HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2025-07-10 MinutesCity of Miami
City Hall
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, FL 33133
www.miamigov.com
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, July 10, 2025
9:00 AM
City Commission Meeting
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
Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner, District Four
Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager
George K. Wysong III, City Attorney
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
9:00 AM INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Present: Chairwoman King, Vice Chair Carollo, Commissioner Gabela, Commissioner
Pardo and Commissioner Rosado
On the loth day of July 2025, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, met at its
regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in regular
session. The Commission Meeting was called to order by Chairwoman King at 9:30 a.m.,
recessed at 12:16 p.m., reconvened at 3:21 p.m., and adjourned at 4: 59 p.m.
Note for the Record: Vice Chair Carollo entered the Commission chambers at 9:49 a.m.
ALSO PRESENT:
Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager
George K. Wysong III, City Attorney
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
Chair King: And as always, we are going to begin our meeting with prayer. It is an honor to
welcome Pastor Quincy Cohen, my friend. He's the head pastor of Cohen Temple, located in
storied Overtown. He's also a City employee as well and grew up in the city of Miami also,
correct? Went to Miami Northwestern Senior High School. He -- he's proud to be a resident of
the -- well, you're not -- are you back in the city? No. Okay, he left the city, but he's lived here
forever, and I'm proud to call him my friend. So, thank you for doing the prayer for us.
Quincy Cohen: Good morning. Thank you, Chairman King, for this opportunity, and
Commission.
Invocation delivered.
Chair King: I'd also like for us to say a special prayer for our fire department. Some of our
firefighters have gone to Texas to assist, so keep them in your hearts and your prayers and
their families because what they are doing now is amazing, and our fire department, when
there's a need, they show up. They show up. Amen.
Pledge of Allegiance delivered.
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Meeting Minutes
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PR - PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
PR.1 PROTOCOL ITEM
17875
Honoree
Presenter
Protocol Item
Katy Puig
Mayor and
Commissioners
Proclamation
Larry M. Spring
Mayor and
Commissioners
Proclamation
FRESU PRESENTED
Chair King: Welcome to the City of Miami Commission Meeting for July loth, 2025.
I hope everyone is enjoying our summer. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for
your advocacy. As always, we are going to begin our meeting with
acknowledgements and recognitions of awesome folks who have done awesome
things and I'm going to turn our mic over to our mayor, Francis Suarez. I am joined
today by my colleagues, Commissioner Miguel Gabela and Commissioner Pardo.
I'm looking on this side because -- and Commissioner Rosado. Welcome.
Presentations made.
1) Mayor Suarez and Commissioners presented a Proclamation to recognize and honor
Katerina "Katy" Puig. Ms. Puig is a courageous young woman whose unwavering
spirit, resilience, and leadership have profoundly inspired the City of Miami and all
who know her. As captain of the Our Lady of Lourdes Academy soccer team, Katy
has demonstrated extraordinary talent, discipline, and dedication both on and off the
field and in the face of tremendous adversity, Ms. Puig has shown exceptional
strength and perseverance overcoming unimaginable challenges with grace,
determination, and an unbreakable will to move forward. Ms. Puig's journey has
united the Miami community, rallied support and reminds us all the power of hope,
the impact of love, and the resilience of the human spirit. Ms. Puig continues to
inspire her peers, educators, teammates, and neighbors not only through her
recovery and achievements, but through her courage, faith, and unwavering
positivity. Elected Officials paused in their deliberations to honor Ms. Katy Puig
whose stories reflect the values of strength, unity, and compassion.
2) Mayor Suarez and Commissioners presented a Proclamation to recognize Mr. Larry
M. Spring CPA (Certified Public Accountant) who has faithfully served the City of
Miami with distinction, integrity, and unwavering commitment through various
executive leadership roles including his most recent tenure as Assistant City
Manager/Chief Financial Officer. Throughout his decades of public service, Mr.
Spring's expertise in strategic planning, budgeting, and risk management has
provided invaluable leadership in overseeing departments including Finance,
Procurement, Budget and Strategy, Real Estate, Asset Management, Economic
Innovation and Development, Housing and Community Development, and Grants,
ensuring compliance with policies, laws, and national standards. Mr. Spring's
leadership was pivotal in numerous high profile accomplishments, including the
financing of the Marlins Stadium and Port Tunnel, citywide healthcare plan
redesign, and redevelopment agency expansions, all while earning unqualified audit
opinions from external auditors. In addition to his governmental service, Mr. Spring
has contributed to the broader community through his role with the Miami Parking
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ORDER OF THE DAY
Authority, and his participation in national and local professional organizations
such as the Government Finance Officers Association and the American Institute of
CPAs. Elected Officials paused in their deliberations to recognize the exemplary
career, legacy of leadership, and professional excellence of Mr. Spring, whose
impact will be felt for generations throughout the City's operations and financial
future and recognize and honor Mr. Larry M. Spring for his decades of distinguished
public service, financial acumen, and tireless dedication to the advancement of the
City of Miami and express our heartfelt gratitude and wish him continued success in
all future endeavors.
Chair King: Mr. City Attorney, when you 're ready, would you please read your
statement?
George Wysong (City Attorney): Thank you, Madam Chair. George Wysong, City
Attorney, City of Miami. 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 which is available online
at www.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 the code section about lobbyists is available in the City Clerk's Office or
online at www.municode.com. Any person making a presentation, formal request or
petition to the City Commission concerning real property must make the disclosures
required by the City Code in writing. A copy of the City Code section is available at
the Office of the City Clerk or online at www.municode.com. City of Miami requires
that anyone requesting action by the City Commission must disclose, before the
hearing, any consideration provided or committed to anyone for agreement to
support or withhold objection to the requested action item, pursuant to City Code
Section 2-8. Any documents offered to the City Commission that have not been
provided seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be
entered into the record at the City Commission 's discretion. In accordance with
Section 2-33W 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. The meeting of the Miami City
Commission is a limited public forum. Any person may be heard by the City
Commission, through the Chair, for not more than two minutes on any proposition
before the City Commission unless modified by the Chair. Public comment will begin
at approximately 10 a.m. and remain open until public comment is closed by the
chairperson. Any person making offensive remarks or who becomes unruly in the
City Commission Chambers will be barred from further attending City Commission
meetings and may be subject to arrest. No clapping, applauding, heckling or verbal
outbursts in support or opposition to a speaker or his or her remarks shall be
permitted. No signs or placards shall be allowed in the City Commission Chambers.
Persons exiting the Commission Chambers shall do so quietly. Members of the
public wishing to address the body may do so by -- also submitting written comments
via the online comment form. Please visit www.rniamigov.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, their staff 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, their staff, and
the city administration up until the chairperson closes public comment. Public
comment may also be provided here live, at City Hall located at 3500 Pan American
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
Drive, Miami, Florida, subject to any and all city rules as they may be amended. 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 members of the public must first state
their name, their address, and what item will be spoken about. 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 meeting in compliance with
Section 286.0114(4) (c) Florida Statute. 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's Office 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.miami.gov.com. Planning and
Zoning items; PZ items, shall proceed according to Section 7.1.4 of the Miami 21
Zoning Ordinance. Parties for any PZ items including any applicant, appellant,
appellee, City staff and any person recognized by the decision -making body as a
qualified intervener, as well as the applicant's representatives and any experts
testifying on behalf of the applicant, appellant, or appellee, may be physically
present at City Hall to be sworn in by oath or affirmation by the City Clerk. The
members of the City Commission shall disclose any ex parte communications to
remove the presumption of prejudice pursuant to Florida Statute Section 286.0115
and Section 7.1.4.5 of the Miami 21 Zoning Ordinance. The order of presentation
shall be as set forth in Miami 21 and in the City Code. Staff will briefly present each
item to be heard. The applicant will present its application or request to the City
Commission. If the applicant agrees with the staff recommendation, the City
Commission may proceed to its deliberation and decision. The applicant may also
waive the right to an evidentiary hearing on the record. For appeals, the appellant
will present its appeal to the City Commission, followed by the appellee. Staff will be
allowed to make any recommendation that they may have. Please silence all cell
phones and other noise -making devices. This meeting can be viewed live on Miami
TV, the City's Facebook page, the City's Twitter page, the City's YouTube channel,
and Comcast Channel 77. This broadcast will have closed captioning. Thank you,
Madam Chair.
Chair King: Thank you. Mr. City Clerk.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Thank you, Chair. The procedures for individuals who
will be providing testimony to be sworn in for Planning and Zoning items and any
quasi-judicial items on today's City Commission agenda will be as follows: the
members of City staff or any other individuals who are required to be sworn in who
are currently present at City Hall will be sworn in by me, the City Clerk, immediately
after I finish explaining these procedures. Those individuals who are appearing
remotely may be sworn in now or at any time prior to the individual providing
testimony for Planning and Zoning items and/or quasi-judicial items.
Commissioners, are you comfortable with all of the notice provisions set forth in
these uniform rules and procedures we have established for this meeting?
Chair King: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Chair, may I administer the oath for the Planning and Zoning items?
Chair King: Please.
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Mr. Hannon: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. If you will be speaking on any of
today's Planning and Zoning items, the PZ items, may I please have you stand and
raise your right hand?
The City Clerk administered the oath required under City Code Section 62-1 to those
persons giving testimony on zoning items.
Mr. Hannon: Thank you, Chair.
Chair King: Thank you. Mr. City Manager, would you please advise if there are any
items on this agenda that will be withdrawn and/or deferred?
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): Good morning, Madam Chair, Commissioners, Mr.
City Attorney, Mr. City Clerk. At this time, the administration would like to defer
and/or withdraw the following items on the regular agenda: PH.1, to be deferred to
the July 24th meeting; RE.2, to be deferred to the July 24th meeting; RE.4, to be
deferred to the July 24th meeting; PZ.3, to be deferred to the July 24th meeting; and
PZ.4, to be deferred to the July 24th meeting. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Noriega: That concludes the items.
Chair King: Mr. Vice Chair, are there any items that you would like to defer or
withdraw from this agenda?
Vice Chair Carollo: Not at this time, Chairwoman. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Commissioner Gabela?
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, I would like to withdraw -- I've got a question here. Art,
FR. 3, was that -- wasn 't that going to be withdrawn?
Mr. Noriega: We were going to -- we had such different reaction to that item. We
were just going to let it be heard and then get some feedback from the Commission.
Commissioner Gabela: All right. So, I'm going to D.2 [sic], DI.3, DI.4. I'd like to
defer those.
Chair King: Defer them?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah.
Chair King: Until?
Commissioner Gabela: The next commission meeting.
Chair King: July 24th.
Vice Chair Carollo: What items are those again?
Chair King: D.1 [sic] I mean, I'm sorry --
Commissioner Gabela: No, D.2 [sic].
Chair King: -- D.2 [sic], D.3 [sic] and D.4 [sic].
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Commissioner Gabela: That is correct.
Chair King: Commissioner Pardo?
Commissioner Pardo: I have none.
Chair King: Commissioner Rosado? May I have a motion to set the agenda?
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Commissioner Rosado: So moved.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Oh, I'm sorry. Wait a minute. I believe we have a pocket item. Mr. City
Attorney, could you read that pocket item?
Mr. Wysong: Yes, Madam Chair. Pocket Item.
The Resolution was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: Thank you.
Chair King: And Mr. City Clerk, I believe you have?
Mr. Hannon: Thank you, Chair. Just for the record, Chairwoman King will be
sponsoring CA.1 and SR.1.
Commissioner Gabela: CA.1 and which one?
Chair King: SR.1.
Commissioner Gabela: SR.1.
[Later...]
Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner Rosado said he wanted to take up RE.9 and
RE.10. Those were his items that he's the one that decided to take them out
originally, so I don 't see that there was a controversy in those. PZ.2 is one that I
don 't see as controversial at all that Commissioner Pardo talked about. The rest of
it, for the most part, I think will be items that will be requiring a 3-2 vote, and that's
why I'm taking the position that they should be left when we have a full commission.
Commissioner Pardo: I think the issue is whether we're okay listening now to the
controversial items. I'm okay doing that. Commissioner Gabela's okay doing that. I
don 't know about Commissioner Rosado, and obviously --
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, it's obvious that you 're going to be okay doing that
because you two guys are tied from the hip and what one votes the other's going to
vote. So, there are some items here that if they end up 2-2 and not 3-1, then you win.
And that's why you want to push it.
Commissioner Gabela: Well, Commissioner, but so be it.
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Commissioner Pardo: That's how it works, right?
Commissioner Gabela: It is what it is. I mean, it is what it is, I mean.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, it's not what it is, because if you want to give the
chairwoman the courtesy, like we've always have done here, if someone cannot be
here in critical items for her to be here, then we bring it in for the next meeting. You
guys are trying to push something --
Commissioner Gabela: So, let --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- to get it through now.
Commissioner Pardo: Lots of things are being --
PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ALL ITEM(S)
DISCUSSION ITEM
17872 PUBLIC COMMENTS SUBMITTED ONLINE BY MEMBERS OF THE
Office of the Cit PUBLIC FOR THE JULY 10, 2025, CITY COMMISSION MEETING.
y
Clerk
RESULT: PRESENTED
Chair King: And at this time, I will welcome public comments. If there's anyone here
that would like to speak on any item that is on the agenda before us, please step
forward five at a time so we do not create a fire hazard. Five at a time. Good
morning.
Stanley Young: Good morning, Chairwoman and councilmen and staff. My name is
Chaplain Stanley Young, 500 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Miami, Florida. I am here to
endorse RE.6, CA.2, it's about my passion about the homeless here in Miami -Dade
County. You're doing great. That's one thing I'm going say, you are addressing the
issue. I'm here to applaud you on, to continue, to -- to consider those who can't come
here to speak for themselves that really need you. I go every week out on the streets
of Miami and talk to the homeless, talk to the mentally ill, talk to those that are on
drugs, try to get them into the treatment center, try to give them the help they need,
this is not something -- this is not a job, this is my passion. This is my love. This is
something I have been doing for 35 years. I enjoy doing what I do. I plan on doing it
until the Lord calls me home. I know there's many things that come across your desk
that get your attention that helps move this city forward. But this city really do needs
to move forward when we look out for those who can't look out for themselves right
now. That's why I go and support the homeless trust, the work they're doing in your
community. That's why I go out myself and also engage with those who really do
need your help. So, I'm here to thank you for considering those who are less
fortunate than ourselves, who didn't have a bed to sleep in, who actually slept out in
the rain today. So, I just want to thank you. God bless you. Have a good day.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Elvis Cruz: Good morning, Commissioners. Elvis Cruz, 631 Northeast 57th Street.
Regarding item PZ.2, that's an appeal of a historic property in the Morningside
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Historic District. I have read the City staff analysis which recommends denial. That
analysis is very well written, very insightful. I would urge you to follow it. It came to
the HEP (Historic Environmental Preservation) Board. The HEP Board voted 7 to 1
also recommending denial. The discussion was very meaningful. Again, I ask you to
recommend denial of that appeal. They can still build an addition to the house, but
it's important that it be appropriate to the historic character of the neighborhood.
Regarding RE.10, Commissioner Rosado, I believe that's your item, sir, and it would
deal with using city land for affordable housing. Affordable housing is an issue that I
have studied at length. Please let me meet with you. I have a lot of information that I
think would be very helpful that I would like to share with you about that. Perhaps
you may want to postpone this item. Lastly, PZ.1 and PZ.6. This is part of the
continuing process of wanting to allow supersized buildings for the purposes of
workforce housing or affordable housing. And while that may sound good, it causes
all sorts of problems for character and scale of existing neighborhoods. There's ways
to achieve those goals without harming the character and scale of our existing
neighborhoods. And so, I would ask you to please, at a minimum, as we talked about
last meeting with what was PZ.6 last meeting, Commissioners King and
Commissioners Pardo, please exclude NCDs (Neighborhood Conservation Districts)
and historic districts from being impacted by that supersizing legislation. Thank you
very much.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Cruz: Elvis Cruz.
Chair King: Good morning.
Dana Camera: Good morning. Hello, my name is Dana Della Camera, and I'm at
1465 Northwest 111 th Street in North Miami, and I am representing the Arts
Accelerator in support of the Downtown Development Authority. The Downtown
Development Authority serves as a vibrant core of the city, driving initiatives that
position downtown Miami as a premier cultural destination, creative hub, and safe,
welcoming environment for both residents and visitors. For the past two years, the
Arts Accelerator has proudly been a recipient of the grant funding from the Miami
DDA (Downtown Development Authority), enabling us to engage and impact over
500 individuals through key partnerships with the Miami Film Festival, including
our LiveScript Reading and Film Monetization Panel. These initiatives elevate local
talent by spotlighting South Florida's writers, actors, and filmmakers, while also
equipping creators with essential knowledge to monetize their films and build
sustainable, independent careers in the industry. We are deeply grateful for the
continued support of the Miami DDA and encourage you all to do the same so that
they may continue to make a transformative impact on the creative community. With
so much grant funding being cut, we simply cannot afford another cut. Thank you in
advance for your support.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Rick Madan: Good morning, Commissioners. Rick Madan, I'm the president of the
Biscayne Neighborhoods Association. I reside at 2900 Northeast 7th Avenue, here to
speak on SR.3. We strongly oppose the abolishment of the Bayfront Park
Management Trust for the following critical reasons: safeguarding community voice.
The Trust is the dedicated body uniquely positioned to ensure community
involvement in the planning and execution of events and activities in Bayfront and
Maurice Ferre Parks. Protecting public interest. Dissolving the Trust risks removing
this vital community focused entity, potentially leading to decisions that do not
reflect the public's best interest for these valuable waterfront assets. We have to
ensure the park vitality. These parks are central gathering places for our city's
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waterfront. They require a dedicated, community focused entity to ensure their
continued vitality and relevance to Miami residents, and also prioritizing Miami's
future. Let's not make the future of our cherished parks a political football. We must
do what is right for Miami and its residents by preserving the Trust. On RE.8, we
favor the proposed lifetime term limits for mayor and commissioners because it
promotes accountability. Term limits encourage elected officials to be more
responsive to constituents, knowing their time in office is finite. Fosters fresh
perspectives. This amendment will bring new leadership and diverse ideas to the
commission, preventing political stagnation and encouraging innovation. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Kristen Browde: Good morning. Kristen Browde, 888 Biscayne Boulevard. Picking
up on the remarks the gentleman just made, more than 75 of our neighbors from
downtown, including some from District 3, as far away as District 3, showed up
Tuesday night to talk about preserving the Bayfront Trust, and we urge you to do
that. That isn't the issue on which I came down here, which is the DDA. As much as
we support the grants and the activities of the DDA, we're taxed by it. We're taxed
for it in our neighborhood, Downtown. I represent the 888 Biscayne community to
the Downtown Neighborhood Association. And while we support the benefits that the
DDA brings to the city of Miami, it brings them to the city, not to our -- the
neighborhood in particular. We have a great Flagler Business Improvement District.
The DDA could be a business improvement district or could fold in to what Flagler -
- or support what Flagler does instead of putting an extra tax on our community. I
know, Vice Chairman, you've been a strong advocate for responsibility and the way
that people tax the people of this city. I hope that you'll continue by taking a look at
how you fund the DDA's activities. It shouldn't be on one neighborhood. We urge
you to spread that out, do the right thing, continue the good work that the DDA does,
but don't tax just us to bring a benefit to Miami. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Eleazar Melendez: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Eleazar Melendez, a
downtown resident, address at 253 Northeast 2nd Street, and I'm here as an advisor
to the Downtown Neighbors Alliance to speak on DI.5. I want to talk about the
meeting that the DDA had yesterday. It was a workshop on the budget. And
unfortunately, it wasn't a very honest one. The reality is that right now, we have a
situation where the neighbors who are advocating for looking at the waste, fraud,
and abuse are being targeted and they're being pegged as not existing or as just not
being -- giving the true information. When in reality the message is very clear. The
DDA does good things. And I'm not -- and I know that firsthand, and I'm -- I don't
think that that takes away from the fact that there's also an organization that's
wasting money by giving corporate tax giveaways in the six -figure categories to
organizations that don't need them and didn't ask for them. So, I hope that this
discussion leads to that and that now there's going to be a new leadership that's
taken care of and that's looked at, because the reality is that an organization can go
and can keep doing the good things and can do a different structure perhaps, but not
do these corporate tax giveaways that are not good for the community and are not
necessary. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Gary Ressler: Good morning. Gary Ressler, with offices at 169 East Flagler Street.
Madam Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, Commissioners, it's a great pleasure to be before you
to speak in support of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. As a long-time
board member and chair of the Quality of Life Committee, I can tell you the
organization welcomes the opportunity to provide further transparency and visibility
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
into the great value added to the -- by the DDA to the community. Whether through
our Downtown Community Collaborator grants that promote arts and community
events, or our Permit Clinic and the Neighborhood Marketing Promotion and
Support, the Miami Downtown Development Authority is committed to maintaining
the economic health and vitality of downtown Miami. It's important to note that the
majority of our budget, a full $9 million next year, funds quality of life initiatives we
are quite proud of This includes a downtown enhancement team that's on the streets
day in and day out, cleaning up thousands of bags worth of trash, to our downtown
ambassadors providing guidance and safety walks to local workers, tourists, and
residents. Not to mention grants to homeless assistance organizations that help our
organization's mission to grow, strengthen, promote, and promote the economic
health and vitality of downtown Miami. I thank you for your continued support and
look forward to working with you to improve downtown Miami for all of Miami.
Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Steve Smith: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Steve Smith, 900 Biscayne
Boulevard. I'm here to speak in opposition of SR.3 and in support of RE.8. As for
SR.3, as we heard loud and clear at last night's Sunshine meeting and the last City
Commission meeting, dozens are wondering why we are in a rush to abolish the
Trust in just a mere few weeks. It makes no sense to move this recklessly or
unilaterally on such an important issue. In an op-ed penned yesterday by
Commissioner Rosado, the Miami Herald, and I quote, "I've learned that the best
plans aren 't born in boardrooms, they're shaped by neighbors." "I've learned that
the best plans aren't born in boardrooms, they're shaped by neighbors. " Neighbors
have not had an opportunity to weigh in on this issue. I couldn't agree more,
Commissioner. Let's tap the brakes; let's let cooler heads prevail, and let's prioritize
these amazing parks over politics. I'm not denying that there may be likely merits to
different ways to which we move forward, including the status quo. Everyone needs
to know what a great job Commissioner Gabela is doing leading the Trust right now.
I met him at our first Trust board meeting. He's been nothing but honest,
collaborative, and transparent in all my dealings with him. I judge people by their
actions, not by their words. His actions have demonstrated clearly to me that he is
focused on fiscal responsibility, partnering with the community, and ensuring all
voices are heard, even when those people may disagree with him. I'm open-minded
to change, but I would consider you to repeal this motion. As for term limits, they
make sense. They have broad bipartisan support. 8 years and possibly 16 is plenty of
lifetime to execute one's civic and political agendas.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Smith: Thank you.
Chair King: Good morning.
Maria Reilley: Good morning. I am Maria Reilley. I live at 2315 Southwest 26
Terrace in Silver Bluff. And thank you for this opportunity to speak about item DI.5.
I am here to support the DDA, and I wanted to give one real life example of some of
the extremely important work they do, but together with the community. Last year we
coordinated with the DDA, with TPO (Transportation Planning Organization), with
DTPW (Department of Transportation and Public Works), the Underline and many
others in the community to gather together for parking day, which is to transform a
parking space, which as you know we have major crazy congestion, which is only
going to get worse, into a park for the day. And the DDA worked together with also
the Parks Department, where I was formerly the master plan manager, and we
pulled off an amazing event for specifically local students at Southside Preparatory
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Academy. They came and they learned about the environment, multimodal
transportation, and lots of other great activities, and we also had the support of our
local leaders, including Eileen Higgins. So, I just wanted to underscore the value of
parks and public spaces as we grow together. We have a vital, necessary obligation,
I think, and duty to provide budgeting and opportunities to improve the quality of life
for our future leaders. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Beatrice Gonzalez: Good morning, Madam Chair, Commissioners. My name is
Beatrice Gonzalez. I'm the director of the Lotus House Women's Shelter located at
217 Northwest 15th Street. I'm here to speak in support of RE.6, allocating critical
and life -changing funding to the Lotus House, right now currently sheltering over
500 women and children. I'd like to first start off by thanking the City and your
wonderful team for all the support and collaboration over the years helping to
ensure that vulnerable women and children have a safe place to sleep, and that also
receive therapeutic support so that they can actually exit the shelter system
successfully, as demonstrated by our 83 percent success rate. I'm also here to share
words of support for the City of Miami DDA, who have worked collaboratively with
us over the last few years to help bring our resources to those who need it most.
From direct street outreach with our incredible ambassadors, who I see some back
there, which resulted in some of the most incredible success stories we've ever had.
Like a young woman who was living vulnerably on the streets of downtown while
trying to maintain her job at a local grocery store, who while sheltered with us was
able to successfully save her money and exit to her own housing after years and
years of chronic homelessness. That is not an easy feat and something we would not
have done without the support of the DDA. To funding for our programs impacting
children and families because no child in our city should be sleeping on the streets.
To supporting our back -to -school efforts for the 100-plus school age children who
deserve new uniforms and backpacks to return to school. The DDA is a champion in
our community, and I hope that you will consider supporting them. Thank you so
much.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Cristina Palomo: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Cristina Palomo. I'm
a downtown resident at 244 Biscayne Boulevard. I'm here to speak today on DI.5,
the DDA item, in full support of the DDA and all of the services that they provide.
I'm not going to list them. I think that so many people have come to speak about the
importance of their work downtown. I just want to say there's a void there if the DDA
went away that I don't know who will fill it. We need those services. The homeless
population is greatly impacted, you know, and benefits from their work. And there's
no reason to put it on a ballot where we can't even align peoples' ballots with the
DDA boundaries. So, I don't want another resident of Miami who doesn't see
firsthand the services to make decisions for me about what taxes I pay. The taxes are
nominal, it's a couple hundred dollars, and I don't see any reason why anyone
should put this on a ballot where people who are not in that district will make that
decision. On SR.3, Bayfront Park, please withdraw this item. We need the Trust.
There is a recent change in leadership that needs to be given a chance to see things
through. And this is a different animal. Bayfront Park does not function like a
regular park. There is so much revenue, there's so much complex operation
happening there. I don't know what city agency is going to, you know, replace that
and take that on. I don't know what the plan is, but as a Downtown resident, I'm
concerned on both of these items, that instead of working to fix things and make
things better and reform agencies, we're just talking about throwing them -- you
know, the baby away with the bathwater. And I think it's wrong.
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Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Palomo: Thank you.
Chair King: Good morning.
Michelle Niemeyer: Hi, good morning. I'm Michelle Niemeyer. I live at 244 Biscayne
Boulevard in Downtown, so I am directly across from Bayside and in the district that
pays taxes to the DDA. I'm here to speak on both of those issues. Bayfront Park has
operated for a very long time under a cloud of mistrust and poor management, but
that's being taken care of now. And we're already seeing improvements. We have a
really special thing in our waterfront parks in Downtown, and to take away the
independent management of those parks I think would be a terrible mistake. So, I'm
here to oppose that. As far as the DDA goes, they do a lot of great things. We have
the ambassadors on the streets checking on the homeless people. We have gentlemen
who walk around picking up garbage. That's great. We do have some issues with
how money is being spent. And we need to keep in mind that in 1967 when the DDA
was formed, there weren't really many buildings that were condominium buildings
that were providing a lot of tax revenue to that budget. Today, a vast -- I don't know
if it's a majority or around half of that money is coming from residents. And my
suggestion would be that we do two things. One of them is we put about half the
board members as resident seats. The other thing is that we do a really good
analysis of what is the role of the DDA, what should they be doing, and then seeing
how effective they are at it. Because they're effective at some things and not at
others. They can definitely improve, but they shouldn't be eliminated. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Malena Legarre: Good morning. My name is Malena Legarre. I live in 628 Fern
Road, Key Biscayne, Florida, and I am here to support the DDA. I'm a director with
Fundacion Hermanos de la Calle. Fundacion Hermanos de la Calle is a nonprofit
that serves the homeless population in Miami -Dade County. But thanks to the
partnership and the support of the DDA, we are able to focus our efforts in the
downtown area, connecting people to effective results, shelter placement, permanent
housing, relocation out of town, reunification with family, and many other services.
Not only that, Hermanos cares about the homeless people as much as the DDA does.
We know their programs, their work program, giving the formerly homeless people
the chance to have a job, have a salary, pay for rent, be a productive part of the
society. And not only that, giving back to the neighborhood where they were found of
being homeless, giving back, making the town more beautiful, more safe, more clean.
So, I'm really here to support that. And I take also this opportunity to offer all of you,
commissioners, if you have a homeless person in your neighborhood, please call
Hermanos de la Calle. I can assure you we are going to help that person out of the
streets. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Alex Paz: Good morning. My name is Alex Paz. I'm vice president at Chapman
Partnership located at 1550 North Miami Avenue, and I'm here to speak in support
of the Downtown Development Authority. Chapman Partnership is the largest
homeless assistance center in Miami -Dade County. Every night we have 500 men,
women, and children sleeping in our centers. And a big reason that we support the
DDA is that a pillar of what we do is the dignity of work. Last year, we employed
471 individuals, assisted them with employment, and we placed 180 individuals into
some sort of education or certification course. The neighborhood beautification
teams are a huge part of that for us. They allow people to give back to their
community, as has been said. They allow people the space to be able to take us up on
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our pre -apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs with our local school board.
And we would definitely be at a loss without the support of the DDA. When you look
at L.A., Portland, New York, communities like that, there's a reason that we don't
look like that here in Miami and the DDA is a huge part of that. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Jie Douchet: Good morning, Chairwoman and Commissioner. My name is Jie
Douchet. I'm a resident at 244 Biscayne. I am here to speak about DI.5 in support of
the DDA. So, as a new resident that moved here three years ago from Tampa, I didn't
know anyone. And you know, two of my very first friends are those ladies back there
in the orange shirts. They would be on Flagler, and I would go talk to them and find
out like, where do I go? You know, where can I meet people? When I started my
small business, Michael, John, and Carlos, and Alvira, you know, they consulted me
on how to get properly licensed, you know, what are the resources, what are the
programs that I can take advantage of? Every morning when I'm walking my kids to
school in Brickell the kids -- you know, the people who are cleaning the streets greet
me in the morning and it's such a friendly face to see like on the way there because
it's like a one -mile walk, but I see them on the way there. And just everything about
the DDA that I've experienced has made my life better as a new Miami resident. So, I
want to be here to support them. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Tim Blair: Good morning, Commissioner, City Manager. My name is Tim Blair, and
I reside at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, Miami Beach. I'm a managing principal for
AECOM, also president-elect for the Miami Center for Architecture and Design,
MCAD. I would like to speak on item DI.5. On behalf of MCAD, I would like to
reinforce our strong support of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, DDA.
MCAD and DDA share mutual goals to raise awareness regarding design, culture,
and the arts in Miami. And we both are passionate about serving our community and
addressing their concerns, specific to issues like housing, mobility, place making, et
cetera. Our collective vision is to support Miami's growing presence as a global city.
For decades, the DDA has played a vital role making Downtown Miami safer,
cleaner, more welcoming and above all, more connected for residents, business
owners, and visitors alike. And again, reinforcing from the downtown ambassadors
that greet tourists and guide lost visitors to the welcome center that used to be in
Downtown to the walking tours which they co-sponsor with MCAD, the DDA has
been an incredible partner in supporting our neighborhoods. The Creative
Collaborative Grant Program helps bring arts and culture directly to the community.
Our partnership with the DDA for Open House Miami, a free three-day festival
providing over 3,100 people unprecedented access to Miami's architecture and
stories last year and growing. 800 tourists, nearly 800 tourists stayed in our hotels,
visited our restaurants, explored our streets. Downtown Miami is the economic,
cultural and civic core of the city and part of any global city. DDA is a small agency
with a big return. I think it would be misplaced to consider replacing the DDA on the
ballot.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Blair: Okay. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Meme Ferre: Good morning. First of all, I want to say thank you to the five
commissioners that are here and Mayor Francis Suarez. My name is Meme Ferre. I
live at 1 Grove Isle, Coconut Grove. I am a former educator with Miami -Dade
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County Public Schools for 31 years. I am on the board of the Adrienne Arsht Center
and I'm also on -- the chairman of the advisory council of the Ferre Institute for
Civic Leadership at FIU (Florida International University). I'm here to talk about
CR.3 [sic]. It was a great honor that in -- oh, and I'd also like to honor Rosario
Kennedy, Commissioner Rosario Kennedy, and Monty Trainer, who are huge pillars
of our community. It was a great honor that in 2019, the City of Miami honored our
father, Maurice A. Ferre, with a beautiful green space in Downtown Miami. My
family and I are concerned about the Bayfront Park Management Trust being
abolished. We are specifically concerned about the maintenance and the
preservation of the Maurice A. Ferre Park, which bears his name. If the Trust is
abolished, the funds will go into the general fund and the care and maintenance of
the park will be endangered. The Trust has provided stability for the parks for over
38 years and has a proven track record. We believe the Trust, with the private citizen
board, has kept the Bayfront Park and the Maurice Ferre Park safe from
development, green, and open to the people of Miami. Please defer this item. It
seems very rushed and without proper deliberation and public input. Thank you so
much for your service. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Sandra Suarez: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Sandra Suarez, and I
reside at 7450 Southwest 65th Court in South Miami. Today I am speaking for D1 --
DI.5 in support of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. There are a few
things that they do that are super important. One of them is the Downtown
Enhancement Team that is just general cleanup for the Downtown area, and that's a
huge effort, and it's very visible in terms of their success in that area. They also focus
on the enhanced services coordinator community engagement, which engages with
the homeless community. And as you've heard and as we've seen in other cities,
right, Miami is doing quite well in that arena, in terms of supporting them and also
just its relationship to the urban condition. And then the one that we're the most
involved in is with the Miami Center for Architecture and Design. I'm the incoming
vice president for that organization and also a board member. We've worked with
them on Open House, and Open House has been successful this year and in the past.
One of the things that we do for Open House is that we provide self -guided tours,
behind -the -scene tours, talks, workshops that engage the community, visitors, and
business owners, and it basically showcases the local architecture and the design
work that we do here in Miami that is more and more beautiful each day. And in that
sense, it is one of the most important things that we do with them that also
collaborates with other organizations like the American Institute of Architects and
the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. And this allows over 3,000
people to participate in engaging with architecture and design at a very local level.
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Suarez: Thank you so much.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Margarita Franco: Good morning, everyone. My name is Margarita Franco. I reside
at 1401 Northwest 50th Street, Miami, Florida, 33142. I'm here representing R.M.
Enterprise, a proud applicant of the DDA's grant program, but more importantly, a
company that believes deeply in the future of the city and in support of the DDA. I've
been a proud resident of Miami for 30 years. I remember when the only place that
you can go downtown was Bayside, where you felt safe, you couldn't even walk in the
city. I've witnessed Miami grow in remarkable ways and growth hasn't happened by
chance. The Downtown Development Authority has been the driving force behind so
much of the progress we're seeing today, not just in development, but in the
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direction. The DDA is shaping more than just buildings, it's helping shape culture,
community and economic opportunity for everyone, big and small. Leaders like M.J.
Carlos and the other dedicated members of the DDA are not only doing the work,
they're doing it with purpose and intention. They've made it a point to ensure that
small businesses like myself startups and local voices are not left behind in the
momentum of the downtown's transformation. As someone who's both lived through
the Miami past and is actively working towards its future, I'm truly grateful for the
vision and leadership that the DDA brings to the table. Thank you for allowing me to
be part of the conversation and thank you for continuing to make Downtown Miami
a place where people live, can work, and enjoy. Thank you, everyone.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Stephanie Espinoza: Good morning, Commissioners My name is Stephanie Espinoza.
Address is 350 Northwest 1st Avenue. I'm here on behalf of Brightline trains
speaking on item DI.5. First I'd like to wish Commissioner Rosado a belated happy
birthday. Second, I'd like to submit this letter to the Commission in support of the
Miami DDA. Our company and the guests that we serve have witnessed firsthand
how Miami DDA's strategic initiatives have enhanced the appeal, accessibility, and
the economic vitality of the downtown area. This letter goes into greater detail, and
we'll submit that for the record. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Mary Anderson: Good morning, Commissioners, Mayor Suarez, and neighbors, I
appreciate the opportunity to speak on SR.3. My name is Mary Anderson. I reside at
935 Palermo Avenue and hold an investment interest in a property within the city of
Miami. As a native-born Miamian, my family and I spent many wonderful times over
the years at Bayfront Park. I fondly remember childhood outings and was fortunate
to enjoy all the joys of a local park on the bay in the heart of the city. Filled with
numerous treasures and curiosities, hidden botanical garden, deep sea fishing
outings, the sailfish sign above Pier 5, palomas, palomas, palomas. The Trust has
been a safeguard for Bayfront Park for 38 years. It is my understanding the park has
self -funded, saving the City money. I believe the City is rushing into this too hastily
to dissolve the Trust. Much more thought should be given to keeping the Trust and
making it better. I ask that you defer the item until the public has a real opportunity
to discuss this. Thank you for the opportunity to share my concerns, thoughts, and
memories with everyone here this morning.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Ana Brewer: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Ana Brewer, and I work
and live in Downtown Miami. I've been a resident for the last 17 years. And I'm here
today because the Miami DDA is not just helpful, it's an essential. I walk to work, I
walk around during the day and the evening, and I feel safe because of the services
the Miami DDA provides. Their enhanced service team are out every day cleaning
the sidewalks, removing graffiti, picking up trash and even helping clear areas
where people have set up encampments. They keep our streets clean, but they also
treat people with dignity that matters. The downtown ambassadors wearing the
orange shirts, like the two ladies that we have right in the back, are like the eyes and
the ears of our neighborhood. They help visitors, they give directions, they walk
people to their cars, and they stay alert. It's comforting to know that they are always
nearby. But the DDA is more than just safety and cleanliness. They support our
small businesses. I've seen businesses on my block get help with permits and grants
to stay open and grow. These are not big chains. These are family -owned shops,
restaurants, and nail salons. They are part of our community. The Miami DDA also
brings life to the public spaces with events, art, and support for cultural programs
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that make the downtown feel alive. They help create a downtown where we can be
proud of This is what the Miami DDA does every single day, quietly and
consistently. Downtown Miami is the heart of the city, and the Miami DDA is the
heartbeat. It's working. We should strengthen and not put it on the ballot. Please do
not take a step backwards. The Miami DDA benefits everyone, residents like me,
small businesses and visitors who bring energy and dollars into the economy. Thank
you.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And my apologies, Chair --
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Hannon: -- if could we have the speaker's name one more time. I'm sorry.
Ms. Brewer: Yes. My name is Ana Brewer.
Mr. Hannon: Thank you.
Ms. Brewer: Thank you.
Chair King: Good morning.
Sandy Moise: Good morning. My name is Sandy Moise. I live at 5910 Northeast 6th
Court, Miami, Florida. I had a prepared statement today, but some of my items were
deferred, but they may blend into other items. First, I do support RE.5 to appoint
Commissioner Ralph Rosado as the chairperson of the DDA. I think he would bring
his expertise as an urban planner, and I currently have trust and faith in him, and I
think he could do a good job in reorganizing it a bit. Regarding D15 [sic], and
actually SR.3 as well, I'm hearing a lot of people speak, and I'm not here to say the
DDA is not a good thing. We do certainly appreciate the good -- the great work that
the nonprofits that are receiving money from the DDA are doing, and I like hearing
the work that they're doing here today. However, I don't believe that this is totally a
discussion. This really isn't a discussion on abolishing or keeping DDA. I think there
are a lot of concerns being raised here on how money is spent. And when you think
about DDA and Bayfront Park Trust, you're looking at areas of downtown that
overlap. So, I really think it would be wise to have some sort of organizational
meeting to look at what we want to improve on and make sure that we're spending
dollars wisely. Because I'm hearing a lot of bloated salaries, misspent money,
excessive contracts, things of that nature. So, I do think that there could be some
conversation in that area. DDA was established as an independent agency of City of
Miami, funded by a special tax levy on the properties. Mission to foster growth and
development of Downtown Miami, making it a desirable place to live, work and visit.
So, it makes me wonder, why would the City then be trying to give away Olympia
Theater to a charter school when Olympia Theater really should be the core of our
cultural hub in Downtown Miami. Regarding taxing, DDA gives tax incentives for
businesses, but we want people to come and live in downtown, so why double tax
them? Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
June Savage: Hi, thank you. June Savage, 3063 Oak Avenue, lifetime resident of the
city of Miami. I'm here to speak about the Lotus House. Constance Collins does
fantastic work for the women that go through. Judge Barbara Labora [sic], who I
know personally, she's a cyclist, and we've done events for the Lotus House. You
must give the $175, 000 to them. The Lotus House program is better than Section 8,
because the people go in and they come out on a healthier venue faster than Section
8. On another item, let's talk about the Bayfront Park Trust. Monty Trainer, who
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happened to be with me when I was in the Miss Miami pageant there at Bayfront
Park many years ago, our very first Ultra was there. We do not need to abolish this.
As a matter of fact, I think the DDA should be absorbed by the Bayfront Park Trust,
because I think it's a little bit mismanaged. I think that monies could be spent in a lot
of different ways than what they're doing right now, especially giving away to a fight
club that has multi -million dollars. And so, on that, I'd just like to end with I'm not
quite sure that Rosada [sic] is the perfect person. Bayfront Park Trust is huge. It's
been there a very long time, and I think that you should slow that down on who
you're going to appoint for that. And I'd like to wish you all a fantastic day. I think
that you should have full-time jobs, because we have a lot of things to do in the city.
Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Rob Piper: Good morning. Thank you for having me. Rob Piper, 1401 Southwest
17th Terrace. I am just here to -- regarding RE.3, I think it's definitely a good start
regarding redistricting. I would only ask that you pull it to add a critical piece, and
that includes language that makes it -- that allows districts to be drawn with respect
to neighborhoods and natural boundaries. Currently, too many neighborhoods are
split between commissioners, which makes no sense to have specific neighborhoods
represented by two separate commissioners. So, please withdraw that to make that
fix. The second thing regarding RE.8, the lifetime term limits, I suspect that will
probably get passed today, but I wasn't sure if the folks here were aware of a
convenient little loophole that's been inserted that makes this iteration of the ballot
language different from what it was last month, and I quote, "Said lifetime terms
shall not include any time served as a result of having been elected to fill a
vacancy. " So, if this is passed as is, what is the point of having lifetime term limits?
If a certain individual can get elected to serve partial terms in addition to their full
two terms, well, then what's the point of solving this revolving door of elected
officials coming back over and over and over again? So, I will make the ask. Please
withdraw RE.8 as it is. Take out that loophole. Thank you very much.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Carol Viteri: Good morning. My name is Carol Viteri. I reside at 244 Biscayne
Boulevard. I am a long-time resident and business owner of Downtown Miami. I'm
here to support the DDA, in other words, oppose the demolishing of the DDA. I walk
through the streets every day. I see what -- the job that they're doing. I've also seen
the transformation of Miami. Mayor was talking earlier about how great Miami is
doing. It's difficult to put a finger on exactly what's happening, but I think that the
DDA is a big, big, big part of it. I do not call it giveaways, I call it corporate
incentives, which we all know in the business world are important. Whether they're
too much, too little, I'll leave that to the experts to discuss. And lastly, just, you know,
right before you make your decision, please look into conflict of interests. Usually
when these things come up to bat -- to the back -- you know, to be discussed, is
because there's some sort of conflict of interest somewhere. So, I trust you to really
do the digging and take a look and make the right decision. Thank you very much.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Stephen Gross: Good morning. My name is Stephen Gross. I live at 325 South
Biscayne Boulevard, and I want to talk about the MDDA (Miami Downtown
Development Authority) and the Bayfront Trust today. I'm not going to tell you all
the great things the MDDA does. I think we've heard a lot of that today, and I've
been up there several times, and I've said it before. But when people say that they're
just giving away money, that's a wild, horrible accusation. They don't just give away
money. When they join with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) or when
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they join with Barcelona, there are gates for them to have to earn the money that
they said that they would give to them. It's a partnership. So, they say, look, you said
you were going to create so many jobs and employ so many people. If they don't do
it, they don't get the money. You said you're going to build this in our community
that's going to open up retail and make us a brighter, more developed community.
They're not just throwing the money to corporations that already have money.
They're saying, we want to partner with you. We want to bring you into the
community. We want to help create jobs. And that's the way things are done in cities,
whether it's the government giving tax incentives for Amazon to move into New York
or other big companies to build industry and stuff like that. That's what they're
doing. And the MDDA does a great job, and I think that we should not politicize
what they're doing. The second thing is on the Bayfront Trust Park. We had a great
meeting on Tuesday night. Two of the commissioners showed up, which I appreciate,
and we got to hear from the people, and we had a discussion. And I really think we
need to slow everything down. We do not need to get rid of the Trust. I think we need
to look at it, though, and we need to see how it's run, how people are appointed to
the Trust, the directors and stuff like that. So, it's not perfect. But the Trust is the
right solution. Having the City take over the park, that would be disaster. And it
shouldn't happen. And this is another thing that's being politicized that are trying to
be pushed through for different reasons that I don't think it should be. I think that we
have to calm down, slow down a little bit, and figure out how to improve the Trust
and not get rid of the Trust. Let's keep the Trust and the MDDA. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Miguel Soliman: Good morning. Miguel Soliman, 1436 Southwest 6th Street. I'm
here to show support for SR.1. I think this is a very good idea, especially for
homestead properties, of course, and our seniors are in a very difficult position, and
this will help a lot of people. I also want to take -- I also want to take advantage of
this time. Last time I was here, I spoke of prostitution activity that I had seen in
District 3 and District 1, and I'm happy -- I'm very thankful to both Chief Morales,
Commissioner Carollo, and Commissioner Gabela, that they have taken swift action.
And I want to give them merit for that and resolve the situation. And I want to thank
also Police Commander from Little Havana, Rodriguez, and Police Commander
Sobre [sic]. They were exceptional, everyone. Thank you very much for your swift
action. And I also wanted to take advantage, since I have an office in District 1 and I
own property in District 1, I just wanted to recognize and thank and congratulate
Commissioner Gabela for the excellent job since he took office. It's been incredible.
The streets are clean. He's got crews that you see him picking up trash constantly,
sweating. You see his personnel in the parks, helping the single mothers, the senior
residents with all kinds of things. You've seen increased housing construction for
low-income and workforce housing in the district. And the drainage system is
constantly being cleaned. And I'm sure, and I know that's all under his supervision
and thanks to him. And I must mention his wife also that is always with him.
Chair King: Thank you.
Commissioner Gabela: Thank you very much.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Soliman: Thank you very much.
Chair King: Good morning.
Mr. Soliman: Have a good day.
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Alicia Bethel: Good morning. My name is Alicia, currently reside at 3645 Northwest
36th Street. I just want to start by saying it's not an ambassador supporting the
DDA, it's the DDA that makes it possible for ambassadors to support Downtown.
Because of this funding, we've been able to help a mother with two children living in
her car find shelter. We called 911 to rescue an elderly woman who had been
trapped in her apartment for several days and was screaming for help. We were
there to call for medical attention when a resident was hurt and everyone else
walked passed him. It is also us who report illegal dumping and overflowing trash,
so it gets cleaned up quickly. We also help lost visitors find their way and we
respond immediately to businesses that need help, including calling the police in
emergencies when others might be afraid to act. Without this support and all of that
progress is at risk, Downtown Miami will lose the friendly faces, the quick response,
and the consistent presence that make it such an amazing place to visit, work, and
live. We respectfully ask you continue the support of the Miami DDA and protect the
jobs and services that help keep downtown vibrant, safe and thriving for everyone.
Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Laura Okamura: Laura Okamura. I reside at 50 Biscayne Boulevard. I'm here to
speak about SR.3, about the abolishment of Bayfront Park Trust. I object to this
proposal to immediately abolish the Bayfront Park Management Trust. It is
irresponsible to propose abolishing the Trust with no structure in place. There are
ideas, but there is no concrete, detailed plan to actually transition the Trust to a
conservancy or any other structure. The success of a conservancy is very dependent
on the planning and coordination with various agencies and stakeholders before it is
established. No such planning and coordination has taken place. Having the City run
the park would increase the cost to the taxpayers. In fact, Miami City Manager Art
Noriega stated, the City is notoriously bad at managing complex properties. So why
would we have the City run the park? Commissioner Rosado wrote in part that the
Bayfront Park Management Trust has a long track record of dysfunction from no -bid
contracts and financial irregularities documented in audits to public disputes with
other city agencies. The dysfunction, no -bid contracts, financial irregularities, and
public disputes did not occur because the park is managed by a trust. The Trust is
not the problem. The fact is they all occurred while the Trust was under the control
of Commissioner Carollo. That is why he was removed as chairman of this very
trust, and it was done without incurring additional costs or abolishing the Trust.
Commissioner Rosado claims the Trust lacks consistent full-time staffing. This is not
true, as there are 15 employees, some of which have been with the Trust for over 20
years. The staff has expertise to run complicated events, and as a result, the park
generates a profit after covering all its expenses with the surplus held in a capital
reserve for the park. That surplus should stay with the Trust for the benefit of the
park.
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Okamura: Abolishing the Trust would allow the City --
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Okamura: -- to have access to these funds.
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Okamura: Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Charwoman?
Chair King: Good morning.
Michelle Fernandez: Good morning.
Chair King: I don't want to interrupt the -- I'm going to let the, I'm not going to --
Vice Chair Carollo: We have a rule that we're not supposed to be named in the
fashion that I was named, wrongly and defamatory. So --
Chair King: We can address it when we get to SR.3.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but you let it go, and I'm getting fed up with a handful of
people that are being orchestrated every meeting, and basically, for the most part,
it's the same group, that are being orchestrated by the political action committee that
Mr. Pardo directs. And this is happening every meeting. Yeah, he laughs. He knows
exactly what he's doing. You know, the bottom line is that when I came as chairman
of the Trust, the Trust was barely making ends meet. Thanks to the brains that I put
into it and the sweat that I put into it, the Trust has a huge reserve and has around
$5 million or more dollars of recurring revenue every year that it doesn't use. It has
a plus of 5 million plus years [sic]. And we got more things done there than at any
time during the Trust's history. So, I'm not going to put up with a handful of people
that don't represent the whole city of Miami, because when we did have an election
that put every voter in Miami in the opportunity to vote on the outdoor gym
equipment, that the same small group led by Mr. Pardo came here time and time
again to say do away with it, they'd lost the election by 80-20. And what did Mr.
Pardo do? He went behind the scenes to the police department. You talk about
weaponizing? He went to the police department asking through his office to
investigate the Trust because we were involved --
Chair King: Vice Chair?
Vice Chair Carollo: -- in illegal drugs --
Chair King: Vice Chair? May I ask you, please, because we have --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but -- but --
Chair King: I understand
Vice Chair Carollo: -- I want to get the facts out.
Chair King: I will -- I will caution our publicers [sic] -- public commenters, please
do not address any of us individually. Keep your comments neutral to the facts and
not directly at anyone. Thank you. Good morning.
Commissioner Gabela: Excuse me, excuse me. If we're going to have this, that he's
going to interrupt in the middle of the thing, then I'm going to also interrupt because
we can 't have this.
Chair King: If you -- if you want to --
Commissioner Gabela: This is -- you know, I'm trying to --
Chair King: If you want to, go ahead. Go ahead.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Listen --
Commissioner Gabela: No, no, no, no, I'm trying to abide by the rules.
Chair King: Right, I'm trying to --
Commissioner Gabela: But he's jumping in, and listen --
Chair King: Yes and I didn 't stop --
Vice Chair Carollo: Because I was mentioned.
Chair King: Okay, I didn 't --
Commissioner Gabela: All right --
Chair King: -- stop her from saying his name. That will not happen again. My
mistake, because I don 't want us to engage with the public on your comments.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, can I --
Chair King: If you would like to say something --
Commissioner Gabela: -- can I finish?
Chair King: -- yes, you can go ahead and finish what you were going to say.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, summarily, what I was going to say, last I checked, I
think we're in the United States of America, okay, where people can come and
express. People sometimes have not said the best of me here, but I've got to take it,
okay, because that's what I'm elected for. So, you've got to take the good and the bad.
You can't just pick -- you know, I'll take the credit, but I won't take the bad. That's all
I have to say. And we should -- I'm trying to abide by the rules and procedures of --
through you, Madam Chair. You know, and then --
Chair King: Thank you.
Commissioner Gabela: -- and then, you know, he --
Chair King: Thank you. But there is a policy --
Commissioner Gabela: -- breaks everything up. I hope this doesn't happen again
and then when we get to that --
Chair King: Right, no, there is a policy that --
Commissioner Gabela: -- we discuss it.
Chair King: -- the public should not address any of us, good or bad, individually. So
please don't. Good morning.
Ms. Fernandez: Good morning. My name is Michelle Fernandez. I represent South
Florida Wellness Network. We are a peer -run organization, non -for -profit. We've
been in Broward County for ten years. We're affirming our footprint here in Miami -
Dade County. I am the program director of our community center located in
Allapattah, as well as our efforts here throughout Miami -Dade County. I am
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speaking in support of the DDA, specifically, you know, for the efforts that they make
with -- to our unhoused community and individuals that are struggling with
substance use and/or mental illness. Just yesterday we were out in Biscayne, and it
wasn't the efforts just of the DDA and ambassadors, it included the City of Miami
law enforcement, it included Hermanos de la Calle. It took us over two hours to help
one soul that needed assistance and services. So, just as much as we want our
residents to have the resources that they need, we need to make sure that our
providers and agencies as well have the resources that they need in efforts that need
to continue and cannot stop. And most importantly, as a person in recovery from
substance use and mental illness, it's a blessing to have something just like this. So,
thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Laurie Bowen: Good morning and thank you. My name is Laurie Bowen. I'm a
resident of Downtown Miami at 50 Biscayne Boulevard. I'm speaking today to object
to the dissolution of the Bayfront Trust. Today we're at a critical juncture regarding
the future of the Trust, an entity that served our community for over 37 years. For a
decision of this magnitude, we expect compelling arguments to justify dismantling
such an institution. And more importantly, the community and stakeholders of the
park deserve far more clarity on the alternative, and of course, the plan to implement
it. To start with, the only way to build a successful alternative is to fundamentally
understand the issues with the Trust. Commissioner Gabela was tasked -- and sorry I
mentioned the name -- was tasked with doing just that. If you don't complete this
work, the new solution may be worse than the one you are seeking to dissolve. At the
last meeting, a conservancy model was proposed. The documents shared at this
meeting made clear that the success of this type of model hinges on decisions made
during its establishment. The leadership, the governance, mission, cost structure,
revenue management plan, these are examples of the fundamental and essential
decisions that must be made, and they must be made before any dissolution of the
Trust occurs. If not, we run the risk of doing irreparable damage to the park. We
should not gamble with the future of the park by dissolving its structure before we
have clarity on the conservancy you seek to implement. Please defer this decision
until a feasible alternative is clearly defined with support and engagement from the
community that you all serve. And just one last comment on the DDA, I would just
say, please just stop the poor decision -making. Please get new leadership in, stop the
corporate giveaways, and many of these problems will just go away. Okay, thank
you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Rebecca Jauregui: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Rebecca Jauregui.
I'm an administrative assistant at 2490 Northwest 35th Street, and I oppose the
removing of the Bayfront Trust, item SR.3, because what is happening is an injustice
to Bayfront Park, but also, it's similar and it happens in other places like Miami
Bethany Community Services at 850 Northwest 23rd Street. While this building sits
empty, our community is full of many, many needs. Children are hungry and seniors
are struggling. Senior mothers are surviving only on the food that we are packaging
for them in crowded and unsanitary places. Inspectors want us to build and to meet
the building codes, but we have no place to call our own. We were here a year ago,
almost, and we were told that this property could be our solution and that we could
move in, and still nothing. We're waiting for help. We're waiting not only for the
permission, the grant, as you have already granted us, but we also need the next
step. What can be done? When can we come in? We've already tried cleaning and
doing some things, but please help us out. What can be done next? Not only for 850,
but also for 920 Northwest 23rd Street. Thank you so much.
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Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Sandra Perez: Good morning, Madam Chairman, Commissioners. My name is
Sandra Perez, and I live at 244 Biscayne Boulevard. As a proud downtowner, I am
here to speak in support of DDA. I have seen firsthand the services being provided
by the DDA and the positive changes that have happened in this area. It has given
me so much trust that I actually convinced my grown-up children to move to the
area. Eliminating the DDA would be a horrible mistake and the effects of such a
terrible decision felt for years to come. I am here to emphasize again, like I did in the
prior meeting, that I don't want someone else's financial interest in terminating the
DDA to affect my family and neighbors, especially without an alternative. Please
keep the DDA and the continuing efforts to improve the area. I am more than happy
to pay taxes that are going to benefit our quality of life. Thank you for your time.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Terrell Fritz: Good morning, Madam Chair, Mr. Co -Chair, and City Commissioners.
My name is Terrell Fritz, 111 East Flagler Street. I am director of the Flagler BID,
but I'm here today to speak on my own behalf as a 20-year resident and homeowner
in Downtown Miami on items PA.1, RE.3, SR.3, and DI.5. Whoa. In my
neighborhood, the fact that the City has not completed even one block of the Flagler
Streetscape Project in more than four years is enough of a crisis. But all at once, we
have to weigh in abolishing the Bayfront Park Trust, the Downtown Development
Authority, and even giving away the historic Olympia Theater, all before the August
break. This is false urgency and self-inflicted crisis overload. Why the hurry?
Commissioner Gabela, as the new Trust chair, deserves at least a year to clarify the
vision and restore confidence in Bayfront Park's governance. Commissioner Rosado,
if appointed as DDA chair, deserves at least a year to bring new leadership and
optimize the DDA's budget for the enhanced services that benefits residents,
businesses, and visitors. These agencies, after years of hard work, have finally made
Downtown Miami a world -class urban center. If concerns persist next year, then put
it on the November 2026 ballot when you get a better voter turnout. If you want to do
something in a hurry, make sure the city manager and staff who are working very
hard to complete the first three blocks of Flagler Street before September 30th,
please otherwise give these important issues the time they deserve for prudent
community deliberation. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Lidice Diaz: Good morning. My name is Lidice. I'm an employee at Bayfront Park
Management Trust, and I just wanted to speak on behalf of my staff. We don't know
what's going on, everything's happening too fast, but I just want to let you know
whatever decision that you guys make today with SR.3, you're impacting like our
whole group. Everyone works hard to maintain the park, to put like a beautiful park
for the public, residents, and everyone. And this park has been a part of like my
childhood and so long for like a part of my career that I did not know one day I
would work at the Trust with the amazing people that I do every single day, that they
put in 100 percent every single day. So, if you would just please consider when you
make your decision that a lot of people are at stake. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Michael Green: Sorry, I'm tall. Good afternoon. My name is Michael John Green. I
reside at 2100 Southwest 8th Street. First, Commissioner Rosado, Commissioner
Carollo, Commissioner King, Commissioner Gabela, and Commissioner Pardo,
thank you for your partnership. Economic development does not happen without
massive amounts of partnership. And so, I'm here to speak on DI.5, which is the
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DDA. The partnership. It is the residents, it's the community, it's the tourists, it's the
small business, and the big businesses that are important to the partnership when it
comes to economic development. The DDA encompasses all of those. You won't have
a vibrant downtown or urban center like downtown without the business ecosystem.
Professionals want to live in the DDA, businesses want to come to the DDA district,
tourists want to come to the DDA district, and this is all important and all a part of
the work, and we all are a part of it, the commissioners, the residents, the big
businesses and the small businesses. We cannot have a strong residential core
without the business side. That's why the DDA dictates a significant amount of its
budget to both of those, the quality of life, but also the businesses. The big businesses
help out the small businesses, the small businesses help out the big businesses, the
big businesses fill up the condo towers and bring people to the amazing district that
is the DDA. The free resources like the Permit Clinic are a great benefit and
resource to not only the businesses, but also the city of Miami in helping out in the
permit process that can be cumbersome to small businesses. So, the last thing that I
do want to say is all this work, it takes time. Some of the big businesses and the
financial firms that we all know that have come here are work that past chairs in the
DDA have done in the past. The work continues. We look forward to continuing the
work. And again, I thank you, I thank the residents, I thank the big businesses, I
thank the small businesses, for their partnership in the work that we do. So, thank you
and I look forward to continuing the great work.
Chair King. Thank you. Good morning.
Emily Aldana: Good morning. My name is Emily Aldana, 2490 Northwest 35th
Street. I want to speak about two concerns. First, SR.3, which I'm against, the City
considering to remove the Bayfront Park Trust. That is a group that gives the
community a voice in how the park is run. If that happens, we lose transparency and
public input. Second, on September 17, 2024, the City promised Miami Bethany
Community Service the use of 850 Northwest 23rd Street and 920 Northwest 23rd
Street. We got excited. We cleaned up land, removed the trash, helped protect it, and
we gave food to families without asking the City for anything. But we're still not
allowed inside the building. It feels like a pattern that the City says one thing but
does another. So, I ask, when will the City keep the word? When will you let the
community in? We need it and we're ready to serve you guys. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Carlos Garcia: Hi, good morning, Commissioners. My name is Carlos Garcia, and
I'm here to read a statement on behalf of Miami DDA Board Member Suzanne
Amaducci. "Mayor, Madam Chair, Commissioners, and Mr. City Attorney, I
unfortunately could not be here in person today as I am out of town but wanted to
take the time to send you this special message. I am speaking today as a proud
resident of the City of Miami for over 30 years and as a board member of the Miami
DDA where I donate my time and my talent to make the city of Miami a better place.
The City has grown tremendously since I first arrived in 1990. We have now become
a global destination to live, work, play, and invest. Thirty years ago, no one even
dreamed Miami could be a 24-hour city. Today, you will be considering the role of
the Miami DDA. As we navigate a challenging world, politically and economically, I
ask that we take a moment to pause and reflect upon what the city, its businesses and
residents both need and how the Miami DDA can serve as a facilitator for positive
change. In order to do so, we need to start with facts and information, not opinion,
personal motivations, and innuendo. Yesterday, at the DDA Business Development
Committee meeting, we reviewed the recently commissioned demographic report. It
provides facts and figures about the DDA District that surprised many of us. As the
Miami DDA's demographic study revealed, the city today is a different place with
many new residents and businesses. Before acting, I ask that an economic impact
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study be performed to drive thoughtful and factual decisions about what the
businesses and residents actually need. I encourage you today to appoint a new
chair for the Miami DDA, give that person sufficient time to get up to speed about
the inner workings of the DDA, and craft a plan for the DDA's future and continued
success. I truly believe if we work together with a thoughtful plan for the future and
stay positive, we can keep the City of Miami on its path to global greatness."
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Garcia: Thank you.
Chair King: Good morning.
Celina Che: Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Celina Che, and I'm on behalf of
Miami Community Services. And I'm here because I'm opposed to having removed
the Bayfront Park Trust. And I'm here because I'm concerned about the City in
treating people who care about our community. First, the City might remove
Bayfront Park Trust, a group that gave the public a voice. Why take that away?
Second, the City promised Miami Bethany Community Services use of 850 and 920
Northwest 23rd Street. We have cleaned up, protected, and served families, all
without having for -- helping -- acting [sic] for help. But we're still not allowed in.
What message does that send? We're not asking for favors, just for the City to keep
its promise, its word. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Pedro Aquino: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Pedro Aquino, 2490
Northwest 35th Street. I'm here today against eliminating the Bayfront Park Trust. I
believe that we are part of the last generation that thinks promises should mean
something, especially when it comes from the City. You promised to give Miami
Community Service access to 850 and 920 Northwest 23rd Street. We have stepped
in and cleaned the property and maintained it safe. After all this work, we're here a
year later still not allowed in, not knowing where are we going with this. At the time
-- I'm here too to -- at the same time, the City is removing the Bayfront Park Trust, a
group that's helping the public stay involved in the decisions about our park. Now,
the City wants full control without any public input. These actions tell us something,
that the voice of the community is now being pushed out. We're here to serve and not
ask for favors. Just keep the City to his word. We're really -- we're ready to do the
work and to see your promises be completed. Thank you for your time.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Veronica Fernandez: Hi, good morning. My name is Veronica Fernandez. I
represent Social Crafting as the president of the company. And I am here in support
of the DDA. We provide free art workshops to residents of Downtown and Brickell
that help sense -- build a sense of community. It helps with wellness, with mental
health, and without their support we wouldn't be able to offer these workshops for
free. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
James Torres: Good morning, Chairwoman. James Torres, president of the
Downtown Neighbors Alliance. Before you begin today's agenda, I want to address a
troubling pattern that is causing a lot of embarrassment, not only nationally, but also
locally. The elections, rigging, scam, cancellation, and the extension of terms has
shown how Miami is a place where a lot of individuals no longer want to be a part
of especially when you're taking away votes. This is a democracy; this is not a
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kingmaker scenario. By looking at everything that we're looking at in terms of the
voting issue, it should be by the voters, not by commission. Let us not forget the latest
gimmick, the so-called term limits ordinance that actually bans someone from ever
running again. And I know that's before you today. And now let's talk about the most
important pressing issue. It's called the DDA, the additional tax that is strong
holding Downtown and Brickell families. Any time we have gone and/or spoken on
this issue, we're either bullied, ridiculed, ignored even by our own District 2
Commission [sic], did not mention the name, by the way. Even though we're the ones
that are paying the lion's share of this entire budget. I want you to sink in on
something. 58 percent of their budget is paid by residents. What you've been seeing
here today is a couple things. Individuals that are waiting for grants or corporate
welfare checks, the board, and the DDA themselves. We are asking to place this on
the ballot, to release the residents. They can still function as an entity that we have
spoken about in several cases. We're not here to tell everybody that jobs are going to
be done away with. The issue is residents are tired of paying the burden of taxation.
I'm asking you to place it on the ballot and/or reform the entire DDA. I'm not sure if
your leadership is going to get us there. I know we've talked about it several times
with your staff and we're appreciative of that.
Chair King: Thank you.
Mr. Torres: But let us be released from the DDA. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Ivonne Berrios: Good morning, Chairwoman and Commissioners. As you may know,
my name is Ivonne Berrios from the Miami DDA. Today I won't be sharing
information, numbers, but real -life statements from members of the community about
the Miami DDA. First one, "Since 2017, the Miami DDA has helped me rise from
homelessness, with my three children, to a life where I'm heard, valued, confident in
my work at home and myself. " Michelle Lewis, DET (Downtown Enhancement
Team) team member. "The Miami DDA gave me more than a job. It gave me a
purpose, connections, and the chance to grow while giving back to the city I love."
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) Darling, downtown ambassador. "I truly believe that the help
that the Miami DDA gives entrepreneurs is something nobody else provides. " Jaime
Casado, owner of RETO Health. "Miami DDA has really influenced my experience
in Downtown by making it more connected, meeting with the Miami DDA gave me
all the options... " -- oh, okay, sorry. I was so -- don't count those seconds, "...
Miami DDA has really influenced my experience in Downtown by making it more
connected. Meeting with the Miami DDA gave me all the options, resources, events
and community engagement that I needed. They have done a great job protecting the
area. Larice Zamaco (phonetic), Downtown Miami resident. "Downtown Miami is
the economic driver for the city, and we need to keep it in that way. Working
alongside a dedicated team of residents and business owners, that compromises [sic]
the Miami DDA Board. We have worked diligently to ensure that every action we
take will achieve positive outcomes for Downtown Miami. " Late Commissioner and
past Miami DDA Chairman, Manolo Reyes. So, I ask, why stop the momentum now?
Like many growing cities, yes, we have challenges, which is why the services that we
provide are needed more than ever. Please let us do our job and continue making
Downtown Miami better every day. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Grant Stern: Good morning. Grant Stern, 425 Northeast 22nd Street. I'm here today
to ask a question of this entire commission. What kind of city do we want to build
together? Do we want to build a world -class city that takes care of its residents'
needs, that handles the many granular problems of life in Miami? Or do we want to
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continue endlessly arguing over the place and role of every special district in our
city? Because every special district in this city has a panoply of problems because
we don't have a good municipal infrastructure underneath it, okay. The DDA is great
at taking care of people who are visiting downtown, but under a past commissioner's
leadership, under Russell's leadership, they spent $330, 000 to rebrand a bay walk,
and they failed to complete the Flagler project that a prior commissioner had left
them. The Bayfront Park Trust has been a complete and utter disaster. You have
communists running around a cash room, stealing money and doing God knows
what, and avoiding audits, and here we are yet again with an item that is insane,
saying we should abolish it now that it's got new leadership. But the reality is, all of
these districts have a major flaw, that they have too much responsibility. They have
the responsibility for certain amounts of infrastructure, and then for actually
accomplishing the tasks of the district, developing downtown, to manage a park, to
run a CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). But now you have to pay for the
policing, and you have to pay for all of the infrastructure in the district. We have a
dysfunctional basis for our government, and that's why all of this crazy stuff is
happening. I'm asking this commission to create a Sunshine Meeting so we can talk
about making infrastructure districts for our entire city, to take a lot of the
responsibility away from all the parties that are struggling and allow these districts,
the DDA, and the Bayfront Park Trust, et cetera, to grow and to thrive and to really
specialize in their roles. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning.
Brenda Betancourt: Good morning, Commissioners. Brenda Betancourt, 1436
Southwest 6th Street. Just going to be fast, supporting SR.1 for the dwelling unit,
SR.2 as well. Just a little note. We still talk about the DDA, Bayfront Park. Are we
going to put any of these in the ballot? Or it's going to be the new norm now that just
the commissioners are going to decide, we pay the taxes, but voters don't mind at all.
You guys just going to decide everything without any community input, or you guys
are actually going to take DDA, Bayfront Park Trust to the voters? And I repeat
again, when I go to Washington, D.C., and they call us a third world country -- city,
the banana republic, I used to be offended. Now I'm going to have to just smile and
agree to those who actually in Washington, D.C. is stating that we are a banana
republic city. We talk about dynasty of families. We talk about we don't want the
same people. But we're still seeing the same people. I'm here for over 30 years, and
we're not getting better. We're looking more as a banana republic than ever. And it's
sad. We're in 2025. And we're still fighting for Downtown Development Authority to
see if they're going to charge taxes to our voters, to our residents. Why not the
resident have the voice? The same way that we fight for anything else. It looks like
Downtown Development Authority have more input and homeless that they help than
the Homeless Trust. Instead of giving Homeless Trust the $69 million every year, we
should give it to them.
Chair King: Thank you. Yep, that's it. Monty?
Commissioner Gabela: Madam Chair, I have a special -- may I?
Chair King: I know he wants to be a public commentor. Good morning,
Commissioner.
[Later...]
Chair King: Is there anyone else that would like to speak? Seeing none, the public
comment period is now closed. Thank you for your advocacy.
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AM - APPROVING THE MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING MEETINGS:
AM.1 City Commission - City Commission Meeting - May 8, 2025 9:00 AM
MOTION TO: Approve
RESULT: APPROVED
MOVER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: Gentlemen, may I have a motion to approve the City of Miami
Commission meeting minutes for May 8th, 2025?
Commissioner Pardo: So moved.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Thank you.
MV -MAYORAL VETO(ES)
There were no mayoral vetoes associated with legislation that is subject to veto by the Mayor.
END OF MAYORAL VETO(ES)
City of Miami Page 28 Printed on 09/02/2025
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
Commissioners
and Mayor
PA - PERSONAL APPEARANCE
PA.1 PERSONAL APPEARANCE
17834 A PRESENTATION BY COMMISSIONER MIGUEL ANGEL GABELA
REGARDING BAYFRONT PARK.
RESULT: PRESENTED
Rosario Kennedy: Good morning, Chairwoman and Commissioner.
Chair King: Good to see you.
Ms. Kennedy: Good to see you, too. Good to be back. I'm here -- well, first of all,
with offices at 2645 South Bayshore Drive. I'm here today to give a voice to Bayfront
Park, a park that by itself cannot talk, but yet speaks volumes about who we are as a
city. In 1985, when I ran for this board, Bayfront Park ran abandoned -- was too
abandoned in the middle of our downtown. And what could have been a jewel in our
city instead was a place that people avoided. One of my campaign pledges was to
find the money to redevelop the park, against the advice of many civic leaders who
told me that it was a lost cause. But the park became more than a project, it was a
mission. A mission to finish the job that Mayor Maurice Ferre had started before me.
So, I took it on not because it was easy, but because it mattered to our city.
Originally it was intended to be a place where the community would gather, where
families could walk, people who worked downtown could go at lunch and have a
sandwich and listen to concerts at night. A place where everyone felt they belonged.
We brought together a group of like-minded individuals who had been working on
the park many years before me, the Tina Hills of this world, whose dedication is now
honored through the Tina Hills Pavilion. I chaired that group. It was simply called
the Kennedy Committee at the time because we were unofficial, we didn't have any
money from the City. Every step forward was made possible through creativity,
commitment, and community support of people like Monty, to whom I immediately
asked for help. And as you know, Monty has never heard the meaning of no. So, he
came immediately, without hesitation on board, and he's going to share the stories of
how we ended up raising millions. So, I hope you're --
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Kennedy: I just -- I'm sorry.
Commissioner Gabela: Madam Chair, she was supposed to speak when the -- I have
it here, I put it on the agenda as a personal appearance, and she was going to be my
personal appearance and Monty.
Ms. Kennedy: I just have 30 seconds.
Commissioner Gabela: I think she should be allowed --
Chair King: Oh, okay. No.
Commissioner Gabela: -- please.
Ms. Kennedy: No, no, I only have 30 seconds.
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Chair King: Commissioner, 30 seconds. Now, Monty gets to speak, I don't interrupt
him because he has earned that through age. I give --
Ms. Kennedy: Yes.
Chair King: -- like when we have Ms. Thelma Gibson here, I give her -- I don't put
her on a timer, I will not put Monty on a timer, we already spoke about that.
Ms. Kennedy: Right. I just have 30 seconds.
Chair King: 30 seconds. Go ahead.
Ms. Kennedy: So, I just hope that you agree that the park needs the input of its
citizens to make sure that it reflects their needs. Today, families live downtown. It's
not what it was in 1987 when we inaugurated the park. Today you see carriages with
children, you see people walking the dogs. So, I believe that to serve its purpose
effectively as a neighborhood park, it requires input from its neighbors and all of
those who care. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Commissioner Gabela: Thank you, Commissioner.
Monty Trainer: Listen, it's not often I get to have the hammer. But it's so wonderful
to be able to follow Rosario, who was the first lady commissioner, Latin
commissioner, in 1985. She was the first one, so you were a groundbreaker. I'm
usually up here to say something about the art festival and what happens with the
waterfront and how the parks or the artists enjoy the parks and the water. Well, we
have the same scenario at Bayfront Park which is something that Rosario and I went
to New York -- to Washington, D.C., met with Claude Pepper, Donnie Fussell, Errol
Lehman, all the people that had control of the money at the time, and had a great
Dade Delegation, and we came back with $5 million to purchase the park. So that's
worth something. That's worth cutting off the little buzzer thing. But anyway, it's --
thank you. But it was quite an event to have Claude Pepper in my boat taking other
representatives up the Potomac, because they had never been on boat going up the
Potomac. And so, it turned out to be a nice selling tool. And it's been great ever
since. But you know, the Bayfront Park Trust, which is a -- it's sort of a quasi -City
Commission, and it works out well, and it has worked out well. And I'm sure with
Miguel that it will continue to work out well. He has the enthusiasm. Rodney Barreto
and I, after the homecome -- the Orange Bowl parade, we had to find a way what to
do with all those people. So, we ended up with 100,000 people every year on New
Year's Eve since then. Corky Dozier followed him, and we had Bayfront Park. It's
free for the public after the parade, so it would -- has really been beneficial. And
we've been doing the New Year's Eve event ever since, in cooperation with the hotel.
The Intercontinental Hotel lets us put the big orange up on the building. That works
out nicely. And the -- so, the Bayside Park, the -- is the linchpin and then you have
Bayside that comes in. They've been, this year, I think they did the New Year's with
Pier 5, which is turning out to be fantastic. So, you've got Bayside, Bayside Park, the
hotel, and the park. And the park is the linchpin. And it's worked beautifully ever
since. And I'm looking forward to -- we worked with Commissioner Carollo on the
New Year's Eve thing, and it worked out. And Ralph, I hope you come into the fold.
And now, Miguel, I mean, you've got the gavel. And I know you're going to do a good
job. But Bayfront Park is where --
Commissioner Gabela: I don't know how long I'm going to have that gavel for,
Monty.
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Mr. Trainer: No gavel?
Commissioner Gabela: Depends on everybody here today. The gavel, yeah.
Mr. Trainer: They give you a shovel? But anyway, it's nice to feel like what we've got
working down there at Bayfront Park. It is. When we sell the artists, they know that
it's a waterfront community. And so, the same thing with the people that want to
come in and do the entertaining. I know that we have some controversy with Ultra,
but Rodney and Brian, they do a good job on that, and Ray Martinez used to be a
police chief now he heads up Ultra. But it's a grand, grand thing, Bayfront Park,
and the way it works, the Bayfront Park Trust, you have individuals, you have
commissioners, you have -- it's all folding into one and it's working. So, I don't want
to see us change it. I love the commission. I love being able to come up here. I don't
know how many more times I'm going to be able to come up here. But it's nice to be
here and I always appreciate it. And thank you for turning off the buzzer. That was
nice. I can't stand that buzzer. Anyway, thank you, and I don't know how you go
through these meetings all the time, but it's a wonderful public forum and everybody
gets to speak their piece and it's one of the few places you'll go. I flew down from
Maine last night just to be here to speak. And I appreciate it, and good Lord willing.
Chair King: Thank you.
Commissioner Gabela: Thank you, sir.
[Later...]
Chair King: Commissioner Gabela, you said that was your personal appearance?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah. I wanted Rosario to have a little bit more time to speak
and she is my personal --
Chair King: No, she said she was finished.
Rosario Kennedy: Yeah, I did.
Commissioner Gabela: You're done? Okay, thank you very much. I've got one more,
I'll reserve that time for one more when the item comes up.
Chair King: Okay.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay?
Chair King: You know you don't need a personal appearance. You are a personal
appearance every day when we come to commission meeting.
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, I know that. I think there was a mistake. What we meant
was it's like when other commissioners, they're going to put a slideshow or
something together.
Chair King: Uh-huh, I see. I see.
Commissioner Gabela: Or somebody's going to speak. That's what we wanted.
Maybe it was a mistake.
Chair King: You just do it. Right, you didn't need to do it. You can just do it.
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END OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE
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CA.1
17662
Department of
Economic
Innovation &
Development
CA - CONSENT AGENDA
The following item(s) was Adopted on the Consent Agenda
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
LAYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE ADDITION OF BARRY
UNIVERSITY, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, AND THE
TECHNICAL COLLEGES AT MIAMI DADE COUNTY PUBLIC
SCHOOLS TO THE PARTICIPATING COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES IN THE CITY OF MIAMI'S VENTURE MIAMI
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM ("PROGRAM"); FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND
EXECUTE ANY AND ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY, ALL IN
FORMS ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE
PURPOSE STATED HEREIN AS IT RELATES TO THE PROGRAM.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0245
This matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number CA.1, please see
"Order of the Day" and "End of Consent Agenda."
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CA.2 RESOLUTION
17806 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
p EXECUTE AMENDMENT NUMBER 4 OF THE "MEMORANDUM OF
Human Services AGREEMENT ("MOA") PROGRAM, PC-2425-MOA"
("AGREEMENT") BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY THROUGH THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY
HOMELESS TRUST ("COUNTY") TO SUPPORT EXTENDED
OUTREACH AND HOUSING SERVICES TO HOMELESS
INDIVIDUALS REFERRED TO THE CITY'S DEPARTMENT OF
HUMAN SERVICES, HOMELESS SERVICES DIVISION, BY THE
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY JUDICIAL AND HEALTH SYSTEMS
("PROGRAM"); AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT
AND APPROPRIATE AN ADDITIONAL FORTY THOUSAND
($40,000.00) DOLLARS FROM THE COUNTY, WITH NO CITY
MATCHING FUNDS REQUIRED, FOR A TOTAL PROGRAM
APPROPRIATION NOT TO EXCEED THREE HUNDRED AND
EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($380,000.00)("GRANT") FROM
THE COUNTY; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL OTHER RELATED DOCUMENTS,
EXTENSIONS, MODIFICATIONS, AND RENEWALS ALL IN
FORMS ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, CONDITIONED
UPON THE AVAILABILITY OF CITY RESOURCES THAT MAY BE
REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF AND
COMPLIANCE WITH THE GRANT; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE
CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE UP TO TWO
CONSECUTIVE ONE-YEAR RENEWALS TO THE AGREEMENT
AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS NECESSARY, ALL IN FORMS
ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, IN FURTHERANCE OF
THE GRANT.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0246
This matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number CA.2, please see
"Public Comments for all Item (s) " and "End of Consent Agenda."
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
CA.3 RESOLUTION
17757 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, PURSUANT
Department of TO SECTION 18-85 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
p FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE") AWARDING A
General Services CONTRACT TO GRAPHIC DESIGNS INTERNATIONAL LLC
Administration ("GRAPHIC DESIGNS") PURSUANT TO INVITATION FOR BID
("IFB") NO. 1852386 FOR VEHICLE DECALS AND STRIPING ON
AN AS NEEDED BASIS FOR AN INITIAL TERM OF THREE (3)
YEARS WITH AN OPTION TO RENEW FOR ONE (1) ADDITIONAL
THREE (3) YEAR TERM ("CONTRACT"); ALLOCATING FUNDS
FROM THE GSA OPERATING BUDGET AND THE VARIOUS
SOURCES OF FUNDS FROM THE END USER DEPARTMENTS
AND AGENCIES; SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS
AND BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT THE TIME OF NEED;
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND
EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS,
RENEWALS, AND EXTENSIONS, ALL IN FORMS ACCEPTABLE
TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, SUBJECT TO ALL ALLOCATIONS,
APPROPRIATIONS, PRIOR BUDGETARY APPROVALS, AND
COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE PROVISIONS OF THE CITY
CODE, INCLUDING, THE CITY OF MIAMI'S PROCUREMENT
ORDINANCE, ANTI -DEFICIENCY ACT, AND FINANCIAL
INTEGRITY PRINCIPLES, ALL AS SET FORTH IN CHAPTER 18
OF THE CITY CODE, AND IN COMPLIANCE WITH ALL
APPLICABLE LAWS, RULES, AND REGULATIONS, AS MAY BE
DEEMED NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE; PROVIDING FOR
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0247
This matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number CA.3, please see "End
of Consent Agenda."
CA.4 RESOLUTION
17703 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION,
De artment of Real AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND
p EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE
Estate and Asset CITY ATTORNEY, BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND
Management RIVERCOW, LLC ("LESSEE") FOR MUTUAL TERMINATION OF
THE LEASE AGREEMENT FOR THE CITY -OWNED PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 8034 NORTHEAST 2 AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA;
FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE
AND EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING
AMENDMENTS AND MODIFICATIONS TO SAID AGREEMENT, IN
A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, AS MAY BE
NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0248
This matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number CA.4, please see "End
of Consent Agenda."
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CA.5 RESOLUTION
17685 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
De artment of ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING EIGHT (8) RIGHT-OF-WAY
p DEEDS AND ONE (1) QUIT CLAIM RIGHT-OF-WAY DEED OF
Resilience and DEDICATION ("DEEDS"), AS DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT "A,"
Public Works ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, FOR RIGHT-OF-WAY
PURPOSES; APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE
RECORDATION OF THE DEEDS IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA; FURTHER DIRECTING THE
CITY CLERK TO RETAIN A COPY OF THE DEEDS.
CA.6
17819
Office of the City
Attorney
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0249
This matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number CA.5, please see "End
of Consent Agenda."
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO PAY TARVAN
HANKS JR., WITHOUT ADMISSION OF LIABILITY, THE TOTAL
SUM OF $90,000.00 IN FULL AND COMPLETE SETTLEMENT OF
ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND DEMANDS, INCLUDING ALL CLAIMS
FOR ATTORNEYS' FEES, AGAINST THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY")
AND ITS OFFICERS, AGENTS, AND EMPLOYEES IN THE CASE
STYLED TARVAN HANKS JR. VS. CITY OF MIAMI, ET AL.,
PENDING IN THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, CASE NO. 2025-CA-001049, UPON THE
EXECUTION OF A GENERAL RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS AND
DEMANDS BROUGHT UNDER STATE LAW PENDING IN STATE
COURT AND A DISMISSAL OF THE CITY AND ITS OFFICERS,
AGENTS, AND EMPLOYEES WITH PREJUDICE; ALLOCATING
FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT NO. 50001.301001.545010.0000.00000.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0250
This matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number CA.6, please see "End
of Consent Agenda."
END OF CONSENT AGENDA
Chair King: Okay. Gentlemen, anything from the CA (Consent Agenda) items that you
would like to pull for discussion from CA.1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6? Nothing for Commissioner
Rosado. Nothing for Commissioner Pardo. Commissioner Gabela?
Vice Chair Carollo: (INAUDIBLE).
Chair King: I have a motion.
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Commissioner Rosado: Second.
Chair King: I'm checking with Commissioner Gabela. Any --
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
Commissioner Gabela: I'm good, I'm good.
Chair King: Okay. So, I have a motion and a second for the CA items, CA.1, 2, 3, 4, 5
and 6. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries unanimously.
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
PH - PUBLIC HEARING
PH.1 RESOLUTION
17246 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
De artment of Real ATTACHMENT(S), BY A FOUR -FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE,
p PURSUANT TO SECTION 29-C OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF
Estate and Asset MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, WAIVING COMPETITIVE BIDDING AND
Management AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE A
PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT WITH ECORESILIENCY MIAMI,
LLC ("DEVELOPER") FOR THE SALE, UPON SATISFACTION OF
CERTAIN CLOSING CONDITIONS, OF ±5.4 ACRES OF THAT CERTAIN
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1111 PARROT JUNGLE TRAIL ("PROPERTY")
FOR RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL USES, IN EXCHANGE FOR
CANCELLATION OF THE EXISTING LEASE AND CONSIDERATION
EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN FAIR MARKET VALUE OF ONE
HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS ($135,000,000.00),
INCLUDING DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW +13.3-ACRE PUBLIC
WATERFRONT PARK ON THE REMAINDER OF PROPERTY AT A COST
TO DEVELOPER OF THIRTY SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS
($37,000,000.00), PAYMENTS TO CITY OF TEN MILLION DOLLARS
($10,000,000.00) AT CLOSING AND ONE MILLION DOLLARS
($1,000,000) PER YEAR PER PHASE WITH ANNUAL ESCALATIONS OF
THREE PERCENT (3%) AND A PRESENT VALUE OF ONE HUNDRED
TEN MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND AND
TWENTY-FOUR DOLLARS ($110,875,024) OVER NINETY-NINE YEARS),
AND CERTAIN COMMUNITY BENEFITS VALUED AT THIRTY-FOUR
MILLION SIX -HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($34,600,000),
INCLUDING PAYMENT TO THE CITY OF FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS
($15,000,000.00) FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND
INFRASTRUCTURE; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE A PARTIAL RELEASE AND MODIFICATION
OF THE DEED RESTRICTIONS SET FORTH IN DEED NO. 19447
BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE STATE OF FLORIDA INTERNAL
IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND ("STATE"); AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO EXECUTE A QUIT -CLAIM DEED TO DEVELOPER, IN A
FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY; PROVIDING, THAT
SUCH SALE AND CONVEYANCE BE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AND
EXECUTION OF AN AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE THROUGH THE
STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE
AND EXECUTE OTHER ANCILLARY DOCUMENTS AND AMENDMENTS
REQUIRED TO EFFECTUATE THE SALE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
PROPERTY AS SET FORTH IN THE PURCHASE AND SALE
AGREEMENT, ALL IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item PH.1 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City
Commission Meeting.
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number PH.1, please see
"Order of the Day."
END OF PUBLIC HEARING
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RE - RESOLUTIONS
RE.1 RESOLUTION
17525 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Office of ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING, AUTHORIZING, AND DIRECTING
Mana ement and THE CITY MANAGER TO UNDERTAKE THIS AMENDMENT IN
9► ORDER TO ADD TO AND TO REVISE CAPITAL PROJECTS IN
Budget THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 MULTI-
YEAR CAPITAL PLAN ADOPTED ON SEPTEMBER 7, 2024
PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. R-24-0328 ("ADOPTED
CAPITAL PLAN"), AS SUBSEQUENTLY AMENDED, AND TO
APPROPRIATE FUNDING FOR ADDED PROJECTS IN
ACCORDANCE WITH EXHIBIT "A," ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED; RATIFYING, APPROVING, AND CONFIRMING
CERTAIN NECESSARY ACTIONS BY THE CITY MANAGER AND
DESIGNATED CITY OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENTS IN ORDER
TO UPDATE THE RELEVANT FINANCIAL CONTROLS AND
COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH FOR
ONGOING CAPITAL PROJECTS, PROJECT CLOSE-OUTS, AND
FOR GRANTS AND OTHER FUNDING SOURCES IN PROGRESS
IN CONNECTION HEREWITH; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0251
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: Gentlemen, from the PH (Public Hearing) items, it's only one.
Vice Chair Carollo: It's deferred.
Commissioner Rosado: It's deferred.
Chair King: Oh, I'm sorry, that was deferred.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, it was deferred.
Chair King: That was deferred. We're in the RE (Resolution) items. Are there any RE
items that you would like to pull for discussion?
Commissioner Pardo: RE. 3 and RE.8.
Chair King: RE.3, hold on.
Vice Chair Carollo: RE. 6 for clarification.
Chair King: RE.8 and RE. 6 for clarification.
Commissioner Gabela: And RE.5.
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Chair King: And RE.5. Okay.
Commissioner Rosado: And 9 and 10.
Chair King: Oh, my God. Okay. 9 --
Commissioner Gabela: Basically, all of them.
Chair King: -- and -- that's basically --
Vice Chair Carollo: And if I could also pull out RE.3.
Chair King: RE.3 has been pulled.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Chair King: Okay, gentlemen, of the remaining RE items, may I have a motion to
pass RE.1 --
Vice Chair Carollo: 2.
Chair King: No, 2 has been -- 2 was deferred. So, it's just RE.1.
Vice Chair Carollo: Was 2 deferred?
Chair King: Yes, 2 was deferred.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Chair King: RE.1 --
Commissioner Rosado: 6 and 7.
Chair King: No, 6 was pulled. And RE.7. RE.1 and RE.7. May I have a motion to
pass RE.1 --
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Commissioner Rosado: So moved.
Chair King: -- and RE. 7?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Okay. Motion carries.
Vice Chair Carollo: How about RE.9 and 10?
Chair King: They were pulled.
Vice Chair Carollo: They were pulled also?
Chair King: Yes.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Commissioner Gabela: So, we just did RE.1 ?
Chair King: And RE. 7.
Commissioner Gabela: And RE. 7.
Chair King: Congratulations.
Vice Chair Carollo: You say pulled. Were they deferred or not?
Chair King: No, just pulled for discussion.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
RE.2 RESOLUTION
17391 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Office of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING APPROPRIATIONS RELATING TO
Office
of and THE 2024-2025 FISCAL YEAR ADOPTED OPERATING BUDGET
Mana9► PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. R-24-0389 ADOPTED ON
Budget SEPTEMBER 26, 2024, AS AMENDED, THE FIVE-YEAR
FINANCIAL PLAN, THE STRATEGIC PLAN, AND THE MULTI-
YEAR CAPITAL PLAN PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. R-24-
0328 ADOPTED ON SEPTEMBER 7, 2024, AS AMENDED
(COLLECTIVELY, THE "BUDGET"), AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO MAKE ANY NECESSARY CHANGES TO ADJUST,
AMEND, ALLOCATE, AND APPROPRIATE THE BUDGET, AND
ANY PART THEREOF, REGARDING CITY OF MIAMI SERVICES
AND RESOURCES AS NECESSARY AND LEGALLY ALLOWED;
RATIFYING, APPROVING, AND CONFIRMING CERTAIN
NECESSARY ACTIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER AND
DESIGNATED OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENTS TO UPDATE THE
RELEVANT FINANCIAL CONTROLS, PROJECT CLOSE-OUTS,
ACCOUNTING ENTRIES, AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN
CONNECTION THEREWITH AND FOR GRANTS AND OTHER
FUNDING SOURCES IN PROGRESS AND FOR NECESSARY
RELATED DOCUMENT NEGOTIATIONS AND EXECUTIONS, ALL
IN FORMS ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY; PROVIDING
FOR APPLICABLE EFFECTIVE DATES.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item RE.2 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City
Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number RE.2, please see
"Order of the Day."
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
RE.3
16366
Office of the City
Attorney
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING, SETTING FORTH, AND
SUBMITTING TO THE ELECTORATE A PROPOSED AMENDMENT
TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED ("CHARTER"); CREATING NEW SECTION 13 OF THE
CHARTER, TITLED "REDISTRICTING," THEREBY AMENDING
THE CHARTER TO PROVIDE THAT CITY COMMISSION
DISTRICTS MAY NOT BE DRAWN WITH THE INTENT TO FAVOR
OR DISFAVOR A CANDIDATE OR INCUMBENT, ESTABLISH A
CITIZENS' REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE TO DRAW DISTRICTS
AFTER EACH CENSUS AND WHEN REQUIRED BY LAW,
PROVIDE PROCESS FOR THE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE TO
PROPOSE REDISTRICTING PLANS TO THE CITY COMMISSION
FOR FINAL ACTION, SET REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE
MEMBERS' QUALIFICATIONS, DUTIES, TERM OF OFFICE, AND
PROCESS FOR APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL; CALLING FOR A
REFERENDUM AND PROVIDING THAT THE CHARTER
AMENDMENT WILL BE SUBMITTED TO THE ELECTORATE AT
THE REFERENDUM SPECIAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON
NOVEMBER 4, 2025; DESIGNATING AND APPOINTING THE CITY
CLERK AS THE OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CITY
COMMISSION WITH RESPECT TO THE USE OF VOTER
REGISTRATION BOOKS AND RECORDS; FURTHER DIRECTING
THE CITY CLERK TO CAUSE A CERTIFIED COPY OF THE
HEREIN RESOLUTION TO BE DELIVERED TO THE SUPERVISOR
OF ELECTIONS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA NOT LESS
THAN FORTY-FIVE (45) DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF SUCH
ELECTION; PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR
THIS RESOLUTION.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0243
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
NAYS: Carollo
Chair King: RE.3 was pulled for discussion.
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, I pulled it for discussion, and City Attorney, I was
hoping you could shed some light because a few people had questions on how that
got to the ballot as part of the settlement of the lawsuit. Also, I wanted you to address
the issue that there is an election this November 2025. An election has not been
canceled and how we have no provision to cancel any election.
George Wysong (City Attorney): Okay, so RE.3 is the ballot question relating to
redistricting. This stems from a lawsuit where the ACLU (American Civil Liberties
Union) represented GRACE (Grove Rights And Community Equity) and others,
several plaintiffs, suing the City of Miami in relation to our redistricting procedures.
There was litigation and there was a settlement. In addition to the monetary
settlement, mainly attorney's fees for the ACLU, there was a provision that we would
place on the ballot a question drafted by them to change the procedures, to actually
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create procedures for a redistricting committee. And that draft and that agreement to
place this before the voters of the city of Miami was also submitted as part of the
settlement agreement to the federal court, and the federal court made it part of the
binding court order. When the issue of moving the elections came about, we inquired
of the ACLU to see if they would be interested in moving this question,
notwithstanding the fact that it required to be heard on the November 2025 election,
and they essentially indicated they had no interest in moving the election, so we
would have to go in front of a court with the plaintiff that was objecting. So that
essentially creates the necessity for the November 2025 election. And if you have any
questions, I'll be more than happy to answer.
Commissioner Pardo: And on the issue of cancelling elections in the city of Miami?
Mr. Wysong: There are no cancelled elections in the city of Miami.
Commissioner Pardo: And there is no provision for us to ever do so, correct?
Mr. Wysong: Correct.
Commissioner Pardo: We can only postpone an election.
Mr. Wysong: Or move the date. Yes, actually there's two statutes that provide for the
moving of an election. One is the one that was undertaken by us, following Florida
Constitution, following Florida Law, following the Florida Statutes. Number two is
in the event of an emergency, say a hurricane is bearing down upon us, the Florida
Statutes allow us to postpone the election for, I think it's a week or ten days. So,
those would be the only times that we could ever move an election.
Commissioner Pardo: Thank you.
Commissioner Rosado: Madam Chair, I have some comments on this item as well.
So, discussion of this specific topic got me into a discussion with some of our staff
and the attorney about the charter review process overall. Just to link to your
discussion on that. And I was surprised to learn that the City doesn't have any sort of
charter review task force process in place, any sort of mandatory process to
periodically review the charter. So, I'd actually like to propose an ordinance for the
next few meetings to institute a charter review task force to meet every decade, no
later -- starting no later than one year after adoption of the decennial census.
Chair King: Commissioner Rosado, I'm going to allow the city attorney to respond
to that.
Commissioner Rosado: So, this meeting wouldn't be -- this first meeting of it,
wouldn't be for a number of years.
Mr. Wysong: So, you're just directing us to bring back an ordinance to create a
procedure for a charter review question and I --
Commissioner Rosado: Right.
Chair King: It's exactly what is happening here with the GRACE settlement. We have
to do that.
Mr. Wysong: No, no, no, no.
Commissioner Pardo: No, no.
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Mr. Wysong: What he's saying is --
Commissioner Rosado: It's different.
Mr. Wysong: -- this is specific to -- I apologize to saying no, no. What he's indicating
is that while this covers redistricting, he's interested in the -- what Commissioner
Pardo had brought forth as well is creating a charter review committee. Like
creating -- currently in the City of Miami, Charter nor Code as any provision is
mandating a charter review committee be created. Some other jurisdictions have.
Chair King: George, isn't that what we agreed to in the settlement, that we would
each appoint someone for that?
Mr. Wysong: That's for redistricting only.
Chair King: Only for redistricting.
Mr. Wysong: Only for redistricting.
Chair King: Oh, I thought it was for charter review as well. Sorry, sorry. Okay.
Commissioner Rosado: No, that's okay.
Chair King: All right. Any other --
Commissioner Pardo: So, just to shed some light on that, we did, through
procurement, put out a way to do charter review and we got back a lot of
information, and we were working with information that would allow this charter
review committee to make recommendations that in fact would kind of make it to the
ballot, make it easier for it to make it to the ballot. Because in the last charter
review, 10 years ago, there were like 17 items, 4 maybe made it to the ballot. Lots of
them, actually some that we just adopted in the last meeting, moving the election and
lifetime term limits, were a part of the discussion. So, staff I'm sure will be happy to
share with you a lot of -- and it's a great thing.
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah, I was just surprised, it's just pretty standard for a lot
of cities to actually have a mandatory requirement to have a task force every six
years, every ten years, whatever the case may be, and I was just surprised that we
don't have that provision.
Chair King: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Madam Chair?
Chair King: Vice Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm going to ask you a series of questions. So, if you could take
one at a time. Is there any legal harm if we were to get a judge to agree to bring this
election on the districts, with GRACE, to a later time? Is there any harm that the
people that sued us would be exposed to? Whether it's brought to an election in
November or in the first election next year?
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Mr. Wysong: I believe -- you know, the issue is we dealt with this as lawyers deal
with it. We reached out to them in good faith.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but -- but that's not the question that I'm asking.
Mr. Wysong: And -- but, so --
Vice Chair Carollo: I'll get to that one next.
Mr. Wysong: To answer that question --
Vice Chair Carollo: Do they have any legal harm?
Mr. Wysong: There could be legal harm. They would find that if we don't place this
on the ballot, which we promised them we would, and we told the court we would,
then we would be brought in front of the court on a, you know, either a rule to show
cause, which could lead to contempt proceedings, and may involve attorney's fees
and sanctions.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. Are there any legal
harm to them? To them, what harm are they suffering, whether we have the election
in November and have to spend a million dollars or more, or if we have it on the first
election next year where it won't cost us anything? That's the question that I'm
asking.
Mr. Wysong: I get your question, and I apologize. So, technically no, because this
ballot question requires the creation of the districting committee upon the annual
census period. So, we're not going to face that until 2030.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, that's the point that I'm trying to make. Now, when the
majority of this commission, without my vote, voted to enter into this agreement,
neither the commission at the time nor the people that were suing, anticipated that
this election for elected officials was going to be canceled, which is what is being
done, until November of next year. You want to call it postponing. If you want to play
with the word game, feel free to do so, but the bottom line, the reason that we were
going to have an election was because that's what the Charter mandated for elected
officials. That's been postponed until November of 2026. No one anticipated that at
the time, correct?
Mr. Wysong: That is -- well, that is mostly correct in that I believe during the
settlement discussions, GRACE and the ACLU floated the idea of moving the
elections to the general cycle, but I believe that position was rejected.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, now, the point that I'm going to is we've had plenty of
time, and we still do before we have to make a final decision on placing this in the
ballot, to be able to go before the federal court to explain to them the dilemma we're
in, that the City is going to be spending a million dollars, or more, on an election
just truly for this. And to ask the federal court to allow us to just roll it over until the
first election next year. I don 't know if that would be in March or if that would be
later on in August, possibly. Now, is there any harm in us going before the court and
asking them for their instructions? If we could do this to save Miami that money?
Mr. Wysong: I might need assistance from the City Clerk, but we are on July 10. We
have a hard date in order to get a ballot question to the supervisor of elections so
that in the event the court rules against us, then we wouldn't be able to put it on,
conceivably, we wouldn't be able to put it on the November 25th agenda.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Well, not necessarily. I disagree with that.
Mr. Wysong: That's my only concern is the timing.
Vice Chair Carollo: Because I think the deadline that we have, and we discussed that
briefly, is in the early part of September is the deadline that we have to get
something to the supervisor of election.
Mr. Hannon: Yes, sir, September 5th, 5 p.m.
Vice Chair Carollo: And this is not anything that has to be heard before the judge.
It's just a simple ask of the judge. They could respond, and he could take action, yay
or nay, by the stroke of a pen. And obviously, if he doesn 't do that in time, then we
can take the action that you would suggest. But this is really absurd to spend a
million dollars or more when there's no need to, when we haven't even asked the
court to give us leave for the reasons that I've stated here that no one anticipated
before. And I think the courts would be reasonable because there is no harm to them.
We're not changing anything. There's not going to be any new districts drawn or
anything like that. We're basically trying to save the taxpayers of Miami dollars,
period. In fact, this is why I'm told we're doing all this in part because we're going
to save all this money. So, what -- where is the harm in us going to the federal court
asking for their guidance on this to see if they can relieve us from it?
Chair King: George, you're going to respond?
Mr. Wysong: The only thing I --
Vice Chair Carollo: I mean, even if we have to, offer them some money. That's what
they're really after, the attorneys in those groups. They'll take less money so at least
we can save the bulk of the million bucks.
Mr. Wysong: My only concern is that -- that there was some sort of a contentious
litigation. We disagreed with their findings. We settled in good faith, even though we
disagreed with their -- with the court's rulings on whether the City did things that
were improper. We believe we did everything proper.
Vice Chair Carollo: But George, we understand all that. But, my God, this is being
done in good faith too. So, we don 't have to throw away real money of this city,
where no one is going to be harmed. And we're asking the courts what we should
have done before. We're not playing any games with them. We're not going to say
we're not going to keep our word in what we'd agree to, that we would have an
election. Before that, what we're saying is, nobody anticipated for this to have
happened, and therefore, to give the City leave of bringing this election on the first
election of next year. Or if they don 't like the first election, then they can bring it in
the November election, whichever one they like the most. Now, maybe by September
5th, it won't matter, because I would assume that you're going to be hearing from
the state courts on the lawsuits that are there. So, maybe it's a non -issue, I don't
know. But it doesn 't make sense that for the sole purpose of the agreement that we
entered into, that they're not going to have any harm whatsoever from, that we're
going to be requesting of the courts for the reasons that I've stated, just to let us roll
over this election or any of the elections that they are more happy with for next year.
It could be the first or the second or anything in between or before.
Mr. Wysong: As you say, for us, it's a timing issue. I would note that there is no --
our first city commission meeting is --
Vice Chair Carollo: But that we could change right away.
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Mr. Wysong: You 'd have to have a special meeting.
Vice Chair Carollo: George, come on. Come on, George.
Mr. Wysong: No, I'm just --
Vice Chair Carollo: To save the City a million bucks or more, we could all come in
here just for a few minutes and vote upon something like that.
Mr. Wysong: Right, I just wanted to make the Commission aware that --
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, we -- you know, that's quite easy to do.
Commissioner Pardo: Madam Chair.
Chair King: Hold on. George, are you finished?
Mr. Wysong: Yes. Essentially, my concern is primarily, number one, the court hasn 't
shown us any grace, no pun intended, in this whole tribunal. Number two, it's a big
matter of timing. Number three, we did -- the actual date was included in the
settlement agreement as well as the order dismissing the case and so --
Vice Chair Carollo: But what is the harm, George, in asking the courts to put it in
any election that they so choose for next year so we could save this money for the
citizens of Miami?
Mr. Wysong: Right. Well, to me, the harm is not in asking. The harm is, if you don't
take action today, there's a possibility that we could end up in violation of the order
by timing, essentially. So, that's my only concern.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, we have another meeting in this month.
Chair King: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: And we could have -- if the court sees it differently, we could
have another meeting before September 5th, or on September 5th.
Chair King: Commissioner Pardo?
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, obviously, I'm absolutely against postponing this in any
way because, number one, this was an enormous outrage in our district. This was
what had originally divided Coconut Grove into two. This redistricting settlement
brought Coconut Grove back. It was fought long and hard by the community. We
came to the table, we decided these terms, and once again, it would reflect a lack of
trust in the things we have decided and already settled. So, number one, I think it's
essential that we meet our word and we complete the settlement agreement. Number
two, there are other items that will likely come on to that ballot.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's the problem.
Commissioner Pardo: So, potentially Miami Marine Stadium, potentially other
issues, term limits that will also be there that are important that the voters should go
ahead and vote on in an election.
Chair King: Commissioner Gabela?
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Commissioner Gabela: Okay, so look, he's talking about the million dollars, but
here's the thing. If RE.8 passes now, you're going to have that election anyway. So,
it's obsolete what you're talking about if in fact RE.8 passes. I for one do not want to
gamble. This issue has been -- you know, we beat that issue to death. That horse has
been beaten to death. We made a deal, and we should stick by that deal. That's all I
have to say. I am a proponent to, you know, keep our word, and let's end this thing.
Thank you.
Chair King: Commissioner Par -- Rosado?
Commissioner Rosado: I support moving the item the way it is.
Chair King: Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Chair King: Do I have a second?
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
Commissioner Gabela: Aye.
Commissioner Pardo: Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: Nay.
Chair King: Aye.
Mr. Hannon: Motion passes, 4-1, with Commissioner Carollo voting no.
Chair King: RE.5 was pulled for discussion.
Mr. Hannon: And my apologies, Chair. RE.3 is being amended simply to include
resolution number R-25-0243 on page 5 of the resolution. Do the mover and
seconder accept that amendment?
Commissioner Gabela: Yes.
Chair King: Thank you.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry, which item?
Mr. Hannon: That was RE.3.
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RE.4 RESOLUTION
17688 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, PURSUANT
Commissioners TO SECTION 14 OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, TO ISSUE A SUBPOENA TO WILLIAM
and Mayor ORTIZ, CHIEF OF STAFF FOR COMMISSIONER JOE CAROLLO,
TO APPEAR BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSION ON JUNE 12,
2025, FOR THE PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATING OFFICIAL ACTS
AND CONDUCT OF A CITY OFFICIAL.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item RE.4 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City
Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number RE.4, please see
"Order of the Day."
RE.5 RESOLUTION
17800 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING
Commissioners COMMISSIONER RALPH "RAFAEL" ROSADO AS CHAIRPERSON
and Ma or OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.
y
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0252
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number RE.5,
please see "Public Comments for all Item(s)."
Chair King: RE.5 was pulled for discussion.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah.
Chair King: I'm not sure who -- Commissioner Gabela, you pulled it?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, I did.
Chair King: Okay.
Commissioner Gabela: Does anybody want to go first or should I --? No, I'm ready
to appoint a chairperson. All I -- I just think in the future maybe there's some fine-
tuning there to be done. My 5 cents' worth. But I fully support Rosado for the
position.
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Chair King: Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.6 RESOLUTION
17820 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION,
De artment of AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND
p EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE
Human Services CITY ATTORNEY, WITH SUNDARI FOUNDATION, INC., A
FLORIDA NOT FOR PROFIT CORPORATION, TO CONTINUE THE
CITY OF MIAMI SHELTER AND TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
PROGRAM, INCLUDING THE PROVISION OF BEDS AND
SERVICES FOR WOMEN AND FAMILIES EXPERIENCING
HOMELESSNESS IN THE CITY OF MIAMI AT A TOTAL COST NOT
TO EXCEED $175,000.00 FOR AN INITIAL PERIOD OF ONE YEAR
CONCURRENT TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 WITH UP TO
FIVE (5) CONSECUTIVE ONE (1) YEAR OPTION TO RENEW FOR
SAID PURPOSE, WITH CONDITIONS AS STATED IN THE
AGREEMENT.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0253
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number RE.6,
please see "Public Comments for all Item(s)."
Chair King: RE. 6 was pulled. Who pulled RE. 6? Was it --?
Vice Chair Carollo: I did.
Chair King: Oh, I'm sorry.
Vice Chair Carollo: I had a question. My question is, on the tail end of this, it says
with up to five consecutive one-year options to renew for said purpose. We're
obligating for the next five years already from the budget to allocate monies that are
into the future, as I understand it.
David Gilbert: Good after -- good morning. David Gilbert, Department Director of
Human Services. It's just a renewal for five consecutive years, but the funding has
been in the NDA (Nondepartmental Account) account for several years.
Vice Chair Carollo: Excuse me?
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Mr. Gilbert: The funding for Lotus has been in the NDA account that's been funded
and budget approved for the past several years. And so, as opposed to trying to
having to come back to the Commission if the funding continues to get approved in
the budget, we can go ahead and execute the contract for up to five years.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but you don't know into the future, that's all that I'm
saying, what could be happening in this City.
Mr. Gilbert: If -- if --
Vice Chair Carollo: We might have a national crisis, for one.
Mr. Gilbert: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I'm concerned that we're just putting an automatic for the
future. I've never seen this done in this fashion.
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): Commissioner, if I may. David, to help you out a
little bit. So, I believe those options are our options to renew. So, if for some reason
there's a funding issue and we're not allowed to move forward, we are the ones
electing to renew the contract, not the other way around.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, so that's clear on the contract.
Mr. Noriega: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, that's fine. And where's the first $175, 000 corning from?
We have that in the budget already?
Mr. Noriega: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Did you say that?
Mr. Noriega: It's in the NDA.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. All right. That's fine.
Chair King: Do I have a motion? I have a motion. Second?
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries unanimously.
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RE.7 RESOLUTION
17830 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, BY A FOUR -
FIFTHS AFFIRMATIVE (4/5THS) VOTE, PURSUANT TO SECTION
Commissioners 54-137 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
and Mayor AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), WAIVING THE RESTRICTIONS
RELATED TO STREET RENAMING CONTAINED THEREIN,
CODESIGNATING NORTHWEST 28 AVENUE BETWEEN
NORTHWEST 17 STREET AND NORTHWEST 15 STREET AS
"MARIANELA AMADOR WAY" IN HONOR OF MARIANELA
AMADOR'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CITY OF MIAMI; FURTHER
DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF THIS
RESOLUTION TO THE HEREIN DESIGNATED OFFICIALS.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0254
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
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RE.8 RESOLUTION
17832 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING, SETTING FORTH, AND
Commissioners SUBMITTING TO THE ELECTORATE A PROPOSED AMENDMENT
and Mayor TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED ("CHARTER") AMENDING SECTION 4(B) OF THE
CHARTER, TITLED "FORM OF GOVERNMENT; NOMINATION
AND ELECTION/ELECTION OF MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION;
TERMS OF OFFICE; RECALL," TO ESTABLISH THAT NO
PERSON WHO HAS BEEN ELECTED OR APPOINTED TWO (2)
TIMES TO THE OFFICE OF MAYOR OR COMMISSIONER SHALL
BE ELIGIBLE FOR REELECTION TO THAT OFFICE DURING
THEIR LIFETIME, SAID LIFETIME TERM SHALL NOT INCLUDE
ANY TIME SERVED AS A RESULT OF HAVING BEEN ELECTED
TO FILL A VACANCY; FURTHER PROVIDING THAT THE MAYOR
AND CITY COMMISSION'S TERM LIMITS ARE MEASURED
RETROACTIVELY FROM THEIR FIRST ELECTIONS OR
APPOINTMENTS; FURTHER PROVIDING THAT UPON
APPROVAL OF THE ELECTORATE, THIS AMENDMENT WILL BE
IMMEDIATELY EFFECTIVE; CALLING FOR A REFERENDUM AND
PROVIDING THAT THE CHARTER AMENDMENT WILL BE
SUBMITTED TO THE ELECTORATE AT THE REFERENDUM
SPECIAL ELECTION SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 4, 2025;
DESIGNATING AND APPOINTING THE CITY CLERK AS THE
OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CITY COMMISSION WITH
RESPECT TO THE USE OF VOTER REGISTRATION BOOKS AND
RECORDS; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO CAUSE
A CERTIFIED COPY OF THE HEREIN RESOLUTION TO BE
DELIVERED TO THE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS OF MIAMI-
DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA NOT LESS THAN FORTY-FIVE (45)
DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF SUCH ELECTION; AND
PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THIS
RESOLUTION.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0244
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
NAYS: King, Carollo
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number RE.5,
please see "Public Comments for all Item(s)."
Chair King: RE.8?
Commissioner Pardo: RE.8, lifetime term limits. This was based on a 2014 ballot
initiative in the City of Miami -- Miami Beach, which passed overwhelmingly by
about 69 percent. Essentially, what it does is it takes eight years is the maximum that
a commissioner can serve. Currently, a commissioner can serve eight years, take
four years off, come back, serve another eight years, take four years off or a decade
off, come back and keep serving. So, this places a limit on what the commissioner
can serve in time, which creates more focus during those eight years. It also opens
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the door for other people, more innovation, other ideas to come into those seats. It
does the exact same thing for the mayoral. It gives eight years, and that's what you
get. The maximum one person can serve the City of Miami is 16 years. At the last
meeting, we gave an instruction to draft the text of the ballot language to the
attorney. And there's been a change, which I guess out there has been called a
loophole or a carve out and it couldn't be further from the truth. So, I'd like to
explain what that change was. It had to do with vacancies and special elections. So,
when a commissioner leaves, you can either do an appointment or you can do a
special election. If you do a special election, that would have counted as a full term.
And so, you're taking away from the four years, which as the city attorney reminded
me, leaves us open to legal challenges. So, in the drafting process, these legal issues
came up about what is a term and what is fair. So, in the case where someone has
left their term, if somebody runs for a special election, and they actually run, they
raise money, it's a race, it's hard, we all know what that feels like, it's not fun, when
they win, they should be able to have their eight year term plus the remainder of the
term that they just won fair and square, and that's what democracy does when you
win an election. So, that was a core -- a core concept here is what is fair. On the
other hand, for us, looking at it, we did -- we wanted to make running a good thing
and give an incentive, and we wanted to make appointing not such a good thing. So,
if you're appointed into that kind, you actually lose part of your term. So, if you get
appointed and you're filling two years left of a term, that counts as four years of
your eight years. So, it's important to understand the concept behind it, but the
concept was all about equity, fairness, and democracy. And that's what we did in
RE.8. That's what we were hoping, if we have the votes today, will go to the voters
this November 2025 in the November election.
Chair King: Commissioner Gabela?
Commissioner Gabela: I'm ready to vote on this. I always said that I would support
the lifetime term limits. I respect everybody else's opinion. The only thing that I
disagreed with is the other part, the second part that went along with this because I
thought it should also be put to a referendum. But having said that, I am going to
vote for this. I think it's a good -- it's a good thing. Thank you.
Chair King: Commissioner Rosado?
Commissioner Rosado: This is a challenging one. There are strong arguments for
and against this, and there are strong arguments for some sort of nuanced version of
what this might look like. But at the end of the day, having just spent a number of
months going door to door and hearing how the public feels, I'm going to be
supporting this item.
Commissioner Pardo: Call the question.
Chair King: I didn't say anything.
Commissioner Pardo: Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Sometimes I forget.
Chair King: Vice Chair?
Vice Chair Carollo: Madam City Attorney, this is the first time in this City's history
that see that we're making changes, not going forward, but going back.
Chair King: I can 't hear you.
Vice Chair Carollo: While four years might be a short time in the mind of many to be
out and then come back, as someone recently told me from another government, look
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at eight years. Eight years, in particularly politics, is a lifetime. All of a sudden, we
want to do this, but I don 't see anyone being concerned about the influence peddlers,
the so-called lobbyists. They don 't have term limits. So, they're going to be the ones
that are here year after year after year after year, and there's not going to be the
balance that you have had in this body and other bodies where you have a balance of
new people and people that have been there a little longer that have the institutional
knowledge. The only ones that are going to have that are going to be the influence
peddlers, the lobbyists, who have that. And it's clear why this is being done now.
This is not done for the purpose of good government. It's being done for other
reasons in this fashion so that certain people cannot run now and others feel that
they will have the road open for themselves into the near future, including running
for mayor soon. In fact, our dear mayor, it's come to my attention, has been talking
even to some people here, that in a year and a half, once he's going to be term
limited out, they could be the next mayor. And I wonder if he's told that to more than
one up here, but the truth of the matter is that you're going to be seeing that you're
going to be getting another referendum for next year. And that one's going to be for
more districts combined with a strong mayor so that the mayor can keep running
again. And the fundamental problem in our structure is not what we're being told
that it is now. It is very, very deep, and if the people of this city don't want to do
anything about it, the silent majority is too busy trying to make a living and pay for
their bills, then they're going to get what has been happening silently and worse.
When I was mayor, just like now, I came into the city and left with less in my pocket
than when I originally came. That's not the case now for some. Being an elected
official has become extremely profitable for them. And I heard what's up here now,
and I'll deal with it as I have to in the future, even if I have to stand alone. But the
truth will be put out across the board. Thank you.
Chair King: I don't believe that this lifetime term limits is fair, and it does not
capture everyone. We have -- there has been an allowance for you, Commissioner
Rosado, and I brought that to your attention that the term limits clause would have
you only serve this special election term and a four-year term and that would be it.
And all of a sudden, that's been changed. But what about the people that the
commission appoint? That's not their fault that the commission decides that they
want to forego an election and appoint someone to serve out someone's term. They
should not be excluded. What about commissioners who don't, for whatever reason,
complete their term? They can't come back. Four years out of office is a lifetime in
politics. I have already said that. Eight years is a death sentence. But you want to
make it for us to say that no one can come back. What if the voters want to bring
someone back? That's their choice. We are making a choice today for people who
don't even have the right to vote as yet. And we are doing that based on
personalities. And that's all that is. It's based on personalities. I do not support this.
One, I don 't think it should be retroactive. I don 't know where in the US you create a
law, and you make it retroactive. Now if you said it was prospective, that it occurs
sometime in the future, that's a different story. If you include everyone who has not
served out the entirety of their term, that's a different story. But by doing what we're
trying to do now, it is unfair to a lot of people. And again, just because this city did it
and that city did it, doesn 't make it right. Just like our voters feel some kind of way
about us aligning our elections to the even -numbered elections. So, we got to pick
and choose where we stand on this. Bless you, bless you again. I'm not supportive of
this. You should include folks that were appointed because they should have a right
to run. They have a right to run. That's why you cannot implement a requirement
that if you're appointed you have to promise that you won 't run. And because they
were appointed, shows that they have a desire to serve. And they should be able to
do so at any time. And we don 't have that. I believe that even if this goes to the
voters, it would be challenged because it's retroactive. So, why are we doing that?
Why are we creating a law that applies retroactively so if someone runs and they
win, duly elected by the voters, they don 't win? That doesn 't make any sense to me.
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Commissioner Pardo: Madam Chair?
Chair King: Commissioner Pardo.
Commissioner Pardo: The retroactivity was challenged in the City of Miami Beach,
and it went to the Third District Court of Appeals, and it was upheld. But in any
case, I'd like to call the question.
Chair King: Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Chair King: I'm sorry. Our City Clerk has to make --
Vice Chair Carollo: Can you call it so each vote separately?
Chair King: Yes. The City Clerk has to make a statement.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And just a brief statement. RE.8 needs to be amended
to include resolution number R-25-0244 on page 7 of the resolution.
Chair King: I'd actually like to make a motion to defer this so that my colleagues
could think about this a little longer.
Vice Chair Carollo: I second.
Commissioner Pardo: No.
Commissioner Gabela: No, I don 't need to think about this. I'm ready to go.
Chair King: Well, let's -- hold -- Commissioner Gabela, Commissioner Gabela.
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, ma 'am.
Chair King: I'm entitled --
Commissioner Gabela: No, no, of course.
Chair King: -- to do that. So, if we don 't --
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, of course, ma'am.
Chair King: -- have the votes for it, then it won 't be deferred. I'd like to make a
motion to have this deferred. Do I have a motion?
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair King: Do I have a sec --?
Mr. Hannon: No, no, no. So, the maker of the motion can 't call the question. So,
Commissioner Carollo, you are making the motion to defer to July 24th.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner King, you can second that motion.
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Chair King: Second. All in favor?
Vice Chair Carollo: Aye.
Chair King: Aye.
Commissioner Gabela: No.
Commissioner Pardo: No.
Commissioner Rosado: No.
Mr. Hannon: The motion fails, 2-3.
Chair King: Do I have a motion for RE.8?
Commissioner Pardo: So moved.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
Commissioner Pardo: Aye.
Commissioner Gabela: Aye.
Chair King: No.
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Mr. Hannon: The motion passes, 3-2, as amended, with Commissioner Carollo and
Commissioner King voting no.
Chair King: Okay. RE.9 was pulled for discussion.
Commissioner Rosado: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Madam Chair, we've now gone over 12. I have made a
commitment that I have to attend. I'm already late in getting out of here. So, if we
could do like we usually do, that --
Unidentified Speaker: Can't hear.
Vice Chair Carollo: What I'm saying is that the commission rules are that we break
at noon. I had to make previous arrangements where I have to step out. I've already
been here over that time. And if we could come back like we do and handle the rest
of the agenda like we do.
Chair King: We could recess for lunch. There's a Virginia Key Beach Park Trust
meeting. If we could have that.
Commissioner Pardo: I'd rather at least go through the second reading items since
we're -- it's 12:15.
Chair King: That's going to take too long.
Commissioner Pardo: It is?
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Chair King: Are you kidding? SR.3?
Commissioner Pardo: Oh, yeah.
Chair King: Okay. So, at this time, the City of Miami Commission meeting is in
recess. We'll resume two hours after the conclusion of the Virginia Key Beach Park
Trust meeting. Thank you.
RE.9 RESOLUTION
17835 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING
Commissioners THE CITY MANAGER TO INITIATE NEGOTIATIONS WITH MIAMI-
and Ma or DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO ENTER INTO JOINT USE
y AGREEMENTS TO EXPAND PUBLIC ACCESS TO
RECREATIONAL SPACES AT VARIOUS PUBLIC SCHOOLS
LOCATED WITHIN DISTRICT 4 DURING NON -SCHOOL HOURS;
FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO REPORT BACK
TO THE COMMISSION WITH UPDATES ON THE PROGRESS OF
SUCH NEGOTIATIONS WITHIN SIXTY (60) DAYS.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0256
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
ABSENT: King
Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Rosado, seconded by
Commissioner Pardo, and was passed by the following vote: AYE(S):
Commissioners Rosado, Pardo, and Carollo / NAY(S): Commissioner Gabela /
ABSENT: Commissioner King; to grant Commissioner Rosado's request to hear
agenda item RE.9.
Commissioner Rosado: I would like to make a motion to hear the following items
and exclusively the following items. Upon further reflection, I realize there are some
items sponsored by the chairwoman that I actually asked to pull because I wanted to
discuss them because I do have questions. So, out of fairness for her, I'm going to
make a motion that we not discuss those items and perhaps several other that are
just not time sensitive. So, I would like to move that we hear exclusively RE.9, RE. 10,
DI. 1 if the board is here. I'm not sure -- they're not here, so that also can be moved.
DI.6 and PZ.2. I have questions on each of the other ones, and I can support a
motion that would allow the chairwoman to be present when --
Commissioner Pardo: I'll second that.
Commissioner Gabela: I want -- I want us to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a motion. There's a second. All in favor, signify by
saying "aye."
Commissioner Rosado: Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: Aye.
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Commissioner Gabela: No.
Vice Chair Carollo: Passes 3 to 1.
Commissioner Rosado: So, we'll focus just on those.
[Later...]
Vice Chair Carollo: Now on RE.9.
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah, RE.9 is very short, so it's something that I added on,
and I have some additional good news. So, the title is not the most exciting title ever,
but a joint use agreement is essentially agreement that MDCPS, Miami -Dade County
Public Schools, has with different cities to allow residents access to school fields,
after school hours, typically from about 5 to 9 p.m. and on weekends, often from 8
a.m. to about 10 p.m. at night. And so, in a past professional life, I negotiated one of
these. It takes a few months, but suddenly your residents have access to ball fields,
football, soccer, basketball, playground equipment, et cetera, that they might not
otherwise have access to. And I know that as a district and as a city our recreational
opportunities are very limited in many neighborhoods. And so, what I wanted to do
when I began my role here as commissioner is to inquire which of the schools in
District 4. We have seven schools that are located within District 4, and then we also
have two schools that are located outside, one in Coral Gables, one in West Miami,
but that serve large numbers of children in District 4. And so, I reached out to the
School Board, and I said, you know, could I have copies of the joint use agreements
for those schools? And out of the nine schools I just referenced, only one has a joint
use agreement which means the neighborhoods surrounding the other eight don 't
have access to basketball, softball, you name it. And so, what I was bringing forth
originally as an item is to go ahead and, you know, work with the manager, work
with our attorney to negotiate one joint use agreement per school. What has
happened since we put this item on the agenda is I have some additional good news.
I think that was good enough news by itself. But what the School Board has realized,
it's going to be so labor intensive to negotiate with me or any of us on each of these
individually that they are offering to do a master joint use agreement for the entire
City of Miami, applying to all public schools citywide. And so, residents in dozens of
neighborhoods should now be able to have access to these recreational facilities.
And given that we are park poor in many places, I think this is a big step forward in
providing our residents quality recreational amenities that they very much deserve,
so I'm very excited about that.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's a very positive resolution. Up to now, the few contracts
that we have with the School Board is the opposite. We're letting the School Board
use some of our playgrounds and facilities instead. So, this will just expand on that,
but open it up much bigger. Because many of the schools we have in our city, or
maybe in the surrounding areas, like you mentioned, have big parcels of land that
could be used. Some of them have a baseball field, soccer field that our residents
could use. So, I would be very much in favor of that. Do you have a motion for that?
Commissioner Rosado: Absolutely. I would move to work with -- have the
administration and all interested parties work with MDCPS to bring forth a master
joint -use agreement for -- ultimately for our vote a few months down the line. And I
would just say the -- each of you knows your districts better than I do and than each
other may, and so, obviously you'll each be chiming in on the specific schools that
are in your districts in terms of what are the right hours given the immediate
neighbors, what are the right kinds of amenities. I mean, this isn 't something that
comes with no cost. They are -- we are likely to be asked to pay for two things. One
would be interior fencing. That is very important to them because they want to make
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sure that if somebody can go onto a basketball court at 6 p.m. that they somehow
don 't also have access to go inside the building, classrooms, and bathrooms and all
of that. And certainly, I think we're all in agreement. We don't want that either. So,
we may be asked to cover that.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's reasonable. That's reasonable.
Commissioner Rosado: And perhaps lighting in schools that don't have lighting at
night.
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a motion. There's a second by Commissioner Pardo.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And Chair, my apologies. It'll be as amended because
it's now citywide.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, as amended.
Commissioner Rosado: Citywide.
Vice Chair Carollo: Seconder, as amended. All in, favor, signify by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: It passes.
Applause.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
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RE.10
17836
Commissioners
and Mayor
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING
THE CITY MANAGER TO CONDUCT AN ASSESSMENT AND
PREPARE A LIST OF CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") OWNED
PROPERTIES SUITABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIXED
INCOME HOUSING, WITH THE GOAL OF ISSUING ONE OR
MORE REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS TO QUALIFIED
DEVELOPERS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SUCH PROPERTIES,
AND PROVIDING THAT PROPOSALS PRIORITIZE MAXIMUM
HOUSING DENSITY UNDER APPLICABLE ZONING
REGULATIONS, DEVELOPER QUALIFICATIONS, AND UNIT
PRICING; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO
REPORT BACK TO THE CITY COMMISSION WITHIN NINETY (90)
DAYS WITH AN INVENTORY LIST, ANY ISSUED SOLICITATIONS,
AND ANY RECOMMENDATIONS.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0257
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
ABSENT: King
Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Rosado, seconded by
Commissioner Pardo, and was passed by the following vote: AYE(S):
Commissioners Rosado, Pardo, and Carollo / NAY(S): Commissioner Gabela /
ABSENT: Commissioner King; to grant Commissioner Rosado's request to hear
agenda item RE.10.
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number RE.5,
please see "Public Comments for all Item(s)" and Item Number RE.9.
Vice Chair Carollo: RE.10.
Commissioner Rosado: RE.10 is something that I talked about as well on the -- on
the campaign trail, which is, we all know that Miami is a very expensive place to
live. You know, South Florida, Miami -Dade, City of Miami, it's all very expensive.
And one of the things that we have most direct control over is the land that is owned
by the City. And I know that the School Board, the County, large cities, we often sit
on land that's very valuable -- would be very valuable to the public, except it's not
being developed. And so, part of this, me putting forth this item, is because I said on
the campaign trail, but I also want to like revise it a little bit. My request to the
administration was to come forth with a list of every city parcel and with
recommendations for which ones could be mixed -income housing particularly. And I
thought of mixed -income housing because if ultimately what I'd like to see done is an
RFP (Request for Proposals) that puts them out to the development community, both
for profits and non-profit builders, to build housing that includes a range of
incomes. And the reason for that is for it to actually be competitive and desirable for
private companies and nonprofits to bid on is you would want to make it so that they
can make money off some market rate units as part of the projects and then the other
units be subsidized. I wanted to modify my own motion because upon further
consideration, we may have parcels in neighborhoods where the zoning is
exclusively single family. And so, obviously, you can 't have mixed income in a
single-family home.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Or a duplex.
Commissioner Rosado: Or a duplex. So, the idea would be if by the next meeting we
could have, or rather within 60 days, if we could have a full report of all City -owned
parcels that could be developed for housing of some sort and recommendations of
how to move forward and a priority order also for moving forward. It could be one
RFP that puts out every single City parcel, or it could be going neighborhood by
neighborhood, or some variation thereof And I know that there may be parcels
where we actually have other things we want to do with them, whether it's a
standalone fire station or something else, but I want to move forward. If we're sitting
on land where we can be providing it to get people into quality, affordable housing, I
just can 't think of any good reasons to not make it available.
Vice Chair Carollo: Very good. There's a motion.
Commissioner Rosado: Absolutely. There's a motion, but I think also our CFO
(Chief Financial Officer) may want to speak to the item. Larry, did you want to --?
Vice Chair Carollo: Larry, you're still around?
Larry Spring (Assistant City Manager/Chief Financial Officer): Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead.
Mr. Spring: Thank you. Through the Vice Chair, Commissioner, we do have a -- I
would call it a perpetual list of those properties. We make them available to the
public currently typically through Housing Community Development. So, we have
had in the past where developers will come to us and say we like this parcel and
we've done transactions that way. I just want you to have that information available
associated with your directive, but --
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Mr. Spring: -- we will follow, but I just want to put that on record.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you.
Commissioner Rosado: Thank you.
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a motion, a second, Commissioner Pardo. All in favor,
signify by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: Passes unanimously.
END OF RESOLUTIONS
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SR - SECOND READING ORDINANCES
SR.1 ORDINANCE Second Reading
17629 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
Office of Zonin CHAPTER 2/ARTICLE IV/DIVISION 2, TITLED
"ADMINISTRATION/DEPARTMENTS/PLANNING, ADMINISTRATION/DEPARTMENTS/PLANNING, BUILDING AND
ZONING DEPARTMENT," BY ESTABLISHING SECTION 2-214,
TITLED "ANCILLARY DWELLING UNIT (ADU) COMPLIANCE," TO
INTRODUCE REGISTRATION AND COMPLIANCE
REQUIREMENTS FOR ANCILLARY DWELLING UNITS; FURTHER
AMENDING CHAPTER 10/ARTICLE V, TITLED "BUILDINGS/CODE
RELIEF PROGRAM," BY ESTABLISHING SECTION 10-77, TITLED
"ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT (ADU) AMNESTY PROGRAM," TO
INTRODUCE AN AMNESTY FOR EXISTING ANCILLARY
DWELLING UNITS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: 14377
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number SR.1,
please see "Order of the Day" and "Public Comments for all Item(s)."
Chair King: Okay, let's go on to the SR (Second Reading) items. Mr. City Attorney,
would you please read the titles into the record?
George Wysong (City Attorney): Yes, Madam Chair. SR.1, second reading
ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: SR.2, a second reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: This one will be as modified to include the Planning, Zoning and
Appeals Board information. SR.3, second reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: That concludes the SR items.
Chair King: Gentlemen, are there any of the SR items that you would like to pull for
discussion?
Commissioner Gabela: SR.3.
Chair King: Anyone else? Anything else?
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Vice Chair Carollo: SR.2 was pulled?
Chair King: No. SR.3.
Vice Chair Carollo: SR.3?
Chair King: Uh-huh.
Vice Chair Carollo: (INAUDIBLE).
Chair King: You want to pull SR.2 for discussion? Okay. And --
Commissioner Gabela: So, motion for SR.1.
Chair King: Motion for SR.1.
Commissioner Rosado: Second.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: SR.1 passes unanimously.
SR.2 ORDINANCE Second Reading
17606 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
Commissioners CHAPTER 2/ARTICLE IV/DIVISION 2 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY
OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), TITLED
and Mayor "ADMINISTRATION/DEPARTMENTS/PLANNING, BUILDING AND
ZONING DEPARTMENT," MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING
SECTION 2-211, TITLED "DENIAL OR REVOCATION OF
CERTIFICATE OF USE," BY RESTRICTING CHAPTER 10 OF THE
CITY CODE VIOLATIONS FROM CAUSING A DENIAL OR
REVOCATION OF A CERTIFICATE OF USE IN LIMITED
CIRCUMSTANCES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE;
AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.
RESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN
Note for the Record: Pursuant to Chapter 2, Article II, Section 2-33(k), Miami City
Code, item SR.2 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number SR.2,
please see "Public Comments for all Item(s)" and Item Number SR.1.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And then, Chair, just for the record, the following
items shall be perfunctory regarded as a deferred item to be scheduled on the July
24, 2025 City Commission agenda, and that is SR.2, FR.2, FR.3, DI.1, and PZ.1.
Thank you, Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, this meeting is now adjourned.
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SR.3 ORDINANCE Second Reading
17797 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION REPEALING
Commissioners CHAPTER 38/ARTICLE III OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), TITLED "PARKS AND
and Mayor RECREATION/BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST" IN ITS
ENTIRETY TO ABOLISH THE BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT
TRUST ("TRUST"); FURTHER AMENDING CHAPTER 2/ARTICLE
XI/DIVISION 2 TITLED "ADMINISTRATION/BOARDS,
COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS/STANDARDS FOR CREATION
AND REVIEW OF BOARDS GENERALLY" TO REMOVE
REFERENCES TO THE TRUST; FURTHER AMENDING CHAPTER
18/ARTICLE III/SECTION 18-72 TITLED "FINANCE/CITY OF MIAMI
PROCUREMENT ORDINANCE/APPLICATION AND EXCLUSIONS"
TO REMOVE REFERENCES TO THE TRUST; FURTHER
AMENDING CHAPTER 54/ARTICLE I/SECTION 54-9 TITLED
"STREETS AND SIDEWALKS/IN GENERAL/ PLACING SIGNS,
ADVERTISEMENT, OR DISPLAYS ON ANY PORTION OF PUBLIC
RIGHT-OF-WAY, STREET OR SIDEWALK SURFACE" TO
REMOVE REFERENCES TO THE TRUST; FURTHER DIRECTING
THE CITY MANAGER TO TAKE ANY AND ALL ACTIONS
NECESSARY TO EFFECTUATE THE CITY'S OPERATION OF THE
BAYFRONT PARK AND MAURICE FERRE PARK IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THIS ORDINANCE; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE
EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: 14382
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
NAYS: Carollo
ABSENT: King
Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Pardo, seconded by
Commissioner Gabela, and was passed by the following vote: AYE(S):
Commissioners Pardo, Gabela, and Rosado / NAY(S): Commissioner Carollo /
ABSENT: Commissioner King; to grant Commissioner Pardo's request to hear
agenda item SR.3.
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number SR.3,
please see "Public Comments for all Item(s)" and Item Number PA.1, SR.1, and
DI.5.
Commissioner Gabela: Let me give you my reasoning for doing, for example, SR.3.
Okay, in SR3, I need to know what exactly that we're doing. So, then, I think the
employees deserve an answer because they're in limbo. Okay?
Vice Chair Carollo: Listen, the employees there are not in limbo. The employees
there know that whatever decision this commission takes, they would have jobs that
are left for them. So, let's -- no one's in limbo. Let's not play games. No one's in
limbo.
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Commissioner Gabela: If you don't want to play games, then you should say what
this is about. This is about you 're upset that I took over Bayfront Trust --
Vice Chair Carollo: No, sir.
Commissioner Gabela: -- and this is what's being done, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: This is about that you were put in there --
Commissioner Gabela: If you want to talk the truth, let's talk the truth.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- to weaponize fully Bayfront Park to create lies, defamation on
me. And I'm going to tell you here once more, if you have any evidence that I
committed any wrongdoing, committed any crimes, took a penny, bring it up now,
and I'll be the first one to make the motion that we bring it, and I'll take you by the
hand so we can bring it to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), any other
agency that you would like. Otherwise, stop your games.
Commissioner Gabela: You 're going to let me talk?
Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead and talk.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, number one, deviation of funds, there were that.
Because I got a picture of you assembling bags for District 3 under Bayfront Trust,
and I saw that here. And --
Vice Chair Carollo: Listen, this is a joke. This is a joke. Is this what you're coming
with?
Commissioner Gabela: Are you going to let me talk or are you going to do the whole
talking?
Vice Chair Carollo: There's no deviation of any funds here.
Commissioner Gabela: Let me finish.
Vice Chair Carollo: Come with something solid. Come on.
Commissioner Gabela: That is solid. That's a picture --
Vice Chair Carollo: This is not solid.
Commissioner Gabela: -- that is a picture of you.
Vice Chair Carollo: You know what's solid? Are the pictures that were shown of
your house with five -- up to five illegal speedboats parked next to it.
Commissioner Gabela: Illegal speedboats, okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: Well, number one --
Vice Chair Carollo: Your other property of 11 to 12 cars in a residential lot with all
kinds of other stuff that were illegal.
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Commissioner Gabela: Listen, I got you. You're trying to muddy the waters. I know
what you 're trying to do.
Vice Chair Carollo: And you --
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen, gentlemen.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- up to this date have not gotten anyone from Code, two and a
half months later, to go there and see it.
Commissioner Gabela: If you want to talk about Code, let's talk about your house
and how you covered up your eight violations that you have.
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen, gentlemen.
Vice Chair Carollo: Listen, there's no cover up there. The record is clear, so don't
talk crap.
Commissioner Gabela: But you 're talking crap.
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, you're talking crap.
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen, gentlemen.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, see, I came here to do this peacefully.
Commissioner Rosado: I will --
Commissioner Gabela: And he -- he takes it out of hand.
Vice Chair Carollo: And you two guys --
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- you two guys, the game that you play, it's going to stop with
me here.
Commissioner Gabela: Oh, I'm scared of you.
Commissioner Pardo: Okay, well, lower the voice.
Commissioner Gabela: I'm scared of you. What are you going to do to me?
Commissioner Rosado: Okay, gentlemen, gentlemen.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm not going to do anything to you, sir.
Commissioner Gabela: You 're going to do anything to me?
Vice Chair Carollo: But if you get up again --
Commissioner Gabela: No, I'm not getting up.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- to threaten me, like you tried to do before --
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Commissioner Gabela: I'm talk -- I'm not -- you're making accusations --
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm not going to --
Commissioner Gabela: -- and I'm telling you --
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm not going to melt down on you.
Commissioner Gabela: Oh, boy. You know how to muddy the waters, huh? You know
how to really muddy the water.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, no.
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen.
Commissioner Gabela: You're trying to get away --
Vice Chair Carollo: If you want to --
Commissioner Gabela: Look, let's take the vote. Let's take the vote.
Vice Chair Carollo: If you want to really be transparent, then show what your arrest
record is for. Show it.
Commissioner Gabela: Well, the only arrest record --
Vice Chair Carollo: Let's see you.
Commissioner Gabela: Talking about arrest records --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: -- the only arrest record that I have here --
Vice Chair Carollo: You have a sealed arrest record.
Commissioner Gabela: -- is you. This is --
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen.
Commissioner Gabela: -- his only arrest record.
Unidentified Speaker: That's the only (INAUDIBLE).
Vice Chair Carollo: You have a sealed arrest record.
Commissioner Gabela: He's the only person that's been arrested here. If you want to
talk about arrest records --
Vice Chair Carollo: What --
Commissioner Gabela: Is that you?
Vice Chair Carollo: -- what happened to me 20 plus years ago --
Commissioner Gabela: Do you have one of these on me?
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Vice Chair Carollo: -- what happened to me --
Commissioner Gabela: You don 't.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- 24 years ago --
Commissioner Gabela: You don't. This is his arrest record.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: This is the only guy that has an arrest record here.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I was innocent.
Commissioner Gabela: Since he wants to talk about arrest records.
Vice Chair Carollo: I didn 't commit --
Commissioner Gabela: Okay?
Vice Chair Carollo: -- or -- nor was I --
Commissioner Gabela: Since he wants to talk about arrest records.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- convicted of anything.
Commissioner Gabela: This is what you like, man. This is what you live for.
Vice Chair Carollo: The residents of Miami have known that for 20 plus years.
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen, I'd like to make a motion.
Vice Chair Carollo: But yours, sir, is sealed.
Commissioner Rosado: I would like to -- I would like --
Vice Chair Carollo: What do you have sealed?
Commissioner Pardo: I'll second that.
Commissioner Gabela: Sir, I don't know what you're talking about.
Commissioner Rosado: My motion would be --
Commissioner Gabela: You know, I don't know what you're talking about. What is
clear --
Commissioner Rosado: Commissioner Gabela.
Vice Chair Carollo: You don't know what I'm talking about?
Commissioner Rosado: Commissioner.
Commissioner Gabela: -- what is clear that you, sir --
Vice Chair Carollo: You have a sealed police record.
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Commissioner Gabela: -- you, sir, have been the one --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: -- arrested here. That's you.
Commissioner Rosado: Commissioner.
Commissioner Gabela: Is that not you?
Commissioner Rosado: Commissioner Gabela.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, that's you, right?
Vice Chair Carollo: Listen --
Commissioner Rosado: Commissioner Gabela.
Commissioner Gabela: You want to talk about arrests, let's talk about arrests.
Vice Chair Carollo: I was not convicted of anything, sir.
Commissioner Gabela: Oh, then what's this right here?
Commissioner Pardo: Make a motion.
Commissioner Gabela: What's this? Is that you or not? Is this me or you?
Commissioner Rosado: I'd like to -- I would --
Vice Chair Carollo: The guy that was --
Commissioner Rosado: I would like to move --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the guy that was convicted was a crooked police chief --
Commissioner Rosado: I would --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- and city manager that we had that pushed for me to be
arrested then.
Commissioner Gabela: The problem -- the problem --
Vice Chair Carollo: And was not convicted.
[Later...]
Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead, Commissioner. Your item was also SR.3.
Commissioner Rosado: Okay, I did prepare a presentation on this, and I worked with
the administration, so I know that they're going to have a PowerPoint as well. But I
prepared some remarks. So, the Bayfront Trust is experiencing a period of stability
and that should be acknowledged. That progress is real, and this moment of stability
is a credit to current leadership. But there will come a time when the current chair
has to pass the gavel. And these moments of stability, Miami history has shown us
time and again, are typically very short-lived. As I mentioned at the last meeting, I
don 't want to discuss people as part of this item at all. I want to discuss ideas, and
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that's going to be my focus. This proposal is not about any one commissioner or
leader, and it's just a number of reform items that I'm going to be proposing or
supporting in some form over the next several months. It's about ensuring that the
park system doesn't rely on who holds the gavel. No single person, no matter how
effective, should have to carry the full weight of an entire system's success or failure.
The goal is not to take control away of anything from anybody, but rather to build a
structure that protects the park from political turnover and prevents it from
continuing to be used as a political football, which is the posture that it's essentially
had for close to 40 years. I'm going to give you -- I did this last time. I'll just do a
quick recap of assorted challenges over time to indicate this isn 't something that's
happening now, but something that's happened for almost 40 years. In the `80s and
`90s, the Trust was created. It had tremendous promise, but it never had sufficient
built-in checks and community representation as part of its structure. Board
appointments over time began trending toward political loyalty rather than relevant
experience or even being a Downtown resident or business owner in many cases.
Throughout the early 2000s, audits found that there were a number of no -bid
contracts, outdated vendor deals, and inconsistent finances. And in many cases,
community input was absolutely minimal. You even had, at one point, an executive
director that was arrested for bribery. This is, again, under the current structure
that's been in place for a number of decades. In fighting with City departments,
stalled consistent maintenance and programming, so a lot of work had to be done to
bring up the parks into quality form. And there were entire periods without executive
leadership in place. So, let's be honest, the Trust past, historically, has been
politically volatile like a pendulum, swinging with the tides of elections and
personalities. These aren't exaggerations on my part. Rather, these are on the
record, and that's why -- part of why the public trust has eroded regarding the Trust
in a number of years and decades. We've patched over the damage, but we haven't
restructured its actual foundation. So, we can 't afford to keep repeating the cycle,
and the park is just too important to once again become the political football that it's
consistently been throughout its history. So, why is now the right time to even have
this conversation? The Trust, at least for the moment, is stable, and that's exactly
why now is the right time to act deliberately and without urgency. Reform during
stability is smart governance, and waiting for the next crisis, which is something the
City has a history of doing, would be failure of leadership on our collective part up
here. As we've seen time and again, whether it's the Olympia Theater, the Miami
Police Headquarters, Marine Stadium, the Coconut Grove Playhouse, or a number
of other items and City assets, the City has a long history of waiting until something
can 't possibly get worse before it decides to finally take action, and that's the wrong
time in which to do things. So, in this case, let's take action at a moment of relative
calm in order to get this right. The park is perhaps more important than ever,
increasingly surrounded by world -class institutions and serving as Miami's front
yard, civic front yard. Every year that we delay, we risk continued short-term
thinking, missed fundraising opportunities, missed programming opportunities,
missed planning opportunities. And so, yes, the current chair has only had this
position for a few months, but this reform is not a reflection of his leadership.
Instead, it's about building on it and ensuring that what's being achieved now
doesn't evaporate during the next election cycle. So, this proposal is not in conflict
with his work or his vision, but rather it's an extension of it. What I'm proposing is
that we still maintain full public ownership of the park, but that we establish a
structure that moves the agency further out of reach out of anyone -- the grasp of any
one political leader. I'd like to see us involve to a greater extent Downtown
businesses and property owners. That's not consistently the case. We each can
appoint folks from anywhere in the City, and that, as folks have reached out to me
with emails saying that they'd like to see more Downtown representation, we're
actually not obliging by that mandate now. We've worked closely with the
administration to research best practices from the National Recreation and Park
Association and other industry leaders that operate in the field of governance and
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operations for large, revenue -generating urban parks. We've dug deep,
internationally recognized major parks in the country, major parks that are large
urban parks, revenue -generating parks, such as Central Park in New York City and
large parks in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Dallas, and even a local example of the
Underline. As we saw from the NRPA (National Recreation and Park Association)
article that I distributed at the last meeting, others across the country have actually
looked at Bayfront and proposed that we take an alternative structure. So, at the
national level, this has caught attention. I want to make clear what this reform is not
about. It's not about privatization. It's not a reflection on any individual, whether
it's an elected person or somebody appointed to a position. I'm proposing forward -
looking governance reform for one of our city's most important public assets. This is
a chance for the current chair and the Commission to remember not just for
stabilizing the Trust, but to actually be responsible for transforming it into something
much more enduring, much more built to last, so that we can leave a legacy of
leadership that future Commissions can build on, and not one that they have to
rescue. Now is the best time to fix the system, because we're in a period of calm, not
when it's broken and have an emergency situation, but rather one where we've got a
short amount of time to actually make an intelligent decision so that we don't regret
it and we don 't continue to kick the can down the road. Now, if we all agree that this
park matters, or these two parks, and I'm sure that we do, we must agree that its
care shouldn't depend on political cycles or personalities. And so, right now we have
the rare alignment of stability, of leadership, and a public focus, which is why I think
the moment to act is now and to make this change before the end of this calendar
year, dissolving the Trust and moving to alternative structure, but in the short term,
moving it under the auspices of the City Manager's Office. That's my full remarks.
Yes, Commissioner?
Commissioner Pardo: Chair?
Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead.
Commissioner Pardo: Would you be willing to consider an effective date of January
1st? Which would give enough time to really kind of explore the different structures,
work with the staff work with the community, work with the transition.
Commissioner Rosado: I am happy to help make presentations to the community if
we agree to a non-negotiable date of January 1st, and then move immediately, move
it under the manager's office. I'd like to move it under the manager's office, effective
today, if at all possible.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, that's why I've stated that this should be voted upon when
we have a full commission. You've made a nice presentation. What I would suggest
is that we table this until we have a full commission.
Commissioner Pardo: I think it's --
Commissioner Gabela: Can I -- can I --?
Vice Chair Carollo: Sure.
Commissioner Gabela: (INAUDIBLE).
Vice Chair Carollo: You can go ahead and speak, sir. If that's okay with you, Mr.
Pardo, if you've been done already, or were you done, or --? I don't want to cut you
off.
Commissioner Pardo: I'm done, thank you.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'll chime in later, but --
Commissioner Gabela: No, no, go ahead.
Commissioner Pardo: No, the only thing I was going to say is, if we need that
amount of time, and I know you have a preference and a vision, but I think it's
always important to bring the community along, and that's the part that that with
any kind of transition plan that's organized would probably take that amount of time
anyway. So, that's why I was proposing an effective date. It would -- you said
calendar year. It would match with the calendar year.
Commissioner Rosado: I mean, my preference was actually more immediate, but I
understand that there are concerns about that. I was trying to hopefully tie it to the
fiscal year, right, because things move -- I understand there's an appointment
process, and the appointments typically are made at the end of the year, but --
Commissioner Pardo: And really my focus was about the residents, because
probably the piece -- you know, you don 't know as much because you weren 't here
on the dais at the time, but the Downtown residents have been through an awful lot
on this issue, you know, trying to get kind of more input, more say in the things that
are happening. I think that they feel like we're responding in the right direction. And
so, I'd like to be able to at least provide the time to share those ideas.
Vice Chair Carollo: Let me --
Commissioner Pardo: Share your vision and kind of bring them along with us along
the way.
Vice Chair Carollo: Let me say this. You keep saying the Downtown residents, the
Downtown residents. I've never seen here more than a dozen or so of your
supporters in Downtown that come. When we had a real election for the Downtown
residents to decide what they wanted, when you were putting up stuff in your Twitter
and your Instagram that this is a referendum on Joe Carollo, if you vote against it,
the outdoor gym equipment. It won citywide 80-20, basically the same numbers in
your district, in the two precincts right across the park in Maurice Ferre. One won
by the 80 percent and the other was 65 percent. So, this excused the Downtown
residents. I mean, not even in communist Russia, when the Bolsheviks took over, they
had 2 percent there. You don't even have a 2 percent of these people there. And the
silent majority is too busy working, trying to pay their mortgage, their rent, their
lives, to come here week after week with the same thing. I'm going to tell you why
you're right that this has to be done before the next fiscal budget is taken. We have a
dilemma of what to do, and of course, the manager took the easy way out, just give it
away like everything else that they try to do in the City, on the Olympia Theater. And
the amount that I'm told that it's about $40 million to take care of it, that's what the
manager said publicly. Now, he was responsible for that since he was the executive
director in off-street parking. And he's been responsible for the Olympia Theater
since he's been manager here. Bayfront Park Trust, dependent on the numbers that I
have seen as of late that we left, could have as much as $20 million, at least $15
million from what I'm seeing, but as much as 20 possibly, that is reserves that could
be spent for anything else. On top of that, it has no less than $5 million in a surplus
every year. And that wasn 't like that when I took over. It was at best a break-even
situation. I forced a lot of contracts like Ultra to have to pay a heck of a lot more.
Everybody there pays top dollar. And then I brought new contracts that are bringing
a lot of monies to the Trust. That's why I think this year the SOPRs (Spent Output
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Profit Ratio) should be somewhere in the $6 million range. Now with those amounts,
we could pay maybe as much as half, maybe as much as half to take care of the
Olympic Theater. And with the surplus that we have in about eight years or less, we
should pay off whatever we need to do in the Olympia Theater. That doesn 't mean
that we can't work out a good management contract or other contracts that we
would need to with the Olympia Theater. And I have no problem with the Mater
Academy people, the SLAM (Sports Leadership and Management) coming in. They
run fine programs, and I trust their management. But here's a prime example of
what Bayfront Park could do. And I will tell you that with a little more tweaking in
ways that is not going to be harmful at all and it's not going to be bringing noise,
that could bring in another 5, $6 million a year in surplus dollars. So, this is why we
have to do this now, not later. We're going to be facing some real tough decisions.
We're going to be able to hire 100 more police officers, even 50. We're going to
have to bite the bullet that many don't want to do here. If we're going to lower it,
you know, we asked the manager in a resolution to come back and give us 25, 50,
100 percent reduction in property taxes for seniors, 65 and over. Commissioner, I'm
going to tell you, we're even going to be able to give them a 5 percent reduction. We
got to find more money in different ways. And this is one of the ways that we could
find dollars for the city so that we could keep the most important parts of the city.
How in the world can we be talking about spending or possibly spending all this
money in the Marine Stadium and we can't even keep the jewel of our city, the
Olympia Theater. I mean, any city in America would love to have a place like that.
And I guarantee you, the administration in those cities wouldn't be talking about
giving it away. But why are we here? Well, we're here because we weren't told that
that needed all this work. There was no monies put aside each year, like I mentioned
before, to do the work that we needed to do. And that's part of the problem that we
have. So, I'm in agreement with that, and that's why I think this should be tabled for
the next meeting where we have a full commission.
Commissioner Gabela: Can I --?
Commissioner Pardo: Chair?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes, go ahead, sir.
Commissioner Pardo: No, I was just going to make a motion to move forward with
that, with an effective date as amended to January 1st.
Vice Chair Carollo: You won 't be able to resolve the Olympic Theater stuff in the
way that I proposed. And then what's going to happen is you're going to have a
motion so that we do a contract that forever the Olympia Theater won 't belong to the
City of Miami.
Commissioner Gabela: Can I interject here? I think I've heard everybody.
Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead, sir.
Commissioner Gabela: First question and then don't get mad what I'm going to ask
you, but you were there for seven to eight years. How come you think it's a good idea
now, but you never proposed it when you were the chairman?
Vice Chair Carollo: I did. As a matter of fact, I did. Yes.
Commissioner Gabela: I didn't know that. When did you propose it?
Vice Chair Carollo: It was proposed.
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Commissioner Gabela: It was? When?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. And you were against it in this commission, and so was he.
Commissioner Gabela: When? When was that? That was proposed either in
December or January of this year.
Commissioner Gabela: Oh, in January? No, that was proposed -- if I -- if I -- my
memory -- if I recollect correctly, that was proposed when you knew that I was about
to become chairman, okay, and I became, and then that's when you proposed that to
the Commission.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, sir. That was proposed and I had talked about that even way
before that --
Commissioner Gabela: You were there for seven to eight years.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- in different times.
Commissioner Gabela: You were there for seven to eight years and you never
proposed it. Now you think it's a good idea.
Vice Chair Carollo: I disagree with you, sir. Move on.
Commissioner Pardo: There's a motion on the floor.
Commissioner Gabela: Hang on before the motion. Hang on before the motion
because -- yeah. So, I've said that why -- you know, it's very suspicious to me why
now. He had seven, eight years to do it. He didn 't do anything, but now it seems like
a good idea.
Vice Chair Carollo: But I --
Commissioner Gabela: No, no. I heard what you said. I heard what you said. I'm
going to take it like what you said. And this year, you know, you proposed it in
February of this year. Look, the Virginia Key Trust, I don't know if you guys are
familiar with the history of it. In 2022, there were allegations of you know, stuff not
going on there correctly. Okay, and in 2022, the commissioners here, whoever they
were, and I think you were here, Mr. Carollo, Commissioner, and others. I think you
were not here, I was not here, and Rosado was certainly not here. What they did was
they removed the whole board, but they didn't change the institution. They never
removed the trust. And still to today, that trust is viable. What they did is they
removed where they thought the problem lied, okay, but they kept the trust in the
same makeup, the same structure as it is today. As a matter of fact, we just had a
meeting on it. This is it right here, the Virginia Key Trust. Now, it seems to me, okay,
that if we're going to start worrying about trusts, maybe we should also look at the
Virginia Key Trust if this is the way the City is going about it, okay. Second, let me
just say this, okay. I've been chairman for about four months now, okay, and
precisely what you 're talking about, Commissioner Rosado, I was put in there to the
rumblings that were going on there for seven, eight years, while Commissioner
Carollo was chairman, with all due respect. I believe his brother was chairman
before that, and Frank, I think, never had a problem, if I recall correctly. The
problem was this gentleman. Now, that's his problem with them, and then I came
into the picture, okay, to fix that problem. I've been trying to fix that problem, and
understand, to me, it's not like I'm held onto that thing and you're going to have to
pry my hands off of the thing. I will go graciously. I've already said that before, you
know. But I just think the way this is coming about -- and the city manager has -- we
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have talked, okay. And I believe -- and I don 't want to put words in your mouth, Art.
I believe that we talk candidly about this and I think we -- at this moment, we're not
prepared, and we don't have a plan to take this entity into our own. Is that correct or
amI --?
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): No, I mean, what we do with it now, I mean, I think
the intent and the conversations I've had with Commissioner Rosado as well is to
analyze potential other structures for the park from a governance leadership
perspective. Right now, if this is abolished immediately, it would just roll into a
parks program, but the existing staff would remain in place.
Commissioner Gabela: Would that be a good thing?
Mr. Noriega: I --
Commissioner Gabela: Are you recommending that we do that with the Virginia Key
Trust in the future too?
Mr. Noriega: I, you know --
Commissioner Gabela: I don 't know. I'm asking the question.
Mr. Noriega: The chair of the Virginia Key Trust is certainly not here. It'd be good
to get her perspective on it because she's been managing that. I have zero
relationship with them at all.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay.
Mr. Noriega: So, I can't weigh in on the Virginia Key Trust, and certainly --
Vice Chair Carollo: I'll weigh in on it. They're two very, very different trusts.
Virginia Key Beach Trust does not have the ability that the Bayfront Park Trust had
to generate dollars. That's why the Bayfront Park Trust has some $20 million or so
in reserves. And it should end up this year with around $6 million or so in a surplus.
They're very distinct trusts that you can 't compare them apples to apples, oranges to
oranges, period on that. Now, you talked about --
Commissioner Gabela: Wait a minute. Don't hijack my conversation.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, well, keep going. Let me know when you're done.
Commissioner Gabela: I let you speak, and you know --
Vice Chair Carollo: No, no. Go ahead, go ahead. Take all the time you want, but
then I will.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, of course. As your -- it is your right. So, we have this
that Commissioner Rosado, you come in, and I've been appointed for four months,
and now it's like a referendum on me. Tell me, Commissioner Rosado -- no, no, but I
got to know because, you know, out of the blue, you want to do this. What have you
found? Okay, what have you found that, you know, that's been going on in my tenure
of four months versus eight years? And then you got to ask yourself the question, if
you 're going to be honest about this, okay. Why now is the question. He had seven or
eight years to do this, and you know when he does it? He does it when he knows he's
about to be taken off as chairman, and then I go into the fold. This is what this is
really about. But like I said, you know, I feel in, you know, if you're in my shoes,
okay, that you're trying to right the ship, okay -- again, nothing going on there, you
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know. As a matter of fact, it takes up my time, to be honest with you, okay. But I am a
man that I do like to finish what I start, okay. Also, my executive director has been
working long hours there, you know, and we just want to give him a chance, okay.
But here's the thing, what I'm saying. I'm baffled, you know, I'm baffled, you know,
because look, when you're going to remove somebody, you know, like you are doing
to me, because you are doing it to me, you know, you got to have a reason. It's like
when you fire somebody, you know, you can 't just fire somebody for wrongful -- you
know, you got to give me a reason why -- and yeah, you said it because there's a
political football, but that wasn 't my political football. That political football was
going on seven, eight years while this gentleman, you know, had the park. That ain 't
my problem. That ain't my fault. You know what I mean? I was put in there for what
you're talking about. That thing that you're talking about, you know, the craziness
going on, that wasn't me, my friend, okay? I've been there for four months. He went
through I don 't know how many executive directors. His former chief of staff was the
last -- the last director, and then they had a squabble, and now he's suing him. And
by the way, furthermore, furthermore, I contend he has a conflict of interest voting in
this, okay? He has a conflict of interest voting in this, Commissioner Carollo does,
okay, because he will derive a certain benefit. I just want to read this real quick. The
Trust dissolution -- Carollo has a conflict voting for the Trust dissolution because in
the Suarez and Canto lawsuit, he is a co-defendant, and the Trust can cross -claim
against him and seek contribution and indemnity from him for any monies that the
Trust has to pay to the plaintiffs, Canto and Suarez. Suarez is his former chief of
staff. As a result of Carollo 's actions, while chairman of the Trust, if the Trust is
dissolved -- if the Trust is dissolved, it will lose the ability to recoup from Carollo
any monies that it pays because of his acts or omissions. So, a benefit would inure to
Carollo if the Trust is dissolved. Would the City of Miami sue Commissioner Carollo
to recover those monies once it takes over the dissolved trust? So, these are -- these
are, you know, little issues, you know, that I want to bring to the -- to the forefront
because I feel -- I feel here that I was appointed, you know, legally to that trust. By
the way, you had, Commissioner Carollo -- for the last three years you haven 't even
been voting. And let me tell you, when you wanted the chief of staff, your former
chief of staff Suarez, I voted for it the first time around because that's what you
needed. That's what I gave you. When the gym equipment, the famous gym
equipment, where you two were at odds with each other, okay, and then you talk
about people not being here, this gentleman wasn 't being here. And you went ahead,
and you took the advantage, and you voted on the referendum, and that's how you
got that done. And when the people spoke, I agreed with you. I agreed with you, and
I said you were right. You outwitted, you know --
Vice Chair Carollo: Let's --
Commissioner Gabela: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Let me finish.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, look -- no. You know what, you've spoken -- you've spoken
long enough.
Commissioner Gabela: Let me -- you're going to have your chance.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm going to address some of your things.
Commissioner Gabela: No, let me finish. You got to let -- no, no.
Vice Chair Carollo: Because you keep throwing more.
Commissioner Gabela: I have the floor right now.
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Vice Chair Carollo: You keep throwing more. You keep throwing more that I can 't
answer.
Commissioner Gabela: I have the floor. No, that's what you do.
Vice Chair Carollo: Now let me answer and then you could keep going.
Commissioner Gabela: No, no. I have -- because I'm not done.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, you are.
Commissioner Gabela: I'm not done.
Vice Chair Carollo: You are done right now.
Commissioner Gabela: No, no, I'm not done right now.
Vice Chair Carollo: You are done right now.
Commissioner Gabela: No, I'm not done.
Vice Chair Carollo: Because you keep wanting to throw stuff so I can 't answer.
Commissioner Gabela: No, I'm not done. I'm not done, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: You let me answer and then you could keep going on all you
want.
Commissioner Gabela: No, sir. I have the floor, and you're going to let me talk. I'm
as much --
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Commissioner Gabela: -- of a commissioner as you are --
Vice Chair Carollo: You are --
Commissioner Gabela: -- even though you're the chair right now.
Vice Chair Carollo: You're putting all kinds of baloney on here --
Commissioner Gabela: No, no. I'm speaking the truth.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- that's totally not true.
Commissioner Gabela: No, that is the truth.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I'm going to start answering one by one --
Commissioner Gabela: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Vice Chair Carollo: -- beginning with --
Commissioner Gabela: No, that's not what I have to do.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the stuff that you're putting out --
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Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, leave me alone.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- that I have a conflict. I have no conflict whatsoever.
Commissioner Gabela: Sir, again, I have the floor. I have the floor.
Vice Chair Carollo: No legal conflict whatsoever.
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, legal, yes, legal.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I'm chairing the meeting, and I said that I've given you
enough time.
Commissioner Gabela: No, you haven't. No, you haven't.
Vice Chair Carollo: For me to answer.
Commissioner Gabela: I had the floor. I had the floor. No, I had the floor.
Vice Chair Carollo: And then you, sir, once I answer you, you can come back.
Commissioner Gabela: I am as much a commissioner as you. I am as much a
commissioner as you.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, fine, but I am the chair --
Commissioner Gabela: You can 't shut me down. You can 't shut me down.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- and these are the process that we have.
Commissioner Gabela: You're a chair that disrespects everybody else.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, that's right. And you have to --
Commissioner Gabela: You don 't deserve respect, sir, with all due respect.
Commissioner Pardo: Can we make a motion for five more minutes? Can we make a
motion to give Commissioner Gabela five more minutes and that's it?
Vice Chair Carollo: I need to answer all kinds of wild, false allegations that this
gentleman is throwing out here.
Commissioner Gabela: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Leave me alone.
Commissioner Rosado: Could we actually -- I'd like to respectfully request that we
allow the city attorney to chime in because this is -- there were some legal
accusations. There were some legal opinions. I'm not sure exactly where they came
from, but I'd like to hear from the attorney.
Commissioner Gabela: No, no, no accusations, wait a minute.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, no, no, not wait a minute.
Commissioner Rosado: I mean, it sounded like a legal --
Vice Chair Carollo: Let the city attorney answer that.
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Commissioner Rosado: Yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, let the city attorney answer that.
Commissioner Rosado: It sounded like a legal opinion, but I wasn't sure of the
origin of it.
George Wysong (City Attorney): I can assure you the origin wasn't from my office.
We were asked whether there was a voting conflict of interest under the Florida
Statutes for Commissioner Carollo -- I'm sorry, Vice Chairman Carollo to vote on
this issue, and we determined that there was no conflict of interest. Any type of
conflict that has been mentioned in our view is speculative at best. We looked at the
State of Florida Commission on Ethics opinions, we looked at the Miami -Dade
County Commission on Ethics opinions. And the Florida Statute is pretty strong in
that unless you have a personal pecuniary interest present, then you have a voting
conflict. But while there may be some conflict or something like that, it doesn't rise
to the level of allowing the vice chair to abstain from voting. So, in our view, he has
no conflict, and he should vote on the item.
Commissioner Gabela: But George, George, wait a minute, sir. Could you let me
.finish? George, I believe you and him had a conversation? You and him had a
conversation?
Mr. Wysong: Right.
Commissioner Gabela: And didn 't you tell him that he was kind of right in what I
just read? Or am I crazier?
Mr. Wysong: No, you're not crazy. What I told your general --
Commissioner Gabela: So, it's either right or wrong, George, but I mean --
Mr. Wysong: Well, what I told your legal counsel was --
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah.
Mr. Wysong: -- that our opinion stood. He raised an extra issue, and I said, you
know, maybe talk to the Bayfront Park independent counsel, but I do not see that
based on our interpretation of Florida law and the Miami -Dade County Commission
on Ethics, that there is a voting conflict under the statute.
Commissioner Pardo: I mean, there's a motion on the floor. If we -- if you accept the
amendment for January 1st, Commissioner Gabela, would that be --?
Commissioner Gabela: And what exactly are we doing on --?
Commissioner Pardo: It's abolished as of --
Commissioner Gabela: It's abolished. And do we know what vehicle we're going to
abolish it to? Do we know that --?
Commissioner Pardo: No, the --
Commissioner Gabela: Because this is my --
Commissioner Pardo: January 1st, which would give enough time for the kind of
planning and transition that I think the residents would appreciate, the community
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would appreciate. Because even though there's a vision of well, this might be a
really good structure, it could be a conservancy, it could be --
Commissioner Rosado: Right. There's a few options. It allows us the time to
socialize them in the public sphere and answer a lot of questions. But Commissioner
Gabela, before we move on, it sounds like the question's going to be called. I did
want to clarify something. So, I first brought this -- two things. One is I referenced in
my remarks today, I'm bringing forth a number of reform items. I mean, I brought up
the police headquarters today. Certainly, I'm inserting myself into the Olympia deal,
which I think could be a much better deal, and a variety of other things I'm going to
be bringing forth. The item with the School Board today I think is also a reform of
the way that we operate our parks and rec facilities and expand access to residents.
So, there's going to be a number of things that I bring that I think are different than
the way the status quo is. But the other thing, I brought this up, wasn 't my intention
to bring this item up initially at my first meeting on the Commission. It's something
I've been thinking about because this agency, again, removing all personalities and
names and players, it is historically sort of prone to having a number of very public
challenges, and these meetings disrupt tremendously, and it keeps us from getting the
people's work done because of the bickering that goes back and forth. So, it's been
very much on my radar, for a long time. And as somebody who grew up in the City of
Miami, it's an agency that I'm familiar with some of these things we read 20 years
ago or 30 years ago. But I brought it up at my first meeting, which I didn't intend to
do in the context of being potentially assigned the DDA chairmanship. I did not want
you to be somebody without a chairmanship, given that I had just gotten on the
commission. So, that is what prompted it. Had that not been moving forward at that
time, I wouldn't have moved forward with the item. But I didn't want you to
potentially lose this chairmanship and have no stake in the Downtown community,
which I know you clearly, you know, do care about. So, I have always been willing to
give the DDA chairmanship, even today, even now at this moment, to be clear. I'm
the new person here. I don 't need to be in charge of anything beyond being the
commissioner for District 4. That's plenty. That's a lot of people. So, I just want to --
I want to make that clear. So, it's not about you. It was the fact that that was
introduced, and I didn 't want you to somehow be the only individual without a
chairmanship. So, I want to be very clear about the timing.
Commissioner Pardo: Can I call the question?
Commissioner Gabela: So, listen, I'll accept, you know, what you're saying. But as
far as his determination, his motivation to do this, sir, has nothing to do with what
you're talking about, with all due respect, you know, has nothing whatsoever to do
with that. Because this would be like you entering now the chairmanship of the DD --
you know, the Downtown Development we just spoke of and then four months later
because somebody's got a grudge against you, now all of a sudden I'm questioning
you whether -- and like I said, like I said, what have I done in my tenure, what have
we done, what have you got, you know, except that there's been rumbling going on.
But what you -- what has failed to mention here that those rumblings did not go on
when I've been there. I've been there for four months, and that's got to be taken note
of because this is just the whole precipice, if you will, of where you started your
conversation. You're saying things are not going wrong, and I'm saying, yeah, my
friend, but I was put there because things were not going wrong to right the ship,
and that's what I'm doing. And now you're passing judgment on me like if I was part
of that thing that wasn 't going well, you know what I mean? And listen, if you guys
want to dissolve it, that's fine with me. But all I've been saying, okay, again and
again, that this has been done on the fast, okay? There was no -- you know, there
hasn 't been no thought process to this, okay? The ones that are really going to lose
out -- listen, Commissioner Carollo, if you get your way, congratulations. But listen,
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you know who really loses? The ones that are the losers are the residents, okay? Not
me. I do what I do.
Vice Chair Carollo: The 15 people that you bring here?
Commissioner Gabela: I bring here? I bring them?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. You're with him.
Commissioner Gabela: You're going to say that too?
Vice Chair Carollo: You're with him.
Commissioner Gabela: I don 't -- listen, I -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I don 't --
Commissioner Pardo: I don 't bring --
Vice Chair Carollo: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this guy. The first time that --
Commissioner Pardo: Can we call the question?
Vice Chair Carollo: The first time that we started having these rumblings that you're
talking about was right after the election of both of you, that Mr. Pardo started up.
He then opened up a PAC (Political Action Committee) strictly to be constantly
attacking me and sending messages out, and I could show that clearly, and you know
I can because you didn't even hide it. So, that's where the rumblings were, but you
know what? What I did there, you can't deny it. And even though you might have
some now that want to deny it, it's there for the record.
Commissioner Gabela: Deny what?
Vice Chair Carollo: It's there -- what I've accomplished for that park, not the
rumblings that you're claiming, the fix --
Commissioner Gabela: Commissioner, I'm not claiming. The other people are
claiming.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- that you came to fix the problem. There was nothing to fix for
you to come.
Commissioner Rosado: I believe the question 's been called. I'm going to second
that. I'm going to second calling the question.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Sony.
Vice Chair Carollo: So, it's a problem in calling the question. There is no second.
Commissioner Rosado: I --
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, there is.
Mr. Hannon: So, you're going to second the main motion?
Commissioner Rosado: Yes. I'm going to second the motion to call the question.
Mr. Hannon: As amended.
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Commissioner Gabela: Okay. I am going to go along with this, but here's the thing,
what I want to say to you guys, okay. When January comes around, okay, let's have
a plan, okay. Let's have a plan in place --
Vice Chair Carollo: Listen --
Commissioner Gabela: -- okay, so this just is not done willy-nilly, okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Let's not play any more games, guys. If what you want to do is
keep the game that's going on now -- the problem wasn't before.
Commissioner Gabela: You're the one playing the game, not me.
Vice Chair Carollo: The problem is there now.
Commissioner Gabela: I'm not playing no game.
Vice Chair Carollo: If you guys want to keep that game, then keep it.
Commissioner Gabela: He's playing the game. I'm not playing no game.
Vice Chair Carollo: You know, spend millions of dollars in trying to prove and
defame and say that I took a penny out, which you'll never find. And I'm telling you
again, you have any evidence that I took one penny --
Commissioner Gabela: Well, let me talk.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- or committed any criminal violation, let's go right to the FBI
(Federal Bureau of Investigation).
Commissioner Gabela: Well, if you would --
Vice Chair Carollo: And I'll take you there.
Commissioner Gabela: If you would let me say that I have photos -- and I told you
before, and we saw them here.
Vice Chair Carollo: You don 't have crap.
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, we do. Yes, we do.
Vice Chair Carollo: You've denied here -- again --
Commissioner Gabela: We showed them here.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- you denied in the meeting --
Commissioner Gabela: We showed them. You 're screaming, you 're screaming.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- that you have an arrest record. Let me give you --
Commissioner Gabela: You 're screaming.
Vice Chair Carollo: Let me give you the case number. Sir, you need to shut up so I
can speak.
Commissioner Gabela: You 're screaming.
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Vice Chair Carollo: I am the chair.
Commissioner Gabela: You're screaming.
Vice Chair Carollo: Case number 7702014IF709690, Miguel Angel Gabela.
Commissioner Gabela: What are you --? What is that?
Vice Chair Carollo: This is your sealed police record.
Commissioner Gabela: Really?
Vice Chair Carollo: You know exactly what it is.
Commissioner Gabela: Really, really, really?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. It's in the internet, in the corrections department, yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: You know -- you know what I do know, that you were
arrested for hitting your wife.
That's in the corrections department.
Commissioner Gabela: You know what I do know, that you were arrested.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's a sealed record. Is this you or not?
Commissioner Rosado: I move --
Vice Chair Carollo: Is this your sealed record or not?
Commissioner Gabela: Sir, sir?
Commissioner Rosado: I move to call the question.
Commissioner Gabela: You just -- you --
Vice Chair Carollo: Is this your sealed record or not?
Commissioner Rosado: I move to call the question.
Unidentified Speaker: Don't take the bait.
Commissioner Gabela: Wait, would you leave me alone, please.
Commissioner Pardo: Second the motion.
Commissioner Gabela: I think I'm a grown man, you know.
Commissioner Rosado: I think we need to head into a vote.
Vice Chair Carollo: But keep lying to the people.
Commissioner Gabela: The only one that lies to the people is you, sir. The only one
who 's been arrested --
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Vice Chair Carollo: You have a sealed record here that you're refusing --
Commissioner Gabela: The only one who's been arrested is you, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- to acknowledge that you're lying saying that you don't have
one.
Commissioner Gabela: You've been arrested for throwing something at your wife.
So, don't talk. You've got a glass ceiling. If I were you, I'd zip it. You're getting
yourself into more trouble.
Vice Chair Carollo: And in the meantime --
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the manager is protecting you so that over two months has
gone by and you're the only person in the City of Miami that has open code
violations that everyone has seen here, but the City of Miami will not send anyone --
Commissioner Gabela: No, the only one that's seen it is you.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- to your home.
Commissioner Gabela: And the one that has open violations is you.
Vice Chair Carollo: They will not send anyone to your home.
Commissioner Gabela: And yours reads like a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
document. Yours reads like a CIA document where you covered everything up and
probably illegal. And we're going to get to the bottom of that by the way.
Vice Chair Carollo: Here we go with the CIA.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, we're going to get to the bottom of that.
Vice Chair Carollo: Here we go with the CIA.
Commissioner Gabela: And I submitted proof that I have zero violations, zero
violations.
Commissioner Pardo: Guys, we have a motion on the floor.
Commissioner Rosado: Gentlemen, I move to call the question.
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Commissioner Rosado: There was a second. We need to -- we need to take the vote
on this.
Commissioner Pardo: We need to vote.
Commissioner Gabela: Yes, let's take the vote.
Vice Chair Carollo: Take a roll call, please.
Mr. Noriega: Mr. City Clerk, can we get clarity on what the actual motion reads
because I'm confused as to what we're actually voting on.
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Francisco Castaneda (Chief of Staff District 1): December 1st -- January lst.
Commissioner Gabela: 2026.
Mr. Hannon: Frank, Frank, we can't hear you on the record.
Commissioner Gabela: January 1st, 2026 is the motion, I believe, right? Your
motion?
Commissioner Pardo: Right. It was amended --
Mr. Hannon: Yes.
Commissioner Pardo: -- as the date being January 1st, 2026.
Commissioner Rosado: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to dissolve the Trust effective --
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Clerk, can you begin with Commissioner Rosado forward?
Mr. Hannon: Yes, sir. A motion to pass, as amended, SR.3. Commissioner Rosado?
Commissioner Rosado: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Gabela?
Commissioner Gabela: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Pardo?
Commissioner Pardo: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Carollo?
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Mr. Hannon: The motion passes 3-1 with Commissioner Carollo voting no. As
amended.
END OF SECOND READING ORDINANCES
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FR - FIRST READING ORDINANCES
FR.1 ORDINANCE First Reading
17780 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
Cit Manager's CHAPTER 55/SECTION55-10 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF
y 9► MIAMI, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), TITLED "BUILDING
Office PERMITS; ISSUANCE; RESTRICTIONS; EXCEPTIONS," TO
ALLOW FOR TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION AND TEMPORARY
ACTIVATIONS ON UNPLATTED OR PLATTED LAND THAT HAS
NOT BEEN SUBDIVIDED PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 55 OF THE
CITY CODE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.
MOTION TO: Pass on First Reading
RESULT: PASSED ON FIRST READING
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: Mr. City Attorney, would you please read the titles for the first reading
items?
George Wysong (City Attorney): Yes, Madam Chair. FR.1, first reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: FR.2, first reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: FR.3, first reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: That concludes the FR (First Reading) items.
Chair King: Gentlemen, are there any items with the first reading ordinances that
you would like to pull for discussion?
Commissioner Rosado: FR.2 and FR.3.
Chair King: FR.2 and FR.3.
Vice Chair Carollo: Move FR.1.
Chair King: I have a motion. May I have a second for FR.1?
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second for FR.1 all in favor.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
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Chair King: Motion carries.
FR.2 ORDINANCE First Reading
17556 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
Commissioners CHAPTER 35/ARTICLE I OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), TITLED "MOTORIZED
and Mayor VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC/IN GENERAL," SPECIFICALLY BY
AMENDING SECTION 35-1 OF THE CITY CODE, TITLED
"DEFINITIONS," TO PROVIDE A DEFINITION FOR A HOMESTEAD
PROPERTY, AND BY ESTABLISHING A NEW SECTION 35-11 OF
THE CITY CODE, TITLED "PARKING FOR HOMESTEAD EXEMPT
PROPERTY," PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN ALLOWABLE PARKING
ON A HOMESTEAD; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE
AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
rRESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN
Note for the Record: Pursuant to Chapter 2, Article II, Section 2-33(k), Miami City
Code, item FR.2 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number FR.2, please see Item
Number FR.1 and SR.2.
FR.3 ORDINANCE First Reading
17816 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
Commissioners ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON
and Ma or ENFORCEMENT OF SECTION 62-2.2 OF THE CODE OF THE
y CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, TITLED
"INDEPENDENT FEASIBILITY AND ECONOMIC IMPACT
STUDIES," OF THE CITY CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED,
FOR A PERIOD OF TWELVE (12) MONTHS, FURTHER
RECOMMENDING TO THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
PROVIDING FOR EXTENSION AND/OR TERMINATION OF SAID
MORATORIUM BY RESOLUTION; PROVIDING FOR THE
TREATMENT OF PENDING APPLICATIONS; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE
EFFECTIVE DATE.
RESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN
Note for the Record: Pursuant to Chapter 2, Article II, Section 2-33(k), Miami City
Code, item FR.3 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number FR.3, please see Item
Number FR.1 and Item Number SR.2.
END OF FIRST READING ORDINANCES
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Commissioners
and Mayor
Commissioners
and Mayor
DI.1
17686
City Manager's
Office
DI - DISCUSSION ITEMS
DISCUSSION ITEM
A DISCUSSION REGARDING THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF
BOARDS/COMMITTEES.
RESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN
Note for the Record: Pursuant to Chapter 2, Article II, Section 2-33(k), Miami City
Code, item DI.1 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number DI.1, please see Item
Number SR.2.
DI.2 DISCUSSION ITEM
17641 A DISCUSSION ITEM REGARDING THE USE OF CITY FUNDS
OUTSIDE OF COMMISSIONERS DISTRICTS.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item DL2 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission
Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number DI.2, please see
"Order of the Day."
DI.3 DISCUSSION ITEM
17691 A DISCUSSION ITEM REGARDING THE BUILDING COLLAPSE AT
3129 NW 7 AVE.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item DI.3 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission
Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number DI.3, please see
"Order of the Day."
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
Commissioners
and Mayor
DI.4
17692
Commissioners
and Mayor
DISCUSSION ITEM
A DISCUSSION ITEM REGARDING ELECTRIC VEHICLES.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item DI.4 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission
Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number DI.4, please see
"Order of the Day."
DI.5 DISCUSSION ITEM
17642 A DISCUSSION AND PRESENTATION REGARDING DOWNTOWN
DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
ABSENT: King
Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Pardo, seconded by
Commissioner Gabela, and was passed by the following vote: AYE(S):
Commissioners Pardo, Gabela, and Rosado / NAY(S): Commissioner Carollo /
ABSENT: Commissioner King; to grant Commissioner Pardo's request to hear
agenda item DI.5.
Note for the Record: Item DI.5 was deferred to the September 25, 2025, City
Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number DI.5, please
see "Public Comments for all Item(s)."
Vice Chair Carollo: Good afternoon, everyone. We're back for our afternoon
meeting. Chairwoman King could not be with us this afternoon, even though we
don 't have many items left in the agenda. These were the basic controversial items
that we have that the Commission pulled earlier in the day for discussion. I am not
going to take any of the items that we would need the full five members of the
Commission for. We will wait on those for the next available commission meeting in
July. There's a couple of items maybe that we might be able to do, I don 't know, but
if there's a lot of questions on them, we could leave them also for the following
meeting. That's RE.9 and RE.10. I don 't know if these were yours, Commissioner
Rosado.
Commissioner Rosado: They are.
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Vice Chair Carollo: I don 't know if -- I mean, you put them down. You 're the one
that asked to take them out. If you want to leave them out, then --
Commissioner Rosado: No, we can leave these in.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So, these are the only two that I see that are not
controversial whereas you're not going to need a full commission to deal with it. Out
of respect to the Chair, my item and discussion item in -- regarding DDA (Downtown
Development Authority), I will leave for next week also, even though, to be blunt, I
wasn't intending for a lot of discussion on this at all, just an up or down vote, not
getting in if the DDA has done wonderful work or not, or partial, just having a vote,
not of voters, but of property owners that are the ones that should be voting, one on
the residential side and one on the commercial side because they're each different,
and for them to have a vote if they want to keep paying to the DDA or not. I
personally feel that the DDA is something that if the City of Miami wants to keep, it
can by bringing dollars directly from the city's funds. After all, Downtown Miami
and Brickell is for the whole city, not just for them, so they shouldn 't have to be left
paying the full amount for the whole city. And that's the way that it should be, but
that's all that I wanted to do. But I won 't bring this up until we have a full
commission so that five of us can go ahead and deal with it. I don 't see anything else
that was pulled unless that we could -- that we should deal with it with five. But
obviously, that's my position. So, if we could deal with item RE.9 then,
Commissioner Rosado?
Commissioner Rosado: Sure.
Commissioner Pardo: Chair?
Vice Chair Carollo: Sir.
Commissioner Pardo: You couldn 't see me?
Vice Chair Carollo: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn 't see you.
Commissioner Pardo: Usually, the Chair will let us vote on the amount of things
we'd like to hear in the moment. There are some other things I'd like to hear. I don't
know if the other commissioners have certain items that they would like to have
voted today.
Vice Chair Carollo: What additional items did you pull out?
Commissioner Pardo: Well, in my case, I definitely would like PZ.2, just to have
voted.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, well, that's not too controversial. I think -- did you pull
that out or --?
Commissioner Pardo: No, we can go ahead and just vote on it.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, that -- yeah, that's a HEP (Historic and Environmental
Preservation) decision appeal. That one, we -- you know, it's probably not that much
of a controversial one that we might not need the five votes. I think that's one that
maybe we might all be --
Commissioner Pardo: I mean, I would be willing to hear everything.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I don 't think so.
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Commissioner Pardo: Well, can we have the other commissioners weigh in?
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I'm going to tell you why I take that position, because
there are items here that obviously are going to end up being a 3-2, one way or
another. And Commissioner and Chairwoman King deserves the respect for her to be
here for those items.
Commissioner Pardo: Well, normally she would put it up to the vote of the body of
what we would like to hear.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, no, no, it's not normal. She had an emergency that she had
to deal with, and she deserves to be here when we handle items that are critical so --
Commissioner Gabela: What are we talking about? Because I just got here to -- I
just got here to the party.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, Commissioner King --
Commissioner Gabela: No, no. I know that she's not here.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- is not being able to join us. We have a series of items that has
been my position that those that are going to be controversial, that will probably end
up in a 3-2 in one way or another, that we should give her the courtesy of dealing
with them when she's here.
Commissioner Gabela: I'm not in agreement with that.
Vice Chair Carollo: I didn't think you would be.
Commissioner Gabela: Right. But let's take a vote on it and see who wants to hear
the items and who doesn 't want to hear the item.
Vice Chair Carollo: You want to go item by item, or how do you want to do it,
gentlemen?
Commissioner Gabela: No, you.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's fine.
[Later...]
Commissioner Pardo: And I have a motion as well.
Mr. Hannon: As amended.
Commissioner Pardo: Oh, when you're done.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Pardo: When you're done.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, we're done.
Commissioner Pardo: No, I mean, I have one motion because there were some items
that I want to hear, and they were the controversial ones. I just did -- I wanted to do
it with cooler heads prevailing in the room.
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Vice Chair Carollo: We voted already that these were the items that we're going to
be listening so --
Carli Koshal: Thank you.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the meeting -- yes.
Mr. Hannon: It was my understanding that Commissioner Rosado 's motion was for
the items that he wanted to hear. Those are the items that he wanted to hear.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, this were the items that we voted to hear.
Mr. Hannon: But there are still other items remaining on the agenda.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Pardo: The two items -- and I'll explain why, Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Pardo: A lot of people have come here many, many times They're
both very controversial items. I think we can make our statements, both everybody
here on this dais, on these items and get past them. But personally, I would like to
hear -- both of them are your items, not Commissioner King's items -- Chairwoman
King's items, apologize. One is the discussion item on the DDA (Downtown
Development Authority), and the other one is, I believe, SR.3.
Vice Chair Carollo: Both of these items are controversial items that require, in my
opinion, the courtesy to have Commissioner King here. And they might be items that
might be 3 to 2. I don 't know. The people that have come for the DDA for the most
part, like was stated here by somebody, they're people that either are getting funding
from the DDA, or work in the DDA, or have something to do with the DDA. And on
the other one, it's the same people that you're sending up here all the time, sir, every
meeting on this. So, both of these items are truly items that we need a full
commission to hear. And you know, we've heard people, they don't have to come,
you don 't have to send people, send out tweets or anything to get more people here.
We, you know, done the items that I thought there was a consensus on before to deal
with, and we would leave the others for next meeting that we would have, and that's
where I stand.
Commissioner Pardo: I'd like to make the motion to hear those two items.
Commissioner Rosado: I can support that.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, what's going to happen here, Commissioner Rosado, is
that if we hear these items and it's a 2-2 vote without Commissioner King here, then
they will fail. In one of them, you know, it might be a 3-1, even though, you know,
I'm not taking a position to vote one way or another. I just think that people, if
they're going to be taxed, deserve a right to put their position forward. But bottom
line is, you know, you're the third vote up here. If you want to go ahead and listen to
both items (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you know that it's your motion that you made, and it
was voted upon in first reading, 3-2, that if it comes to a vote here might end up
being 2-2. Therefore, it will fail. If that's what you want to do, for it to fail, then so
be it.
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Commissioner Rosado: I think we may be able to arrive at an agreement on the item.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, well, that's fine. So, there's a motion. There's a second to
hear these items. And all in favor, signify by saying "aye."
Commissioner Rosado: Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: Nay.
Commissioner Pardo: Aye.
Commissioner Gabela: Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, it passes 3-1.
[Later...]
Vice Chair Carollo: And let's begin by listening to I think the one that will be the
quickest, which would be the DI.5. It's a discussion and presentation regarding the
DDA (Downtown Development Authority). I don't intend to make this a horse and
show pony, even though there have been individuals, I understand, that have
followed the process in our charter to ask to make presentations through the
manager, and they've been ignored. I don't intend to bring them on board in this. All
that I wanted to do out of this is not praise, not crucify the DDA in anything that
they've done or haven 't done, just to give people the right that you would think in
America everyone should have. If you're going to be paying taxes, in this case,
they're paying an additional tax on their properties that benefits the whole city, but
only one area of the city is paying for it, then they deserve to have a say-so if they
want to keep paying it or not. And my sole proposal -- to make it short and sweet --
in bringing forth a motion, if I may, where the question on paying to the DDA from
residential units is put to a vote of property owners on residential units. And why do
I say property owners and not voters? Because the property owners are the ones that
are paying directly. And then have a separate one at the same time on commercial
properties to see if they want to keep paying or not. And however way they decide, I
respect it. I have no problem. You know, I have no axe to grind in this. I just want
people to be able to have a say-so if they're paying monies. You know, this is the way
that things are, at least that I remember in the America I grew up in, that we would
do things. You don 't pay if you don 't decide and have representation. And that's the
sole purpose of my bringing this up. I'll start with Commissioner Rosado, and we'll
work our way down. Any statements?
Commissioner Rosado: Is there any additional information that we were going to be
provided? I was under the impression there was also like a public presentation. Am I
wrong in this?
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, if you would like to hear anyone present a public
presentation, I have no problem in listening from a public presentation from the
association or either one, Brickell or Downtown, but, you know, it's up to you if
you'd like to hear that or not.
Commissioner Rosado: I'm just not ready to vote on this item. I became the DDA
chair just a couple of hours ago. Because I haven 't been here very long at all, I
actually haven 't had a chance to meet with either the DDA or other interested
stakeholders, not in a very meaningful way.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Well, would you like to bring this for the next meeting while you
have that opportunity? We should bring up the question that I put up here. I'm not --
I'm not taking one side or another and saying that this is good, this is bad. I just
want the people that are paying to decide for themselves what they want to do.
Commissioner Rosado: Just as I understand it from a timing perspective, they need
to have their budget approved just like the City does in a relatively short amount of
time. I'm not sure that I can take a position on this yet, not an informed position. And
even at the next meeting, that doesn't give me enough time to really study the issue.
I'm going to be attending my first DDA board meeting. I attended some years back,
but it's been many, many years. I just don 't -- I don 't think I can make a decision on
this in the next --
Commissioner Gabela: So, should we defer?
Commissioner Rosado: -- you know, two weeks or so. I would defer it --
Vice Chair Carollo: Until when?
Commissioner Rosado: -- at a minimum -- a minimum to September, like the second
September meeting, because I need to at least meet with them and review their
budget. I just don 't -- I don 't have enough information at this point in time to make
an informed decision. I think that would be not responsible of me to vote on this at
this time.
Commissioner Gabela: So, a motion to defer?
Commissioner Rosado: Motion to defer to the second meeting in September at the
soonest.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, there's a motion to defer, second meeting in December,
but I hope that you're understanding that you're not taking any position. You're just
letting people express themselves with money that they're paying, that they never
have been asked on whether they want to pay it or not, that you, where you live at in
Coral Gate, and all of us that live in separate parts, benefit from that, but we don 't
have to pay it in our properties. They're paying it, and we're letting them decide if
they want to keep paying it or not. That's all that we're doing. If for any reason they
vote no, they don't want to pay it anymore, you have the option to come back to this
Commission and decide if you want the Commission to put some money in the DDA
or see how that would be funded to go forward if that's what's needed to be done or
not.
Commissioner Rosado: I'd just like more time to be able to do a deep dive on the
issue. I understand the concept. I understand the concept of allowing them to vote. I
just need to have a much greater familiarity with each of the programs that are in
place, the initiatives, et cetera. I want to hear from interested stakeholders. I want to
actually get out into the Downtown community now, which now is something I'll be
able to do in this new capacity, and actually hear folks out. And I just don 't think
doing that next week is sufficient time. So, that would be my request, is to table the
item until the second meeting in September and then determine if there's a time
frame -- you know, what the appropriate time frame for that would be.
Commissioner Pardo: I'll second it.
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a motion. There's a second to defer it until the second
meeting in September. All in favor, signify by saying "aye."
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and Mayor
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, it's tabled to the second meeting in September.
DI.6 DISCUSSION ITEM
17837 A DISCUSSION ITEM REGARDING THE REDEVELOPMENT OF
Commissioners THE MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT'S HEADQUARTERS LOCATED
AT 400 NW 2ND AVE.
rRESULT: DISCUSSED
J
Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Rosado, seconded by
Commissioner Pardo, and was passed by the following vote: AYE(S):
Commissioners Rosado, Pardo, and Carollo / NAY(S): Commissioner Gabela /
ABSENT: Commissioner King; to grant Commissioner Rosado's request to hear
agenda item DI.6.
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number DI.6, please
see Item Number RE.9.
Vice Chair Carollo: All right. Next one. Do we have any -- on DI.1, any reports from
boards and committees, Mr. Clerk?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): So, which item are you going on to next,
Commissioner?
Vice Chair Carollo: DI.1 --
Mr. Hannon: DI.1, the chair is not here --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- boards and committees. Who?
Mr. Hannon: -- so we can just skip that item.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So, there's none. Go to the next. I think you said DI.6?
Commissioner Rosado: DI.6.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, DI.6, redevelopment of the Miami Police Department
Headquarters. Do you want anybody from the police department to address this, or
do you just want to deal with it? It's up to you.
Commissioner Rosado: I think we have our CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and our
assistant city manager here to answer questions. But the idea is the Miami Police
Department is sitting on very valuable Downtown land. The building is not in great
shape. I had the opportunity to tour it. I know that it's got infrastructure issues. I
know that it has, more concerningly, when I say infrastructure issues, I know they've
had like sewer backups and things along those lines. So, those are things that can
definitely be resolved. But I know -- and we've got the chief here as well. I know that
we also have, which is more concerning to me, we have issues with the parking
garage, and there we 're talking about structural issues. That is very expensive to
resolve, that's very concerning. And more recently, I know we had a sinkhole in the
parking lot, which, I mean, we're starting to get to the point where the building is,
I'm not going to say it's in imminent danger of any sort of collapse. I don't want to
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make that seem like that's the case. But the situation seems to be getting worse, but
we don't have a clear directive yet. There's no clear direction from the Commission
in conjunction with the administration to do something with that land. I think we
need to dispose of it. We need to -- obviously need to make sure our police officers
are safe. We need to move in the direction of disposing of it. We need to identify a
site at which the Miami Police Headquarters could be constructed. And given that
all of that is a process that's going to take some time, I'd like to see it start now by
identifying a location. You know, if we have like a range of locations, I think we need
to bring those to the table soon and have your expert recommendations as to where it
may make sense for a variety of access reasons, space reasons, et cetera. But we've
got to move forward on this already.
Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner, you're absolutely correct in this, and I've been
telling the manager that. I've had conversations with the police chief Let me explain
to you some of the issues that we've got to sort away. The manager would like to
have a police and fire administration building built together. Coming from the law
enforcement side of the world, I have a lot of doubts on that. You know, that might
work fine in smaller cities that don't have a large police department or a large fire
department, but in a city that we're -- we just approved a couple of meetings ago to
go to 1,700 or more police officers in the next three years, that we're going to have
some over 800 firefighters, it's not the best solution in mixing both forces together
and all the -- that goes involved with each separate department and their needs and
emergencies and so on. That's one. Secondly, which I think you hit the nail on the
head, we have to identify which is the best and most centrally located area. Our city,
while comparison -- comparing it to other cities, is not that big in land mass, it's
very stretched out. And the location where it's been now, it's been pretty centrally
located. So, we need to find something, maybe not right there, but that is still
centrally located. One that has been mentioned, and we had always looked at that,
was the new site on the Freedom Park. My concern with that site is the following.
One, it's too far away from the rest of the city. Two, once we have soccer games that,
you know, stadiums are full, once we have the mall, the hotels, office buildings that
are operating down the road, this could become, you know, troublesome in getting
police services in and out of that building. Likewise, fire. So, that's why I'm not so
keen on that area, even though I don 't think we should cross anything out. We should
look at everything. We have at least that I know of maybe there are more, I don 't
know, a couple of other areas that might be more feasible, more centrally located
than that over there. But I think what we need to do is what you're suggesting, that
we start looking at all the sites and looking at the plus and cons of each site in
moving forward. Commissioner Pardo, do you have anything to say on that?
Commissioner Pardo: No, I think it's good.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Chief would you like to add anything since you're here?
Manny Morales: So, good afternoon, Manny Morales, Chief of Police, 400
Northwest 2nd Avenue. Commissioner, I appreciate you bringing up this discussion
item. It's something that's been obviously near and dear in my heart, not only to
myself, but to Fire Chief Hevia as he is experiencing some infrastructure challenges
himself We have been working with the administration for quite a while doing the
studies to see what space is needed, what type of facility would best serve the citizens
of Miami. And one of those exercises was to try to figure out where do we put it. As
Vice Chair Carollo said, the City is at a premium when it comes to land space. So,
it's been one of the decisions that we made. Yesterday, we had a meeting just kind of
discussing the options and some of the proposals that the company have put forward
on the sites. But we can overcome whatever challenges might happen. I know that
the police department and the fire department didn 't have the best of relationships in
the past. We've kind of transcended that in and we have a very good working
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relationship. So, if it's something that it can be more efficient, more cost effective to
move us together, we're definitely on board with anything that can be, you know,
what makes the city dollars go further. So, we're definitely looking forward to being
able to put a concrete plan --
Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have any idea, Chief and I know that the figures could
be very high or very low, whatever you give us, it's a guess, but based upon what
numbers that you've all been looking at, you have any idea how much it might cost to
build you guys a new building?
Mr. Morales: Sir, I would refer that to our CFO. I have no idea about the money.
Vice Chair Carollo: Larry's got --
Mr. Morales: I spend it. I don 't make it.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- in one pocket the cost; in the other he's got the money, right?
Mr. Morales: You want me to throw a number in there?
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): Don't throw a number out because we have a size
of the building --
Larry Spring (Assistant City Manager/Chief Financial Officer): Yeah, through the
Vice Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: What's the size of the building?
Mr. Spring: Through the Vice Chair, Larry Spring, Chief Financial Officer. So, the
City has been doing a significant amount of analysis on public safety relocation. To
your point, we are keenly aware of the garage issue. In fact, we've already put
money to demolish the garage and do a surface parking there. The plan that we've
kind of been skeleton structuring around with regards to the sale of those -- is to sell
them, use proceeds to then reinvest into new facilities.
Vice Chair Carollo: How much are you figuring, Larry, that we could get, estimate
of the land if we sell it?
Mr. Spring: I don 't want to be so secure, but probably the sale of the two locations,
somewhere 40, 50 million bucks at the end of the day.
Vice Chair Carollo: When you say the two locations?
Mr. Spring: The fire administration building and the police headquarters Downtown.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, the police would be how much?
Mr. Spring: I haven't -- I'd have to do some more -- you and I, you know, I like to
put real -- yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: But you know it's 40 --
Mr. Spring: I'm spit --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- but you know it's 40 or 50, right?
Mr. Spring: -- I'm spitballing, spitballing.
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Vice Chair Carollo: But you know it's 40 or 50.
Mr. Spring: 40, 50 million probably. But --
Vice Chair Carollo: I think we can get more than that, Larry.
Mr. Spring: Yeah. Well, we may get more. But again, the plan was almost like a P3
structure, so we will sell and then reinvest into the building. We do have a
presentation that we could probably share with the commissioners individually that
shows all the analysis that we've done to point.
Vice Chair Carollo: That would be good if you could do that.
Mr. Noriega: For purposes of just an update, so we literally had a meeting yesterday
between fire, police internally to review the various sites, a conversation you and I
had a long -- not that long ago to do the analysis because we've already done the
analysis in terms of the variables for three different sites, three different potential
locations. They've done a programming analysis for each. We've done pros and cons
for each. So, we're --we have a follow-up meeting that we're going to do subsequent
to yesterday's meeting. And then the idea was to come back, each of you
individually, and make some recommendations.
Vice Chair Carollo: At last but not least, once you do that, you should come back
and let the Commission know what is the condition of both substations, how much
more dollars might we have to put in bringing them up to date, and how many fire
stations need the same.
Mr. Noriega: We have all of that analysis.
Vice Chair Carollo: And or how many additional fire stations do we need with the
growth that we're having.
Mr. Noriega: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: So, that is so important because, you know, I see that we're
spending here a lot of money in many different ways, like if we had it to, you know,
spend. And I'm just saying that we don't. We have a tremendous amount of monies
that we have to spend and just police and fire alone without going anywhere. So, so
any further questions that you might have?
Commissioner Rosado: Mr. Manager, so this is the -- we only have one more
meeting in July, and then we don 't reconvene again until the -- essentially eight
weeks from now. Could we have a recommendation like a priority order of sites at
that first September meeting? Because my -- my concern is -- and I have the image
that I have on the screen so that folks understand, that's the sinkhole from just a
couple of weeks ago in the parking lot, right? And the reality is if we said we're
going to craft an RFP and we've got a site in mind, et cetera, it's -- we're talking
about probably four years before there's a new police department with a CO
(Certificate of Occupancy), right? We've got -- procurement is probably going to
take nine months or so, then, you know, design, then permitting, then construction. I
mean, it's -- we're four years away and there's a sinkhole now.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, your argument is very valid. If I may suggest, with the
upcoming budget coming in the first readings, the manager might need a little extra
time to get by the budget before he could put this together. So, what would be the
first meeting after we're done with the budget, Mr. Manager?
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Mr. Noriega: October -- Todd, do you have the October date?
Mr. Hannon: October 9th.
Vice Chair Carollo: Would that be sufficient for you to give him the time so we get
through the budget? Okay.
Mr. Noriega: But in the interim, ahead of that, we'll come meet with each of you
individually ahead of that. So, that when we're presenting on October 9th, you've
already been briefed, and you 've given us feedback so that we can incorporate that
into whatever presentation we make.
Commissioner Rosado: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I'd like to get feedback also when you come to us from both
chiefs, police and fire --
Mr. Noriega: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- on both ideas, whether they're inclined to have one location
together or separate locations and their preference one, two, and three, or whatever
the amount of locations we might have for all of them that would be their preference
where to go. Is that okay, Commissioner?
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, so there's a motion. There's a second by Commissioner
Pardo.
Mr. Hannon: It's just a discussion item.
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I thought he wanted to bring it back by October 9th, so a
motion --
Mr. Hannon: Oh, I think that was more just a direction for the manager to come
back with the information being requested from Commissioner Rosado at the
October 9th meeting.
Mr. Noriega: Yeah, we'll accept the directive and we don 't need to vote on it.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, that's fine. So, we don't need to make the motion.
Mr. Noriega: Put it on the record.
Commissioner Rosado: It's not a resolution, just for my own clarification, is that --
does that come accompanied with a resolution that prioritizes the potential sites and
we take a vote at that point?
Mr. Noriega: That would certainly be part of it. I'll let that be dependent on how
those individual briefings go. Whether we really have, you know, the votes there to
agree on one particular location or it needs to be done further. But if we feel like
we've narrowed down to one location and one concept, whether it's a joint public
safety building or independent structures, you know, we'll present both.
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Vice Chair Carollo: All right.
END OF DISCUSSION ITEMS
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PART B: PZ -PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S)
PZ.1 ORDINANCE First Reading
17323 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
De artment of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY
p OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("MIAMI 21 CODE"),
Planning SPECIFICALLY BY AMENDING ARTICLE 3, SECTION 3.16 OF THE
MIAMI 21 CODE, TITLED "WORKFORCE HOUSING SPECIAL
BENEFIT PROGRAM SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS," TO
INTRODUCE A NEW WORKFORCE HOUSING PROGRAM WITHIN
THE CITY OF MIAMI; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
RESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN
Note for the Record: Pursuant to Chapter 2, Article II, Section 2-33(k), Miami City
Code, item PZ.1 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number PZ.1,
please see "Public Comments for all Item(s)" and Item Number SR.2.
Chair King: Mr. City Attorney, would you please read the Planning and Zoning titles
for the record.
Commissioner Pardo: I have a Jennings disclosure on PZ.2.
George Wysong (City Attorney): PZ.1, first reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: PZ.5, second reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: PZ.6, second reading.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: PZ. 7, second reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: And finally, PZ.8, second reading ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: That concludes the PZ items.
Chair King: Thank you. Gentlemen, of the PZ items, are there any items that you
would like to pull for discussion?
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PZ.2
17670
Department of
Planning
Commissioner Pardo: PZ.1, PZ.2.
Chair King: Anyone else? PZ.3 and 4 have been deferred until July 24th. Nothing?
May I have a motion for PZ. 5, 6, 7, and 8?
Commissioner Rosado: So moved.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
GRANTING/DENYING THE APPEAL FILED BY BERCOW RADELL
FERNANDEZ LARKIN & TAPANES, PLLC ON BEHALF OF THE
PROPERTY OWNER, NICOLAS BERARDI AND MAGDALENA
MURMAN ("APPELLANT"), AND
REVERSING/AFFIRMING/MODIFYING THE DECISION OF THE MIAMI
HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION BOARD'S
DENIAL, PURSUANT TO SECTION 23-6.2(B)(4) OF THE CODE OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, OF THE
APPELLANT'S APPLICATION FOR A SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF
APPROPRIATENESS TO PERMIT AN ADDITION, AND AFTER -THE -
FACT ALTERATIONS AND SITE IMPROVEMENTS, ON A PROPERTY
LOCATED APPROXIMATELY AT 5935 NORTHEAST 6 COURT,
MIAMI, FLORIDA, 33137, WITHIN THE MORNINGSIDE HISTORIC
DISTRICT, WITH FOLIO NUMBER 01-3218-031-0450.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0258
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
ABSENT: King
Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Rosado, seconded by
Commissioner Pardo, and was passed by the following vote: AYE(S):
Commissioners Rosado, Pardo, and Carollo / NAY(S): Commissioner Gabela /
ABSENT: Commissioner King; to grant Commissioner Rosado's request to hear
agenda item PZ.2.
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PZ.2
17670
Department of
Planning
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
GRANTING/DENYING THE APPEAL FILED BY BERCOW RADELL
FERNANDEZ LARKIN & TAPANES, PLLC ON BEHALF OF THE
PROPERTY OWNER, NICOLAS BERARDI AND MAGDALENA
MURMAN ("APPELLANT"), AND
REVERSING/AFFIRMING/MODIFYING THE DECISION OF THE MIAMI
HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION BOARD'S
DENIAL, PURSUANT TO SECTION 23-6.2(B)(4) OF THE CODE OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, OF THE
APPELLANT'S APPLICATION FOR A SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF
APPROPRIATENESS TO PERMIT AN ADDITION, AND AFTER -THE -
FACT ALTERATIONS AND SITE IMPROVEMENTS, ON A PROPERTY
LOCATED APPROXIMATELY AT 5935 NORTHEAST 6 COURT,
MIAMI, FLORIDA, 33137, WITHIN THE MORNINGSIDE HISTORIC
DISTRICT, WITH FOLIO NUMBER 01-3218-031-0450.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0258
MOTION TO: Reconsider
RESULT: RECONSIDERED
MOVER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
ABSENT: King
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PZ.2
17670
Department of
Planning
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
GRANTING/DENYING THE APPEAL FILED BY BERCOW RADELL
FERNANDEZ LARKIN & TAPANES, PLLC ON BEHALF OF THE
PROPERTY OWNER, NICOLAS BERARDI AND MAGDALENA
MURMAN ("APPELLANT"), AND
REVERSING/AFFIRMING/MODIFYING THE DECISION OF THE MIAMI
HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION BOARD'S
DENIAL, PURSUANT TO SECTION 23-6.2(B)(4) OF THE CODE OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, OF THE
APPELLANT'S APPLICATION FOR A SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF
APPROPRIATENESS TO PERMIT AN ADDITION, AND AFTER -THE -
FACT ALTERATIONS AND SITE IMPROVEMENTS, ON A PROPERTY
LOCATED APPROXIMATELY AT 5935 NORTHEAST 6 COURT,
MIAMI, FLORIDA, 33137, WITHIN THE MORNINGSIDE HISTORIC
DISTRICT, WITH FOLIO NUMBER 01-3218-031-0450.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0258
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
ABSENT: King
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item Number PZ.2,
please see "Public Comments for allltem(s)" and Item Number RE.9 and PZ.1.
Vice Chair Carollo: And we're down to the last item, PZ.2, the HEP (Historic and
Environmental Preservation) Board decision appeal. This is a resolution of the
Miami City Commission granting or denying the appeal filed by Bercow, Radell,
Fernandez, Larkin, and Tapanes on behalf of the property owner.
George Wysong (City Attorney): Mr. Vice Chair, this is an appeal, so it's a quasi-
judicial hearing.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Mr. Wysong: If the team is ready, they could -- I think Carli's there. Yeah. And in the
interim, could I just read the shade meeting notice?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, this is District 2, correct, Commissioner Pardo?
Mr. Wysong: District 2.
Vice Chair Carollo: District 2, okay, that's fine. Mr. City Attorney --
Mr. Wysong: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- have we had everybody sworn in that wants to speak?
Amber Ketterer (Assistant City Attorney, Supervisor): I believe we did that in the
beginning of the meeting.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Ms. Ketterer: You know, if there are people that are here that weren 't here in the
beginning, we can do that again. The clerk can --
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Ms. Ketterer: -- do that again to ensure that everybody is sworn in.
Vice Chair Carollo: Besides the lady that I see here that I'm assuming is going to
represent the appellant, is there anybody else from the public that's here on this
item? Okay. There's none. So, can we hear from you?
Carli Koshal: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Carli Koshal with Bercow, offices at
200 South Biscayne Boulevard. I wanted to let you know that I do have a full
presentation that I'm prepared to give you, but where I would like to start is by
emphasizing that the instant property is a non-contributing property within the
Morningside Historic District. And why that --
Vice Chair Carollo: You say non-contributing.
Ms. Koshal: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: Can you clarify that?
Ms. Koshal: Absolutely. So, the property is located at 5935 Northeast 6th Court. It's
on the east side, and it is located within the Morningside Historic District. So, it is
included within the Historic District, but what is really important to understand is
that it is non-contributing, which means that it does not add to the historic
architectural qualities of the district, because it -- in this case, because it was not
present during the period of significance for the district. The Morningside District
era of significance is 1922 to 1941. This particular property was built in 1946. So,
while it is within the historic district, it is not in and of itself a historically -- it does
not have historical value. And so, when you are considering what can be done on
such a property, the standard is inevitably lower than what it must be for
contributing properties. And that's acknowledged in the Morningside District
Designation Report. And so, what's before you today is a two-story addition at the
front of the home. And what's important to understand is that this two-story addition
complies with zoning regulations. It went before the HEP Board and the Historic
Preservation Department because it is in the historic district, but the standards for
review are general compatibility with the district and not the historic value of the
home itself. And so, when you're evaluating what is compatible with the historic
district, it's important to understand that the Morningside Historic District does
contemplate two-story volumes, specifically in the district regulations, for a variety
of architectural styles. In fact, just two houses to the left of this property are two-
story houses, and the two houses to the right are two-story houses. When you put it
in context, you can see that the volume is compatible with its street face. And so,
when you're evaluating compatibility, you do so based on Chapter 23, which are the
historic preservation regulations, and on Standard 9 of the Secretary of Interior
Standards, which determines compatibility is size, scale, color, material, and
character of the neighborhood. And here we believe that all of those standards are
satisfied. The proposed home complies with zoning regulations, and what's
important to understand about this particular location of the two-story volume is that
it was not accidentally placed at the front of the home. There is a specimen -sized live
oak on the neighbor's property that -- whose root system extends into the rear yard
of our property, and if we put the two-story volume in the rear of the home, it would
impact the root zone of that specimen -sized live oak tree. You can see that the
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existing pool for this home is on the south side of the property for exactly that
reason. And so, with that in mind, we respectfully request upholding of our appeal
and overturning of the Historic Preservation Board's denial, and specifically on the
premise that this home is non-contributing, which is misstated and confused
throughout the record up to this point. We would clarify and point out that there is
no Morningside specific dominant setback. So, while this property -- while this
addition is proposed to be at the front setback, at the 20-foot setback, that is
compatible with zoning's requirements for single-family residences. And there is
nothing in the Morningside Historic District that says that it must be placed further
back. And with that, we respectfully request your approval.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Any questions from the members of the
Commission? Okay. Is there any statements that any commissioner has to make as
far as since this is a quasi-judicial meeting?
Commissioner Gabela: I have a question.
Vice Chair Carollo: Having met with anyone?
Commissioner Gabela: I have a question.
Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead.
Commissioner Gabela: Are you advocating for the -- I'm sorry. I'm putting up a
phone call. Are you advocating for the people that own the house?
Ms. Koshal: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay. And -- so the HEP Board came back, but you're --
what you're saying is that it's not -- the house wasn't part of the historic scene, if
you will, because I missed some of the --
Ms. Koshal: The home is part of the historic district, and that is without question.
However, this home is non-contributing, which means that it doesn't add to the value
or the character. The home that exists there today does not have historic value, and
it's on record that this is non-contributing. So, the standards of what can be built on
this property are different. This home can be demolished. The instant owners are a
family. They've lived there since 2019. They have two kids. They have a third on
their way. They're looking to expand the home so that they can continue to use it.
This is not a spec home. This is not a modern construction in a historic district. It's
respectful and it's for -- it's to accommodate a family of residents in this district.
Commissioner Gabela: Thank you.
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, I fully support granting the appeal. I mean, this family
has done everything possible to stay. And I --
Vice Chair Carollo: (INAUDIBLE).
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a second. Hearing no further discussion, all in favor,
signify by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Commissioner Pardo: And I also have a motion --
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Vice Chair Carollo: It passes.
Mr. Hannon: As amended.
Vice Chair Carollo: As amended.
Ms. Ketterer: Can we make a clarification? So, the motion was to grant the appeal.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Ms. Ketterer: Is that --?
Vice Chair Carollo: That's what he said. It was to grant the appeal.
Ms. Ketterer: Is that with the recommended staff conditions? Because remember the
posture of this is that there was a recommendation of approval with conditions from
the City staff. It went to HEP. HEP did a straight denial, and so any approval --
Commissioner Rosado: Could you go through the staff recommendations, the
conditions?
Ms. Ketterer: Yeah, I think staff is prepared to go through their analysis and
recommendations, so that way it's clear what the conditions are.
Commissioner Rosado: Yes.
Sevanne Steiner: Sevanne Steiner, Assistant Director of Planning. So, there was
originally a staff recommendation of denial. The HEP Board deferred the item and
said that the addition did not need to necessarily be subordinate to the main
structure, which would have pushed it to the back. Staff then made a
recommendation of approval with conditions. Three of those conditions included the
roof line and the eave line that you see in the picture before you. So, the applicant
has already incorporated that condition into their drawings. The second one was to
mimic the openings, windows and doors of -- that's found in the historic district.
They've also complied with that. That's what you see in your rendering. The third
one was to use either the dominant setback or the average setback of the block face,
which would push the addition back from 20 feet to either 27 or 30 feet. And that's
the one that the HEP board agreed with and thought that the addition should be
pushed back.
Commissioner Rosado: And so, the applicant is willing -- oh, okay. I'm getting
different things.
Ms. Koshal: The applicant is not willing to push the structure back an additional
seven feet beyond what the zoning district requires for every other single-family
home that is non-contributing.
Vice Chair Carollo: You would have to tear the structure down to do that, correct?
Basically?
Ms. Koshal: No, sir. Because it is a addition, it is not affecting the existing structure.
It is possible for the addition to be -- it is theoretically possible for the addition to be
seven feet back. However, it would severely impact how the addition is placed, and it
would require the enclosure of a courtyard that exists on the property. If you look at
the site plan you can see that there is -- there is theoretically room to shift it back,
but that would greatly decrease its utility for the family.
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Commissioner Rosado: So, how many conditions were there? Were there three?
Ms. Koshal: Just the three.
Commissioner Rosado: And --
Ms. Steiner: There were several.
Ms. Koshal: There were more.
Ms. Steiner: Those were the three that --
Ms. Koshal: Correct.
Ms. Steiner: -- were at issue. The remaining conditions are our typical conditions
that you would see on any application. Those were the three that were pertinent to
this application.
Commissioner Gabela: So, the motion was to grant the appeal.
Commissioner Pardo: To grant the appeal.
Commissioner Rosado: With all the staff conditions in place or with none of them?
I'm trying to figure out which ones --
Vice Chair Carollo: I didn 't hear that from Commissioner Pardo.
Commissioner Rosado: -- are really in contention.
Vice Chair Carollo: Your motion included the staff recommendations or not?
Commissioner Pardo: There's one apparently that they have not complied with, and
so my motion included moving forward without compliance of that last
recommendation.
Commissioner Rosado: So, they're in compliance with three out of the four.
Ms. Koshal: We would request to strike condition seven of the staff report.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Rosado: Specifically that one which has to do with the actual setback.
Ms. Koshal: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Ms. Koshal: And be able to --
Mr. Hannon: My apologies, Chair. Then you really need to reconsider this motion,
because I didn't capture it. To me, it was just granting the appeal. Had nothing to do
with any conditions.
Commissioner Rosado: Okay.
Mr. Hannon: So, then you want to reconsider.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Well, can it be clarified? What --
Mr. Hannon: I would prefer, since this is quasi-judicial --
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Pardo: So -- okay, so let's reconsider the motion.
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a motion.
Commissioner Pardo: Motion to reconsider.
Vice Chair Carollo: And second?
Commissioner Rosado: Second.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. All in favor, signify by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, so the motion is back to reconsideration.
Commissioner Pardo: So, I make --
Vice Chair Carollo: Would you like to make a motion with the exception then?
Commissioner Pardo: Right, so I make a motion to grant the appeal with the
exception of striking condition number seven as submitted in the staff report.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. And you second still?
Commissioner Rosado: I will second that. I realize we did not give our Jennings
disclosures on this item.
Vice Chair Carollo: I --
Commissioner Rosado: I just wanted to mention that I met with the applicant.
Commissioner Pardo: I did give Jennings.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. All in favor, signify by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: It passed unanimously.
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PZ.3 ORDINANCE First Reading
17804 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
De artment of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS
p AMENDED, THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP OF THE MIAMI
Planning COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN, PURSUANT TO SMALL
SCALE AMENDMENT PROCEDURES SUBJECT TO §163.3187,
FLORIDA STATUTES, BY CHANGING THE FUTURE LAND USE
DESIGNATION FROM "DUPLEX — RESIDENTIAL" TO "PUBLIC
PARKS AND RECREATION" OF THE ACREAGE DESCRIBED
HEREIN OF REAL PROPERTY AT 3691 SOUTHWEST 1 AVENUE,
MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED IN THE
ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED EXHIBIT "A"; MAKING FINDINGS;
CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item PZ.3 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission
Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number PZ.3, please see
"Order of the Day."
PZ.4 ORDINANCE First Reading
17808 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
De artment of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE
p NO. 13114, THE ZONING CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA,
Planning AS AMENDED ("MIAMI 21 CODE"), BY CHANGING THE ZONING
CLASSIFICATION FROM "T3-O," SUB -URBAN TRANSECT ZONE —
OPEN, TO "CS," CIVIC SPACE TRANSECT ZONE, FOR THE
PROPERTY GENERALLY LOCATED AT 3691 SOUTHWEST 1
AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED
IN THE ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED EXHIBIT "A"; MAKING
FINDINGS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
MOTION TO: Defer
RESULT: DEFERRED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: Item PZ.4 was deferred to the July 24, 2025, City Commission
Meeting.
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number PZ.4, please see
"Order of the Day."
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PZ.5 ORDINANCE Second Reading
17596 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
De artment of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY
p OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, BY AMENDING ARTICLE 7,
Planning TITLED "PROCEDURES AND NONCONFORMITIES," MORE
PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING SECTION 7.1.2.1, TITLED
"PERMITTED USES," AND SECTION 7.1.3.7, TITLED "NO APPROVAL
AVAILABLE IF CODE ENFORCEMENT VIOLATIONS," TO UPDATE
THE CRITERIA FOR WHEN A CERTIFICATE OF USE MAY BE
DENIED OR REVOKED; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: 14378
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number PZ.5, please see Item
Number PZ.1.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
PZ.6 ORDINANCE Second Reading
17531 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
De artment of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY
p OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, BY AMENDING ARTICLE 1,
Planning SECTION 1.2, TITLED "DEFINITIONS/DEFINITIONS OF TERMS," TO
UPDATE AND ADD DEFINITIONS RELATED TO PARKING
STRUCTURES AND PODIUM HEIGHT; BY AMENDING ARTICLE 3,
SECTION 3.15, TITLED "GENERAL TO ZONES/ AFFORDABLE AND
ATTAINABLE MIXED -INCOME HOUSING SPECIAL BENEFIT
PROGRAM SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS," AND SECTION 3.16,
TITLED "WORKFORCE HOUSING SPECIAL BENEFIT PROGRAM
SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS" TO UPDATE AFFORDABLE AND
ATTAINABLE MIXED -INCOME HOUSING AND WORKFORCE
HOUSING PARKING DESIGN STANDARDS AND TO ADJUST
SETBACK REQUIREMENTS; BY AMENDING ARTICLE 4, TABLE 4,
TITLED "STANDARDS AND TABLES/DENSITY, INTENSITY AND
PARKING" AND TABLE 12, TITLED "DESIGN REVIEW CRITERIA," TO
UPDATE PARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR LINER USES AND TO
CLARIFY DESIGN REVIEW CRITERIA FOR PARKING STRUCTURES
AND PODIUMS; BY AMENDING ARTICLE 5, TITLED "SPECIFIC TO
ZONES," SPECIFICALLY SECTIONS 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.8, 5.9, AND 5.10,
TO CLARIFY DESIGN STANDARDS FOR PARKING STRUCTURES
AND PODIUMS, CLARIFY ALLOWABLE PARKING SCREENING
ENCROACHMENTS, CREATE DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVES FOR
LINER BUILDINGS, AND MODIFY LOADING AND ACCESS
REGULATIONS WHEN ABUTTING T3 TRANSECT ZONES; BY
AMENDING ARTICLE 6, SECTION 6.1, TITLED "SUPPLEMENTAL
REGULATIONS/INTENT AND EXCLUSIONS" TO UPDATE AND
CLARIFY THE LOCATIONS THAT ALLOW FOR MICRO DWELLING
UNITS IN LINERS; AND BY AMENDING ARTICLE 7, SECTION 7.1,
TITLED "PROCEDURES AND NONCONFORMITIES/PROCEDURES,"
FOR UNIFORMITY IN CODE LANGUAGE; MAKING FINDINGS;
CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: 14379
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number PZ.6, please see
"Public Comments for all Item (s) " and Item Number PZ.1.
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
PZ.7 ORDINANCE Second Reading
17385 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
De artment of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY
p OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, BY AMENDING ARTICLE 7,
Planning SECTION 7.1.3.7, TITLED "NO APPROVAL AVAILABLE IF CODE
ENFORCEMENT VIOLATIONS," TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTION FOR
APPLICATIONS MADE BY THE CITY OF MIAMI; MAKING FINDINGS;
CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: 14380
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number PZ.7, please see Item
Number PZ.1.
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
PZ.8 ORDINANCE Second Reading
17383 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
De artment of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY
p OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("MIAMI 21 CODE"),
Planning SPECIFICALLY BY AMENDING APPENDIX J, SECTION 3.4, TITLED
"GENERAL TO ZONES/WYNWOOD PUBLIC BENEFITS PROGRAM,"
TO ALLOW PROPERTIES WITHIN WYNWOOD NRD-1 "T5-L," URBAN
CENTER — LIMITED, ZONING TRANSECT TO OBTAIN BONUS
HEIGHT; BY AMENDING APPENDIX J, SECTION 4, TITLED
"STANDARDS AND TABLES," TABLE 2 TO CLARIFY PARKING
CALCULATIONS AND TABLE 3 RELATED TO PARKING AND
LOADING; BY AMENDING APPENDIX J, SECTION 5, TITLED
"SPECIFIC TO ZONES," TO CLARIFY ART REQUIREMENTS ON NEW
BUILDINGS AND FACADE ALTERATIONS LOCATED WITHIN A "T5,"
URBAN CENTER TRANSECT ZONE, OR "T6," URBAN CORE
TRANSECT ZONE, AND TO UPDATE NRD-1 STANDARDS RELATED
TO LOT COVERAGE, BALCONY ENCROACHMENTS, MINIMUM
BUILDING HEIGHT, AND FLOORPLATE DIMENSIONS TO INCLUDE
LODGING USES; BY AMENDING APPENDIX J, SECTION 6, TITLED
"LANDSCAPE REQUIREMENTS," TO UPDATE THE LANDSCAPE
REQUIREMENTS FOR LANDSCAPE AREAS IN PARKING LOTS; AND
BY AMENDING APPENDIX J, SECTION 8, TITLED "STREETSCAPE
MASTER PLAN," TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL NRD-1 SETBACK
REQUIREMENTS FOR NRD-1 CORRIDORS AND WYNWOOD
THROUGHFARES; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: 14381
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number PZ.8, please see Item
Number PZ.1.
END OF PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S)
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
NA - NON -AGENDA ITEM(S)
NA.1 RESOLUTION
17823 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
De artment of ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
p ACCEPT A PERPETUAL SIDEWALK EASEMENT, IN
Resilience and SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FROM FBWS
Public Works DEVELOPMENT SENIOR LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY
COMPANY, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PUBLIC PEDESTRIAN
ACCESS TO PORTIONS OF SIDEWALK CONSTRUCTED ON NW
22ND STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0255
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For minutes referencing Item Number NA.1, please see
"Order of the Day."
Chair King: May I have a motion for Pocket Item 1?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Chair King: I have a motion.
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries.
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
NA.2
17874
Office of the City
Clerk
DISCUSSION ITEM
UNDER THE PARAMETERS OF SECTION 286.011(8), FLORIDA
STATUTES, A PRIVATE ATTORNEY -CLIENT SESSION WILL BE
CONDUCTED AT THE JULY 24, 2025, MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
MEETING. THE PERSON CHAIRING THE CITY COMMISSION
MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF AN
ATTORNEY -CLIENT SESSION, CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, FOR
PURPOSES OF DISCUSSING THE PENDING LITIGATION IN THE
MATTER OF JORGE M. PEREZ ART MUSEUM OF MIAMI-DADE
COUNTY, INC., D/B/A PEREZ ART MUSEUM V. CITY OF MIAMI,
CASE NUMBER 2024-012120-CA-01, PENDING IN THE
ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE
COUNTY, TO WHICH THE CITY IS PRESENTLY A PARTY AND
HAS FILED A COUNTERCLAIM AGAINST JORGE M. PEREZ ART
MUSEUM OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, INC., D/B/A PEREZ ART
MUSEUM. THE SUBJECT OF THE MEETING WILL BE CONFINED
TO SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS OR STRATEGY SESSIONS
RELATED TO LITIGATION EXPENDITURES. THIS PRIVATE
MEETING WILL BEGIN AT APPROXIMATELY 10:00 A.M. (OR AS
SOON THEREAFTER AS THE COMMISSIONERS' SCHEDULES
PERMIT) AND CONCLUDE APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR LATER.
THE SESSION WILL BE ATTENDED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE
CITY COMMISSION, WHICH INCLUDE CHAIRWOMAN
CHRISTINE KING, VICE-CHAIRMAN JOE CAROLLO,
COMMISSIONERS MIGUEL ANGEL GABELA, DAMIAN PARDO,
AND RALPH "RAFAEL" ROSADO; THE CITY MANAGER, ARTHUR
NORIEGA V; THE CITY ATTORNEY GEORGE K. WYSONG III,
DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY KEVIN R. JONES; DEPUTY CITY
ATTORNEY XAVIER E. ALBAN, ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY
SUPERVISOR ERIC J. EVES, ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEYS
MARGUERITE SNYDER AND NICHOLAS BASCO. A CERTIFIED
COURT REPORTER WILL BE PRESENT TO ENSURE THAT THIS
SESSION IS FULLY TRANSCRIBED AND THE TRANSCRIPT WILL
BE MADE PUBLIC UPON THE CONCLUSION OF THE
LITIGATION. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE ATTORNEY -CLIENT
SESSION, THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING WILL BE
REOPENED AND THE PERSON CHAIRING THE COMMISSION
MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE TERMINATION OF THE
ATTORNEY -CLIENT SESSION.
RESULT: DISCUSSED
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, if there 's no further actions before this board, this
meeting is now adjourned.
George Wysong (City Attorney): Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Time out.
Vice Chair Carollo: Meeting is adjourned.
Mr. Wysong: Sir, I had a --
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry.
Mr. Wysong: -- shade meeting that I had to read. I apologize.
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Meeting Minutes July 10, 2025
ADJOURNMENT
Vice Chair Carollo: You have a shade meeting.
Mr. Wysong: Yes, sir. It's just a notice of a shade meeting.
Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead. Read the notice.
Mr. Wysong: Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair and members of the Commission.
The Attorney -Client Session was read by title into the public record by the City
Attorney.
Mr. Wysong: Thank you.
Commissioner Pardo: And for the record, that is the, the litigation involving the
PAMM (Perez Art Museum Miami) billboard with the City. So, I know there's a lot
of interest in the community on that, but just so it's on the record that that's when
we'll be hearing it.
Mr. Wysong: Right. There was a mediation, and they presented some information
that we need to share with you, so we want to share that with you. Thank you.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
The meeting adjourned at 4: 59 p. m.
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