Day-to-day. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Data. Feel fire. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey.
beautiful. Hey I don't want to be Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, hey, hey. You know, hey Baby,
baby. Baby, baby. Baby girl baby. Please take your seats. The meeting is about to begin. Remember to speak into the microphone as this meeting is being
recorded for public record. Please stand by. We are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1. >> Good morning everyone. Welcome to the April 15th, 2026 uh meeting of the
public safety neighborhood quality of life committee. I want to thank our vice chair and vice mayor Laura Dominguez uh for joining us this morning as well as commissioner Monica Mattel Selenas and thank you for everyone in the public who who is joining us. I'm going to pass it
over to our staff liaison for the morning's announcements. >> Good morning everyone. Today's meeting will be a hybrid meeting with members of the committee being physically present in the commission chambers. Members of the public who wish to attend this meeting or provide public comment in person may appear at the commission
chambers. Members who want to participate or provide comment virtually during the meeting may join via Zoom. For today's meeting, we have item number eight that would be deferred. Um and then we have item number 12 that is is an addendum. Discuss the potential
creation of a quiet zone and the installation of related signage in the south of fifth neighborhood. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez. And those are our notes for today. >> All right. Thank you so much. Uh so so so with that item number eight uh is
being shown as deferred. Item number 12 is being added to the agenda. And colleagues, my intent for today's meeting is to take the agenda in the order in which it's been printed. So with that, we're going to open up the uh citizen
uh citizen forum. members of the public wishing to speak uh are welcome to approach the podium or if they are on Zoom to raise uh their hand on Zoom and you'll be allowed two minutes to speak. Uh anyone wishing to approach the podium
is is welcome to and uh we see Johan with his hand raised on Zoom. Good morning Johan. You have two minutes to speak. >> Good morning uh commissioners uh and staff. Um, I want to put in a plug for
my neighborhood. Uh it is in the interests of public safety and quality of life in Flamingo Park neighborhood uh for the commission to this year fund our requested traffic impact study. Uh
excuse me since traffic and in particular micromobility and the culture change that is needed among motorists in order to ensure safe micromobility. Since that topic has been in the discuss been in discussion a lot recently and in
light of it being in fact uh newly elected commissioner Mateo Salina's uh strong suggestion to FPNA a year ago uh which we enthusiastically embraced uh namely to request this traffic study. Uh there's been a bit of discussion within
Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association's quality uh excuse me uh land use subcommittee about this. Uh and so I would just urge you commissioners to begin thinking about how you might be able to include what will be a relatively modest amount of money uh in
the budget which I believe you will be passing in October. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Any other members of the public uh wishing to speak? If you're interested in speaking on Zoom, please raise your hand on Zoom. If you're attending in person, wishing to
speak, seeing no one approach the podium and seeing no one with their hands raised on Zoom, I'm going to Oh, yes, sir. Please. >> I just have a question. >> No, please approach the podium. >> I'm not here for this reason, but I noticed. >> Please state your name for the right. >> My name is Rich Santis, resident of
Miami Beach for 30 years. You guys know me. Um on the way my way here I took my bike over. >> Can we get some bike stands outside? I'm trying to find a place to you know where yes >> going to become a blue zone city. So just a suggestion. >> We are working on that. >> There are no bike stands outside. So I'm
trying to tie it up to whatever I see. >> And today that would have been very helpful with the level traffic that we have with the convention center. Uh that would have been very helpful. We our last meeting of the public safety and neighborhood quality of life committee. We focused substantially on microobility
issues and part of what we are looking at as a committee is uh predictability in bicycle infrastructure so that there is a a master plan so that people know within a certain proximity of every block you can anticipate
>> to potentially find a uh a parking facility or or or a place to park your u your bicycle. So thank you for that suggestion. >> Yeah. No, thank you. And I love the fact that I think our police officers have ebikes now, too. So, it's really cool. Good stuff. All right. See you guys in a minute. In fact, >> thank you. Thank you. And any other
members of the public wishing to speak? >> Seeing none, we'll close uh the reasonable opportunity for the public to be heard. And we're Let's go into our reports and updates. And let's go to update number one. Update number one is update on a
timeline for construction of Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel and anticipated opening date. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez and co-sponsored by Commissioner Fernandez. >> Commissioner Dominguez, you have any questions on the item before us? >> No, I'm okay to accept the report.
>> Okay. I have a question. Uh, do we have a parking analysis as it relates to the hotel? Any potential impacts as to the availability of parking for the employees? because I do I do see that we remain on track uh for hotel opening
date of late 2027 which is not that far away. Um but I I want to make sure that if there are going to be additional needs for parking for the employees of the hotel that we start addressing those now. Welcome.
>> Absolutely. Good morning. Um I'm Batista um with MB mixeduse. we as a joint venture between Terara and Turbury for the hotel. We have Will Balinbin from Turnberry on the line um that can speak to our plan. We have u been working on a
employee transit plan that we're ready to present that will be ready to present on March 1st. All right, of 2027. That's our um commitment to the city, but it is in progress. So, are we able to um allow Willing
>> Good morning, William. I see you have your hand raised on Zoom. Uh, and let's uh let's allow William to be unmuted and to present before the committee. Good morning. >> Good morning, William. >> If not, I can go ahead and give the
brief. >> I think I heard him speak. >> Maybe not coming on. >> Good morning, commissioners. Can you all hear me? Excellent. >> Yes. Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. Um, as a quick background again, my name is William Blinden. I'm with Turnberry, uh, partners with Terra
on MB Mixuse, the Grand Hyatt, Miami Beach. We have approximately 320 parking spaces in our building for gas valet only, and a handful of our executives. For our hotel staff, we'll have on average between 150 to 200 employees
working at any one time at our building. Um, we have a four-part plan for transit that we will formally present to you all like Aette mentioned in March. Uh, but our early recommendations that we are exploring right now and we will build out fully by by March is uh, one, we're
going to encourage public transit uh, usage by our employees and we will do this uh, and encourage it by subsidizing our employees parking uh, uh, transit passes. Number microobility. So, as an example, within
our hotel, we are building almost double the required code amount of uh bike and scooter parking within our facilities for employees. Um, number three, we're going to encourage employee car pooling. So, those employees who do car pool, we're
going to arrange for discounted pricing within neighborhood uh parking garages surrounding the hotel. And number three, we're going to encourage uh park and ride and other shuttle routes uh within locations uh within Miami Beach. >> Thank you, William. Um I I just, you
know, and I appreciate the spirit of encouraging the workforce to embrace microobility, uh to emra to embrace car pooling, transit, park and ride. These are all great costumes, but when you're when we're talking about any given time
having 200 employees at that convention center hotel and that we really don't have parking for those 200 employees, that is going to create a challenge for our city center district for our 17th
Street hotel that as it is at capacity for our city hall uh not hotel garage, I'm sorry, our 17th street garage that's at capacity. our city hall garage uh as as well. You see when when the district is activated, when we have conventions
that are in town, uh the availability of parking is extremely limited and I need to see a better plan than this. I just I want the record to reflect and I want you all to know well in advance that if this is the plan that is being
anticipated to be brought uh before this body in March of next year, I feel that this should be one component of it. But to believe that the 200 employees that are going to be working at this hotel are not going to come in at all with
their cars, I think is a very unrealistic and very naive um a very naive expectation. So I think I need to next month I need to understand what other alternatives there are available
to Terara um for for the not Turnberry to Turnberry um for the for the development of parking and the availability of parking for the employees because unfortunately I I just I do not see this meeting the
needs and and it's going to place a bigger burden on us. What's going to end up happening is that um the union representatives of the employees that work at the hotel, they're going to call all of us on the deis and they're going to expect for us
to solve the problem for the 200 employees and from where are we going to make the the parking spaces? >> Yeah, we understand your concern. So, absolutely, we'll we'll form a better plan. Yes, but I I need an update uh
next meeting, please. >> Absolutely. Can I have a comment? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um >> so I agree 100% with the chair on this and um encouraging the employees without
an incentive it uh may not be as successful. I know that uh both Commissioner Fernandez and I have been working with the Fountain Blue, the uh second largest employer on the beach. Um I met with their HR department. They used to have a program where they
shuttled people from different parts of the county. They're looking at bringing that back within the next um month. Um and that's hopefully something that other hotels will look at. So, as you're planning that, um, first
look to hire Miami Beach residents that they can walk to work or use microobility. And second, if um, you can't find the talent and you need to go outside, if um, the flagship, the flag uh, hotel flag uh, will help with uh,
shuttle throughout the county to pick up employees. That's something that will really really help because our traffic is all from hotel employees mostly. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Selenas. >> I just want to add that um you know it's
your your hotel will have a problem keeping employees. You will have high turnover because folks won't be able to afford parking here and the commute will be too long. So, you know, as an employee incentive to help you and your
hotel retain employees, I would highly suggest you give the workers on-site free parking. It's the least you can do. Um, and I expect better. So, thank you. >> All right. Um, All right. So, I'd like
for this to come back next month. Uh, we can give William time to walk us through other alternatives. I'd encourage you to see what other options are there around 17th Street as well to accommodate this parking. I know we are we're we're
talking uh on city the city owned land where the office building is at um on 17th Street. Maybe there's opportunities there. There's a lot of parking there. I just I need to make it very clear
starting right now that a facility with absolutely no parking for its employees is just not realistic in our city. So, we need to be addressing it today. >> Thank you for being here. With that, uh
we can show this item continued to next month. Any Oh, I see Commissioner Bond with her hand raised on Zoom. Com. Good morning, Commissioner. Commissioner, good morning. You're welcome to to to speak on the item.
Uh PJ, if we could unmute Commissioner Bond so that she can offer her comments to the committee. She's unmuted. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. Um, thank you. Can you guys hear me now? Third time. The charm. >> Yes. Good morning. >> Okay, perfect. Good morning. Um, I just
also wanted to throw into the mix there is an office space uh office complex being uh developed a few blocks away by Robert Ravani that currently has an enormous amount of parking. And even with his anticipated changes, we'll
still have a significant amount of parking. that is um it sounds like wildly underutilized and um I think that needs to be put into the the mix as well. So, just wanted to uh throw that into the conversation.
>> Thank you, Commissioner. That is uh that's that's great feedback and and I hope that the folks from uh Turnberry uh heard your heard your feedback so they can come back next month uh hopefully with a more positive update on parking. All right, with that we'll show this
item continued to next month. Uh let's go to the next item. >> Okay, the next item is a monthly update on the status of the Fifth Street pedestrian bridge and the Mandarin Hotel Miridor Condominium Baywalk projects. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez.
>> Madame Vice Mayor, is this your item? >> Yes. because um there's been a little bit of misinformation put out on social media and I did read the report. I would love um David Gilz to give us a quick update. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners. Uh David Gomez, director of capital
improvements. Um we have had some progress. Uh as you all are aware, there was a there is an FPL feeder line that runs under the site of one of the support peers for the pedestrian bridge. FPL has had a little difficulty in
locating the exact uh positioning of that infrastructure. They have gone through and done uh some more advanced locate or or used more advanced technology to locate their lines and as >> they paid for that.
>> Yes ma'am. And as of this morning, they have provided us a location survey so that we can share that with the design team so that they can look at whatever impacts if any there are to the design of the foundations and what needs to be done. So the moving forward the next
steps is for the design team to evaluate the location of that infrastructure and and look at their design to see how it can be accommodated or if there need to be any changes made. >> How long will that take? I'm speaking for the for the design team
that just got the survey this morning. Um I'll I'll know more a little later this week or next. Um but I would imagine it would be at least a week or two before they can come back with information. >> Thank you. Now that the FPL exploratory work has
kind of been addressed uh and there's a survey being done you know what is kind of the decision tree once that utility is fully located you know via survey you or in other words you know what is what
is what are the possible foundation redesign scenarios >> associated and their time impacts. There's really two scenarios uh that the the result of the locates indicate that they don't have to redesign anything which is unlikely. Um and then the other
alternative or the other route is that they have to redesign the structure. Um and that's something that we've yet to determine. >> Okay. And if that utility alignment requires a redesign, who bears the cost and what contractual uh protection does
the city have? Contractually, any cost above our original contribution to the project is borne by the developer. Um, this is one of those gray areas that I'm sure will be discussed further at some point. Okay. I just wanted I just want
to make you know make sure that I believe it was always the public's understanding that there was going to be a cap >> as to the public subsidy of this and then anything beyond that it was going
to be a developer obligation as part of a public benefit. Uh, and so I just want to make sure because this was something that was unexpected. Um, and no one anticipated to be having uh these these uh the these challenges, but the city
came to the table. this committee and the city commission. Following the lead of this committee, we escalated pressure on FPL uh by withholding unrelated util utility easements until the city manager agreed that as that FPL has done
everything in its power to resolve the conflict. I think FPL um and I think that was meaningful leverage and I think FPL came to the table. They've been trying to work with the city. they've been trying to work with with with a developer. Um, but I
want to make sure by the same token that we're not the ones that the taxpayers are not the ones who are ultimately responsible to bear um the cost overrun >> that is going to be created by something
that was completely out of our control. the the terms of the agreement are that our contribution is fixed. Um the but we do recognize that the developer will um make his case for unforeseen conditions
and something that goes beyond their expectations. >> I think that the time to address that is now. >> Okay. I think the city has a lot of leverage at the moment and I think the time to ensure that any cost overrun
associated to this is not is not born upon the taxpayers of the city of Miami Beach who are already making a significant public contribution to this. Are there members of the public wishing to speak on this item?
Seeing none in person and none on Zoom with their hands raised, uh we can show this item continued uh to next month. Thank you. >> Thank you, David. Let's call the next item. Oh, and hold on before we move on to the next item. I
see Commissioner Bod has her hand raised on the um on the Fifth Street pedestrian bridge item. >> You're recognizer. >> Thank you. Sorry about that. Um I you know there is misinformation being disseminated which is really troubling
but that's another conversation. So what is the decision point to whether or not we continue with this path once the team has evaluated where the locates are and whether it is feasible as as everyone anticipates or if we start looking at other options.
>> So >> I've got a lot of residents asking that question. So David, just as from from what we understand, um they're working on a survey to handle FPL is working on a survey to hand over to Terara. Is that correct?
>> They just delivered that this morning. Yes. >> Okay. And based on that survey is what's going to determine whether a foundation redesign is necessary or not. Is that correct? >> There the options are depending on the impact of the survey to the design of
the foundations. It could be a relatively uh simple redesign of the foundation. It could be a significant redesign of the foundation. It could alter the structure of the bridge on that side of the bridge. So, we don't know that yet until the design team has an opportunity to look at it.
>> And from your understanding, how long will it take the design team to determine uh whether a redesign will be necessary or not? that process. It since they just got the survey this morning, I imagine it'll be a couple of weeks before we know something more
definitive. If a full redesign is required, it's easily months. >> Okay. So, hopefully we can get some sort of update uh at our May public safety meeting. >> Yep. >> Okay. All right. Commissioner Bond, does that answer your question?
>> Yes, it does. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Any other members? Well, the commissioner is not a member of the public. She's an alternate member of the committee. But any members of the public uh wishing to speak on this item, seeing none in person and none in Zoom, we can show this item
continued to next month. Let's call the next report. >> Okay, the next report is monthly updates on efficiency and enhanced enforcement related to excessive vehicular noise. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez.
Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. This is your item. You're welcome to introduce. >> Thank you. So, um there has been an uptick in the last year of uh car and motorcycle noise um in different pockets of our city, south of Fifth, Alton Road,
um Collins Avenue where the condos are. And uh MBPD has had uh citywide comprehensive enforcement and um would love uh to hear the latest update. >> Good morning, Chief Morgaloo. Uh
welcome. Uh please guide us through through this presentation. >> Good morning. Yes. Uh Mr. chair, commissioners, uh, assistant chief Danny Morgalo, on behalf of Chief Jones of the Miami Beach Police Department, uh, very happy that our, um, officers continue to be very diligent in prioritizing this
enforcement, specifically in the areas that were outlined in the the resolution, but not exclusively to those areas. So, in the resolution, just as a reminder, it was uh the Fifth Street corridor, 41st Street corridor, Collins Avenue between 43rd Street and 63rd Street, and along 71st Street. Those are
the primary enforcement areas, but we're enforcing this citywide. Um, and as I've mentioned in previous presentations, this is not a unique Miami Beach only problem. This is an issue that city of Miami is dealing with, that FHP is dealing with, that many jurisdictions are dealing with countywide. Um, in
addition to our enforcement efforts, we have been very proactive at getting the word out via social media and to the community that we are taking a very serious stance on conducting this type of enforcement. And uh I'm happy to report that as of last week, we have
already surpassed the number of citations we wrote for all of 2025 in just you know three and a half months of 2026. So um we've written 676 citations specifically for either loud exhaust,
motor vehicle noise, horns, or operating radios or other mechanical sound devices coming from vehicles. Um, of those 676 citations that we've already written this year, um, the overwhelming majority of them, 198 have been written, um, in
the area one area of Miami Beach. Um, and that is the same for all the other different categories of the citation. The majority of the violations that we've been encountering have been along the uh, MacArthur Causeway, Fifth Street area of South Beach.
Uh just to follow up with that, last month when we provided this um presentation, we were asked to analyze our citations to see if we could identify any um repeat offenders. >> So we went back and looked um all the way to June of last year. So it's almost
a thousand a little over a thousand citations that we an analyzed as a the measure and of the a thousand citations almost that we looked at about 37 only in total were were repeat violators. So
3.7% and of the 37 only 11 of those repeat violators were actually people that lived in the city of Miami Beach one of those three uh Miami Beach specific uh zip codes. Um, so we're going to continue our efforts. Uh, Captain Lozano, Major Rivero, and their
team and operations have been very, very diligent at getting the message to the workforce, and I'm very happy to report that the workforce is responding, and they're doing great work. >> Thank you, assistant chief. Madam, >> thank you. I know that um I'm working on quiet zones for South Fifth uh with the
transportation department and FDOT, so we'll see where that goes. and I had it as a priority for um our lobbyists in Tallahassee to allow the use of noise cameras, but that didn't pass this year. But we won't give up. We we're still
looking at other ways uh to help uh MBPD with enforcement. You know, one of the things that I love is that this memo shows the effort of our police department with citations rising from 96 in January
to 315 in March. And since June of 2025, a total of 1,128 citations. Uh and to your point, you only 16 of those 16% of those are um are
Miami Beach uh residents. Uh and the concentration of these citations uh are in South Beach. >> Let me ask you this. So So I think this data that we have in front of us is
great. It shows it shows the effort of the departments. I want to see some additional data for next month. And this is what I'm going to ask you for. I want to show effectiveness. Do we have a way um any any way to track the amount of
complaints? To me, that will show the effectiveness. I'm glad that we're issuing citations. Um but I want to I want to see okay we're we've increased the amount of of
citations but are we seeing together with that a decline on the complaint value volume uh from our residents especially in this in these targeted corridors or or are we only measuring the officer activity?
So again, from our perspective, we're primarily focused on the enforcement and measuring the enforcement as our primary matrix. A lot of the complaints don't come directly to the police department. Many times the the residents either bring it up at a public meeting or bring it up directly with elected officials or
or administration. So we may not have detailed records of complaints to compare. Um and then anecdotally what >> and it might not even be the police department. I mean, you're the ones that always unfortunately get put on the spot because you guys are so great at the
work that you do, but it's it really has to be a collaborative effort across a multitude of departments, including code enforcement. Um, and a lot of times this com this type of complaint will go to code enforcement. And so maybe you know
is tracking is tracking uh that these complaints coming in about noise and seeing are they what's a correlation between the complaints and the officer activity. Commissioner Matselinas
>> Chief thank you. Um, I just want to thank you and your team for taking this so serious because if you don't live in one of these areas, I think you don't realize how bad it is. And um, as a resident that lives on Fifth Street, um,
it's bad. And I have purchased earplugs because I wouldn't be able to sleep through the night if I didn't have them. I mean, it really is bad. And I'm actually very happy to see and not surprised that you've given the majority of your citations in South Beach because Fifth Street is like a highway. It's a
threelane highway. When those lights are synced, people rev and go and they blast out of here. So, I will start calling in my complaints. I don't because, you know, out of respect for you all, you know what's happening. You're enforcing. But
um if if we're trying to compare complaints to tickets, I'm happy to call these in every night. Um and I just want to thank you for taking this so serious. Um it sometimes I feel like I'm living in a Fast and Furious movie. Really truly. So
um South Beach is absolutely a hot spot and I know that there's, you know, a lot of residents that live there because there's so many, you know, of those glass condos, um which I would love to live in someday, but I don't now. But that's okay someday. Um, and earplugs only go so far, but I appreciate the
fact that you and my colleagues take this so seriously because it really is a very noisy nuisance. Thank you. >> Uh, Chief, what does success look like for for the next update? Is it fewer
complaints, fewer repeat offenders, fewer hotspot concentrations? What is what how do we measure improvement? uh what's our goal for for the next update? >> So from from our perspective, reducing complaints in general would be
the goal that we want to achieve. It means that we're having a a direct impact on the behavior and our residents quality of life is improving. That's obviously the ultimate goal for us in any type of enforcement like that. And because of the fact that our officers
are doing such a great job on crime, it allows us the flexibility to be able to focus on a quality of life issue that we may not normally be able to focus on. So again, under Chief Jones's leadership, we we've prioritized this. We've listened to our elected officials. We've listened to our community. We pride
ourselves in being responsive to quality of life issues like this. Yeah. And ultimately our goal is to reduce the complaints from our residents because then that indicates a better quality of life. >> I mean it really is impressive. I mean hats off to Chief Jones and to all of
you is when you see the numbers uh the noise violations over time comparing it to 2024 comparing it to 2025 uh then you see the numbers for 2026. You guys have truly truly taken this ser
seriously and and uh it'll be great to see that overlap of data of you know tying the violations and seeing how how what impact is that having on the complaints from from our from our
residents. With that, I'm going to open up uh the uh the item to members of the public wishing to speak on this item. Uh, anyone in the public wishing to speak, please approach the podium on Zoom. We have Johan with his hand raised. Good morning, Johan. You have
two minutes to speak. Yes. Good morning. Uh, with apologies to the the assistant chief. Um, obviously with the point being to get as few complaints as possible, but in light of our neighbor uh uh Monica's uh comments,
um I wonder if it would be helpful in fact um to encourage uh actively encourage residents to contact the department every time we hear this noise. We too here uh on the alley even
uh have been noticeably troubled by revving motors and such. Um obviously they're not driving up the alley as a rule. Um but we still hear it. So even in amongst the buildings. Um so I'm wondering if in fact that would be uh a
good uh way to incentivize even further uh the crackdowns on on these nuisance noise uh for every resident to be encouraged to contact the department every time they hear a car. We haven't done so on the assumption that by the time the police would be able to react,
no fault of the polices, uh these uh lawb breakakers are long across the causeway. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I think I I I think I can speak for everyone probably on the commission that we are blue to the face
and asking people don't direct your complaints on law enforcement matters like these to us. Call police if it's an emergency. Call 911. If it's a non-emergency, call 6737901. Get the complaint registered. Do it. I
mean, it's just I become a broken record on it. I've become such a broken record that I know the number by heart. And you know, you all you all the department uh goes to great efforts to try to encourage people to to to to report
this. Okay. Uh so we'll continue this uh to is it next month that we continue this item or is it uh is a quarterly update? >> Um we can change it to quarterly that's fine. >> All right. So we'll continue this to the next quarter. I think it'll be great uh assistant chief for the next quarter.
Let's just you know get some complaint m metrics because that'll get give us a fuller understanding on on the outcomes. >> Yes sir. >> Thank you again for the tremendous uh effort and for taking this so seriously. >> Thank you sir. Thank you. Next item.
>> The next item is the monthly updates on the status of ongoing and future projects involving the use of Leonard Hurwood's color pallets for art deco building restorations on collaboration with Barbara Hulaniki. This item is sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez. I uh Oh, sorry.
>> Yes, vice mayor. Yes, you're recognized. >> I recently had a great meeting with Barbara Kulani. We went through all of the projects. There were some questions and Liz and her team answered them. So, I'm fine to accept the recommendation of uh the city administration to close this
item and in the future I may come back with something when it's more specific. Uh but nothing more to discuss right now. >> Uh Commissioner Matselinas. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Chair, this item was passed before I was elected, but I just
have one quick question. Um this list is great and I love what we're doing. This has really truly been beautiful for all of our buildings here. Why isn't the police station a part of this? >> So, we haven't contemplated the police station as one of our locations, but we
do have a project in place to paint the police station this year that just got funded this year. >> Paint it white. >> Um, we haven't determined the colors yet. >> So, all the items that you see before you have been passed by way of legislation. They were specific, >> but the police station wasn't one of the
designated projects. Well, I think it'd look beautiful on the police station and since we're already doing city hall and we did ocean rescue. Um, what do my colleagues think? >> Yeah, sure. I think I think we should get feedback from the police department. But yeah, I'm
>> but also just as a caveat, we do need to confirm with planning if it would be appropriate, >> right, >> based on its style. I I would like to ask you this because um in >> in the uh art deco uh in the art deco
historic district >> we have in Lumis Park throughout Lumis Park the public bathrooms for the most part they're white structures uh but there are they're they're white structures in the backdrop
uh very colorful art deco buildings >> and it'll be I think it'll be interesting to see, you know, these these beautiful new art deco buildings because these are relatively new buildings. Uh these these bathrooms that are in Lumis Park. How would they look
uh in these art deco colors and and these are more modest, smallerized buildings that might be easier to complete but bring in, you know, the beauty of these art deco pastels into this public area. So with those
restrooms what we can do is we can also uh work with planning. They would have to be respons you know they would basically uh confirm what the final color palette would be but those would require HPV review. So >> they would require HB. They would not. I love uh I love for you guys to come back
uh with feedback from uh from planning of your you know about the police station. Certainly, I would love for the police department and the chief uh to give us their feedback uh about painting the building um and as well these
structures that we have on Lumis Park uh that do carry art deco architecture. >> Sure thing. >> All right. Are there any members of the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing none on Zoom and none in person, we'll show this item continued to next
month. This is a monthly update. Uh yeah. >> Okay. We'll see. We'll show this item continue to next month. Next item. >> The next item is item number one. Discuss the green Jefferson Avenue bicycle lanes with the transportation and mobility department at Miami Beach
Fire Rescue. This item was sponsored by Commissioner Fernandez. >> Okay. Uh I see that we got an update in the memo showing uh that uh that the uh what do we call these things? Um these concrete blocks
>> the concrete concrete curbs. >> Yeah, the concrete curbs have been replaced uh with delineator poles. Um and you know there were concerns about the potential impact that this could have on on safety. Chief, uh thank you for joining us. I know our residents
were concerned when they were trying to see the trucks maneuver in and out of of the station. Um, does does this create better conditions uh for for the men and women working at fire station one? >> Yeah, good morning, Chief Abello. Um,
thank you. Yes, uh, Commissioner. This this uh new planning um that was constructed after has definitely improved our um backing and exit procedures out of the fire station. >> Okay. All right. So, with that, we can
accept this item and move on to the next item. >> Thank you. The next item is discuss take action regarding the expanding of public seating sponsorship pilot program beyond Lincoln Road to other commercial corridors and side streets including partnership models and maintenance
responsibilities. This item was sponsored by Commissioner Fernandez. >> Thank you Stephanie. Uh this is an item that I put on the agenda. Um, currently we have a model uh with a Lincoln Road uh bid for the sponsorship placement and
the maintenance of public seating along Lincoln Road um to to to help uh our businesses uh to and to help our residents and our visitors have places uh where they can go buy uh stuff at
restaurants and go sit outdoors and and and enjoy what they've bought. Um, I'd like to see us expand this this model to other areas, whether it be 41st Street, whether it be Alton Road, whether
whether it be Sunset Harbor. Uh, I think there's opportunity to be able to support the small businesses in our city, uh, who at times struggle. Uh, and it's a way that we can get them a bit of assistance so that so that they can
continue having customers come and and support their their establishments. I'd like to welcome you, Mr. Director, to present on the item. >> Good morning, chairman, commission. John Norris, public works director. Yes, this has been a fairly success successful
program within the Lincoln Road bid. They have been managing the program. Basically, they are allowing unbranded tables and chairs that are intended for the public to be placed adjacent to restaurants that do not qualify for the
outdoor dining program or parklet dining program. And those would be restaurants that do not have indoor seating. Typically, they be like a takeaway restaurant. somebody goes up to the window, order something, or they walk inside to a counter, order something, and it gives the patrons somewhere to
sit down and eat their food. The most recent addition was a an ice cream restaurant where people got ice cream, they came and sat down. I want to reiterate that these are unbranded. They don't have any logos from the
restaurant. I think we would be open to a bid maybe branding them if they wanted to, but the bid would be responsible for the purchase of the tables and chairs, setting the standards for the tables and chairs and the housekeeping removal of
the tables and chairs in the evening and bring them back out in the morning. Obviously they could leave that to the particular business but the enforcement lies with the business association and given that that does limit some of the
areas in the city where we could do this pilot program but they are the areas that would probably be most in demand. uh Washington Avenue, 41st Street, >> Espanol Way, >> Normandy area. I am I don't know if there's a business association there and
we could certainly look at other ways to implement this program. It is a pilot program which is meant to be dynamic and change. We just need to figure out how to maintain responsibility for the program because we are not
receiving any funding for it. So, it does put additional work on staff. So, that's why we wanted the bid to kind of handle this. And we work with the bid very well. And >> I'll tell you, um I'll tell you from my perspective, um Sunset Harbor is one of those areas
where residents frequently visit. >> Mhm. >> It is. It's kind of, you know, the residence areas, but that area has suffered tremendously. We've seen a high turnover of of restaurants there. I think it would be
prudent of us to to to see what could be established uh in the Sunset Harbor area to provide for a model like this so that the empty retail could benefit uh from this type of seating and hopefully reinvigorate
the area with local restaurants that people can continue enjoying for a long time. That's where residents would go. and slowly we've been losing the restaurants and and and and the commercial activity there that people loved. Um and so I would love for us to
explore, you know, an area like Washington Avenue, but also an area like Sunset Harbor so that it is a direct benefit to our residents. >> Commissioner Matil Selenas, >> I agree. I love this program and I'd actually like I like what you said about
um your open because in North Beach, you know, maybe we can look at some of the area around the Normandy Fountain and we've got David Saxon who runs the fountain up there and so we could maybe look at some some pockets up there that you know and partnerships. Um and and I agree with you about the areas that you
mentioned, but I I would really like this to be citywide provided we can find a partner that can assist with this. And I think identifying what that partner would look like, >> the easy thing would be a business association, but there might be other opportunities.
The the other thing to keep in mind is they would have to be takeout type restaurants because otherwise it's competing with the outdoor dining program which has very stringent regulations. And we we don't want to take away from that and have people stop doing the
outdoor dining which is very standardized and works well in all the districts in lie of going to something that might be a free program. that's sponsored by a business association and then that kind of expand over time to
where now it's becoming outdoor dining. So it is very important that we limit this to the restaurants that that currently qualify if they have indoor seating currently they can come and apply for outdoor dining or parklet type program. So, so, uh, I like I like the
suggestion, uh, that that Commissioner Selena's had about, you know, reaching out to the Normandy Business Association, seeing whether there's an interest there. I would like for us to explore Sunset Harbor uh, and uh, and Washington Avenue and perhaps we can
bring this back. How much time do you need for this? You need a month, two months? I I think a month is sufficient. We can reach out to the different districts. And now, do you want us to reach out to restaurants that are not in an area that currently has a business
association? Because that might take a little bit longer. I think I defer to your judgment on on that. I I think I I want to see this program help uh areas like Sunset Harbor
that right now they're suffering. And so that means you need to reach out. I there's not a business association there, a business a business district there. So that means you might have to reach out individually to a business. Uh but I think to the extent that we can do
that as an economic development incentive and to and to support local commerce, then I'm completely open to it. >> Okay. Then I if I could revise that and ask for 90 days. Yes. And we will reach out to businesses that would qualify for this program.
>> Okay. So 90 days we'll bring this item back to the committee. Uh and I'd encourage you I see we have Heather Shaw here from our economic development department. I'd encourage you uh to work with Heather and they do great work in in engaging with our business community.
>> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Yes. Uh with that there are any members of the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing none in person and none in Zoom will uh bring back this item in three months. Next item.
>> Next item is discuss take action regarding the adoption of an official city of Miami Beach mascot. This item was sponsored by Commissioner Mateo Selenas. >> Commissioner Selenus. >> So this item is going to be epic if it gets
support here. Um it's fun, it's kitschy, it's cool, it's cute. Um hi Melissa, please approach. >> Hi. Um, so the idea is that we have a city mascot just like a sports team would. And I know you might think, "Wow, no city does that. That's exactly why we
should do this." I think this would be a great example of uh familyfriendly fun morale, city morale. Um, it we could bring it out to our parks department when we have, you know, Easter egg hunts or any type of uh events featuring
children. Um, just this past weekend at Pride, we had the University of Miami, their mascot came out. He It was a hit. Um, it I think it'd be a lot of fun. And actually, my idea is um to have
um pick three. I guess you know, your team could come up with three and then residents would vote on which would be an the best the appropriate mascot. And PJ, I sent you an image. We just my aid Kevin AI some potential mascots. Um but
I'm open. I don't have any type of idea um what we could use, but you can come up with that. And then after residents vote on a mascot, then we just we get it done and we, you know, start sending our mascot out to events. I will personally volunteer to dress up as the mascot and
it's in inaugural, you know, out in the public type of event. Um and that's that's my item. So, I'd love to hear my colleagues and I'm asking for bravery against the Facebook haters who uh you know kind of think that this is a silly item and it is silly but it's fun silly
and it's very low cost and I think that the branding and the morale the booster of this I think would be a great idea. These are some of the ideas that I came up with. It doesn't have to be this. Um I'll I'll let your team take it away. And that's my item.
>> Good morning, Melissa. Welcome. >> Thank you. Uh, sure. Well, thank you. It was the first time I was seeing those uh those graphics. Um, so in the brief research that we did, we saw that uh not many US cities, like you noted um do have
mascots. There's definitely Linton, Indiana, who has a frog. Um, the one that I knew is Pakatani, which is the groundhog. I think a lot of people know that one. Um, Ketchacon, Alaska, has a salmon. Um, and then there's a couple of others. One in Virginia that has ponies.
Um, like you mentioned, I think there's a lot of sports teams that do have mascots. Um, you know, happy to help um, bring your idea to life. I think it's much more of like a parks and recreation type of mascot for us. I have to say I
love the idea about, you know, partnering with our parks departments because so many kids participate in sports activities and so many families participate in family activities and they might not do it in in their schools and the parks department actually
activate and here and here's uh Cindy. Cindy, you you do so many great events as well. Uh, and I think, you know, like our Hispanic Heritage Festival, you know, you guys not only organize the event, it's a beautiful event. I mean,
it draws out the crowd and I do think it is kind of cool. It is kind of cool to, you know, now incorporate uh this this this element. Um, but you know, with the schools, at least when you're in a school, you know, you're participating
in a in in a school team and there's there's a mascot in your school team. But what if you're not participating in your school team, but you are participating in it through the parks department? Well, now you know, you don't get you don't get that type of spirit. Um, I think introducing that
into into the offerings and into the experience that kids have in our parks department, it kind of sets that level playing field where they where they don't have a different experience than a than a kid participating in a regular
school. Good morning, uh, chair, committee members, Cindy Kasanova, assistant director for parks, facilities, Fleet, and Beaches. Fun fact, um, maybe about 15 years ago, we actually had a parks and recreation mascot. It was Buddy the
mascot. It was, um, a what used to be the city logo, which was the sailboat and the waves in the back. It was a big ball and, you know, it was super cute. The kids absolutely loved it. um he retired, but we're happy to work with Melissa and her team on on bringing
something to life because I think I agree. I think it would be a great um addition to our our programming. >> It's team spirit and community spirit. And you know, one of the things that uh that I think that we can do as elected officials, it's not just build
community, and I talk about this all all the time. It's not just about passing budgets and and and creating infrastructure and building community through master planning. It's about building community through bonds of people. How do you bring people
together? I think our parks and our public spaces is, you know, one of the most beautiful things about Miami Beach because it's what really sets us apart from most other cities. We have all of these worldclass park facilities that
other municipalities don't don't have. But how do we keep on, you know, growing upon that and using that to keep on bringing people together and community pride and unity? And I think just much like in a school, in schools that they
have their mascots, introducing this, reintroducing it, it's not just introducing it, is reintroducing it into our park system could be a very exciting thing. >> Madame Vice Mayor, >> uh, thank you for the creativity. It's,
uh, very cute. I, um, our sister city, Fujisawa, actually has a mascot mascot. They call it Fujikun. And I I was trying to see if I could send it to um PJ, but that's adorable. >> And they have stuffed animals and uh
Fuji Coons out there. Um so it's a great idea. I love it for uh to start it in the parks department. The graphics that you had up went by too quickly, so I couldn't I don't remember if you had a turtle there, but uh we do. >> I don't remember either. PJ, if you
don't mind. >> Oh, no. No turtle. for a turtle to be considered. >> Yep. Absolutely. And Melissa, is that okay? The idea to have the residents vote on this like we do with the art basel purchase every year. >> Sure. Um or we may want to do it within the park system if it's for the kids. We
can talk about it unless you guys have a preference. >> Yeah, I think Yeah. And maybe and maybe you can start uh by asking the kids in the parks department you know what they would you know what ideas what would they like to bring forward nominate you know and you know
then from there narrow down I'll tell you I love the fact I think the flamingo is now our state bird I think the legislature after years the for years the legislature was trying to adopt a state bird um and I think it was senator
kalatayud uh who who sponsored the bill and I think it this year finally got passed uh and uh and I think it you know flamingos there is flamingo park we have the flamingo park historic district we have the flamingo park neighborhood and
you know it just builds upon that spirit so so I think it's exciting stuff >> great >> you want to keep it in you want to keep in committee you want to send it to oh I see let let me recognize commissioner bod who has her hand raised >> thank you um I just wanted to point out,
you know, we all the whole world watched astronauts go around the moon and that was a very serious scientific um uh mission. It um you know there was a lot of work that went into it. There was a lot of work that will be coming out of
it. And also they had a very cute crowdsourced um by a kid by a child mascot that traveled with them every step of the way. And that I forget the name of the mascot, but it was like a little moon wearing a baseball cap in the shape of the with decorated like the shape like
the earth um surface. And it is it it was so popular that it's now being crowd it's now being um made into a mascot that people can buy, you know, like a little plush toy. So for the haters on Facebook, um you don't have to
things don't always have to be hard. You can inject a little joy into life. And I think one of the reasons why the moonshot was such an in, you know, an gripping experience for so many people around the world was that it was incredibly difficult and incredibly um
important and serious and it was also joyful and I think that is something we need to strive for and this is a measure that does exactly that. You know, life is so difficult >> and so stressful
whenever every moment that we have just to insert a little bit of joy. Why not? What do we lose by bringing people a little bit of happiness, a little bit of joy, a little bit of unity, you know, and if we could leverage our public offices to do
exactly that while still maintaining a worldclass city, an incredible brand that our marketing and communications department has created and support the activity of our parks department was is a win-win proposition. I'm going to open the item to members of the public
wishing to speak. Uh Kevin, I see you are here. Please feel free to approach the podium. You have two minutes to speak. Welcome. >> Kevin Krueger, nine-year resident um Third Street. And I think you probably know that I'm quite enthusiastic about this. So, I didn't know about this.
Monica, great idea. Um those of you that know me, besides commercial real estate, I have a sports tourism network and I have a merman as our mascot holding a pineapple. Um I like the idea of merman. You said
>> a merman. Ah, um, it's hospitality. So, I like the pineapple theme, but what I wanted to add is some context. Um, so Seattle Seahawks just turned 50 and celebrated that that Seahawks is a madeup species, but it it flows with
alliteration. And so they celebrated that recently. And as a Red Sox fan, uh, Wally the Green Monster was booed like I'm hearing apparently on Facebook the first time he came out. I was there and now he's beloved. But what I would encourage maybe if uh if you all
determine is to create buyin through um our our residents, our citizens, you know, submitting. Is that is that what they're doing or or you're coming up with it and they're voting? >> Right. Exactly. We're going to come up with options. Yeah. >> So what what if you just open it up and you grab the creativity like this
gentleman with the Seahawks? Uh and if you'd like, I can send you a couple of these background. That way you're creating buyin by participating actively rather than passively voting after the fact. That's my two cents, three cents.
>> Yes. Thank you, Kevin. >> Yes, please. >> So, I've just been informed that apparently Halia has a pink flamingo as their mascot. So, um, congrats, Halia. Great, great thinking. Great idea. So, maybe we don't do a flamingo, but I I
like that idea. And if the kids want to come up with some and you know and then maybe maybe the kids source the top three and then the residents vote. >> I don't know. >> And I volunteer Kevin. >> I volunteer Kevin to wear the outfit.
>> Does I will do it and then you can go after me. >> Well, there's also going to be a mermaid competition. Merman mermaid king and queen in the court. I'll pass on that one, but I'll >> just run over by lunch. >> All right.
>> All right. So, with that, uh, we can we can show this item coming back. Uh, you want to send it to commission. What's the action? >> Um, I'd like to send it to commission. I want this to get done as fast as possible. Um, especially because we have summer camps coming up. So,
>> oh, this could be a great summer camp activ. But I will say that it's it's April um and summer camp starts in less than two months. And so if we want to actually fabricate something, I mean that's >> I mean maybe what I would suggest I don't I mean I don't know if that's
feasible to have something but use the opportunity that the kids are in the summer camp to develop you know the idea to get their participation. You're going to have how many kids participate in our summer camps? >> Oh my god, close to 900. >> Okay. So that's 900 kids and 900 parents. And they they're right there as
our opportunity to get ideas uh pull them and have them be part of this exciting process of developing the mascot program. >> And I don't know if it um how long it takes to like fabricate a mascot. So if I'm way maybe it's a year or something.
I really don't know. But it would be very cool if we could get this off the ground and maybe the mascot makes their appearance at the Playtime Review at the end of summer camp. Do you think that's too quick? >> Which is in July. Uh I'm not sure cuz the first time that I Yeah, it's in July. >> It's in July. >> Um
>> All right. Well, I mean, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But that would be so cool. >> Even if it's not for the playground review, maybe something that you know is done toward the end of the summer camp program in August. You know, we'll we'll see. We'll have to see with the manufacturer how long it's going to take
to right design it, put it together. >> All right. >> Thank you both. Thank you. >> All right. With that, uh, we'll send this item back to commission with a favorable recommendation and show that done by acclamation. Next item. Okay. >> The next item is discuss a farmers
market pilot program at North Beach Oceanside Park. This item was sponsored by Commissioner Bot. >> Commissioner Bot, uh, this is your item. You're welcome to introduce your item. >> Yeah. Hi. Um, I'm literally around the
corner from city hall. Would it be possible to go to the next one and then come back to this one? I know you were doing this in order, but I would really love to be there in person. And I'm I'm literally not even 5 minutes away. Commissioner, I'll do out out of a
courtesy since you're close to city hall. But colleagues, I must stickler to following process in my committee and it's our committee, but as the chair, I need to maintain order of of the committee last committee meeting. The
same thing happens. There's an order for the agenda so that not for us, but for so that the public h knows when the items are going to be called. So, I'll do the courtesy this time because you're close to city hall and I know the traffic has been really bad around city
hall for the past few days. Um, but please in the in the future, let's try to stick to the order of the agenda for the benefit of the residents who want to know when their items are being called. So, with that, let's go to >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Yes. Let's go to the next item.
>> The next item is item number five. Receive a spring break 2026 afteraction report. This item was sponsored by Commissioner Fernandez. >> So, I place this item on the on the agenda because I do think it's it's important that while spring break is
still fresh in all of our minds uh and the feedback that we received from the residents and what we each of us individually experienced uh that we're able to compile our thoughts, our recommendations so that we can send those back to the city commission. I
think today we're going to get a preliminary update uh while while staff uh regroups. Um I see we have our police department here. Um but I also want to highlight the fact that uh when we discuss this again I just don't want to see the police department here. I want
to see all relevant departments. Transportation, parking, I see communications is here and code is here. Oh, parking is is here. Okay. But I want to make sure because you know sanitation everyone this is all hands on deck. Um, and it's always police that ends up at
the podium. And I thank you, assistant chief. Uh, but the true success of our spring break, I believe, is the cross collaboration between all the departments. So, with that, I'm going to recognize you to introduce the item since you were the first one at the
podium. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, commissioners. Uh, Assistant Chief Daniel Morgllo on behalf of Chief Jones and the police department, and we've been asked to be the face of this item for this month. um while at the same time asking for the courtesy from the commissioner and the and the
committee to recall this item next month so that we can have a more comprehensive presentation as you alluded to uh in your introduction, sir. So, um we continue to see outstanding progress being made uh with spring break and moving towards the spring break of the
future for Miami Beach and for this community. Um, specifically from the law enforcement perspective, uh, arrests were down 16% citywide and 25% in the, um, spring break zone, the designated
spring break zone. We continue to see the streets and the community feel safer and the results are are shining through with all of the successful activations that we've seen in the city. Um, our focus remains on uh keeping the
community safe, elevating public safety, and maintaining strong quality of life for our residents and our visitors to the community. Um, we successfully conducted Operation Trigger Lock again this year, which is a targeted um proactive operation to find um armed
offenders or or subjects engaging in felonious behavior. Uh we made 39 felony arrests as a result of it. We confiscated 28 firearms. uh we had 28 firearms really arrested and 37 stolen firearms that were taken off the streets. So from the law enforcement side of things um we continue to move in
a positive direction and we look forward to continuing to work with all of the different city departments um moving forward and continuing to elevate uh spring break for Miami Beach. >> Thank you, Assistant Chief. Any other department wishing to provide an update at this time? Please feel free to
approach the podium. Uh Hernand Cardo, good morning. >> Hi. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. >> So, in code compliance, um, following the same trends that we saw in police year-over-year, we had about an 18% reduction in our calls for service and
our violations, and most importantly, as we see it, and our noise complaints uh, as broken down by district, as you can imagine, it was the South District in the entertainment district that accounted for about 64% of all of our violations and 62% of our noise
complaints. uh followed by the middle and uh the north district at 17% and 19% respectively. Uh but we're very uh happy with the year-over-year decrease because it's um coming off of the prior spring break last year also uh where we
experienced a decrease. So, uh we're looking probably at about a three-year trend uh that will um articulate for you for next meeting. We also have a breakout of all of the uh types of violations that that we saw that's in
the committee memo. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Hearnen. >> Thank you, >> Chief Abello. Good morning. >> Good morning, sir. Good morning. Um, Chief Aalo, as you stated earlier, uh, we have seen a huge reduction in EMS and
fire calls pertaining to the entertainment district during the peak of March. I went back to 2014, you know, um, back then we only had one rescue unit on the last weekend of March,
whereas now we were staffing up to 18 days in March. We reduced it this year down to 11 just keeping it like Friday, Saturday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We also reduced the amount of hours that we had our personnel out there from 18 hours down to 15 down to 11 this year
with a reduction of almost 60% in our call volume specifically to the entertainment district went from last year around 80 calls to 16 calls. And um citywide almost 50% of the call volume has um been reduced as well.
>> And I know that you also collaborated with our police department on the unified command. Uh and we saw you guys working hard out there uh together with with our police. >> Yeah. Um and that's a proactive uh trying to get this ingrained as a
systematic um you know process to do because of the future what we have coming up which is FIFA. We want to make sure that it's not our first time collaborating like that should we have a major incident. So this was a good opportunity to get our staff acquainted
with each other people that normally don't work with each other in that type of um command structure environment till the chiefs and executive level staff arrives on scene. And it was also great to see the unified collaboration for example with the issues with with like the nightclubs you know seeing police
code enforcement fire coming together uh to truly tackle this in a very coordinated manner uh through this unified command. So thank you very much for that. You guys truly were very responsible. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Good morning again. I'm Melissa Bertier, director of marketing communications. Um, this March, we definitely changed our messaging from the past two years um of declaring what we're not, anything goes party town to confidently saying what we are, a health and wellness uh capital. Uh, so our campaign, as you
saw, we launched a video, we had digital ads, we had outdoors, and it garnered 22 billion impressions. >> Yes. Commissioner Matel Selenas, >> are we going to do a video next year, too? So that uh I'd love to hear feedback um
on your thoughts. We've done it for the past three years successfully. Um so potentially we are um but I would love to hear your feedback. >> I think we absolutely should. >> Absolutely. >> Um and you know I remember the first year that we did it uh our former city manager and I we sat on the board of the
GNCVB and they were great partners in bringing it forward. Now, uh, Vice Mayor Dominguez sits on the board of the GNCVB and has been working closely in collaboration with you as well on the marketing campaign, and I do believe that it is perhaps one of the most
important elements of this campaign. We can pass all the policies that we want but unless the public is aware of these policies then they do not yield the desired uh outcomes to improve conditions. And in
fact it's why 2023 after the spring break right after the 2023 spring break when the business community came forward and said we're willing to take the leap of faith and support proactively endorsing curfews. It was great that we
did that a year and a half, a year in advance. Why? Because for an entire year, we were communicating and we were telling people this is what you should expect for the next spring break. And not just to the public, but also very
importantly to the business community. The business community now had predictability. They knew how, you know, how to do their programming, how to do their staffing. how to do uh their their the products that they had to buy, you
know, their promotions and and all that. It gave them ample time. So, I think uh I think we should definitely continue it. Uh Commissioner Selenas, actually, what I would love is uh you know, more um you know, working together early on.
Um, you know, it's it's it's a it's a marketing campaign that belongs to the city uh to the city of Miami Beach and making sure that we are all providing you feedback uh and input on it and being able to unveil it uh at the city
commission uh and making sure that we have uh everyone's uh input and and participation from the day uh on it. >> Yes. You know, I just want to throw the city its roses collectively. You guys
have all done an amazing job of changing the narrative from what we all thought was hopeless and chaos and would we ever get out of it? I mean, people would literally leave town. Um, and so everybody who's here and everybody who's not and all the people on the front
lines, um, you know, the sanitation crew was out one night when I was when I was, uh, doing a ride through and I'm like, are you are you walking? What are you doing? you know, who want to come with us? And they're like, no, no, we're saving our energy because when everyone here goes home, we're starting to clean the streets so that when they come back
out at 8:00 for their run, it's going to be pristine. So, it is a toptobottom organizational effort. It is remarkable. It happened in very short order, all things considered. And um so I want to give that to everybody. And I also want to point out as a marketing and branding
professional um the work that has been done on relatively limited well limited budgets compared to like for instance a hot new Pelaton ad that just might have broken in the last day and literally pushed stock through the roof. Um
uh it changed the conversation, it changed the the the flow of what happened. It changed the perception of what is possible and it has changed the future of our city. And so that's, you know, that's pretty damn good work. And
I think you guys, Melissa, you and your crew and our partners at the GMCVB, um, should really take a step back because I know we're asking you guys to do things all the time, large and small, but you know, when you have a chance, like really sit with that for a minute because that is a a generational shift.
That is a career making opportunity. and you guys knocked it out of the park. So, kudos. >> Thank you very much. >> And 22 billion impressions. I mean, >> yes, we actually surpassed uh, believe it or not, The Breakup, which was 19.5 billion if you remember in 2024. We blew it out of the water, I think, with the
reality check because everybody was wanting to see the sequel of The Breakup. Um, but we were very proud um, you know, with that figure. >> It's year four is going to be another challenge. But you see, but I think that reinforces that sometimes, you know, positive messaging. Messaging that, you
know, shows us also as a welcoming destination and focusing on what we want to be, you know, a welcoming destination, you know, highlighting the fitness related programming, which was phenomenal. uh promoting uh wellness
oriented locations that we had throughout the city, the financial services uh events that we that we had as well. I think promoting all of that is is is so important because it just shows how we have pivoted how we have
pivoted and you start to attract tourism that wants to participate in this health and wellness activity and break into a sweat. during the month of spring >> and and to the point you made earlier about inserting joy into our our daily
lives, you know, um the campaign was a little goofy and there are some people on Facebook, the keyboard warriors, God bless them, who are like, you know, they got their their their little kitten claws out and but the fact is it was goofy and it was fun and it to it told the message perfectly and um and so
goofy and fun is desperately needed right now and so that's not going to be our brand necessarily going forward. But but you know, inject joy where you can and and and you did and people responded to it and um I think this is a conversation that keeps happening among
our colleagues on the Deis, among our staff colleagues, among residents and I know I hear it from residents all the time when joy is inserted to things even especially hard things like you look at the crosswalk that was reinstalled and and the pride parade that followed and
the entire week's activation. people are so happy to have the hard things done but presented with a joyful, you know, in wrapped up in a bow of joy. And, you know, I think that's that's the direction that people are resonating with here in the city. I hear it all the time. I'm sure you guys hear it all the
time where where residents are saying, you know, this is a this feels like a city forward and by the residents, which it hasn't in a long time. And I think that that is um >> that's the direction we want. >> Residents want positivity. >> We everybody does. Everybody's desperate for it. Thank you, Melissa. You're very welcome
>> for your creativity. Truly appreciated. Good morning. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair. D Roante, director of tourism and culture. Good morning, commissioners. Uh speaking of fitness, uh the tourism and culture department for the month of March uh permanent some really amazing uh dynamic
fitness activations starting with a 305 half marathon. We had water pulooa on the second weekend which is city incentivized. On the third weekend, we had Athics Games by Adidas, the first ever North American um um exhibition by
Athics. So, we were really thrilled to have them here in Miami Beach for the first time. Uh we permitted about 34 special event permits for March, which included Miami Music Week. So, we closed out closed out the month really well. Uh and so, we are continuing uh to change
the narrative like you're saying, bringing fitness and fun events to the city of Miami Beach. Thank you, Lad. And I want to uh also thank our colleagues, Commissioner Joseph Magazine and Commissioner David Suarez, who who have
led tremendously on fitness activations and financial services that had they have been an important part. We we know how we have enforced the nighttime. We've learned how to enforce and restore order to the to to the nighttime, but
how do you activate the daytime? because it's not just about enforcement, but it's also about positive activation and filling the void. And that's I think something that this spring break we have seen a total uh pivot on is positively
activating the void of the daytime. Good morning. Morning. John Norris, public works director. From our perspective, it was a very quiet spring break. Our sanitation crews did an excellent job. Commissioner Bod, I appreciate the call out because most of what we do is behind the scenes and
they're working overnight to restore everything like nothing happened the day before. From an engineering standpoint, we limited projects in the entertainment district to avoid disrupting traffic flow. And from an infrastructure perspective, we had plenty of people on
call to take care of issues that arose so nobody knew they happened. >> All right. Thank you, John. You guys keep our city shining. >> Thank you, Mr. Parking Director. >> Hey, good morning, >> Willie McDonald. Good morning. >> Good morning, chair. Good morning, commissioners. Um, so I want to thank
really the commissioners that are here and those that aren't here for giving the administration the opportunity to do something that we hadn't quite done in the past. So, unlike other departments, a lot of our year-over-year numbers don't really correlate because obviously what we did this year was way different
than what we had done in the final the past two years. However, um allowing us the the liberty to focus on working with our transportation team to work to make parking and transportation harmoniously do aggressive pricing on the curb to try
to limit traffic, try to limit circling while maintaining curb spaces open for our residents at a dollar an hour, while maintaining curb spaces open for our visitors and residents with mobility issues. Um these are things that we are thinking about on a daily basis and we
have some amazing data that I would absolutely love the opportunity in the next meeting to bring to the committee to show how pricing can absolutely uh I'll say um allow individuals to make great financial decisions at never never one
time during spring break did we shut down our garages. Um, so therefore, outside of the private run garages that were charging $60 every five hours or $300 a day, our flat rate garages remained open for individuals that wanted to come here and find a
reasonably economical priced uh location. And also on top of that, while maintaining the shuttle system from three of our even lowerpriced garages, we allowed both employees as well as anyone that parked in those garages to hop on these shuttles to bring them in
the entertainment district so they could park even if they were not residents for the low cost of $2 an hour and ride a free shuttle into this zone. This was the epitome of a phenomenal parking and transportation ecosystem. um which we are going to end up publishing a paper
about in parking today magazine. Um it was incredible and I just want to thank all of you for the opportunity to do this and I promise you on the next meeting we will have the data to back up everything that occurred. >> Thank you John. Yeah thank will
>> I mean I I appreciate that compliment sir because he's amazing he's intelligent. So there will when you when you get that published, please send all of us a link to the published paper. That's >> that's no, we're going to be bringing you into it. What are you talking about? Because I can't write. Um but yes,
absolutely. >> Guys, let's just try to keep comments through the chair because I had Commissioner Dominguez next and I just got in trouble with Commissioner Dominguez. So Vice Mayor Dominguez, >> um what do you think about taking away the double the toe pricing for next
year? because the city doesn't get that money. Legally, we can't. It just goes to the tow trucks. I I'm not a fan. >> So, I I I I get why why we're not fans of that. I will also tell you, you know,
we worked with Senator Elana Garcia in creating the special events zones uh because of the issues of vehicles that were coming into our city creating problems. And I do think it does create a level of deterrence. uh that fee
applies to non-residents. Uh and I think if you're coming into the city and you're found even committing a noncriminal offense, you're when you're coming into the city and your car gets uh towed, you're subject to that. it I
think it it it deters people from coming into the city with their cars to create engage in criminal activity with their cars. Which is why in 2023 we looked at increasing parking rates and later in 2024 we looked at shutting down garages
because we identified that the problem was driving into our city and we couldn't shut down causeways obviously um and so we had to do it through parking garages and then the other way was you know you have your LPR details
you have uh your your DUI checkpoints but tied to that It was a deterrent tool that I think it's been it's been helpful. Again, residents don't get charged the double towing rate, but it does encourage people that if you're coming in uh with illegal substances in
your car or other situations that get you pulled over, you know, you might be subjected to this double fee. >> It's also affected families that have come from out of town and will never return again. We've all seen the video and uh posts on social media about this
um cuz sometimes our parking signs and this precedes you, but they can be confusing and uh a family comes from out of town and they park and they get their car towed and it's $500 to get it back. It ruins their vacation. And if we've already taken steps to
eliminate the crowd that comes here with our marketing campaign and the other activations that we have, um I I'm worried about that. >> May I May I say something? >> Yes. >> Um so
I will say this. In a perfect world, we will never tow a vehicle and we will never give a citation. >> Right? Now I understand a perfect world will not exist but what we are looking at personally within the parking department is first and foremost one of
the things that we try to do with our for example pricing on the curb versus pricing in the garages is create an abundance of availability on that curb when you do not put drivers in a pressure cooker of a situation where they have to choose between maybe you
know I'll say parking in a a taxi cab And when you have availability, you then take away those mistakes. So what I will say is is our department I I'll use our purple curbs as an example that we are already rolling out now every Sunday. We
have seen an 80% drop. >> I just want to make sure that we're clear. Special event zone is a area designated I believe in coordination with the police departments. I believe uh those special event zones don't go into the
entertainment district. I think it's limited to to to the fifth street corridor. I'm open to the conversation that you're suggesting, Commissioner Dominguez, but I cannot commit to that until I hear from our chief of police that he is okay giving away this tool
because this was something that took legislative effort, state statutes to be changed and enacted into into law. Um and and those double towing fees during spring break don't apply throughout the
entire uh South Beach zone of of of a spring break or or anything like that. It is a narrow limited corridor along Fifth Street in a set perimeter to address the issues of vehicles coming in
uh engaging in uh in any illegal activity. And yeah, I'd like to bring up the assistant chief is I don't know if if you may have some additional context in this uh and maybe we can ask the police department for for when we discuss this again to to bring us their
recommendations about it. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair. Assistant Chief Morgll on behalf of the police department. You're absolutely correct. Um, a special event zone by designation from state statute requires us to be able to identify a certain event or promoter that is promoting an event along a particular corridor or roadway
within the city. And then if it meets the statutory requirements of that particular statute, then it can be designated a special event zone and towing fees can be doubled and things like that. But I believe there are also high impact measures that the manager has available to them through the uh
legislative body that they can enact during spring break that don't necessarily require the special event zone designation. And that might be something that that uh you know is more flexible. >> Meanwhile, it's not a law enforcement tool that the police is using. That's what I want to be careful with because I
do know that that that for the police along the fifth street corridor and the MacArthur causeway that has been an important tool that you have been using. Now uh unrelated to that if it's a high impact measure uh that is being implemented in other parts of the
entertainment district uh and that it's affecting families with confusion with signage and that type of stuff. I'm very much open to that. >> Yes. >> Thank you, sir. All right, Heather, good morning. >> Now, I'll be very quick. Heather Shaw,
assistant director, economic development. I just wanted to say that communication was key in terms of making sure that all of our business community knew everything that was going on during spring break. And we didn't do it alone for economic development. We did it with our police department, with our communications department, with the
code, with uh the neighborhoods division to help us cascade throughout 5th to 17th Street from Ocean to to Washington to make sure that all businesses knew what was going on. Part of that was talking to them, not just sending out an
email, but actually having a personal touch with them, talking to the employees, sharing the information, know giving them the information of where they can ask questions. I think part of deconstructing the fear is being able to have a point person and having the information at hand. In addition, we
also cascaded it out to all of the hotels in the in the city um to make sure that they also had the same understanding of where they could ask for um qu ask questions and get answers and to have that information ahead of time. And then lastly, through our
newsletter, we do this every year. We try to ensure that all the businesses are preparing in advance for this to come and we do the same thing for Memorial Day so they know let's start preparing and understanding how we're going to do staffing what what how we can take advantage of the of the people
coming into town to to make additional revenue. So it was a a collective collaborative effort and we made sure that the businesses were aware. >> Thank you. Thank you Heather. All right, I see no other department here. What I uh this is a great update on the
successes that we've had. I'm so grateful to every single department. I mean, everyone was working. They were out in the streets uh sacrificing time with their families every single weekend uh to late hours at night present
analyzing the situation and hands-on working in in in improving uh conditions. What I would like to do is when we bring this item back next month, I want for the administration to identify what worked, what didn't work,
what we need to refine for next year, which tools were most effective operation operationally, whether they were traffic controls, whether whether they were parking regulations, um whether they were the unified uh
coordination, between fire and police and code. Uh what were the those most effective strategies? Where are areas where we're still, you know, avoiding or experiencing avoidable
friction, you know, identifying those so that we can see, okay, where how can we improve? How can we improve on that? uh whether whether it be uh you know issues with traffic on the causeways, whether it be staff fatigue, you know, when you
have staff working so many hours, staff gets fatigued. I mean, oftentimes we take our staff for granted because they're always present and they're always smiling and they're always working, but we have to take care of our staff as well. Um or, you know, quality of life issues that still spill over.
identifying where we where we still have avoidable friction points that we can improve for next year. Um to the point of Commissioner Dominguez, which high impact measures uh were implemented that we may want to revisit uh if if towing
was one of those high impact measures maybe it's something that we can definitely discuss uh next month. I don't want to discount it if it's not related to a law enforcement tool from our police. and what other recommendations the administration might have now in April while spring break is
still fresh in our minds. I'm going to just share just for the benefit of the administration, you know, a few points that came up during my dur during my two uh community meetings about spring break that the residents and the businesses shared. Um, the first one was the
barricades on the side streets of Ocean Drive and that was something that was brought up by by by the business community. Whether whether we can reconsider those or not, I leave that up to the professionals. Um, difficulties accessing the city and of course we know
that the LPR details and the DUI checkpoints are important. Uh, but you know, one of the suggestions was maybe we can consider having a bus lane. uh a bus lane when these LPR details go into effect. Uh because what what was happening was that the buses were being
delayed by over an hour. Uh so perhaps for the next part for for the next um conversation, perhaps transportation department could be present uh for the for the next conversation because it'll be good to know uh what we could do to
better accommodate uh buses on on the causeway. Um, and then the other thing that I think people truly appreciated and I got tremendous feedback on was the shuttles, the shuttles from the garages
to get people to where they need to get to to their jobs. Uh, those free shuttles, they got great feedback on it. The one thing that we did get that I got feedback about those shuttles, they the
public felt they were not promoted enough and maybe it's the type of stuff, you know, before we roll out our entire spring break marketing campaign. It's one of the things we can start promoting earlier. This one of those things I think it's just repetition, repetition, repetition so that eventually the
information flows uh to the workforce. And so maybe that's something we can the communication on the shuttles for the workforce maybe is something we can unveil earlier on so that the workforce uh finds out about it. But uh but
certainly got tremendous feedback and much appreciation that those free shuttles existed. And I see now our transportation department is here. >> So Jose, welcome. >> Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you. Yeah, I was just uh in that little corner over there. >> Couldn't see you over there. Um, so just
wanted uh you mentioned the bus lanes on on the causeways. Absolutely a good idea. As as you know, the Juliet causeway already has a bus lane on the MacArthur. It's a little more challenging, but we can work with FDOT to allow a temporary use of the
temporary use of the shoulders. There's president for that. We'd have to work out the details with them, but that's absolutely >> but that's for the next meeting. I'm just bringing this up now for the benefit of of the public and the administration that these are things that I would love for us to consider at at the next meeting.
>> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Make a quick comment. >> Yes, please. >> Uh as we're talking about things to consider for the next meeting. So, um it was a real hardship for residents to get back and um having it down to one lane
on the MacArthur and the Tuttle and then the major construction happening currently on the Venetian just made it too much. Um maybe for the city to let us know and evaluate if it's necessary to have the tuttle down to one lane
or if only MacArthur. >> That's fair enough. and perhaps that'll be part of the analysis uh assistant chief that could be brought back uh to the committee at the at the next meeting. All right, I think this was a productive uh conversation. Uh thank you
to all the departments that are present and to all the incredible employees who again sacrifice tremendous amount of time from their family to serve our community and make sure that we continue being the most beautiful and the most welcoming destination uh that we can
absolutely be. Um before we uh close this item and go back to the previous item, I'm going to open up the floor to members of the public wishing to speak on the item. Um, I see Miami Beach with their hand raised on Zoom. Oh, nope.
Miami Beach put their hand down on Zoom. Uh, Johan uh has his hand raised on Zoom. Johan, good morning. You have two minutes to speak. >> Good morning. One final time, I hope, for today. Uh, in light of Commissioner
Dominguez concern, um, um, I wonder if in fact the bus could be made free for Miami Beach residents, if that's not too bureaucratically complicated to figure out um, for the spring break period. Um,
I'm most intrigued by the possibilities of uh a temporary spring break uh bus lane on the MacArthur uh providing us with data that could in fact support a
permanent bus lane on the MacArthur. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak on this item? Uh seeing none in Oh, Kevin. Welcome,
>> Kevin Krueger. Um, I feel like I'm repeating myself, but uh, congratulations to all um, the the the professional producers that are coming in are fantastic and I'm only going to advocate and I'm already speaking with some of you in tourism department, economic development department
eventually, commissioners. Uh, I'd like to help go bigger. Um, I really think that our city of Miami Beach can own the month of March globally for sports and fitness tourism. As as you've heard, uh, I've been advocating since 2019.
And, uh, I'm in exploratory phase, so I'll spare it for the face toface meetings with you all. But, uh, let's keep going. I think we're doing great. And the World Cup, as Monica warns us, is a great test. Uh, good thing we have our former city manager, Alina Hudach,
as host committee. We've got a lot to learn, but this city's got a lot to earn, including the branding that we've pushed for. Uh, I don't want to hear the word spring break again. I'd rather hear spring training or some some other strong messaging, and I think we can we can do it together. So, congrats and
thank you. >> Thank you. So, with that, we can close out this item and uh go back to the one that we had uh skipped. That was Commissioner Box. >> Okay. Item number four, discuss a farmers market pilot program at North Beach Oceanside Park. This item was
sponsored by Commissioner Bach. >> Thank you. And again, thank you to the chair and the vice chair and commissioner Monica Mateo Selenus for honoring my request to flip the order. Um, I did not anticipate it would take as long to get here as it did today, but it's another item for a future
neighborhoods meeting. Um, so you know, we are working to become a blue zone city. This is an initiative that I've been leading since literally the weeks after my election. And um one of the really amazing unanticipated consequences of this initiative is that
even before we officially launch the the program um people are taking it upon themselves to um start to effectuate that the kinds of blue zones changes that we like to see. Um, the reason why it's such an important thing for our city and such a no-brainer for our city
is because we already have so many of the um underpinnings of what a blue zone city is in place. I mean, you look at the parks and reccks fac I'm never going to get the new name right, but the parks and wreck facilities, uh, you know, we just opened the Beayshore Park, which is a a jewel in the city, and and I would
argue among any municipal park in the country, and we are talking about doing the same thing for the West lots up in my up in North Beach and turning that into instead of sort of an afterthought that we're all trying to protect, a an intentional planned public space with um
with amenities um that will be transformative for that neighborhood. Um I've got neighborhoods, the Palm Hibiscus Star Island, um neighborhoods have put together their own walking moai and it's been successful and um you know and I hear people from the Flamingo
Point um complexes uh buildings that they have a farmers market there and a restaurant tour is changing his menu to to better reflect um Blue Zone's eating principles. like people are taking it on because as we talked about joy being such an important part of what bless you
um what we are all craving in the world you know there's a recognition that um taking a little better care of ourselves not in a punitive way but in an intentional fun community-based way is really important and feels good and feels good to do feels good to share
with others feels good to build bridges and bonds um we know from our former federal um uh Uh um God, what is his official title? The chief surgeon, surgeon general. Um everyone knows I'm terrible with titles.
The surgeon general um has published numerous medical studies about um the fact that loneliness is an epidemic with far-reaching health consequences. And for a transient city like ours, that is that's something that we need to be mindful of and we can we can bring our
resources to bear. So all that preamble is to say that um as part of the community engagement with the blue zones process last June we had a readout of our feasibility um study report um and uh we had several hundred people
attending that event including three of the people who are not staff or elected sitting in the front row here today and a conversation was born literally in that meeting that has resulted in this presentation that you're about to see. Um, and Cindy Casanova has been leading
the charge from from city staff. She is continues to be remarkable. She's not allowed to retire. Um, she should, you know, she's absolutely fabulous. Once once again, we're like, "Hey, Cindy, we had this little project. Do you think you could help out?" She's like, "Sure." And it ends up being this huge
undertaking. Um but but so what what we are proposing is a very intentional curated um farmers market event that happens on a regular basis. And I'm not going to steal the the team's thunder in presenting it. Um but that is cited in a
really special location that will draw from communities that are not just Miami Beach, but draw from neighboring communities. So North Bay Village, Surfside, Bal Harbor, which is good for our businesses. Um and and um you know a rising tide floats all boats. Um and
will be a service to the residents. Um we see in addition to all the other sort of blue zone things happening, we see farmers markets popping up. As I mentioned, one of them has been um you know sort of leading the charge in North Beach at the Carolon. Um and the
executive chef Chris is here to talk about that. He's also modified his menu to reflect Blue Zone's eating principles. And I can tell you it is delicious. It is not, it doesn't feel like you're doing something good for you. It feels like you're doing something indulgent. Um, so without
further ado, I'm going to let Cindy introduce this and then the team behind this make the presentation. And I hope you will agree with me that this is the kind of transformative, thoughtful, regular programming that we should be embracing um because it hits all of the
things we're trying to to build on in our community. >> Good morning. >> Okay. Good morning, chair, committee member Cindy Kasanova, assistant director of the parks, facilities, fleet, and beaches department. Um, as Commissioner Bots just so adeptly described, we have had a working group
made up of renowned celebrity chef Todd English and his team, executive chef Chris Robertson of the Carolan Resort, who as Commissioner Bod stated has been curating a successful farmers market um at the Carolon since November. If you haven't gone, you should check it out.
It's absolutely spectacular. Um, we've also been working with folks from uh Grocerers Gateway Group and local farm uh tot produce vendors in visualizing and collaborating on what could be a worldclass farmers market in North Beach. Um, we looked at a couple of
areas and I think we all collectively agreed and landed on North Beach Oceanside Park being the premier home for this curated farmers market. Um, we're looking at the space in the park in between 84th and 86th Street. um this would be a pilot program that um we're interested in trying out and with us
today we have a lot of those team members who've been working collaboratively with us for close to a year on this um endeavor. So I'd like to bring up Todd English and his team and Chris um and if PJ you could pull up the presentation that would be super helpful too. >> And I just want to uh introduce Rich
Santis who's been who's rich of course an integral part of this team as well. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, before we get started, um, I need to apologize to the commission. You have ample bike stance right up front. I just
missed it. So, so unless it miraculously appeared, that's pretty good work. >> We just worked that quickly. By the time you went down there, our incredible staff had them installed. >> I'm impressed. And I'm not surprised because you guys have been doing an amazing job. >> We are nothing if not responsive to our
>> Very true. You certainly are, commissioner, and you guys are amazing and I >> thank you. >> I'm proud to say I voted for each one of you. Um, of course. So, um, and then and just one more thing in deference to you, Todd English is an incredible mascot.
>> Great. >> Great. Great with kids, adults, but kids. >> It's a giant head. >> I think we'd rather him in the kitchen. >> Yeah. Yeah. He's he's pretty good in the kitchen, that's for sure. >> Met him vice mayor. >> Yeah. I actually met Todd English um
>> many years ago when I worked for Kenard and um he spent like a month with our sales team and me in in London in the UK on the QM2 and the star of the ship was his restaurant. >> Those are fun times. I remember with ED
>> I I tell a funny story. Um well it's not all that inaccurate. >> There are about 8 8 billion people in the world today. Nine billion of them have come up to me and told me a tad English story and and it all ends the same way. It was the best time of my life.
>> It was okay. So, since we're telling Todd English stories, this talk about the farmers market. That's the most important thing. >> It is what it's going to do for the city. >> This crazy, you know, I've always said my I I grew up and lived all over the world and I always expected whenever I was in an airport, I would run into
somebody that I knew from somewhere. It never happened. The only time it ever happened was here in Miami International. Right. So Miami and Miami Beach has always been this weird like personal vortex for me, right? And so the first year I lived here, I won't go into all the stories, but there were a million of these incredible weird small
world stories. >> So back when I was living in Boston, my my now ex-husband and I um would when we had a very exciting opportunity to go out and and splurge a little bit, we would go to Charles Town where Olives was located. And I don't know if it was
your first restaurant. Your first restaurant. and there was this hot shot young chef and food TV was just starting. We like bought the cookbook and we would splurge once in a blue moon to go there because it was a little, you know, it wasn't crazy expensive, but it was it was a little beyond our our um
our budget and also you could never get a reservation. It was crazy. So, we ended up like going when the weather sucked because people would cancel and we'd go early and we would be able to sneak in. And I remember one night in particular, the snowstorm was insane. The and so we were there, we practically
had the restaurant to ourselves. was very early and my my ex loves cream corn. I don't know. I can't expl explain it, but you you have you had on your restaurant on your menu at that time cream corn. Yeah. I don't know. Listen, we all grow up with our comfort food, right? And so
>> I support the divorce. >> No, no, no, no, no, no. He's he's great. And listen, >> cream corn. >> No, it's it's a comfort food. Listen, it's a comfort food. And and so Todd had some kind of a variation of a snazzy cream corn and he just you were so
gracious. You came over and like walked us through how to make it and you know like hung out with us and we were just completely starruck and we've gone back a few times since then and not had that kind of interaction and then you know 8,000 years later here we are
just amazing. It is amazing. So anyway, >> so tell us tell us about this. >> So yeah so let me let me share a couple of things with you. So, first of all, and it all be related to what I'm supposed to say. So, for you guys that know me, been in uh Miami Beach for over 30 years. I was part of the small group
>> that started Ocean Drive magazine. I was there for 16 years. It's still around today. It's a point of legacy for us. But I say that because I'm so I love the city and I'm so involved and intricate involved in the city and I've seen I've
seen how it's evolved and um I got to tell you I I walk around I'm amazed. I love the parks. Great job Cindy with the parks and things of that nature. It all it's it's become a joyful city for me. A more joyful city. There were times where it's a little bit right but I see the
evolution of it. Today I'm the chief growth officer for a healthy longevity clinic. We've been around for a long time. It's not it's something that we studied. And to your point, uh, Commissioner Bot, there is a loneliness epidemic happening. Um, there's a crazy
stat out there. Gen Zers, 80% of them eat alone. Um, that's a disaster waiting to happen from a mental health crisis, right? So, anytime that we can create community social bonding that's easily accessible, um it's not just great for the city, but it's also great for our
residents. Correct. Um and so this conversation to your also to your point started a blue zone meeting with led by amazing Commissioner Bod and Commissioner Joe Magazine. If you're watching, hi Joe. Um call me. So um but um we um it started there and that's
where we met Chris >> who is in incredible when you hear him speak you'll understand. So this was supposed to happen, >> you know, but as she was talking passionately so about Blue Zones like Todd who's traveled the world, >> my my good friend Chef Todd English,
four times James Beard award winner and um who's traveled the world and he's a connoisseur of of farmers market. He actually got a little bit irritated at the Blues meeting goes we need a farmers market here. I said let's talk to Commissioner Bot. And that's how the conversation started and of course Chris
chimed in. So we're here for a reason. We're here for a purpose. Um, this is a it's a source of passion for us. It's a it's a it comes from a place of love. So, we're not looking at it from a necessary money-m opportunity, anything like that. You know, I mean, I'm a firm
believer that money is a product of good impact. Serve others well. Whatever follows follows, right? And that's exactly our ethos. Um so to that end um the other thing that really was encouraging to to um amazing Cindy
Kasanova's point it immediately once we announced that we want to do a farmers market. If you see our email threads it's become a real community from people from all different walks of life that are so interested in this and want to see it happen. I'm sure many of them watching right now. Hi and thank you.
So, we're excited to present this and uh we look forward to getting the uh the support and and guidance that we we seek from you. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> Chris Chris, you want to go? >> So, um Chris Robertson, executive chef for Caroline, Miami native, not a Miami
Beach resident, but uh it's been my pleasure to be a part of the community for many years. My family owned a small hotel in North Beach when I was a child. I love the island, um which is why I choose to work here. And what got me excited about the prospect of a farmers
market was uh I like to learn about food systems. I grew up in an agricultural family. We we had properties. We grew oranges, tobacco, corn. Food systems have changed so dramatically that this bag of tomatoes from three
years ago is 125% more expensive. Now, it's the second highest growth besides oil in the last year. >> And Todd stood up at the Blue Zone meeting and he's like, "We can't get good tomatoes on the island. What's going on?" >> Yeah. >> And I was like, "Hey, I get good tomatoes."
>> These came from Homestead. I drive down to Homestead every Thursday. I got a guy. He's super nice. No pesticide, no herbicide, no fungicide. It's grown in compost. We sell them at the hotel at cost every third Sunday to our residents. It's open to the public. You
don't have to pay for parking. We're open to the boardwalk. I drive down. We pick them up. We bring them in. It's for community service. So, what we said about community service, like we're walking the talk. We opened it um against a lot of people's advice. It's a small area. It's on our uh ocean
terrace. It's hard to access. There's no really there's no frontage on the street that says farmers market. We've grown from 125 attendees our first to over 500. We expect over 700 this time and we had a simple ethos. If you want to vend with
us, you have to be a local vendor. You have to be supporting and growing in South Florida. We're not huge. There's no farms east. You can't get a tomato east. So, we go west and we go south and we go north, but our ethos is seasonal,
regional, and uh the best we can get. That's it. So, that's part one. Part two is you have to have a sustainable element. So, do you have good water management systems? Do you grow in a way that makes sense for the environment? Um, do you donate food to systems where
people without access get get the food? And part three, you got to be from around here. You can't be like, well, I buy these candles in Bali and I melted some beach sand on the top and I'd love to sell them for $37. So, we we said we're not going to be a bazaar first. We're not going to be a food court
first. We're a farmers market. Our farm is two vendors. It's Farmer Mike's you pick from Medina Springs and it's me personally on behalf of the Carolon. Farmer Mike's is a family operated farm. The dad's name is Mike, the son's name is Mike. They don't use machinery to
grow or harvest their plants. They plant every seed with a finger. They pick every seed with a hand. And it's a natural ecosystem. We don't take any revenue share or profit share from this farm. So, we're not a traditional farmers market. We are there exclusively
to service the community. Exclusively. We do not directly profit from Farmer Mike's produce sales in any way. And the community comes. Some people need uh luggage carts to take their produce with them. It's affordable. The
last part of our ethos is that they are not allowed to charge beach taxes on the food. I know what their wholesale prices are because I do business with them. I know what these cost because I bought them. And so you don't see this bag of purple mazuna, which was grown locally,
um, go for $15. You can't find it at a grocery store. There's no competition. We could easily charge whatever we want for it. It's five bucks. It's five bucks for this bag. The tomatoes do not experience the same growth um, in pricing that we've seen in markets. So
the pricing in markets comes because we have fuel charges, we have tariffs. 70% of the nation's tomatoes don't come from the nation. Right? So the idea around this was how do we connect local growers to our community to drive costs for for
produce down for them because if you change the food systems you drive costs down. We don't have the normal number of steps for a tomato from anywhere to your plate is between three and seven. Goes from the farm to producer to here. and
our idea is bring these products to your community. >> Thank you um Commissioner But this is so exciting >> and I think it just it elevates uh our community when you're giving them these
fresh homegrown uh products from our local farms. I I I just think why wouldn't we want this in our in our community? What is the action, the motion that you're seeking from from this committee today? >> Um u support by acclamation to move it
to the full commission so we can pass this and and get it going. We'd like we'd like it to um >> uh be ready to go for after the fall season, you know, October, November, as soon as we can get it permitted. Um you know, there's a presentation in here. Cindy, do we want to go through the
presentation? >> I think it's a good idea. We just still have a number of other items on the on the agenda. >> We can do it super fast just so you get an idea. >> Um, >> yeah. So, you know, one of the things first of all, thank you so much and uh and and your support and Commissioner
Bot and Cindy, it's amazing and you guys, our team has been amazing around this and it's been great working with you for a year. One of the things and and and I go back to all of this about just what a a farmers market brings. And we're going to show you here quickly that it's it it's a place of community.
It's a place where people gather. And if you look at Blue Zones, you look at the social aspect of it. You look at the community. It all really starts from a farmers market which is about produce as as chef was saying that's grown locally that is healthy that it's non-pesticide that is regenerative and all the things
that we talk about that I've been working on through my whole career which is like hey you know you need healthy food we need to get back to this and a lot of big part of this is also educational too. So, we're going to be doing things and and and and and actually like we're in the middle of the
mushroom uh display, I'll be, you know, there cooking mushrooms and talking to the groups about how to cook those mushrooms and and and teaching kids about food. So this is uh sort of the layout and it's a beautiful park as you know and um so you can see it you know
we'll start you know really relatively small and uh you know and and and and precious in a way the fact that we'll have you know hand c I'm going to hand curate along with chef the actual uh uh um the farms that we work with to make
sure that it fits all our criteria. >> Next slide please. Next slide. >> Let's go to the next slide. >> Take it. Use the laptop, please. >> Do we have another one? >> We can flip through these. >> Oh, I'm in charge of that. >> Okay, you don't want me in charge of that. Um, so uh uh Okay. And again, you
know, uh I we want it to be uh uniform in the sense that it feels uh very much designed for this particular space and very much in the style of what I feel Miami Beach represents. So, we got keep going. again uh well laid out well
curated uh people that you know you it's a feel-good thing there'll be other activities in the sense that you'll be able to have cooked food there as well but again not overly expensive I feel still in my biggest thing is all my career said food is our greatest
democracy and we have to look at it that way we all deserve to eat equally the same and have the same nutrition around it so >> and that part of North Beach is such a food desert any househ this will be a real bonus >> right and so I think it's really important and I I I want to activate a
lot of kid programs with this a lot of health and wellness around it happens to be wellness week this week here in in Miami so we're doing a lot of stuff around that as well uh working with Rich on that we'll be cooking and being doing cooking demonstrations live demos talking to the community uh and really
talking about you know things that it's shocking that people are not you know still you know educ educated and you know and if you get me on my soap box I'll say well why would you go to fast food and you know and spend you know 10
or 12 dollars on two two burgers that are nothing and worthless and you know and a and a thing of French fries and a large Coke and you can go to a farmers market and get the same thing and teach your kids how to eat and be healthy and that's a big part of what I'm all about.
Let's get educate the next generation. I love the idea of the mascot. we can make that maybe a big orange or something on a food part of health and wellness, you know, that really is about that. I did something years ago around that. So, I think it's a great thing and >> thank you, Mr. Todd. I want and I want to thank you and the entire team for
bringing this item forward. Commissioner Bond, what great vision uh not only to have a farmers market, but doing it with such an award-winning uh worldrenowned uh chapl like uh Mr. English. Uh thank you for joining us. I'd like for the committee to entertain a motion to
support the farmers market every other Sunday maintaining those accessible pricing but including the diversity of selection of seasonal fruits and vegetables uh from our locally sourced uh farms and to and together with the familyfriendly uh interactive
activations uh so this really becomes uh true community activity and I'd love the committee to entertain that motion. >> Yes, I'd like to make that motion. This is a great idea and I look forward to being there and shopping at the farmers market and thank you. >> I will dress up as a mascot and come to your farmers market. So, thank you.
>> The moved and second. >> She already the the items been moved and second. Are the me are there members of the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing no members of the public attending in person wishing to speak on this item and none via Zoom, we can show this transmitted back to the full city
commission with a positive recommendation by acclamation. >> Thank you, Congress. Thank you guys. Thank you. >> All right. Next item. >> Our next item is six incentivizing grocery and food vendors expansion in
North Beach. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez and co-sponsored by Commissioner Fernandez. >> Vice Mayor Dominguez. >> Is this your item? So, um, one of my aids vids, uh, lives up in North Beach and, uh, when we were
coming up, uh, looking for items that would help and benefit North Beach, this is what came up. And in conversations with, um, the city administration, Heather, it looks like we may be getting stuff uh, in the next couple years. And I'll
let Heather explain it, and then we can close out this item. Is it afternoon yet? Oh, it's still morning. Oh, good morning again. Heather Shaw, assistant director economic development. How auspicious to go after the the market. Uh because North Beach
uh >> exciting stuff happening in North Beach. >> This is very very auspicious. Yes, definitely. Um the North Beach neighborhood has a limited access to healthy a variety of healthy and affordable food. We all know that and that's something that's very very
important. So, one of the things that the uh vice mayor had asked us to look into are are ways to incentivize more food options for the area um and how we could do that. There are a number of ways that we explored including
the the farmers market which is definitely an option um to have in the in the area of uh of North Beach and then also it is also the North Beach CRA which can work to build programs and
policies to encourage uh businesses food businesses to move into the area. We looked at some of the existing um incentives that with with state programs and federal programs. A number of them don't really apply to us. Either we're not within those zones or within the
realm of their requirements um or we don't have um uh residents that actually qualify for some of the the programs or businesses that would qualify for those programs. We looked into some um green cards and mobile carts. As you know, right now we don't I'm sorry.
just just for the benefit of time because what and and I think the uh vice mayor was was alluding to this and it's in our staff analysis that since the original referral of this discussion item there have been notable developments that have emerged that present new opportunities to improve
access to healthy affordable food options in North Beach. So, yes, we are aware of an interest of a grocery store potentially coming to the North Beach area, which we're very excited about. I can't really disclose any more
information. We're going to leave it to to them um as they are working out the details. We are very excited. >> Is there a lease signed? >> Uh I I I believe there is. Again, I I I all the details I want to to leave with them, but it is very exciting to be able
to have >> that interest in in the North Beach area. >> Right now, there's only one fullervice grocery store. And in fact, if this uh private deal goes through between a grocery store and a private property owner, we might be in in essence
addressing the concern that this item was seeking to address, >> right? And then we'll have it in two we'll have it in two years >> with the way that I believe that it's on course this should be within two years. Yes. >> Amazing. Mayor, one of the things, and
if you indulge me, um, Commissioner, is it's also having a a large grocery store would be wonderful, but also we want to within the CRA, also encourage smaller grocery stores, just like we're talking about the the um fresh market um that of the of the produce market coming in, but
also to encourage them to have to to bring more businesses that are like that. because one grocery store is great, but also having something that's even within walking distance to support those types of things to think of a variety of food options for the area. And so that's something that we're
committed to continue to do through the CRA and through economic development. >> I love uh when you go to certain urban communities that they'll have, you know, just how you have food carts or food trucks. Some communities have, you know, neighborhood
food carts where they bring in fresh fruit, >> fresh vegetables, so you don't have to go all the way to your grocery store. It's more centralized in the community. >> And that's something we want to we still want to focus on to make sure that we have fresh produce markets, fresh other
markets that could come in um that can be sustainable, that are walking distance and neighborhood and friendly friendly. >> Thank you, Heather. Thank you very much. >> Much appreciated. And Commissioner Dominguez, can we show this item as closed? >> Yes. >> Wonderful. So, we'll show this item closed. The next item,
>> the next item is a discussion about proposed Normandy neighborhood entrance sign at the Normandy Fountain on the western end of Normandy Drive, 71st Street. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez. >> Madame Vice Mayor, you're welcome to introduce your item. >> Thank you. So, um I've been working
closely with the Normandy Neighborhood Association on a variety of items. Um and that includes Laura Vetia, Rabbi Hadar and uh Howard Chase and all uh Jill Patty Hanau all sorts of uh
requests and different things. This is one of the initiatives that they brought forward and working with the city attorney's office and uh David Gomez and the neighborhood association um we've come up with some uh items. So
David, if you'd like to take it away. Good morning, David Gomez, director of capital improvements. >> Good morning, David. >> Um, this initiative was brought forward by a group of residents in North Beach. Uh, and they had originally proposed two locations. One of which is the location for a soon upcoming Miami Welcome to
Miami Beach entrance sign. It's an iconic sign that the commission approved a while back. Kind of happy to announce that we received bids yesterday and hopefully you will hear more about that when we bring it to award in May at the commission meeting. Um they did provide
recently some revised renderings which are attached to the memo. Uh my only concern with their proposed rendering is it appears that the location is within FDOT rightway. FD dot has historically been very reluctant to approve any
monument signs within DOT rightway primarily for safety concerns. >> Right. which is why we had suggested an alternative of using neighborhood signage similar to what we used here across the street and and some other places that have have received favorable responses.
>> I love that idea because I think madam vice mayor it's great to have neighborhood identity. I think that that creates pride uh sense of place a sense of purpose um and and these are special neighborhoods. Each one of our neighborhoods have their own unique
character much like when you go into Palm View where we have a beautiful sign uh for for for Palm View. We're working on one. I believe it's for the Nautilus uh neighborhood. We're we're working on one there. Um I'm I'm all for creating
neighborhood identity. You know, one of the questions I had was whether, you know, sideline and traffic safety impacts have been analyzed, especially near the fountain um and at the western approach of Normandy and 71st Street, but I think you just mentioned that
Normandy and 71st Street, that western approach, there's already a welcome sign that's that's going there. >> It's upcoming. Yes, sir. >> That's upcoming. Um, so what I would like I I'm happy to support signage for for for Normandy Isle. I would like it
to stay consistent with the city's branding and signage for other neighborhoods. I don't want to introduce a new concept of signage for one neighborhood because then we're going to lose consistency. Um, but you know, providing the
community with what they want because I do think that that creates pride. Um, and it's also good for people who are driving through the area and they don't know which neighborhood they're they're they're in, but staying consistent with what we've done for other areas. >> Are any uh
neighborhood association folks on there to speak on this item? >> There's no hands raised on Zoom. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Well, I'd like to move this to the full commission for a vote there.
>> Okay. Uh what would be your your motion? >> Uh to have the signs and um >> do we want to ask staff to put together a concept of a sign? Um it might not from my pers from my perspective. I saw
the sign that that was produced that's presented with the agenda. It certainly is a very elegant it feels like a monument sign. A very elegant monument sign. Um, you know, I have concerns again as I mentioned about, you know,
sideline and traffic safety impacts, but maybe having staff work with you on on a design that might be more consistent with the signage that we have for other neighborhoods as well. Uh, so that we can uh
>> like on the Venation, we have something like this saying, "Welcome to Miami Beach." when you're driving east. Um, it's on the south side, uh, right when it starts. I think this is beautiful. >> Colleagues,
I support the sign. Um, I um I don't know if I'm entirely sold on the sign, but I'm kind of indifferent. I mean, if that's what the neighborhood wants, then I respect that. I wouldn't mind seeing maybe another design. Um
so but I am overly indifferent. I want to defer to the neighbors in the neighborhood. Okay. So um we'll move it to the full commission. In the meantime, David and I will work with Norman Dood and come up with some options for the commissioners to decide on
>> along with the neighborhood because if they are dead set on this, then I'm okay with that. But >> okay. All right. And my and and my feedback would be just my only feedback is, you know, one thing is the monument signs that we have entering the city. At that point, you're entering the city and
that should truly be a monument sign that says, "Welcome to Miami Beach." But I think as as you're entering into neighborhoods, that's a different type of signage. And I just want to make sure that we have consistency because then what's going to happen is, you know, another neighborhood, you know, uh,
Bisking Point is going to want their their signage, uh, because, you know, they're a special neighborhood as well. And then Beayshore is going to want their own and, you know, it starts. So just a certain just a certain consistency on on on the signage. Um
that's that's my only suggestion but uh but happy to support and we can show this sh sent back to commission um with no members of the public present to speak uh by acclamation. >> Okay. >> Next item.
Next item is discuss what initiatives the city of Miami Beach is taking in order to become more festive for national global events such as the college football CFB championship game taking place in January 2026. This item was sponsored by Commissioner Magazine.
>> Okay. Is Commission did is Commissioner Magazine online to present on this item? >> I do not see him online right now. No. Okay, who who will be presenting the item?
>> Good afternoon. This is Rafante, director of tourism and culture. I'm happy to kick it off. However, just like the spring break item, it's uh it takes a village. You know, our the citywide uh efforts and making us festive and clean and ready for all the events that we've
had in this year of sports. uh in the memo before you um the request is to see what is the city doing to be more festive and clean. Uh we've had many events already starting in January uh the month of March, April. Uh you know we're hosting the first ever for Formula
1 Grand Prix and then we're also going to have a Memorial Day weekend and the FIFA uh activations in June and July. And I think before you can see what each department is doing as far as tourism and culture, we are excited to show um
in the spirit of being festive and the intersection of arts and soccer. We are in talks right now with a visual artist to show a new media work of art at Soundsscape Park and we're going to have uh the director of the Perez Museum curator do a chat with the artist. We're
really thrilled uh to show that this work has been exhibited at the Perez Museum of Art and also at the FIFA Museum and it's a 9-minute video uh of soccer and soccer fans. So, we're really excited to do that. I'm happy to then uh defer to my other colleagues uh in
marketing, communications, and economic development uh to see what in public works and to see what the other efforts are for the city. Welcome back, Heather. >> Thank you again, Heather Shaw, assistant director, economic development. What we're trying to do for economic
development is really build capacity of our businesses so they can handle these situ. So what we're doing is not doing it at the last minute but actually trying to back out of it to see make sure that they have their have all their permits that any of their ideas that they want
to do that they can um that they can be prepared for that. We are also working to bring all the business improvement districts and the neighborhood business associations together so they can also collaborate and leverage each other's knowledge and capacity so they can have
citywide events or um area events or also to help the businesses that are in those districts. We're also going to expand the um business concierge program so it could be very specific so when they're coming and they want to be prepared for these special events um
that are coming to town that they can sit down with us and we can make sure that they are actually um prepared and for their staffing and all the permits that they have. And then we are obviously as I mentioned before we work in a collaborative effort with our our colleagues to make sure that businesses
are aware through communications and promotion and marketing and working with the communications and marketing department to make sure that they have all the information that they need to be prepared. So really it's about preparing them for success. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Have we had a business town
hall about the activities that are coming forward, whether it be, you know, Formula 1, FIFA, you know, just getting everyone together, making sure that they understand the excitement and the opportunity that's coming their way and
um, you know, giving them the best shot that they can to capitalize on it. We haven't had a a business town hall meeting, but we have kind of deconstructed it. And so we are working through our associations, through the business uh improvement districts, through the neighborhood associations,
through our newsletter to make sure, and we started this already definitely for FIFA to make sure that they're prepared and they have all the information that they need. And it's something that's not like a one-off like we did it a month ago. We're doing it every single month to make sure that they're aware, but we haven't had >> I just be mindful that not all good. not
not all businesses are within a business improvement district. >> This is true, >> you know. So, I just be mindful of that. Um or even if they are within the the the areas of a business improvement district, they might not necessarily be in communication. The property owner might be
>> Mhm. >> but not necessarily the tenant that's operating the business. >> We also do canvasing. We we canvas each um area every week. we go to a different neighborhood and just talk to the employees that are there, if the business owner is there to tell them
what's going on. And we try to also um enhance our our newsletter. So that's an email thing. And then we also are working with the hotels to make sure that the hotels are also ready. But we try to kind of cast a wide net to touch all the businesses. >> Are we partnering at all with the chamber of commerce? >> Yes. Yes.
>> Okay. What are we doing with the with with the chamber? To me, I think I think we have a lot of resources, but I just want to make sure that the businesses are fully aware of the resources uh and that and that we help that we help elevate this as much as we can. So, what
are we doing with the chamber? >> So, all the information that we have that we share about preparing for these events coming up, we also share those with the the chamber so they can cascade it out to their membership as well. Um, I'm not aware of anything spec uh special that the chamber's going on. Doesn't mean it isn't. I'm just not
aware of it right now. But I'm sure >> I'm sorry. You're not aware of what? I'm sorry. >> If the chamber is doing something special like doing a a business town hall or not that I'm not aware of, but I do know that they share the information that we give them about how to prepare that they cascade that out to their
members. Yeah. >> Yes. >> Um, thank you Heather. I really appreciate the outreach that you're doing to the businesses and good point that not all of the businesses are a part of a bid or a business group or they're just not aware. Um, and I just it's super important because I think
I've mentioned to you before that the businesses who don't know usually they cut staff in the summer drastically because summer is slow and this year our businesses are going to suffer if they are not aware and they continue to do that. So I don't know if folks know the
magnitude of what's coming for FIFA. So, I appreciate what you're doing. Um, and I' I'd like to I'd also want to mention that that's a great suggestion about doing a town hall. And I'd like to maybe we could partner and do something with the chamber together and really um make sure we're reaching the businesses who
are not connected and who, >> you know, think that there there's not going to be a huge impact coming. Bless you. >> Dustin. >> Thank you, Heather. >> Thank you. >> Hi. I'll pop in for a good second. >> Yes. Hi again, Melissa Bertier, director
of marketing communications. Um hopefully you all loved the 17th Street garage wrap. Um that was an O to all of the sports activations that are happening. >> But I'm super excited um about these 48 soccer balls that we are going
inflatable 15oot soccer balls that are going to each represent a specific country. Um there are 48 teams which is the largest uh FIFA World Cup uh tournament that we've ever seen. So, we Sorry, I ran here, so I'm out of breath.
Um, so super excited um that that will be coming online in the beginning of June. >> Amazing. >> Awesome. >> And Melissa, could you talk a little bit about your activations that you're going to have? >> The soccer balls are Yes. So, they're
going to be all around the city. So from North Beach, South Beach, Mid Beach, um in parks, on Lincoln Road, Espanol Way um and so we are now determining exactly the locations, working with all of our colleagues in parks, um in facilities,
um tourism and culture. Um and it's kind of just an Instagrammable moment that people can check off their list, um not only supporting their teams and standing in front of their, you know, whoever they're supporting, but also other teams. Yeah. >> And how big are the soccer balls, Melissa? >> They're 15 feet. Oh wow.
>> And and the base is actually a foot and change. So they're inflatable. >> Let me ask you something. How can we leverage our communication assets to help promote what our businesses are
programming? So I just want to make sure like this is a special opportunity for our businesses um and also for our residents for our residents to better know what our businesses are offering. And I and I think we could be such a great conduit for it because not every small business
throughout our city uh has the marketing resources, >> right, >> to to to do that to amplify the message. And I think it's almost kind of like with spring break, you know, with with with spring break, you know, we set the tone for the city. I think it's kind of
like doing the same thing with uh with these opportunities that we're going to have, especially with FIFA. um you know to help you know have a consolidated website uh uh consolidated portal um maybe it's a special social media
account uh for Miami Beach we are going to have a specialized website um it's going to be miam beachfl and I would love to share if any business is going to have a free unofficial watch party um that is free and open to the public I would love to
post that there because if you're looking to see you where can I see Germany play? Where, you know, I want anyone, whether they're a resident or they're a visitor, to be able to go on our website and see, you know, where they can watch these these games. >> And I'd love for us to also like to promote it, you know, in in our emails
and and that type of stuff because it's a public service. Businesses are our constituents as well. And a lot of times our residents don't find out about some pretty amazing number one pretty amazing businesses that we have in the city. Uh
oftentimes they don't find out about it. It's like the other day I was on Washington Avenue and I parked somewhere and I saw a thrift thrift store cool little thrift store in Washington Avenue and I called my aid Carara who loves to thrift and like oh my god Cara did you
know about this cool little thrift store? >> I know that store. Yeah. >> You know that store? and and it's like, "Oh my god, this is like a locally certified thrift store that I bet most residents don't know that's there." >> And all of our inflatable soccer balls, the base will have our logo and it also will include the link to that website
and a QR code. Um, so people can go and, you know, hopefully explore. Um, but it is very it is very World Cup specific, but we do have the Find Your Vibe uh directory. So hopefully people are using that and leveraging that to find >> Well, I think we need to create more
awareness. So we have this great products marketing collaterals that we've put together. We need to figure out how do we put this more in front especially of our residents so that they can use it better >> and we can use that put that directory
onto the World Cup specific page. >> Yes. >> So people can look at you know all of our you know whether it's retail or whether it's restaurants. >> Okay. So our businesses can provide you with information of their activations. So, yes. So, the plan is I'm going to work with our economic development
department. Yes, Heather's raising her hand. Um, you know, to request from businesses what they would like so we can help amplify uh their their events or their promotions. >> And are we can we I mean, I think we should be
putting a campaign out like right now like a like a campaign leading to that on social media and our emails. Hey, you know, much excitement about World Cup coming to to to Miami Beach. You know, share your plans with us. Share the
energy. Share the excitement. Uh let's all be team FIFA ready for for for the games. I don't know. Uh but so that we encourage. >> So, we've started developing some of that. Um you know, we say 48 nations, one shared passion. Um and explore where
the world comes to play, which is Miami Beach. Um so, then it says Miami Beachfl.gov. /worldup. So, we are starting to develop that collateral. We had to get through spring break. >> Yeah. >> Um, but we are we we will be working um with economic development to help uh
reach those businesses to get their information so we can start pushing that out as soon as possible because it really is the largest event in the world. >> Let me um since since we're on this subject, viewing parties, well, I know they're unofficial uh viewing parties.
Um, what are businesses like on Lincoln Road and Ocean Drive and you know businesses throughout our city? What are they allowed and not allowed to do as it relates to viewing parties? >> Thank you, sir. So, we have been in communications with the Lincoln Road Bid
and Ocean Drive Association. So, as long as the um restaurant has the TV in viewing inside and it's not more than a thousand people, they're not promoting it. They're able to show it just like anyone else. you know, uh, if you're have a TV and you're watching the games
at home. >> So, okay, inside, >> you know, the majority of these these restaurants on Lincoln Road, they're not big enough to, uh, host inside uh, even on Ocean Drive and some of our major
corridors. What What is being done to be able to accommodate these establishments? you're you're having um you know brunch on Lincoln Road on Sunday and you want to be watching the game. Um what what what
can be done to facilitate that? >> We have already established uh communications with uh Lincoln Road and the Miami FIFA host committee. So they are in communications on how to address those. And so I don't have the full
details, but as far as what I mentioned already with that they can show it within their restaurant and uh as long as it's under a thousand folks, uh it should be fine. >> So FIFA is the one that has to approve for them to be able to show it inside the restaurant. >> If it's going to be No, if it's going to
be outside on the proper road, they're going to promote it and have, you know, a larger crowd, then it does need to get some licensing um approvals and they have to pay. But if it's within the concession area >> of the of the establishment, it's fine.
>> If it's within the concession area of the establishment. >> Yes. >> On Lincoln Road. >> Yes. And they've been working with the host committee and >> they can they're they're they're allowed to have a TV screen and be able to have the game so people can watch the game.
>> Correct. >> Okay. Do they need any special permits for that? >> At this time, I' right now, no. We I don't think we've received any requests for anything bigger than that >> bigger than >> than what they would already hold within
their establishment. >> Okay. So, I just want to make sure I'm I'm understanding well. So, on Lincoln Road within the concession areas that each business has, let's just say Spree, I'm just going to use Spree for as as an
example because we like Spree. um spree. You're you're there Saturday and you want to you want to watch I don't know one of the one one of the FIFA games. Uh the July 11th uh uh quarterfinals and I
only say that because July 11th is my birthday. >> So the writing down so we want to be on Lincoln Road on July 11th watching the quarterfinals of FIFA and we're at Spree sitting outside. uh spree would be allowed to have within
their concession area a screen outside where their guests are able to watch the game. >> Hello. >> Hi, >> Christina Bear, chief of staff. Hi. >> Sorry I wasn't here earlier. >> Yes, they are allowed as long as it's
within their right their perimeter, their their thing and they're doing it for their customers. um obviously >> but within their perimeter of the concession even though it's public property even though it's Lincoln Road it does I just want to have clarity um because I'm sure we're all going to be sharing this information because it's
very important for our business constituents um it doesn't have to be private property it can still be on the public rightway but meanwhile within their concession area >> correct >> okay >> correct and I've already had conversations with Annabelle for Lincoln Road I've had conversations
>> conversations with Cessie for ODA Okay. >> Uhhuh. >> So, we are working on that. >> And when they do that, are there any public safety requirements? Are the businesses having to pay for cops for offduty or that's just, you know, we're we just realize it's FIFA and people are
going to watch want to watch the game and so we're going to let them have the TVs. >> As as long as it's part of their sidewalk cafe permit, then no, they don't have to do anything that they don't normally do when they have their the people outside on the sidewalk. >> Okay. Do they need to since we don't
since we no longer have sideway sidewalk cafe permit since we now have concession agreements does it require any amendment to the concession agreements >> commissioner? Yes. I think that the concession agreement right now does not allow uh an establishment to play a TV
outside. >> Okay. So that's where Okay. So, so I want to make sure because what I don't want our business community to find themselves in, you know, you know, in a bad situation that then they're trying
to activate during during FIFA and then they're getting a violation because they they're their their concession agreement doesn't allow it. So, >> they're No, I'm sorry, Commissioner. didn't want to jump in, but the city manager is well aware and we will be allowing it during the FIFA time.
>> Okay. Does that but So, does the city manager have authority to amend the concession agreement? Do we need to do a temporary amendment to it? Is what if people start to complain? Let's say someone starts to to a competitor starts to complain. They didn't prepare and all
that and now now they're upset that they're not doing it. Uh, and we and we know how that can be. And they call code and code says, "Oh, the concession agreement didn't allow this. I didn't know that that that I could that I could do this." Um, so what happens in a
situation like that? >> Well, the city manager is in charge of enforcement of the concession agreement. So, there's a variety of ways you can do that. he is going to allow uh concessions to have outside sound and
TVs uh during that specified period. Uh maybe he could let all of the the uh restaurants know that that will be an available to them even though it typically is not. You could also do some
kind of formal uh uh uh amendment to the concession agreement if you really wanted to. >> I want to remove the subjectivity from it because I I want to make sure that businesses are given the sufficient
clarity and objectivity and comfort to know okay the city is trying to help us. Not only are they doing promotions uh to promote our our activities uh but you know facilitating within our sidewalk
cafe area, our concession agreement area to legally allow us to engage in this activity. And I think that that's important because you also I think you would want to probably bake into that Rob certain controls to avoid abuses to
avoid people you know over over congregating people uh or creating too much noise and that type of stuff. And so to the extent that it might be good to have something a little bit perhaps more formalized to the unique uh nuances
of this of this situation might be good that way you know colleagues we we we avoid any potential splinters that um that could happen with this. >> If I may um yeah no we we want nothing to trip us up. No no no splinters on
bare feet on the sand. Nothing like that. Um, so I I like this the direction this is going. I want to make sure this is included to North Beach where we have a naturally occurring prepoundonderance of soccer fans. So that um and and small businesses who may not be connected. So
through the CRA um through Normandy Business Fountain, Normandy Fountain Business Association, all the the businesses along Collins who will get the spillover from events happening at the band shell. Like we need to make sure we've got very robust community outreach. Um, and Melissa, just to go
back to the giant inflatable soccer balls, which I just love. Um, did you I I I caught something, but I don't think I understood the entirety of it. How are fans going to know where to find their country's soccer ball? >> So, that'll be listed on our website.
>> So, how can we The odds of a um somebody who's coming in from another country whose English may or may not be great um finding knowing about finding our website, it's not super super super high. I hopefully it's higher than I expect. Is there can we do something
where we do like a a you know a 5x7 card of useful information that we distribute to the concieres at hotels? >> Yeah, we definitely can do that. >> Okay. >> And we hope it'll go you know viral on social and it'll be really fabulous for sure. That's a great idea that we can distribute something to the hotels.
>> Yeah. So I don't know if that needs to be incorporated as a a new project or we can just do it administratively. Okay. Can we also have Melissa on the soccer ball like a QR code that you can scan and it'll pop up the Okay, it's already in there. Perfect.
>> So, I want to go back to you Rob. An amendment to the concession agreement to make sure that our businesses can capitalize on the on the FIFA games that start I believe when is it June? June 15th is it? >> So, the kickoff is June 11th um is the
first game which is Mexico versus South Africa taking place in Mexico. >> Okay. Um, but that's the kickoff of the >> That's the kickoff. So, uh, Rob, in order to have the policies in place in time so the businesses can capitalize on this, uh, when would we need to bring an
item to commission to amend the concession agreement with this temporary framework? And would that be an ordinance or resolution? >> It would be a resolution and it would be May. >> May. Okay. All right. So yeah, I'd like I'd like for us to work on that unless
would the administration have any hesitation on that? >> No, the manager is well on board and we've already been telling the the bids and the the association. So >> we're 100% on board. >> Okay, great. Commissioner, >> one more thought. Um maybe Melissa, you
and Jose can um and Misha can can coordinate on um getting a QR code into the city bikes app and onto their baskets. Um, so that if you're because we know a lot of tourists rent the city bikes to get around town. So if you're here for the, you know, something as
simple as if you're here for World Cup FIFA, click here or scan here and then takes us to the website. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Let me let me ask you uh do we need does that require any amendments to allow um
the amendment to the concession agreement? Does it require any amendment to like outdoor entertainment, temporary amendment to outdoor entertainment or anything like that? >> Well, that I I have to look at the uh agreement. I haven't looked at in a while, but my understanding is there is
a prohibition on outside uh speakers, >> right? >> And so, >> but independent independent of the agreement overarching the agreement is our ordinances, >> right? And so and and so I guess my question is to the extent that an
establishment may have a TV inside playing uh playing the game or may have a TV within the outside concession agreement area. Do we need to amend the overarching uh policies that relate to
entertainment uh live entertainment to allow during this narrow period of time uh these displays? I would need to check with our land use attorneys on whether the the land use regulations would need to be impacted at
all. I don't think so, but we would need to look into that. >> Okay, that'd be great. And I appreciate if you could please circle back uh to me on this. Mhm. >> Great. Awesome. Uh, as it relates to traffic
management and parking, walk me through because I would imagine there's going to be a lot of excitement. We have a number of matches taking place uh in our in in our area in in Hard Rock. I think it's seven matches uh taking place in Hard
Rock. So, I can only imagine, you know, tied to that there'll be a lot of tourism coming in naturally. uh that that's going to be staying in our hotels. But then there's also going to be a lot of people just wanting to come to the beach and enjoy. What are we
doing in terms of transportation management, traffic management, uh parking controls, shuttles, uh what what what type of coordination are we are we doing? >> Good morning, Mr. Chair, committee
members. Jose Gonzalez, transportation mobility director. So the uh Miami date county, specifically the Department of Transportation and Public Works, is really taking the lead from a countywide perspective in terms of providing
specialized transit services, shuttle services to and from the stadium, different metro rail stations, uh different transit hubs throughout really throughout uh the the county. So, we've been part of those um their
monthly monthly discussions uh spearheaded by the county mayor's office and but it's it's it's really um a regional approach, if you will, not so much a city focused uh approach. From
our perspective, what I can say is that we'll continue to do what we do at every major event, whether it's, you know, art week or um Super Bowl, which is our our traffic management, our active traffic management. Uh we have enhanced
staffing. Uh we have uh we provide monitoring for enhanced hours, additional hours. uh and we deploy special event signal timing plans along major thorough affairs depending on whether the traffic is coming in or
exiting the beach. >> Okay, let me just ask you something strategies. >> I understand that for you know transit management there the regional government of course Miami date county will take the lead uh w when it comes to transit
services and getting people to and from the stadium and that type of stuff. But, you know, you have an influx of tourism. Um, I need to know what specific measures we're going to be taking. Like, for
example, you know, uh, last last year there was a soccer game and, you know, they won the game and all of a sudden you have an overcrowding of people that take over the streets in North Beach. That happens. That's something that
happens that affects traffic. uh you have an o an you know I'm do we have any metrics on our hotels on their occupancy uh reservations for for the month of of June? Do we have any information on that yet or projected
>> occupancy? >> No no I don't at this moment but I'll get that for you. Uh but I can only imagine, you know, there's going to be high occupancy levels in our in our hotels during the month of June, much like uh Art Basel or probably even more.
I mean, this is a worldwide event. And so I just want to make sure that, you know, we do more that we're ready to do more than what we usually do. I think Commissioner Matselinas has been very clear that I think, you know, we might underestimate because we've never had an
event like this before in our community and it's better to overprepare um than to be underprepared. So, I just want to make sure because with traffic, you know, fortunately, it's in the summer, so our traffic dies down in in the summer, but with such a larger
influx of people, I just want to make sure that we're not just prepared as relates to traffic, that we are overprepared for it. Cuz if not, we all know our cell phones are going to blow up, the mayor's cell phone is going to blow up, the group chats are going to, you know, all be telling us, oh, we
didn't prepare for it. No, I want us to be overprepared. Overprepared. And that means we need to have extra traffic safety specialist on a temporary basis. Uh I don't I don't know if that's something that we should consider. Um I don't know, you know,
school board and I mentioned this last time, school board police, you know, do we do we want to consider maybe speaking with a school board because a school board is out during summer uh and and that type of stuff to seek their support in order to help manage traffic. I just
want us to make sure that we are thinking outside the box for the for the unexpected. Um because I think that that's the magnitude of crowds that we should be anticipating for the unexpected and go above and beyond what we would normally
do even for a period like Art Bosle. >> Commissioner, if I may. So we started to meet as a team um in house with all the departments that you've mentioned already. We also are meeting with the the FIFA host committee starting last month to put all these things into
place. I can tell you as far as police, the county has already let us know that they will not be able to give us not one officer. >> I'm sorry. >> The county will not be able to give us not even one officer. >> Yeah, but that's Miami date county, but I I was referring to Day County public schools. >> Public schools that we already have reached out and we will be able to use
that. >> We we will. >> Yes. From Chief Jones himself. >> That's great news. Um, but I just want us to be ready, you know, prepared and overprepared. Overprepared for, you know, what we won't even be anticipating
for. Any other comments as it relates uh to uh to to FIFA and Formula 1 preparations? Sir, John, Mr. John Norris. >> John Norris, public works director. So, a couple things related to traffic. We
will be implementing a construction moratorum in the entertainment district in particular to make sure there are no unnecessary lane closures. In addition, city projects will minimize closures during that time. We'll also be looking at all rightaway permits that have been
pulled to make sure final restorations are complete if they can be prior to FIFA. We are in the process of resurfacing and doing concrete repairs on 17th Street. We had a meeting with the contractor this morning to ensure that will be completed by the start of
FIFA. It's a huge project to undertake. So you will be seeing some traffic disruptions leading up to that. But uh it'll be completely resurfaced and new curbing gutter in some areas from Washington to Alton in the next 6 weeks or so.
>> Good. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. And that construction moratorum is very important. Uh, Assistant Chief Margallo, is there any resource or support that the police department needs from the city commission that we need to be discussing now?
>> Uh, Mr. Commissioner and, uh, the committee, uh, Assistant Chief Morgal, again, on behalf of the police department, um, we are extremely grateful for the level of support that we have from the commission and from the city. At this time, under Chief Jones's leadership, we're we we're meeting weekly internally in the police
department to go over everything and anything related to FIFA to make sure that we are prepared for all uh eventualities in including, you know, working with DEM and doing tabletop exercises to simulate, you know, a hurricane hitting us in the middle of
FIFA. So, we're we're going above and beyond to make sure we're prepared um for all potential potentialities during FIFA. Um, we're communicating with our public safety partners throughout Miami date county to include all the municipal departments. Uh, as was mentioned, Miami
date sheriff's is going to be tied up uh, at the stadium. And we're not just looking at the seven individual game days or the day that we're hosting a concert here. We're looking at that entire 40-day period because depending on what teams are playing and where, if we have a strong level of fan support
here locally for one of those national teams, we could see um increased crowds in our city or pep rally. So, we're prepared for all of it. >> Thank you. And I and I appreciate that. And I don't want uh you or the city manager's office to be put in a position where, you know, you're being asked to
divulge more details than what you can reveal in public. But what I will say is that as the elected body of the city, we do have a responsibility to the public who has placed their trust in us uh to make sure that we have the highest level
of preparation and coordination and we place that trust that the public place in us, we place in you guys. Um, I want each one of the members of the city commission, the mayor and each one of the members of the city commission to have a full briefing individually of
what's being done to prepare because ultimately if something goes wrong, it falls on us. We're the ones that that respond to the public. Uh, and so I just want to make sure that we each one of the elected officials because this is a
significant event. We've had nothing like it. It is, you know, they say how much bigger is it than a Super Bowl? >> What? It's like, >> huh? No, >> it's like 103 Super Bowls a Super Bowl. >> Exactly. So, it is much bigger than a than than a Super Bowl. And so I want to
make sure like stuff that you mentioned, you know, here as assistant chief, that each one of the members of the city commission have a full briefing on everything that is being done to make sure that our city is in the best of
positions. And I understand that a lot of times that might mean stuff that we might not be able to say publicly from a podium, but as the elected officials, we owe it to the public to make sure that we're going above and beyond. Commissioner Matos Alenas, >> I just want to add that not only is it
bigger than the Super Bowl, but it's actually seven Super Bowls over the course of the month. So, we're really in for interesting things um especially when it comes to the quarterfinal and the bronze final matches. And so we just have to really have all hands on deck as I'm, you know, everyone is is is getting
there and preparing. So I appreciate that and a lot of good comments by Commissioner Fernandez here too. And I would appreciate a briefing as well. So thank you. >> Yeah, I want every member of of of the commission, all of you are doing important stuff, but we don't know that. >> Commissioner, if I have a moment, yes,
absolutely. I will spearhead it and make sure that everyone that's in part of our internal committee meets with all of you together as one team so that you see everything we're doing. But I do want you to know that we are taking this very seriously. >> No, I know that's that there's no doubt about that. >> The manager has told us to get together
and put our best foot forward is I think that's one of your agenda items. >> Um and we're doing so, but we will schedule we will schedule those meetings. >> Yes. Thank you. All right. Anything else as it relates to this item? Are there members of the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing none in person and
none on Zoom, we'll continue this item to next month. And we're going to work on a number of marketing related initiatives to support our local businesses, reaching out to them, asking them to let us know what they're doing uh and also to promote what they're
doing. and we're going to work on legislation to amend the um the concession agreements to allow for for um for the temporary uh TVs for broadcast. >> We're going to analyze what we have and
what we need and come back to you with some suggestions. >> Well, now come back to committee because we would need to take this to commission in May. >> Got it. >> Thank you. Thank you, colleagues. Uh with that, let's go to the next item. The next item is item number 10,
discussion on reviving employee shuttle program and other transportation solutions for the Fountain Blue Hotel staff. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez. >> Madame Vice Mayor, this is your item. You're recognized. >> Thank you. Um, so I think I alluded to
it earlier on another item. Uh, I met with the HR department of the Fontlau and also had conversations with the transportation department. Uh, Fountain Blue is our second largest employer and they have uh a lot of employees and um
way back when they had an initiative where they would shuttle employees in and I'm trying to get that revived. Transportation team has been doing an amazing job to get this done and I think they're just about ready to launch. So what I would want to hear is just
briefly uh launch dates and then bring this back in July after the launch to hear how it's going. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. uh chair u madame vice mayor. Um happy to report that as a direct result of your stewardship on this item. Uh the
Fountain Blue Hotel has executed a contract with Commute with Enterprise. Commute with Enterprise is one of the services under the South Florida uh commuter services program that helps major employers um create van pools and
there different types of programs for employees to join and reduce the uh single occupant vehicle use. So they they've executed a contract. They're in the process of uh formulating their own program, if you will.
um based on the number of employees uh the type of vehicle. Uh the South Florida com actually the program is is sub is subsidized by two agencies by Miami date county and by the South Florida Commuter Services. Miami date
county contributes a subsidy of $500 a month toward the um the the rental of the vehicle that they ultimately will select as part of their van pool. and the remainder is is subsidized by South Florida Commuter Services for a period
of 3 to 6 months. Once the that 3 to 6 month period is over, then the employer in this case um Fountain Blue Hotel would uh kick in uh with a with a subsidy. This is such exciting work and Commissioner Dominguez, I want to
congratulate it, congratulate you uh for implementing this employer supported vanpool program uh for that hopefully through this coordinated approach uh we got to reduce those single occupancy vehicles that contribute to traffic
congestion. Commendations to you want to see decided come back in July >> please and quick question if you would announce when the launch date is expected. >> We don't have one yet. Okay. Um, >> then let's come back in July. You and I will huddle uh uh to try to get that locked down.
>> All right. All right. We can see this. We can show this item continued to July. >> Next item. >> The next item is discuss using portion of the log cabin for community pantry. This item was sponsored by Vice Mayor Dominguez. >> Madame Vice Mayor.
>> Thank you. So, having participated in several food distributions, particularly in North Beach, I've seen how many individuals, families, including seniors in our community are experiencing food insecurity.
And it's um thanks to many volunteers in some of the churches that go out and collect food donations from local grocery stores that some of these people get fed. But we don't have a place to store the food overnight. And
so as we are deciding on what is going to happen with the log cabin, I'm not uh I want to make clear that this is not an item. It's not a community fridge. It's a storage item to be monitored by
Marcela and her team. They would have the keys. It wouldn't be people coming and going. is just a storage area because it's been very difficult to get uh places to agree to storage. We went to St. Joseph's. We went to the Calvary Church. We went to a few other uh even
unidad. Uniad cannot store it because they are approved for serving fresh food to seniors and they would not be permitted to store food that is past the deadline, which is what the case is with some of this grocery store food. Um, so
this item is to consider a space for a fridge um that would be monitored by Marcela and her team. >> Hi Marcela, welcome. >> Good afternoon. Marcela Rubio, assistant director to the office of housing and community services. As the vice mayor
mentioned, we are trying to leverage existing resources to eliminate any cost for this initiative. Uh this would allow uh existing staff to distribute food upon request to residents that need uh and need the food and cannot attend
existing food distributions. >> All right. U Madame Vice Mayor, what would you like to do with this item? >> Um well, I don't know if it needs to stay in committee. Uh I when are we going to when is the commission going to discuss the log cabin again? That's
still here in committee. Uh we were the the item got deferred uh due to issues relating to costs and uncertainty whe at this time whether it's going to stay in the park or moved over to the west lots and the potential cost implications. So
um we're we're we're pending I think some information to reschedu a discussion about the west lots and the log cabin. Is that correct Stephanie? >> That's correct. I'd like to lump this in together and then maybe bring it back for June or whenever it is that you do the lock
county >> when we bring back the other items. Okay. Thank you. >> And in the meantime, I'd like to encourage I mean I don't know if we've reached out to Miami Day County Public Schools. There's Biscane Beach Elementary. Uh that's that's up in North Beach. I don't know. They might not be
able to, but yeah, >> we can contact them. >> Yeah, we'll work on that in the meantime until this item comes back. Thank you for the idea. Appreciate that, >> of course. And thank you all for your participation in today's meeting. To the members of the public who participated,
and to the incredible staff who guides us in the work that we're doing. Thank you always for your support and your guidance. This meeting is adjourned.