Pm here to sound an alarm. There is an epidemic
that is going on in your city right now that you kind of overlook, but I'm going to
bring it to your attention. There is 4, 715 people located in your jails, in your areas,
that need your help. Out of that 4,000, 4,208 people are there for manslaughter,
they're there for killing people, they're there for doing things that a lot of us seem
unseemly. But they still need your help. They can't be here or come here to voice their
opinion about what they think that they need. But I'm here to tell -- to share with you
what they actually need. They need training. They need job training. They need
vocational skills. They need personal skills. A lot of them grew up without moms or
dads. They need love. I'm here on the front line to let you know that we need to have
our organization, Freedom, in your budget. We have a running budget of $104,800
for just to operate what we do. We give out bus cards, we give out Narcans, like the
young lady just said that we have an epidemic of drugs. I give -- we give out Narcans,
we give out several things that these inmates need. We give them advice. We give them
counseling. I am a certified peer specialist that deals with drugs, alcohol, and mental
health people. But they really need your help, and I need your help to help them. I
can't do it without you. I don't have the money that you have, consider this, put it in
your budget, that we need assistance on the outside of the jail. We're doing good on
the inside. We need on the outside of the jail to help these non profits that's going to
help these people to get their life back on track. Thank you, Chairwoman, and thank
you, Commissioners.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Young: God bless you.
Chair King: Good morning.
Albert Gomez: Good morning, Albert Gomez, District 2 resident. First and foremost,
much respect to Michael Clarkson that passed recently, big advocate down here and
revolutionary in Miami. We'll be honoring him at the African Heritage Cultural
Museum on Saturday between 2:00 and 4:00, I welcome all commissioners to join. I'd
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like to address, number one, training. Training of permitting officers. You guys had a
-- basically a big hire. You brought in a lot of new people. I have gotten confirmation
from supervisors and people on the ground that they are under -trained. They are not
following their own regulations and that needs to be kind of addressed. So, bumping
up or setting aside a line item for training of permitting officials, I think is a priority.
Number two, Miami Police. I've worked with the chiefs all the way down the line. The
Miami Marine Patrol are understaffed. They're doing a monumental effort. We need
more marine patrol. Put your money where the mouth is. The problem is there right
now. It's what the world is seeing. You're hearing it here as well as in the noise
ordinance. The only way to get it done is to get more officers. Number three, there's
an issue with Chris, with parks. He's understaffed, under supported. You got to raise
up his funds so he can put more signage on Leave No Trace, your new policy. They
really got to flood the space, and you got to give them some money to do that. Number
four, there's a real big problem with regards to the impervious ordinance that went
through from the County. All current projects happening in the City of Miami need to
have a budgeted amount so that engineers can re -look at those projects to make sure
they meet the Code, the law of the land right now. And then number -- the final one,
I'm going to submit right here to the Clerk a copy of the park, which is stamped by
Savino and Miller and Brazaga, a very well-known two organizations, two
engineering firms, an architecture firm -- landscape architecture firms. The park and
District 2 office fbr flooding support. 90 homes were flooded during Irma. This effort
right here, this design which has already been stamped, OCI (Office of Capital
Improvements) has it, and the commissioners already approved it.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Gomez: Please fund it.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
William Arthur: Good morning, and happy Saturday, Commissioners. I'm here with
Bob Powers. My name is William Arthur. We live on the Upper East Side and
represent several associations, Palm Grove, MiMo (Miami Modern)/Biscayne
Historic District, Bayside Residence Association, and Nirvana, which represents
thousands of residents and merchants up and down that Upper East Side Biscayne
corridor. We're asking for you to consider three funding issues. One is to kind of
redirect and repurpose MiMo/Biscayne Historic Business District and really create
an historic association for the merchants up and down the Biscayne corridor. It was
originally set for, you know, kind of protecting the neighborhood a little bit 15, 20
years ago and it had included residents and merchants, and we kind of want to
reorganize that and really rethink that, and we've got a number of resident
associations, but we don't have an association really there to have the backs of the
merchants that really need help and need attention from the City on a whole host of
issues that they face. So, we're asking the Commission to consider 500,000 for four
years to open up an office. We have ideas on where that office might be and to really
kind of have like a -- almost like a chamber of commerce for that -- for that Upper
East Side Biscayne Historic District, which really -- it goes from 52nd all the way up
- or 51st all the way up to 78th Street. Yeah. The actual business district is from the
60th to 78th. So, we really hope to kind of help that community out that's really
underrepresented. The second area is this commuter rail. We found out during the
PZAB (Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board) meeting, unfortunately, we found out
during that meeting, but we were happy to hear that Florida, South Florida Railway
is considering --
Chair King: Mr. Arthur, your two minutes are up, so you want Bob to kick in the
second two minutes to finish?
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Mr. Arthur: Yes. Yes.
Robert Bob' Powers: All right, so we have the TOD (Transit Oriented Development)
Chair King: Wait, wait, introduce yourself.
Mr. Powers: Bob Powers, 565 Northeast 66th Street. We have funding available for
the TOD, which is the transit corridor. The thing was is that none of that was even
brought up to the Upper East Side, and one of the stops is in Little Haiti. Part of the
argument for upzoning a lot of the areas along Biscayne Boulevard is that they're
going to have a transit corridor. The bottom line is that transit corridor is not being
funded, okay? The County just took money away from it, as you know, right? Correct?
To the tune of $250 million. So, here we are doing all this development with the
opportunity to possibly have that and using that for upzoning, which 90 percent of the
people in the Upper East Side are completely against, because until it's there, don't do
that, okay? Because you're just creating another mess. The other thing also is that we
don't have a really great conversation, and Commissioner Pardo and Commissioner
King, I think that the two of you, because you're on Biscayne Boulevard, that's the
historic entrance to the city of Miami. We have no real punching power with Florida
Department of Transportation, which is absolute Dr. No. That's what they are. Dr.
No. Anytime you bring up something, it's Dr. No. And 1 got to tell you something to
the City Attorney. You need to bring out some really big guns with them because they
have done nothing up there, okay? It's a hazard, that street. The reason for the
$500, 000 is over a five year period. It's funding for a possible BID (Business
Improvement District) and also to employ somebody. This is becoming much too big
of a project for volunteers, volunteers for -- since 2006, created that historic district
and created the Palm Grove Historic District, volunteers to do. Somebody needs to
employ -- to be employed, and not from the City, but somebody needs to be employed
to run that BID just like they do in Coconut Grove. So, if you're going to be -- I'm just
saying, it's a serious ask, okay? And we don't have all the details, but we would like to
meet with you and iron those out. Thank you very much for your time.
Chair King: Thank you. Always a pleasure to see you. Good morning.
Anna Brautigam: Hi, good morning. My name is Anna Brautigam. I'm the general
manager of the Brickell Key Master Association, and I'm also a director of the
Brickell Homeowners Association. And I'd just like to speak in support of the request
that's been made by several of your constituents in the Brickell area today for
additional police and especially marine patrol. The situation on our waterways is out
of control. It is a safety issue. It's a quality of life issue. And it impacts thousands and
thousands of residents in the Brickell area. So, thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Rachel Prestipino: Good morning, Commissioners.
Chair King: Good morning.
Ms. Prestipino: My name is Rachel Presitipino, 300 Northwest 12th Avenue, Miami,
Florida, 33128. I'm here representing Catalyst Miami, and we're urging you to not
dissolve the Civilian Investigative Panel. Other speakers have spoken on this, so I
won't be redundant. But we just, as an organization, we recognize the constraints of
the new law. We're certainly not asking you to violate it. We're just asking you to be
courageous, to be creative, and to think about wars that you can preserve the heart
and the purpose of the panel without completely dissolving it and without violating
state law. We think that the panel's proposal to relinquish its investigative powers but
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Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
still review police policy and procedure is one that could be viable, and we want you
all to please engage with the panel and community to think about how we could best
preserve this, because eliminating all civilian oversight, 1 think sends a message that
this board doesn't want to send to the community, because of course we all agree that
police accountability and transparency is key, and that really it's investing in police to
invest in this panel. It's investing in their ability to work well with community and do
their jobs well, because that's absolutely vital. I also want to add Catalyst Miami is
part of the Overtown Parks Group, which has brought to the Chairwoman and others
lots of ideas for improvements to parks in Overtown, including ADA (Americans with
Disabilities Act) assessments, to make all those parks more accessible for the elderly,
people with disabilities, Wi-Fi access throughout the parks, expanding the pool
season year-round, and lots of other great ideas, increased shade, which with every
month of the summer being the hottest on record, is so important for us to be able to
utilize these parks. So, thank you for paying attention to those proposals and working
with us on making those improvements. And just personally, I want to add in support
of a few folks here who've spoken about Narcan distribution and investing in that.
Something that folks may not know is that Narcan is best kept stored at under 77
degrees Fahrenheit. So that's really hard, and at least like Miami -Dade County, if you
distribute that to someone living on the street, you've got to do it again. Thanks.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Merline Malcolm: Good morning, Chairwoman. Good morning, Commissioners, and
thank you for the opportunity to speak before you. My name is Merline Malcolm,
22273 Southwest 103rd Avenue. I am here for the same reason that young lady was
here, to ask that the commissioners please find a way to work with us to maintain the
Civilian Investigative Panel. I remember when that organization was formed and the
necessity of it. It has helped to bring healing, and it's helped to bring community
together for trust and oversight. We feel as a community as if we're being heard, we're
being seen, even though sometimes we don't necessarily get the results we're after. We
feel as if the commissioners, the City, is working with us. And so, we're asking to
please preserve this important panel. And we're here to help in any way we can to find
a way to make sure that we can keep it. We know what the law says, but we also know
that when we believe in something wholeheartedly, we find ways to make it work. And
we find that there's great value in the CIP. And we're asking you to please find a way
to maintain this very important police oversight. It is necessary in our community to
maintain trust. Thank you for your time.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Samuel Latimore: Good morning, Chairperson King, Mr. Reyes, Ms. Dawkins, sends
her love to the Commission, she wasn't able to come. I briefly want to just share with
you my background, so you'll know why I'm suggesting that you adopt a proposal for
the Liberty City Trust. I spent 25 years as a police trainer, assistant director, 16 years
as a police officer, corrections administrator, director in charge of the community
relations or community service division, and I had an occasion to work with a number
of things. I was also a child abuse investigator. And so, my background is really
warranted and spread. That's why I enjoy working with the Liberty City Trust,
because when I look at this community and saw what the needs are, they are more
than what you have heard. Some people have been talking about building, building,
building, ever since I've been coming and listening to that stuff. But what about the
young children that are sleeping on the street? What about the young children that
don't have a place to stay, or the seniors that are on the street? There are many, many
issues that Liberty City Trust has addressed. Their job program has been awesome.
Thank you for the commissioner being involved. Because our children don't have jobs
like I used to have working from outside years ago. And so, if there were no
opportunities. for jobs, a number of the kids in my community wouldn't have any place
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to work. And so, on behalf of this, I support this proposal. 1 think that the Commission
would be doing a great job to see that the Liberty City Trust continues working with
seniors and others. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Linda Williams: Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm
Linda Williams. I am a native West Grove, born and reared. I live at 3523 Charles
Avenue here in Coconut Grove. Most of you that do know me, I wear multiple hats.
I'm vice chair of HOTA (Homeowners and Tenants Association), chair of Community
Advisory Committee, and on and on. But today I'm here to represent Rebuilding
Together Miami -Dade, where I am outreach coordinator. We're presently in
hurricane season, and we've reached out to all of you to contribute to the services
that we render. We are a national organization, more than 25 years old, and we
provide healthy and safe repairs to our veterans, our disabled, and our elderly. These
people cannot make the repairs like roofs, impact windows, and other necessities that
they require. We meet them where they are and hopefully leave them in a safer
environment. We're asking that all of you, all of you contribute to Rebuilding
Together Miami -Dade. We work from Miami Gardens clear down to Florida City.
The mayor down there in Florida City has -- we come back every year because his
constituents demand it. Make a contribution for these vital repairs that we do, and
Commissioner, 1 know you don't like the word free, but most of us -- and we've made
concessions on that. So, please, as we remain in hurricane season, consider those that
are unfortunate and can't make the needed repairs. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Deidria Davis: Good morning, Commissioner. And -- Congress -- Chairman, I'm
nervous anyway. So, I'm here to ask basically for you all to consider in your budget
the funding for the parks in Overtown, which include Reeves Park, Gibson Park,
Dorsey, and Williams Park. And also for the same, the people, the speeding, the noise
down 3rd Avenue, it's constant. And even last night when I tried to reach out to the
City of Miami Police, the number didn't even get through. I couldn't even call. So, I
don't even know -- I was thinking, did they change the number? But I didn't call 911,
I called the direct number. I couldn't even get through at all. But there's so many
police in Overtown, maybe they can be allocated to these marine parks or other areas
that they don't -- we have like, we're overpopulated with police in Overtown. And it's
not even the old Overtown that it used to be, so it's really not needed as much. But we
also need sidewalk repair. We need funding for Overtown Parks Community Liaison
to work with the City of Miami Parks and Recreation Department and collaborate
with the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). So, we have -- we definitely want
to keep the parks open longer than they are. They're pretty much seasonal, so we
would like funding for that. And I also want to add in affordable housing for the
seniors in the city of Miami. And as a former CIP (Civilian Investigative Panel)
member, I was on the CIP panel for over four years, and they do -- they are doing an
important job. So, I think that it's important to keep funding for the CIP as well
because sometimes that's the only voice that the people have with law enforcement.
So, it's important we speak for the people, even when I sat on that board in that
capacity. But we need your help. We need funding. City of Overtown. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And Chair, my apologies. Ma'am, if I could just have
your name. Ma'am, just your name for the record, nay apologies.
Ms. Davis: Deidria Davis, UHP, United Health Partnership, and I also work. for Jesse
Trice Community Health Center.
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Mr. Hannon: Thank you.
Ms. Davis: And I work with -- thank you.
Chair King: Good morning. Good morning.
Monty Trainer: Good morning. Nice to he here.
Chair King: Good to see you.
Mr. Trainer: First time I spoke was 1969, and it's nice to be able to come to the City
of Miami and always have an opportunity to speak to the Commission. Not many
cities offer you this opportunity. But anyway, I'm here to say hello to everybody,
commissioners, all my friends here, Manolo, Joe, Christine, and my -- Miguel, my new
friend over there, and of course, our new District 2, who's championing our BID
(Business Improvement District) now, and this is why I want to speak, is we've done
such a great job in Coconut Grove with our BID, and it's been such a great -- a great
journey for us. We were the number two BID in Dade County. Coral Gables was out
there ahead of us, but then they dropped off to the wayside. So, we're the longest
serving BID in the city of Miami now, in Dade County. And it's a -- we, at the BID, at
Coconut Grove, we've had a great task. This last year we did a million eight. This
year we're doing a million nine. So, we've done small increases on what our
allocations are, what we like to have. So, we started out, 1 guess, believe it or not.
Todd, cut off that thing for just a second, will you? The --
Chair King: You know I'm not going to turn you off. You know my position, for our
seniors that come out, you have earned the right to speak.
Mr. Trainer: Anyway, we started out doing --
Chair King: At a certain age.
Mr. Trainer: Can I have somebody's two minutes? Thank you. Christine, we started
out with security, maintenance, streets, sidewalks, and now to what we're doing these
days with the BID. It's so fantastic what's happened in Coconut Grove. And a lot of it
is, I'd say 90 percent of it is because of the BID, because of our BID situation. So, I
want to thank everybody for all you've taken care of us over these years, but we're
going to be around for a long time. But the BID is the thing that makes this whole
thing happen in the Grove. And I just want to thank our new leadership and our new
director and our old directors, and it's been a pleasure to be here with the BID for all
these years, and I hope to stay on forever. Thank you very much.
Chair King: Thank you. Great seeing you. Good morning.
James Torres: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is James Torres and I'm the
president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance. I'm sorry? Oh, okay. I'd like to start
out by saying thank you to Commissioner Reyes and chairman of the DDA
(Downtown Development Authority). We've had an ongoing working relationship
with him for several years, and his community engagement has been unparalleled. So
Tye appreciate that. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the DDA's own
leadership, because yesterday, when I went to the DDA's offices, we were treated like
a bald-headed stepchild, because we came in asking for the proposed tax millage rate
to be reduced. As downtown residents, we've always drowned ourselves with the
weight of unfair taxes. Our area is the most and highest taxed area in the entire
district and the city of Miami as well. We continue to struggle with chronic flooding,
outdated infrastructure, homelessness, and public safety concerns, and not limited to
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just the Miami River as well. The DDA is proposing to extract a staggering $13.5
million from the community this year alone through the millage of 0.4505 millage
rate. This is simply way too much and we're asking for relief on this. Remember, we
downtowners are now facing additional constraints due to the mandate that
Tallahassee is passing down on condo living and lifestyles. This is an issue that needs
to be addressed through this agency. While I believe that the DDA tax should
ultimately be eliminated entirely, we 're not asking for that. We're asking for relief
because a question that was asked here today that Gabela asked, Commissioner
Gabela, is that they have a surplus of $5 million and we're asking for a reduction on
that millage of $640,000, which would bring relief to the downtown community. I
kindly ask you to please look at this because it's an important issue as we're being
taxed throughout the district. Thankyou.
Chair King: Thank you. Well speak after public comment. Good morning.
Mercedes Rodriguez: Good morning. I want to start by saying thank you to the
Manager, his staff Mr. Spring, for their contribution has been challenging in the last
few months since January when the City Commission budget was reduced
significantly. We've had eight, nine months to see that decision has affected not only
our resident service, but your employees. Your employees are residents and
taxpayers, too. I'm here to speak on behalf of public safety. Our police department
needs more officers. Our police department needs officers to arrive on a timely
manner to assist them when there's a crime. We have a big issue regarding drag
races. We have a big issue in Allapattah and District 1. Most crime starts in District 1
or ends up in District 1.1 have stayed away from the City of Miami for the last couple
of months deliberately. I lost my election. I was an employee of the City and I worked
up there. For several years I started volunteering with the City of Miami Police
Department under Assistant Chief Arnold Gibbs with the gangs. Our city had huge
problems regarding gangs. We need our police officers and our firemen to have the
decent salaries that they deserve. It's going to happen after COVID. That
conversation is still on the table. They have been there for us. They have families, just
like we all do. Some of them have two jobs. Our park employees as well, many of them
are part-time and need to be full-time.
Chair King: Thank you. Thank you.
Ms. Rodriguez: Thankyou.
Chair King: Good morning.
Silvio Frank Pupo-Casco: Good morning, Chairwoman, Commissioners. Great to see
you all. I want to say thank you for this year because I've been able to collaborate
with the City of Miami in a way that's really encouraged myself and a lot of other
constituents to make things possible and to dream and take action in a way that feels
that we could really support the city of Miami. So, I'm really encouraged by that, and
I wanted to say thanks. There's three main items I'm coming to talk about. My name's
Silvio Frank Pupo-Casco. I'm a resident of Allapattah. And I come to talk about
BFI1, the budget hearing, on three main topics. The first is on resilience and
sustainability, the second is about the fire department and police, and the third is
about digitization efforts. On resilience and sustainability, I want to say that you
should support more of our efforts in resilience and sustainabilities, the office, the
committee, the members, the parks, including this Allapattah Underline that
Commissioner Gabela has in mind. I think that's an excellent idea. And that we
should take advantage of the Economic Development Agency designation to South
Florida as a climate tech hub to consider creating an innovation sandbox for
sustainability and resilience that can save us money and bring us money. Going on to
number two with the fire department and the police department, you've heard a lot
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about the needs. I've trained with the police academy and the Citizens Police
Academy. I've trained with the fire department as a civilian emergency response
trainer. Please support those programs so others can get more involved. Support the
refurbishing of the police department, which needs some maintenance. And lastly, in
terms of digitization, and I'm a little bit over time, support the chief data officer. You
have a new chief data officer that's doing an amazing work. If you can fund or create
a small innovation sandbox for nonprofit organizations like Code Miami to bring
their students from the universities to get involved. We could do a lot more to support
the digitization efforts of the city. Thank you so much again for your attention.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Theophius Williams: Good morning. My name is Theophius Williams, 1391 Northwest
95th Street. I'm here today to talk about the homeless. The estimated homeless is
31,462. The number is homeless. The numbers are rising. The number is rising. We
give y 'all, it don't matter if you're through the City, through the County, the School
Board, we give y'all our votes. We supposed to be trusting y'all to do right by us, the
City, the County, and the School Board. This is Project 2025 Incorporated. Every
chance, things are changing. Rules are changing. No communication. We got people
in Lincoln Field, public housing. It's homeless. Rent high. I don't hear nobody talking
about it. It's a business. And there's so much killing going on in public schools. I
don't hear no elected official, nobody talking about this. We are lucky down here, but
we don't know when it's going to arise. We're asking you all to do the right thing by
the people. We shouldn't be coming down here asking for money when federal
government is giving y'all the money, but the money is going to somewhere else. I see
more deals with corporations building more housing and rent going up. We need to
do better by the people, for the people.
Chair King: Thank you. Is there anyone else here who would like to be heard? Seeing
none, public comment period is now closed.
BH - BUDGET HEARING
BH.1 DISCUSSION ITEM
16469
Office of
Management and
Budget
A DISCUSSION ITEM TO ALLOW DISCUSSION AND PUBLIC COMMENT
ON THE PROPOSED FY 2024-25 MILLAGE RATE, TENTATIVE BUDGET,
AND ALL OTHER BUDGETS ITEMS ON THE AGENDA.
RESULT: DISCUSSED
Chair King: Pm going to ask now that the budget director read a statement for the
record.
Commissioner Reyes: Madam Chair? Before we start, I want to recognize Monty
Trainer, you see. Monty, how you doing? It's so nice to see you.
Monty Trainer: Nice to see you.
Commissioner Reyes: You're like always. You are very, very, very aware, very
concerned about our city. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Trainer: Wonderful to see you.
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Commissioner Reyes: Thank you for your service. Thank you, Monty. Glad to see you
walking again.
Mr. Trainer: Thank you. Thank you.
Commissioner Pardo: I have to echo that. It's a pleasure to have Monty here and
always a big supporter.
Commissioner Reyes: He is -- he is the mayor of Coconut Grove.
Chair King: Thank you. Madam Director.
Marie Gouin (Director, Office of Management and Budget): Good morning, Madam
Chair, Commissioners. This public hearing is for the '24- `25 budget -- for the budget
for the 24- 25 fiscal year. Can somebody help with the presentation? I did hook it up.
Oh, sorry, I forgot to say who I am. I'm Marie Gouin, I'm the City of Miami Budget
Director.
Chair King: Do you need Communications or IT (Information Technology)?
Ms. Gouin: IT.
Chair King: IT. Is anybody moving to get them?
Ms. Gouin: I will be discussing the City of Miami's budget. We have two budgets
every fiscal year. We have an operating budget and a capital budget. If you look, the
City, of Miami's proposed operating budget is $1.8 billion and the proposed budget for
the capital is $1.7 billion, making a total budgetfor the City of Miami of $3.5 billion
for the proposed budget for the fiscal year `24 25. And the operating budget compare
-- has four different parts. We have two different fund groups that we use. The first
one is the general fund, which is our general dollars, where everything -- all
expenditures for the general City operations is in the general fund. We also have a
group for the special revenue fund, which is primarily for -- for a specific purpose.
And then we also have internal service fund, which is two funds that we have that
service the departments for internal services, which is Risk Management and
Information Technology. And then we have the debt service fund, which is where we
pay our debt services for bonds issuance or any borrowings that we do. The general
fund is $1.2 billion; special revenue funds is $387 million; the internal service fund is
$139 million; debt service, $93 million for the proposed budget for 24-25. Where the
money goes. In the general fund, the revenues are made up of property taxes,
franchise fees, charges for service. The main point in this chart is 50 percent of the
property taxes make up the revenue to serve the operating budget for the general
fund, which is about $589 million. In expenditures, where the money goes. Salaries
made about 47.6percent, employees' benefits 26.7, operating 7.3. We have some non -
operating expenses, capital, and transfers for other purposes like capital, or that goes
for debt service, or capital. And ifyou look at the functionality of those dollars, where
they go, 53.2 percent of the total operating budget goes to public safety. Now the
capital budget. The capital budget is the budget that I mentioned in the beginning.
The total capital budget is $1.7 billion, and this is how it divvied up. Resilience and
Public Works, 900 and -- $594 million; Real Estate, 410; Parks and Recreation, 367;
Building, 87, and then you can see how it trickles down. And then we have other
smaller cuts for other departments, about 27.7. Millage and property taxes. If you
look at the 23- 24 total adopted budget -- millage I mean, excuse me, was 7.4599.
The proposed millage total is 7.3900, with a reduction of .0699. Out of every dollar
the City of Miami residents pays in taxes, this is how it's divvied up. 33 cents goes to
the Miami -Dade public school, 29 cents goes to the Miami -Dade County, and other
regional taxes, about 1 cent. And the City of Miami keeps 37 cents. With the 37 cents,
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34 cents goes to operating, and three cents goes for debt service. This is the general
bond dollars that the residents have voted for. Today, the proposed general operating
millage rate is 7.1364 mills for the City of Miami,for fiscal year beginning October 1,
2024, and ending September 30, 2025. That operating millage rate is 10.73 percent
higher than the State defined rollback rate of 6.4447. And the rollback rate is
something that the State had put together statutorily, is to get the same revenue that
you had received in the previous fiscal year with some allowances. Thank you. I am
done. I don't know if you all have any questions for me.
Chair King: Do my colleagues have any questions? Commissioner Pardo?
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah. 1 do have a question.
Ms. Gouin: Good morning.
Commissioner Pardo: How are you? Good morning, Director. My question is on the
tax assessed value comparison showing 453, 000, if you could go to that slide. It looks
like it may not be an apples to apple comparison. It shows like $600 going up in that
first
Ms. Gouin: It is. It's based -- it's kind of like -- we've taken it based on what we got
from the County, based on the property values. It's not apple to apple, no.
Commissioner Pardo: Okay. It's important because --
Ms. Gouin: Yes.
Commissioner Pardo: -- someone looking at this says, wow, if you have 500, 000, your
taxes go down. If you have a million, your taxes go down. And in that first column, it
looks like your taxes are going up 600 -- 750.
Ms. Gouin: Yeah, because remember the property values goes up.
Commissioner Pardo: Right.
Ms. Gouin: It's not apples to apple.
Commissioner Pardo: Perfect. I just wanted to make sure that was kind of on the
record.
Ms. Gouin: Yes.
Commissioner Pardo: Thank you.
Ms. Gouin: Thank you.
Chair King: Do any of my colleagues --?
Commissioner Reyes: No.
Chair King: Okay.
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BH.2
16400
Downtown
Development
Authority
DISCUSSION ITEM
A DISCUSSION OF TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATE AND PROPOSED BUDGET
FOR THE MIAMI DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ("MIAMI
DDA").
RESULT: DISCUSSED
Chair King: At this time, we are going to have --
Marie Gouin (Director, Budget): Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you, Madam Director. At this time, we're going to have the DDA
(Downtown Development Authority) executive director read a statement for the
record.
Christina Crespi: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Christina Crespi, and I
am the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and Executive Director of the Miami
Downtown Development Authority. Sorry. The proposed tentative millage rate to fund
the operations of the Miami DDA, for fiscal year '24-'25 is 0.4505 mills. The Miami
DDA's rollback rate is 0.4262. The current proposed tentative millage rate is 5.7
percent greater than the rollback rate. In this budget, we're increasing our sanitation
and security efforts. We're enhancing our police services by dedicating cops to
downtown. We're also adding security cameras in the Central Business District, along
with elevating our arts and culture grants so that we can activate downtown and
bring that culture back to our downtown urban core. We are also enhancing our
downtown enhancement team by adding additional members. These are formerly
homeless individuals that clean the streets of downtown. And upping our graffiti
efforts along with our pressure washing efforts as well. In addition, we also are
adding our business incentive grants to be able to bring in more retail ground floor
businesses into the urban core. Are there any other questions?
Chair King: Commissioner Pardo?
Commissioner Pardo: I do have a quick question.
Ms. Crespi: Sure.
Commissioner Pardo: What kind of engagement are you doing in the downtown area
to make sure that we're getting, you know, good feedback from the residents. And I
want to take a second and commend you on your work --
Ms. Crespi: Thank you.
Commissioner Pardo: -- because obviously you're within the District 2 boundaries,
and we get a lot of feedback from people on all the work you're doing at the
grassroots level, security level with the CCTVs (Closed -Circuit Television), and
everything else. But 1 did want to know kind of on your own what you all do to solicit
and how we can help.
Ms. Crespi: Oh, no, thank you for that and we appreciate your support always. So, we
do do surveys with the community to get their feedback. We also host community
events and networkers where we bring in the small businesses so that everybody can
meet each other, meet us, and that we can have a dialogue about what's needed on the
street level. And we also host focus groups as well to be able to drive our research
and reporting efforts with the business community as well.
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Commissioner Pardo: That's great. Definitely we've been doing a lot with text and
other systems, so I invite you to just, you know, use whatever we can to help
engagement go even further. Thank you.
Ms. Crespi: Absolutely. Thank you, Commissioner.
Chair King: Commissioner?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, hi, how are you? Good morning.
Ms. Crespi: Good morning.
Commissioner Gabela: Just wanted to ask you, it's come to my attention that you guys
are patting down some money that you have not used.
Ms. Crespi: I can't hear you very well. Sorry.
Commissioner Gabela: It's come to my attention that you guys might be padding some
money that you have not used.
Ms. Crespi: So you're talking about our reserve carryover?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah.
Ms. Crespi: So, during COV1D, we weren't able to spend as much of our funds as we
usually do. It was two or three years there that we were carrying over some funds, but
what we're doing in this budget is reallocating those dollars into operations to be able
to provide these enhanced services to the community.
Commissioner Gabela: Exactly how much are we talking about?
Ms. Crespi: About $5 million.
Commissioner Gabela: Thank you.
Ms. Crespi: You're welcome.
Chair King: Thank you --
Ms. Crespi: Thank you.
Chair King: -- Madam Executive Director.
City of Miami
Page 18 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.3
16402
Downtown
Development
Authority
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), PROPOSING AN ADDITIONAL TENTATIVE MILLAGE
RATE FOR AD VALOREM TAXATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 200.065,
FLORIDA STATUTES; DEFINING AND DESIGNATING THE TERRITORIAL
LIMITS OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT ("DISTRICT") OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("CITY"); LEVYING AN ADDITIONAL AD
VALOREM TAX ON ALL REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE
DISTRICT AT THE RATE OF 0.4505 MILLS ON THE DOLLAR OF TAXABLE
VALUE OF SUCH PROPERTY IN SAID DISTRICT FOR THE PURPOSE OF
FINANCING THE OPERATION OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("MIAMI DDA") FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER
30, 2025; PROVIDING THAT SAID MIAMI DDA TENTATIVE MILLAGE SHALL
BE IN ADDITION TO THE MILLAGE ADOPTED BY THE CITY COMMISSION
PURSUANT TO ARTICLE VII, SECTION 9 OF THE FLORIDA
CONSTITUTION AND SECTION 166.211, FLORIDA STATUTES, AS WELL
AS ANY SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS IMPOSED BY THE SAME; PROVIDING
THAT THIS RESOLUTION SHALL NOT BE DEEMED AS REPEALING OR
AMENDING ANY OTHER RESOLUTION OR ANY ORDINANCE FIXING
MILLAGE OR LEVYING TAXES, BUT SHALL BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL
AND IN ADDITION THERETO; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE;
AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0313
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, we're good to go.
Chair King: The first budget hearing for September 7th, 2024 is now back in session.
May I have a motion for BH.3? I cannot take that as a block vote. I have to take that
separately.
Commissioner Reyes: Move it.
Chair King: I have a motion.
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries unanimously.
City of Miami
Page 19 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.4 RESOLUTION
16353
Off -Street Parking
Board/Miami
Parking Authority
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET,
ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF OFF STREET PARKING FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING
OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025, IN THE
OPERATING AMOUNT OF $28,657,687.00, EXCLUDING DEPRECIATION,
AND OTHER NON -OPERATING EXPENSES OF $5,078,810.00.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0315
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10?
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Commissioner Reyes: Move it.
Chair King: 1 have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): I'm sorry, Chair. Who's the seconder?
Chair King: Motion -- Commissioner Reyes --
Commissioner Pardo: Reyes.
Chair King: -- was the second.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Reyes moved it?
Chair King: No, he -- Commissioner Gabela.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Par --
Commissioner Reyes: I moved it.
Chair King: And he seconded, okay.
Commissioner Gabela: Or you moved it and I seconded.
City of Miami Page 20 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.5
16399
Downtown
Development
Authority
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE PROPOSED
ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("MIAMI DDA"), ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF
$21,738,700.00, AND MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FROM THE DOWNTOWN
DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT AD VALOREM TAX LEVY AND OTHER
MISCELLANEOUS INCOME FOR THE MIAMI DDA, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025;
AUTHORIZING THE MIAMI DDA TO MAKE TRANSFERS BETWEEN
ACCOUNTS FOR NECESSARY AND PROPER PURPOSES; AUTHORIZING
THE MIAMI DDA TO INVITE AND ADVERTISE REQUIRED BIDS;
PROVIDING THAT THIS RESOLUTION BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL AND
IN ADDITION TO THE RESOLUTION MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER
30, 2025, FOR THE OPERATIONS OF THE CITY.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0314
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.5, please see Item
Number BH.4.
BH.6 RESOLUTION
16351
Coconut Grove
Business
Improvement
District Board
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE COCONUT GROVE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ("BID")
IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,903,000.00, ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS
EXHIBIT "A", TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT, OPERATIONS,
MAINTENANCE, AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS OF THE BID FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0316
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.6, please see Item
Number BH.4.
City of Miami Page 21 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.7
16576
Wynwood
Business
Improvement
District Board
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE WYNWOOD BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ("BID"),
ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A," IN THE AMOUNT OF
$8,800,702.00 TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT, OPERATION, AND
MAINTENANCE OF THE BID FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING
OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0317
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.7, please see Item
Number BH.4.
BH.8 RESOLUTION
16368
General
Employees' and
Sanitation
Employees'
Retirement Trust
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE CITY OF MIAMI GENERAL EMPLOYEES' & SANITATION
EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT TRUST ("GESE RETIREMENT TRUST FUND"),
ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE AMOUNT OF
$3,247,608.00, EXCLUDING NORMAL COSTS, AS ACTUARIALLY
DETERMINED, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE GESE
RETIREMENT TRUST FUND FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING
OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0318
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.8, please see Item
Number BH.4.
City of Miami Page 22 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.9 RESOLUTION
16367
General
Employees' and
Sanitation
Employees'
Retirement Trust
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE CITY OF MIAMI GENERAL EMPLOYEES' & SANITATION
EMPLOYEES' EXCESS BENEFIT PLAN ("GESE EXCESS BENEFIT PLAN"),
ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE AMOUNT OF
$113,649.00, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE GESE
EXCESS BENEFIT PLAN FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING
OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0319
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.9, please see Item
Number BH.4.
BH.10 RESOLUTION
16148
Firefighters' and
Police Officers'
Retirement Trust
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE CITY OF MIAMI FIRE FIGHTERS' AND POLICE OFFICERS'
RETIREMENT TRUST FUND ("FIPO RETIREMENT TRUST FUND"),
ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE AMOUNT OF
$2,039,790.00, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FIPO
RETIREMENT TRUST FUND FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING
OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0320
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BHIO, please see Item
Number BH.4.
City of Miami Page 23 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.11
16521
Liberty City
Community
Revitalization
Trust
BH.12
16535
Bayfront Park
Management
Trust
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE LIBERTY CITY COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION TRUST AND THE
FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 MASTERPLAN, ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED AS COMPOSITE EXHIBIT "A", IN THE AMOUNT OF
$843,882.00 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2024,
AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0321
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.11, 12, 14, and 15?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Chair King: 1 have a motion and second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST IN THE TOTAL
AMOUNT OF $29,950,011.20, ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS
EXHIBIT "A", TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT, OPERATIONS,
MAINTENANCE, AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS OF THE MILDRED AND
CLAUDE PEPPER BAYFRONT PARK AND MAURICE A. FERRE PARK FOR
THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0322
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.12, please see Item
Number BH.11.
City of Miami Page 24 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.13 RESOLUTION
16519
Midtown
Community
Redevelopment
Agency
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING AND APPROVING THE FISCAL YEAR
2024-2025 PROPOSED BUDGET OF THE MIDTOWN COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("MIDTOWN CRA"), ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE AMOUNT OF $13,918,129.00
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2025, AS APPROVED BY THE MIDTOWN CRA'S BOARD
OF COMMISSIONERS.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: Item BH.13 was deferred to the September 26, 2024, Final
Budget Hearing.
Vice Chair Carollo: The Midtown CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency), I'm
pulling out for the next meeting. I am not going to be given something that I didn't
even realize that we didn't have a chairman, that in essence has been given to me as
vice chair, which I've always said I didn't want to be vice chair, but it was given to
me. And where an executive director that don't know what he does there now, hasn't
had the courtesy to give me a call and to go over anything whatsoever with me. And
I'm going to walk in to a meeting today and I'm going to be given a couple of papers
and someone, not that executive director, is going to explain to me. It's not going to
happen so --
[Later...]
Chair King: Okay. May I have a motion to defer BH.13? That was the Midtown CRA
(Community Redevelopment Agency). We didn't have the meeting.
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Chair King: I have a motion --
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: -- and a second. All in favor of deferring BH.13?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion --
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And Chair, just for the record, that'll be to September
26th.
Chair King: Correct. Motion carries.
City of Miami Page 25 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.14 RESOLUTION
16568
Department of
Human Services
BH.15
16547
Little Haiti
Revitalization
Trust
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE MIAMI ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT COUNCIL ("MAEC"),
ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE AMOUNT OF
$20,273.00 TO PROVIDE FOR THE OPERATIONS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE
MAEC FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND
ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0323
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.14, please see Item
Number BH.11.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
OF THE LITTLE HAITI REVITALIZATION TRUST ("TRUST"), ATTACHED
AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF
$6,404,600.00 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2024,
AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025; FURTHER APPROVING AND
ADOPTING THE TRUST'S ANNUAL MASTER PLAN, ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "B"; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0324
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BH.I5, please see Item
Number BH.11.
City of Miami Page 26 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.16 RESOLUTION
16455
Virginia Key
Beach Park Trust
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
AND MASTER PLAN OF THE VIRGINIA KEY BEACH PARK TRUST
("TRUST"), ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE
AMOUNT OF $2,145,000.00 TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT,
OPERATION, MAINTENANCE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING
OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0325
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.16, as amended?
Commissioner Reyes: Move.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BH.17 RESOLUTION
16532
OMNI Community
Redevelopment
Agency
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING AND APPROVING THE ANNUAL GENERAL
OPERATING AND TAX INCREMENT FUND BUDGET OF THE OMNI
REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
("OMNI CRA"), ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", IN THE
TOTAL AMOUNT OF $73,650,407.00 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0326
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Christine King, Commissioner
AYES: King, Pardo, Reyes
NAYS: Carollo, Gabela
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.17 and BFI 18?
Commissioner Reyes: Move it.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
City of Miami Page 27 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
Chair King: May I --
George Wysong (City Attorney): Is 17 as amended? There was, I think, a blank --
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Yes, thank you. So --
Chair King: Okay.
Mr. Hannon: -- BH.17 will be as amended to --
Chair King: As amended.
Mr. Hannon: -- include CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) -- the following
resolution number, CRA R-24-0054. But however, just remember Commissioner
Carollo and Commissioner Gabela, BH.17 is the Omni CRA budget, just so that
you 're aware. BH.17.
Commissioner Gabela: No, in that case no.
Mr. Hannon: Okay, so just so we're clear for B -- so Chair, would you mind if we just
vote on BH.17 separately?
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.17 as amended?
Mr. Hannon: Yes, as amended.
Chair King: As amended. I have a motion, I'll second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Mr. Hannon: And so I'm going to show that as 3-2, BH.17 with Commissioner
Carollo and Commissioner Gabela voting no. And that's the Omni CRA budget.
City of Miami Page 28 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.18 RESOLUTION
16473
Office of
Management and
Budget
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AFTER A DULY NOTICED PUBLIC HEARING, RELATING
TO THE PROVISION OF SOLID WASTE SERVICES, FACILITIES, AND
PROGRAMS IN THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY"); IMPOSING SOLID WASTE
ASSESSMENTS AGAINST ASSESSED PROPERTIES LOCATED WITHIN
THE CITY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND
ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025; APPROVING THE RATE OF
ASSESSMENT; APPROVING THE ASSESSMENT ROLL; AND PROVIDING
FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0327
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.18 and 19, as amended?
George Wysong (City Attorney): Madam Chair, BH.18 needs to be amended to keep
the solid waste assessment fee flat.
Chair King: As amend -- BH.18 as amended to keep the solid waste fee flat.
Vice Chair Carollo: Flat.
Commissioner Reyes: Flat.
Chair King: Flat. And BH.19 as amended. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Larry Spring (Chief Financial Officer): Madam Chair?
Chair King: Mr. CFO (Chief Financial Officer)?
Mr. Spring: Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to put on the record officially that solid
waste assessment is $380 per household.
Chair King: $380 per household. So, BH.18 and 19 as amended, all in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And so I have the mover for BH.18 and 19 as
Commissioner Reyes, seconded by Commissioner Pardo. Is that correct?
Chair King: Yes. Okay.
City of Miami Page 29 Printed on 10/03/2024
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
BH.19 RESOLUTION
16472
Office of
Management and
Budget
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") FISCAL
YEAR 2024-25 MULTI -YEAR CAPITAL PLAN, ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED ("PLAN"), ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT
"A", AS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO THE COMMUNITY PLANNING ACT,
SPECIFICALLY SECTIONS 163.3161 AND 163.3177, FLORIDA STATUTES
(2024), AND CHAPTER 18/ ARTICLE IX/ DIVISIONS 1 AND 2 OF THE CODE
OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, TITLED
"FINANCIAL/FINANCIAL POLICIES/ANTI-DEFICIENCY ACT/ FINANCIAL
INTEGRITY PRINCIPLES," TO SET FORTH THE CITY'S FISCAL NEEDS
FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS, SUBJECT TO AN ANNUAL PLAN
REVIEW, TO DETERMINE PROJECT PRIORITIES, TO ADD NEW CAPITAL
PROJECTS, AND TO MODIFY FUNDING ALLOCATIONS AS NECESSARY;
PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS TO
THE PLAN; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0328
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number BK19, please see Item
Number BH.18.
BH.20 ORDINANCE
16470
Office of
Management and
Budget
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION RELATED TO
TAXATION, DEFINING AND DESIGNATING THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS FOR
THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY"); LEVYING AN AD VALOREM TAX ON ALL
REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE CITY AT A TOTAL TENTATIVE
RATE OF 7.3900 MILLS ON THE DOLLAR OF THE TAXABLE VALUE OF
SUCH PROPERTY, FOR THE PURPOSES OF FUNDING THE GENERAL
OPERATING BUDGET AND PAYMENT OF DEBT SERVICE, FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2024, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER
30, 2025; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
MOTION TO: Pass on First Reading
RESULT: PASSED ON FIRST READING
MOVER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Chair King: Now, BH.20. May I have a motion for BH.20? And I need the City
Attorney to read the title into the record, please.
George Wysong (City Attorney): Yes, ma'am.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 7, 2024
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): I don't have a motion for BH.20. I'm sorry.
Chair King: Can I have a motion?
Commissioner Reyes: Move it.
Chair King: And a second?
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: BH.20. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.21 as amended? I see our --
Commissioner Pardo: I'll make the motion.
Marie Gouin (Director, Management and Budget): We need each of you to say yea,
nay.
Chair King: For what?
Ms. Gouin: For BH.20, for the millage. Yes, please. Roll call.
Chair King: Come on, just --
Commissioner Pardo: Yea.
Chair King: Just don't ask us after we do it. Ask me before we take the vote to do that.
May, we have a roll call vote for BH.20? Commissioner Reyes?
Commissioner Reyes: Yes.
Chair King: Commissioner Carollo?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes, on first reading.
Chair King: Commissioner Gabela?
Commissioner Gabela: Yes.
Chair King: Commissioner Pardo?
Commissioner Pardo: Yes.
Chair King: Chairwoman King? Yes. Motion carries unanimously.
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BH.21 RESOLUTION
16471
Office of
Management and
Budget
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ADOPTING A TENTATIVE BUDGET AND MAKING
APPROPRIATIONS RELATING TO OPERATIONAL AND BUDGETARY
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2024
AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025; RATIFYING, APPROVING, AND
CONFIRMING CERTAIN NECESSARY ACTIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER
AND DESIGNATED CITY OFFICIALS IN ORDER TO UPDATE THE
RELEVANT FINANCIAL CONTROLS, PROJECT CLOSE-OUTS,
ACCOUNTING ENTRIES, AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH AND FOR GRANTS IN PROGRESS; PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-24-0329
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Manolo Reyes, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Reyes
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number BH.21,
please see "Public Comments for allltem(s)."
Chair King: For my colleagues, there are some items that we cannot take up until we
have our CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) meetings. Would you like to break
now, recess, and take up the CRA? Or would you like to go over, discuss some of the
items? Because there are some items that we can't vote on until we have the CRA
meeting.
Commissioner Reyes: Madam Chair, ifI may?
Chair King: I think our vice chair is going to --
Commissioner Reyes: Oh.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's fine. You could go ahead.
Chair King: Go ahead, Commissioner Reyes.
Commissioner Reyes: Have you seen (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hair?
Chair King: I see.
Commissioner Reyes: He's going to be a movie actor.
Chair King: Yeah. Commissioner Reyes?
Commissioner Reyes: Yes, what I have to say is that most of us, we already sat with
the -- we were briefed in the budget. This is the -- this is the -- I mean, we just -- we
will have to vote again on the budget, and all of us, we expressed our concern, you
see. And what I'm saying, this is the first reading of the budget. We all -- we all heard
you. And besides that, we have our own concern. My concern, and I stated clearly to
the administration, it is that we don't have additional police officers. And I do think
that security is of the most importance. And our problems are going to increase. And
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we have seen it. The number of gangs that they are coming, the number of people that
they are corning in that they don't respect the law. See, we need -- we need to increase
our police force and we have to provide them with all the tools to fight this wave of
crime that it is increasing daily because every time that you open up, I mean, like I get
reports that homes that have been invaded, automobiles that have been broken in,
automobile theft, et cetera, et cetera, gang -related activities that we have to, by all
means, increase or create a gang unit. We have all this. What I've been stating here, I
stated it to the City Manager. And I think that between now, between now, this first
reading and the second reading, we should address -- most of your concerns are also
the concerns that we all have. You see, discussing them right now, I mean, we already
let them know what we -- how we feel, you see. And any of the concerns that you guys
have, 1 hope that the City Manager took note. And we address them and see what we
can do to solve them. But there are some issues that are extremely important. For
example, we have a reduction of code enforcement according to the information we
got in the book. We need more code enforcement because there 's more violations
going on, and they are destroying our neighborhoods, you see? And another thing
that I have here, and I have my list, I'm going to go, that we have no new money for
paving and drainage. We need to pave and fax all those funding and all those, I mean,
there's some areas in every district in the city of Miami that when it rains, you see,
people are affected because they have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and they have a lake in
front of the house that we have to work very hard on that. And also, we don't have
funding for transportation because we are now at the mercy of Dade County that will
be -- they have $67 million from the CITT (Citizens' Independent Transportation
Trust) finds that they are holding back. And we have to make a very strong effort to
get those funds because if not, we will have to close our trolleys, you see. And there is
also no funding for new facilities. In my case, 1 didn't see any funding for facilities
such as that are coming, facilities that are coming because they are being redone,
such as West End Park, which is being rebuilt, a brand new pool. But it needs
personnel,, and it needs to be -- those pools have to be manned, and it has to be
cleaned. Also, we have to be more aware and provide more funding for maintenance.
Because one problem that I have seen in the city of Miami, we build either a park,
pool, or a building, and we don't maintain it. We don't maintain it. We have to direct
that effort also of efficiently using our funds in keeping our properties. And lastly, we
need facilities improvement. At the state of some of the fire stations, it is deplorable,
you see. It is deplorable. So, I don't know what we're going to do, but between now
and second reading, I would really hope that some of those concerns, my concerns, I
know that all of you guys have some concerns, be addressed. You see, now we're not
going to fix it here. We have to vote for the -- what I proposed. Let's vote for first
reading and start working between now and second reading.
Chair King: Thank you. Vice Chair?
Vice Chair Carollo: If I could be last and wait for (INAUDIBLE).
Chair King: Okay.
Commissioner Gabela: I'd like to speak.
Chair King: You will be next, number one.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, so to reiterate what the audience has said regarding the
police, and I understand the concern because when I was running my campaign last
year, I did promise that Allapattah is one of the highest crime rates in the city of
Miami. And when I was elected and I took office December the 2nd, the first thing I
did, okay, was that to have more police in District 1. I've met numerous times with the
chief of police. I've met numerous times with Larry Spring, and not one day goes by
that I don't think about this. Actually, by the way, Manolo 's right, we've all been -- if
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we don't get into detail on the budget, we've all been briefed, so don't think that this
is the only time that we're talking about the budget. I want to make that clear. But as
for me, the times, every tinie I've met Larry Spring, one of the first things that 1 ask
him, how can be -- how can we be more competitive with Miami -Dade County in
recruiting more officers? And it was told to me that in Dade County, the rookies were
starting at 62,000, we were like seven or eight grand behind that eight ball. That has
been assured to me that's been fixed. Okay, to your concern, one of our constituents
rightly so, concerned about that we need more officers, and we do. And I also have
the same concerns as Commissioner Reyes regarding this budget and -- but Larry has
assured us that this is going to be fixed so we do have more police officers. At some
point, I'm looking for a net gain, not just a replacement. Because what happens.
Officers retire, some are fired, and you know, in a year, you could lose 50 or 60
officers, I've been told. So, when we replace those officers, we're not really having a
net gain. What we're doing is just keeping up with the count that we have now. I'd like
to see, and I've expressed this to Larry, to the Manager, to everybody, to the chief of
police, everybody that I've talked to, I would like to see at some point within the next
one, two, or three years a net gain in our City of Miami Police Department. You
know, our neighborhoods deserve it, the constituents deserve it, the City of Miami
Police Department works hard. I want to commend them because they do
extraordinary work. The Chief of Police I think is doing a good job. And also, I want
to commend the commanders in my area, Jack and Rodriguez, for the work that they
are doing. Outstanding work with the number of personnel that they have. So, 1 want
to make that clear to my constituents that know that we are working, 1 am working,
my office is working, not a day goes by that we don't talk about this issue. And you
know, if you want to ask the chief of police how many times have we met, ask the City
Manager over this issue, Larry Spring, so I am on top of it. As your commissioner, I
can assure you that I am on top of this and will continue to be on top of it. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Commissioner Pardo, would you like to say something?
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah.
Chair King: Go ahead.
Commissioner Pardo: I would. Thank you. I share with my colleagues the issues in
general with police. In our specific district, the Marine Patrol has been something
we've been advocating strongly for a whole unit, for all the reasons that have already
been listed by the constituents. There's another issue though that I briefly wanted to
touch on and that has to do with infrastructure. And if you look at the capital budgets,
proposed capital budgets, just as an example, the Omni stormwater system drainage
construction and improvement, $35 million unfunded. Omni transit and trolley, $2.5
million, unfunded. Omni utility infrastructure, water, sewer, electrical, $20 million,
unfunded. I could go on. If we add up just in infrastructure and only within Overtown
and Omni, it's $200 million. So, what I've asked the Chief Financial Officer, Larry
Spring, is to analyze our bonding capacity as a city.
Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely.
Commissioner Pardo: And it looks to me like we're very lowly leveraged as a city. We
have a very good credit rating. And if we boost our funding capacity, we could start
addressing some of these needs. Not so much as we're conflicting and fighting over
limited resources because we have more resources available. I'in just not sure that
we're maximizing our ability to achieve that.
Commissioner Reyes: That is -- that's my point, be more efficient.
Chair King: Commissioner --
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Commissioner Gabela: By the way, I'd just like to say --
Chair King: Commissioners, let's not talk over each other.
Commissioner Reyes: No, no, no. (INAUDIBLE).
Chair King: I see.
Commissioner Gabela: I just want to make one continent. It's very important.
Chair King: Go ahead.
Commissioner Gabela: I'm sorry, Commissioner. If I can just make the -- 1 forgot
about the Marine Patrol, which I have not forgotten, but you know, I got a lot of stuff
here.
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, we share that.
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, we share the river. And I can assure you, I live on the
river. And I'm a boater. I've been a boater all my life. I know exactly what's going on.
The Marine Patrol is needed. We have also spoken two days ago. I sat down with the
Chief and his entourage to talk about this and how we can put more officers as part of
this. We also, and I'm not going to get into details on that one right now because this
meeting is not for that, but in my district, District 1, we have, we absorb all the
homelessness from all, all the city of Miami, all the five districts. And we're now,
Miami Beach is exporting their problem to me, to my district, District 1, the 7th
Avenue corridor. You know, and I just wanted to -- so I -- my district, my -- who I
represent, my constituents also need funds so we can take care of this situation that
the Commissioner is rightly so addressing. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. I would like to echo the sentiment of my colleagues with
respect to Marine Patrol. I know better than most, I live on the Bay, and this summer I
witnessed struggling kayakers trying to get to dry land during a storm. I called our
chief of police in a panic to send Marine Patrol, and I was terrified that Marine
Patrol wouldn't make it in time. Yesterday in nay agenda briefing, I requested that we
get additional Marine Patrol because I had gotten an email from an advocate. She
spoke today requesting for additional Marine Patrol boats. I also share your concerns
with respect to maintenance of our facilities. I have renovated the Upper East Side
Community Center, which is my district office, because it was in disrepair. I'm doing
it for the Little Haiti Community Center. We need to address maintenance versus
having to destroy our facilities because the City doesn't maintain it and then it gets in
such a disrepair state that you can't do anything but demolish it. So, I support that as
well and I have been speaking to staff about leveraging our dollars, doing another
bond issuance because we do have high ratings. We do need to address maintenance,
affordable housing, parks, and infrastructure. So, I completely support each one of my
colleagues' statements with respect to how to move our city forward. And I believe
our Vice Chair would like to speak now.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me begin by saying and being
very, very clear as one vote in this body. I will not be voting for any, whatsoever, fee
increases, tax increases. I don't know if the Administration is really, up to what is
going on in our city and how the majority of our residents are being affected, the
majority that are not the wonderful residents that live in the very expensive homes or
condominiums, the majority that are fighting to pay their rent or mortgage or put lbod
on the table week to week. But our property taxes have increased to a level unseen
ever before, where we're taxing people out of their homes. How in the world, and
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particularly with all the increases that we've had in the last several years, where food
has gone sky high, gas is still very high, even though we've got an election in
November, so it's going to go down and then it'll go up again after November. But
gas is still extremely high from where it was. Everything else, construction prices, are
ridiculously high, which I don't understand why the rest of the world can build at an
affordable price, but we can't in the United States. But you throw all that and then
you throw sky-high property taxes. Our residents can't pay anymore. I can't pay
anymore. I got hit last year with a 29 percent increase in my property taxes. You know
what that brought me to? $36,000. So, when one of my colleagues here wants to talk
about that certain areas are privileged, they deserve to have a park for themselves,
because they pay high taxes. I like to see which of those people pay more than 1 do.
And 1 recently read the statement sent to me by the tax assessor. If everything stays
the same and no increases are made in the City, the County, the School Board, I'm
very lucky. My taxes will be up some 40,000 plus dollars. If they're increased, I'm up
to close to $45,000. And again, that doesn't include the cost of living, how it's gone
up. Who in the heck can afford to live in Miami anymore if you're not part of the rich
and famous. So, this is why you're not going to be seeing any kind of positive vote
from me in any fee increase, in any property tax increase. In fact, between now and
the second reading, I'm going to be looking to see how much we could lower the
taxes. Because we have to come down to earth, you know, get away from Mount
Olympus and look at the realities of how our people are living. It's not sustainable to
have year after year these huge increases in property taxes. And you have such a
mismatch that in the same block someone could be paying a huge amount, the other
could be paying a middle ground, and someone could be lower that it doesn't make
sense. And 1 think the only way this is going to be fixed is if there's a statewide
referendum that is going to cap what you pay in taxes and what you bought your
property at and a slight increase every year and not be based upon this ridiculous
make-believe money that is only good to you if your property went up in value if you
want to sell. But if you want to live in your property like the majority of people do and
don't want to sell, you shouldn't have to be pushed out of your own home. So, having
said that, I do agree with my colleagues that this city needs more law enforcement,
more firefighting capacity. But we have to balance that in different ways within our
budget. It can't be done by increasing our budget. Furthermore, I know that I'm going
to be told that District 2 pays the majority of the taxes in the city. Yeah, because it's a
district that's totally gerrymandered. I mean, you even got an area that you got just to
get it through to another part of the district, you only got two blocks on one side.
Maybe what this city needs to do is so that everyone can share in that joy and every
district could have a piece of the waterfront, instead of cutting the districts like this,
we cut them sideways and everybody will have a piece of the waterfront. Since the
growth in our city is happening in the waterfront, we keep approving huge buildings
so that more nice New Yorkers can move down here and bring their politics with them
down here. And others from California and New England and from every part of Latin
America that there's turmoil in the world indeed. But those are the people that are
coming with money. Those are not the average Miamian. And then what is happening
is that this is all having a domino effect. It's having a domino effect because the
restaurants that are going to be opening up and are opening up and are there, they're
going to charge the kind of monies for a dinner that the majority of Miamians can't
afford to go to, unless they're invited by someone that could afford it. And so on and
so forth. CityPlace [sic], it's a beautiful mall, ain't it? It's in my district now. How
many Miamians can truly afford to go to CityPlace [sic] and buy anything significant
there? Not many. And it's great that we have a CityPlace [sic], but we -- we have to
deal with reality up here and we have to prior -- put the priorities on the main areas
of why this body exists. The protection of life and property begins there, and making
sure that our residents are protected within their homes, within their businesses. And
that's why some of the statements that I've been hearing here are on point. I hear
about new bonding. I'm glad that some of our employees have quickly spread some of
the ideas that they've been speaking to me lately, and I knew that would happen, but
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that's okay. Every part of this city, 1 don't care where you go to, has a huge need.
Every area, not just the Omni CRA area. You want to look at a wealthy area? Go
through that whole area there, and you'll see it. You want to see poor areas? Go to
some of the areas where Commissioner King serves in her district. Go through
Allapattah. That no matter who has been the commissioner there through decades,
commissioners change, but Allapattah stays the same. And this is why --
Commissioner Gabela: That's actually changing with me.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, 1'm going there.
Commissioner Gabela: 1 can assure you there.
Vice Chair Carollo: This is why --
Commissioner Gabela: Last night at 8 o 'clock, I want you to know that every day we
were picking up homeless -- we were, last night, I want you to know Friday, we were
out there, Raul, my wife, I. And five people were arrested living under a bridge and
two of them had a arrest warrant. So, I can tell you, I can assure you that I'm on the
job and things with me are going to change.
Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner; this is why I am going to support any effort that
you want to do in Allapattah economically, not -- because 1 feel that your heart is in
the right place, you deserve that opportunity to do that. I've heard what you've been
doing there and that's what a commissioner should do. 1 don't care who says what,
you're not out there giving orders, you're doing what the people elected you to do.
And you're right, the biggest dump area of the city of Miami for the homeless has
become Allapattah because the County doesn't care. Miami Beach doesn't care. Why
don't they let people out, all of them, at the jail out there next to Doral? They bus
them down here to Miami and they let them out in Allapattah, where the jail is.
Chair King: Commissioners, just want to remind you guys for -- because we have to
have these CRA meetings so that we can address --
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, so I'll make it quick in this one.
Chair King: Okay.
[Later...]
Chair King: Commissioner Pardo.
Commissioner Pardo: Thank you, Chairwoman. I just wanted to mention, since we
briefly discussed District 2, District 2 is a diverse district. We have all kinds of
income. We have all kinds of assets, just like many of the other districts. But what I
most wanted to say is I don't think we should be pitting people with more resources
against people with less resources. I believe a rising tide lifts all boats and I believe
we have the financial ability to look for capacity and other solutions so that all of our
districts are well managed without having to divide the individual communities. That
really doesn 't work for anyone. We need all of us. We need the people who pay very
large taxes, who have luxurious homes. We need people with lesser resources.
Luckily, we live in a community that is philanthropic, that there are lots of people that
live in those very wealthy homes who care and who want to give back to our
community. I think we're blessed in many, ways and I think that's the direction we
should take as a commission.
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Chair King: Thank you. At this time, I'm going to recess the City of Miami
Commission budget hearing so we can take up the CRA (Community Redevelopment
Agency) Commission meetings.
[Later...]
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.21 ?
Commissioner Pardo: Make the motion.
Chair King: 1 have a motion.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: And I have a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: As amended. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries unanimously. Thank you all for attending the first budget
hearing for the City of Miami this September 7, 2024. The meeting is now adjourned.
END OF FIRST BUDGET HEARING
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12: 56 p.m.
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