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 five four three two one.

Good morning and welcome to our monthly commission meeting, April twenty second.

Looking forward to a good meeting.

Thank you to my colleagues who are here.

We'll uh have full quorum uh momentarily.

Uh turn it over to our city clerk, Ralph.

Any uh pertinent announcements.

Good morning, everyone.

The city commission is physically present in the commission chamber at Miami Beach City Hall, seventeen hundred, conventional center drive, third floor.

Members of the public are invited to attend either in person or virtually.

If you're joining us virtually, you can log in using the Zoom app or visit Zoom.us on your browser.

You can also phone in at toll free eight eight eight four seven five four four nine nine.

That's eight eight eight four seven five four four nine nine.

The webinar ID is eight one three nine two eight five seven six seventy-one pound.

Again, webinar ID is eight one three nine two eight five seven six seventy-one pound.

If you would like to speak virtually on an item during the meeting, please click the raise hand icon in the zoom app or press star nine on your phone.

The zoom link, webinar ID and phone numbers stay the same for every commission meeting.

All lobbyists must register with the office of the city clerk located on the first floor of City Hall.

You do not need to register if you are an expert witness giving only technical or specialized testimony, a representative of a neighborhood association or nonprofit speaking without pay, or a private citizen speaking on your own behalf without compensation.

However, if you are an expert witness or a nonprofit or it or a neighborhood representative, you do need to submit a written disclosure form to the office of city of the city clerk before speaking with the commission or city staff.

Forms are available at the office of the city clerk.

If a lobbyist gives or agrees to give a thousand dollars or more to a neighborhood association or its representative regarding a city matter, that must be disclosed in writing to the clerk.

Note that contingency's fees are not permitted to compensate lobbyists.

If you split if you plan to speak during the commission meeting today, please sign in.

Penrod Brothers Inc.

versus the City of Miami Beach and Boucher Brothers.

Case numbers 2023-16657-CA-01.

2023-56-AP-012.

2023-CV-23362.

And 2025 13415.

These cases are before the Florida 11th Circuit Civil, Florida 11th Circuit Civil Appellate Division, the South District Southern District of Florida, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Federal.

Therefore, a private attorney client session will be held during the lunch recess of the city commission meeting in the city manager's lodge conference room on the fourth floor of City Hall to discuss settlement negotiations and/or strategy related to litigation expenditures regarding the above reference litigation matter.

The mayor will announce the commencement of the attorney client session prior to recession of prior to recessing the commission meeting.

Thank you.

We have a lot of celebrations going on in our city today.

Some of us are color coordinated to reflect one or both of those occasions.

It is uh Yomad's Mut, which is the uh Israeli modern state of Israel, Israel's Independence Day celebration, 78th birthday today.

So a lot of celebrations last night and today.

It's also Earth Day.

So congratulations, and uh we'll celebrate uh that as well.

So a lot of good things happening today, and but obviously a lot of work as well.

It's my honor to invite Pastor Eddie Gervais, Gervais, the uh Miami Beach police chaplain.

I love that badge.

This makes uh look good.

Thank you.

Good morning, Mayor, um, commissioner, city manager, and distinguished guests.

My name is Pastor Jervis.

It is an honor to stand before you today on this wonderful Wednesday morning.

Let me give you a little story.

In 1991, before I give the invocation, I had an opportunity to travel to Romania on school for a missions trip just after the fall of communism.

It was a nation in transition searching for identity, stability, and hope.

And during that trip, a translator discovered that we were from Miami with excitement and the first words out of his mouth Miami Beach.

Miami Beach.

He did not say New York.

He did not mention LA.

He did not even mention United States.

He mentioned Miami Beach.

And he requested to travel back with us, reserving a suitcase spot for him.

In that moment, I realized something powerful.

Miami Beach is not just a city, it's a global symbol.

It is a beacon, it is a brand, it is a witness to the world.

And with that recognition comes the responsibility.

Mr.

Mayor, you have it.

Commissioners, you have that responsibility, the power of leadership to determine this city on the map, the power of leadership to determine what it represents today.

You we're standing here reminded that the world is watching.

You're not just building, you're telling the world how to build.

You're not just promoting, you're letting the world know what you stand for.

And it all begins in this room, in this chamber, the meeting place, the launching pad, the decision that not only shape this city, but build influence globally.

Miami Beach.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you for the privilege and service of leadership, and we ask that you would grant wisdom to the mayor and every commissioner in this room, wisdom to discern what is right, what is just, what is the best for the people they serve.

Give them clarity and decision making, courage, and moments of pressure, and unity in the midst of diversity.

Strengthen their minds, guide their hearts, and Lord, honor their steps.

Make every decision here reflect integrity, compassion, and vision that uplifts not only the city, but set an example for our nation and world.

Let the city of Miami Beach continue to be a beacon not only of beauty and influence, but of righteousness, excellence, and hope.

In your name we pray, amen.

Thank you.

You you that was very powerful.

You actually had chills up here listening to you speak.

So thank you.

And I I have that, I think probably speak for everyone here.

Yes, Miami Beach, no matter where you go in our country, around the globe, uh, it has a special reaction from people.

So thank you for reminding us of that, and of our responsibility uh with that.

And it's a big weight.

Thank you, Ms.

Bear.

Thank you, Commissioners.

And remember, South Beach is not Miami Beach.

I mean, not Miami, the city of Miami.

We're two different two different cities.

Absolutely.

Blessings.

I'm always reminding us often I get introduced.

They mention Miami.

I'm like Miami Beach.

And we do.

We put it in the name of a lot of the ban show.

We we make sure that we remind people.

So thank you for that.

Well, since it is Earth Day, we had Arbor Day.

I'm looking at Amy Knowles in the back to maybe would you want to come up and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Amy is our chief resilience officer and director of the environment and sustainability department.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we'll start our uh Sutnik time now.

Anyone?

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh anyone who's interested in speaking to the commission, please approach the podium.

State your name, address, and you have two minutes.

Um morning, commissioners, mayor and city staff.

My name is Joseph Frias, and resident of the Yak Club Protectino Marina Tang House.

I have been part of the Marina community in nearly four decades.

First, I would like to thank Commissioner Alex Fernandez for taking the initiative to introduce Terra Group, David Martin, regarding a potential marina project by Montes as well as a possible update to the 1999 list to reflect today's conditions.

I also want to thanks to recognize and knowledge of the challenge of our neighborhoods face over the past several years.

The increase in chartered board activity has brought impact that the marina infrastructure was never designed to support.

Particularly safety and quality of life for residents.

Additionally, I would like to thanks as a city manager, Osidominge, and assisted city manager Mart Taxi for taking the time to meet with our general manager, chief engineer and myself.

We appreciate the opportunity to address ongoing concern, especially regarding the misuse of the non-public Jack Claudefinal Garage and how that relates to the original least terms.

Moving forward with respectfully ask the city to remain proactive, not only in planning for the future improvement, but also in enforcing the current lease requirements and operational standards.

We will also appreciate the clear follow-up and accountability on these issues.

A first class facility that coexists responsibility with the residential community.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, sir.

Next, please.

Okay.

Okay.

Yes, hi.

My name is Honor Gande.

I'm a resident of Miami Beach.

I grew up here and also I run a business out of here, just down the street.

So my topic of discussion is paddle courts.

Basically, I wanted to bring this up.

I want to first ask everybody in the room if anybody has played paddle.

So please raise your hand.

Okay.

Not many people have.

Some people have.

Okay, that's great.

And who has played sporting?

And how many people have played tennis?

Okay.

More people have played tennis.

And how about squash?

Okay.

Okay.

And then the last one is pickleball.

That's another popular sport nowadays.

Okay, perfect.

Just a few.

I love this interaction.

Paddle and paddle, basically.

Yeah, that's the same thing.

Yeah.

Yes, yes.

So basically, uh so basically I wanted to bring this topic up because what happens is there's a lot of uh proposals coming into uh uh you know in front of you guys uh for uh more and more pickleball courts and more and more more um paddle bore uh paddle courts and uh I think this is a problem with um the definition of uh this paddle court uh in fact it's not really a court it's a structure, it's a building structure.

Uh in fact, it's not really a court, it's a structure, it's a building structure.

So I created uh you know a chat GPT generated uh document which explains you know the difference between the different sports and also uh you know uh how you have to build these uh structures uh for paddle differently from uh tennis and so on.

Uh and then I also I also created another document which shows um the different projects uh that are in commercial zones and also projects that had some problems in the residential zones uh in West Palm Beach.

A billionaire, for example, wanted to build a paddle uh court, uh paddle structure on his backyard, and that he had some issues, and so on.

Anyway, uh I think I'm running out of time, right?

Um so overall uh my issue is uh one uh there's a uh paddle uh paddle court structure uh that's gonna be built uh on the top of the parking garage.

That's gonna eliminate 200 parking spaces.

Uh it's a good location because it doesn't create any light pollution, it doesn't create any noise.

It's away from residential zoning, it's great.

Uh but then uh there's a proposal which you're gonna review today uh in the afternoon, uh, where uh the design review board approved to build four paddle courts be four paddle structures behind my house on Lagore's uh you know uh golf course.

I bought a golf course property when I moved back from San Francisco, and uh now uh so uh these things uh create light pollution, they create uh noise.

Uh so I think when uh the commissioners and uh the city personnel review the cases, they have to interpret these uh paddle courts as paddle structures, and they have to also look at wind mitigation studies, they have to look at environmental effects, how the lights are gonna impact the birds, us, humans, and how we're gonna sleep at night if they're gonna build it next to my house.

So I really would like to ask you to you know start uh thinking about those kind of things when you're approving things.

So thank you so much.

And I have one more comment.

That's for the wrap it up.

We we have another session in the uh afternoon.

Yes, yes, but I have one more comment.

This is about ethics.

Uh the city attorney, uh Nick Kalurgis, um, needs to basically um apply um some um rules of the floor when he oversees uh the uh you know the sessions.

Uh for example, when the design review board uh uh member is uh voting, for example, for the paddle courts to be built in front of my house.

Uh she should make a disclosure about the fact that she owns two houses on a lot of golf course.

She should also make a disclosure about whether uh she uh is a member of the club or not, or whether her husband or son is a member of the club or not.

Thank you, sir.

Your own.

And none of these disclosures were made, and I think it's really uh not ethical.

So I got affected by this, so I just wanted to bring this up.

I had to fly from London here uh to uh present my case.

Thank you.

Well, thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Is that a public uh comment item?

Later.

Next, please.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, just a suggestion.

Just a suggestion.

Commissioner Fernandez.

Maybe maybe we can refer a discussion to land use on the on the issue so we can expand on the discussion on setbags and that type of stuff of the patel.

Just a suggestion.

Um I'm happy to do it, but there is an item later on the on the agenda.

Correct?

It's a DRB appeal.

Well, there's a quasi-judicial hearing on uh a DRB appeal.

So I think what Commissioner Fernandez is suggesting is is different to address broader issues.

Sure.

Happy to do it.

Thank you.

So by acclamation of referral to land use to discuss setbacks regarding paddle courts.

Yeah, yeah, and other things.

Other related.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, got it.

Okay, so thank you, sir.

Go ahead, please.

All right, good morning, everyone.

Uh my name is Manny Orozco.

I am here in my personal capacity as a lifelong Miami Beach resident in support of the towing item.

Uh I will not miss words in saying that towing in Miami Beach is known to be predatory.

And it represents some of the worst of what our city has to offer our residents.

Yes, I have been towed one too many times since I first got behind the wheel at 15.

Uh so safe to say I have been waiting for this moment.

Uh but my most recent towing just a few months ago is emblematic of what is wrong with the system.

I was towed for my residential zone, just a uh less than one-third of my car was touching the yellow curb.

Uh yet my entire car was taken.

And on top of the tow, the city issues a ticket, so you're hit twice.

Uh there's no worse feeling than walking outside and finding your car gone.

Uh there's no worse feeling than walking outside and finding your car gone, taken and ticketed, and over no real public uh safety justification feels like a violation because it is.

And the predatory behavior goes beyond just the tow itself.

These companies know every trick, claiming their card machines don't work, so you're uh forced to use their ATM machines and pay additional fees.

I once caught them attempting to tow my car from a private lot without the uh property owner calling for the towing, uh knowing that they can't do that.

But I only knew that because of my background in local government.

Most people don't.

And that is exactly why stronger oversight of these operators need to be part of any reform.

Miami Beach is home to people of every social economic uh background.

When your car is taking your cart and you're required to pay large sums of money, uh, that is not a minor inconvenience.

That is a crisis for some people.

Commissioner Fernandez, Commissioner Bott, and every co-sponsor, thank you genuinely.

But I asked that the commission go one step further.

When the administration returns with their reform plan, please consider including a retroactive appeals window where residents towed for marginal violations in the last 12 to 24 months, can petition for a refund or a fee waiver and pair that with real accountability.

Other cities have done this, it is reasonable, it is doable, and it is the right thing to do for the residents of Miami Beach who have been screwed over by the towing companies.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Matty.

And thank you, Commissioner Fernandez, for bringing the item.

I've actually gotten in the probably the last two or three weeks more complaints about the towing than I had in in several years.

So something is has to be going on.

I'm getting a lot of complaints about it.

So timely, timely item.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you, sir.

Go ahead.

Good morning, Mayor.

Commissioners Matthew Galtanoff, 125 Jefferson Avenue.

Last Thursday, a woman was killed crossing 41st Street, just a few blocks from the mayor's home.

She had the green light.

She had the lock signal.

And she was in the crosswalk.

She did everything right.

A left-turning truck driver hit her with their mirror, and when she fell, the truck's rear wheels ran her over.

I don't know her name, but I know this.

It could have been any one of us.

The next day, a bicyclist was hit on Elton Road.

And recently a construction worker crashed on 17th Street.

Those are just a few of what we heard about.

Last year, according to Signal 4 Analytics, nine people died on Miami Beach's streets.

That's up from five the year before.

We're trending in the wrong direction.

Mr.

Mayor, you say that you want Miami Beach to be the safest city in America, and you boasted about bringing down violent crime, especially in March.

Bravo.

You and others deserve praise for that.

But for most residents, the real threat isn't a random act of violence.

It's crossing the street.

It's riding a bike.

Florida leads a nation in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths, or bicyclists killed.

And yet, silence from the stay is every week.

This commission gets a weekly homeless efforts email.

It's a scorecard of people arrested, baker act, or taken to shelters.

Every week you measure enforcement against the unhoused.

Where is the weekly email of traffic crashes?

If it matters, you measure it.

Almost a year ago, the city adopted a vision zero action plan with a goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries on our streets.

The target date?

2040.

15 more years.

Meanwhile, excuse me, Mr.

Mayor, could I have one more minute?

Yes, thank you.

Meanwhile, Hoboken, New Jersey, hasn't had a traffic death since January 2017.

Almost 10 years.

It's a city our size.

And it's just across the water from Manhattan, like we're across the water from downtown Miami.

They didn't wait until 2040.

So I ask, what will you do to make it safer for people to cross the street?

Residents don't just feel unsafe.

The data proves that they aren't.

Thank you.

Thank you, Matt.

Actually, uh appreciate your comments.

I'm I'm presenting tomorrow to the Miami Day TPO of Transportation Planning Organization.

Um water taxi is a big topic conversation, but so is bicycle safety, uh bicycle lanes, pedestrian safety.

That's uh uh part of what I'm gonna be addressing.

It's a it's a countywide problem.

Um the numbers are not good for countywide, as you know.

Um, and uh certainly it's something that we're looking to to address.

I'll also add you you mentioned the uh the tragedy last week on 41st, and uh I may ask my colleagues for for help on this too.

I had brought an item um a year or so, probably more.

There's there's two lanes on 40th and 42nd.

Uh there's uh 40th and 42nd, there's three intersections that we can add an extra lane.

Um so you can have a dedicated left turn lane with a signal.

Um, but it's it requires some, and we're gonna we're gonna need to push FDOT on this in a big way.

Um, and that would not only potentially ease traffic, because I I uh I'm a believer in that a lot of the problems is too much traffic.

So you have so many cars and pedestrians, but you also have a situation where we could have a dedicated left turn lane on three of the intersections, and uh we need to make sure that happens.

Um it uh it's there's too many guys.

I mean, my understanding in that situation is the driver for whatever reason didn't even see her.

Don't know why that is.

I'll I'll leave I'll leave it to the police to uh to conduct their investigation, but um a tragedy nonetheless.

But we recognize the issues.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Mayor.

Is there anyone else present?

Good morning.

I'm Mitch Novick.

I manage two multi-family unit apartment buildings here on Miami Beach.

Yesterday I received my two waste connections trash invoices.

They've gone up 17% over last month.

I called uh my account manager said it's pretty much across the board.

Uh and when I arrived here uh nearly 40 years ago, we had up to seven trash haulers to choose from.

Uh in recent years, that's down to two in terms of two available.

Uh I would urge you to immediately add a third trash hauler to uh to to make for some true competition because uh it's the residents here who are getting uh trashed uh uh due to this uh monopoly.

I've been following your water rate increase discussions.

Uh you want to raise the rates uh by 10 percent each year uh uh for the next five years.

Uh let me remind you since Jimmy Morales became our city manager uh I don't know, what was it, 15 years ago?

We've had rate increases every year in October uh uh on utility rate, uh utility billing water rates.

I would urge you to cautious in that time since Jimmy uh arrived here.

We've hired 500 more employees.

It's not so much the water rates themselves, it's the infrastructure improvements.

Uh that uh I've been paying for.

We've had these, we had incremental increases years ago.

Our uh infrastructure by all means should have been gold plated by now.

So that should be uh a primary focus.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else present wishes to speak?

Uh seeing none, I'm going to go to Zoom.

Our first caller is David.

David, state your name, address, and you have two minutes.

David, go ahead, please.

David, we cannot hear you.

Uh can you hear me now?

Yes.

Okay.

David Sexton, 30-year resident of Miami Beach.

Uh, I want to thank the commission for moving forward with the Byron Carlisle.

It's a project that is near and dear to North Beach and to all of our residents.

Uh we got great results from the RFQ.

That resulted in a three-way tie.

All three of those firms are amazing.

But one of those firms, Brooks Scarpa Uber Architects has true connections to our community.

The other two are based in other countries, and this firm has res people involved in it that are actually residents of our community.

So, in the case of this tie, I think weight has to be placed on that local uh in local connection, and I I hope that that's the way this will move forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next caller is Rachel Siegel.

State your name, address, so you have two minutes.

Siegel, please unmute yourself.

Uh I'm sorry.

Okay, can you hear me now?

Yes, go ahead, please.

Okay.

My name is Rachel Siegel.

I live right by South Point Park.

And I own an eight-pound dog who loves to play.

She's only two years old and she loves to run around and play.

And unfortunately, there's no place where she could safely run.

And therefore, what I am really supporting is the resignation to create an early morning off leash area.

So my dog, as well as the big dogs that are able to do that in the dog park, can enjoy being a dog and run around and run free without a leash.

And she could get her exercised and live as happily as the big dogs that get to enjoy the dog park, the existing dog park.

So I really would appreciate it if there was a time that I could take my dog off lease and not be harassed by the rangers.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms.

Siegel.

Our next caller is Omar.

Omar state your name, address, and you have two minutes.

Hi, Omar Jimenez, uh 7324 Gary Avenue, Miami Beach, North Beach.

Good morning, everyone.

In recognition of Earth Day, I'm calling about a very important public safety item that's been on the agenda for about two years now without any progress.

Commissioner Commissioner Dominguez initially sponsored it and it was uh co-sponsored by Tanya Bat.

That is Crab Ali or Tatum Waterway Walkway, North Beach.

As we celebrate Earth Day, there's a big push to qualify our city as a blue zone.

But I think it's very important to highlight the current impasse that the city attorney's office has been having with the county school board and the county in relation to establishing a successful Eastmith agreement on the Tatum Waterway Walkway.

In order to allow the city of Miami Beach to do the right necessary public safety upgrades to the walkway.

That's all that's currently all broken up and unsafe to add lighting so that at night it's not unsafe for residents and to curtail vagrancy so that people don't go there to smoke drugs and homeless people use it as a uh night sleeping shelter.

Um I'd really appreciate if we could put a little bit more emphasis on this, especially since it's Earth Day and the city is so focused on qualifying as a blue zones.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right, thanks.

Our next caller is Mark Gelman.

Good morning.

Can you hear me?

Go ahead, sir.

Mark Gilman, I live in Midbeach.

Uh I want to echo much of what Matt just presented regarding street safety.

And I want to question, I live on Midbeach and I'm and we cross 41st Street regularly, as do many of the residents.

I want to ask the question to the commission and to the police chief.

What is being done right now, immediately to keep our streets safe?

I heard the mayor's presentation of what you're looking into for the future.

But why are there not police all day long, not just during the three to five hours or three to seven hours later in the day, but all day long at those intersections that are so busy?

There needs to be traffic police there all day long, making sure it is safe for pedestrians to cross the street.

This is not the first time someone has been hit and injured.

This time with a fidelity.

What is the police department doing today?

Now thank you.

Thank you so much.

Our next caller is Judith Smeigle.

Good morning, and thank you.

I'm also concerned constantly about being in danger when I cross in the street.

And having signing, telling people it's a major deterrent.

I understand there's some blockage at the county level, but I urge the mayor to bring that up.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Anyone else in the audience?

Seeing none, Sutnik is concluded, Mayor.

Thank you.

Any other announcements before we start with the agenda?

Yes, sir.

The following items have been separated from the consent agenda.

You have a list that includes these.

Commissioner Dominguez is separating C4O to recuse herself and C7P.

Commissioner Fernandez is separating C2E.

Commissioner Mateo Salinas is separating C7P.

And please note she has added to separate C7U that is not on your list.

So if you could please manually add C7U as a separated item.

Commissioner Suarez is separating C7P and C7AF.

If I can have a motion to accept the consent agenda excluding the separated items.

Moved.

Oh, yes.

Okay.

That item that you mentioned.

A C7P.

I'm sorry.

So sorry.

C4O.

So sorry.

It's my fault.

So you are asking that to it basically recuse yourself from that.

That's the only reason why I pulled it when item gets called.

I will leave the chambers.

Okay, thank you so much.

I heard that I have a motion by Commissioner Fernandez seconded by Mayor Minor.

All in favor of the consent agenda excluding the consent the pulled items, please say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Hearing none, the consent agenda excluding those items is approved.

Any other announcements?

No, sir.

All right.

R9L.

R9.

R9L to discuss the South Security Ballards North End of Ocean Drive, Midbeach, Beach Walk.

Commissioner Magazine, co-sponsor by Commissioner Bott and Suarez.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh this kind of follows a theme that I've really been addressing is really taking pride in the appearance and aesthetics of our city, especially somewhere like Ocean Drive, which we all uphold as the postcard to our city.

Right?

We all take such pride in the architecture that is there, in Loomis Park.

I was there this weekend, as I am most weekends.

And when it is good, it is just unparalleled the best in the world.

But we also need to treat our public rights of a way for which we hold responsibility in the same high regard that we hold property owners uh in that area because it is all one ecosystem.

So with security also in mind, at the north end of Ocean Drive, for several years, we have just had this uh intermittent situation that does not uphold those standards of uh beauty and aesthetics, and uh really making that one of the most pristine areas, not only in our city, but in the entire country in the entire world.

I think when we do things, we should always strive for excellence and world class.

Uh so with that, I'd like to move forward from this situation that just looks like we're stuck in purgatory with the this ugly half-broken gate that goes up and down by somebody that's there, and install something that you would see uh in places that are world class in front of the New York Stock Exchange in downtown Manhattan.

Uh it's not intricate, but it just adds uh aesthetic uh beauty to that area.

So I'll hand it over to uh David Gomez, uh head of CIP to kind of walk us through those steps.

Good morning, Mr.

Mayor, Commissioners.

Um, David Gomez, Director of Capital Improvements.

Um, thank you, Commissioner Magazine, for for doing a pretty good job of summing up where we are.

The as you all are intimately aware, there is a concern with security on the beachwalk and and restricting particularly vehicular access to the beachwalk uh and ensuring the safety of the users of the beachwalk.

We have completed a comprehensive study of not just the areas at Lumis Park, but citywide.

We have met with uh community representatives as well as uh Commissioner Magazine and and his office.

Um we have heard feedback from the community regarding the aesthetics and the functionality of the of the whatever system we put in place.

There is a layer of penetration that is necessary for city vehicles and city maintenance vehicles, and even on some occasions private maintenance vehicles.

So we have identified in the short term some quick fixes that we can put in place while we develop uh uh a broader fix, and we've identified potential solutions.

We are now ready to begin sharing that.

I've just given a report to the city manager's office, which I'm sure they have not had time to review yet.

Uh, and we're happy to bring back some recommendations on a quick fix.

Thank you, David.

Do you have uh depictions of what those uh solutions are?

We do.

There's actually a couple of different ones uh that are I mean today.

Uh I don't I didn't bring them with me, but I can get them to you today.

Um some of the things that we're looking at is uh, for example, on the at the end of Fifth Street uh at uh Lumis Park, there's some concrete barriers.

Uh and I think that's the that's the aesthetic we're we're using for the temporary solution, something like that or similar, so that we can start controlling access and yet be somewhat cognizant of this.

And especially in our mid-beach area, right?

That is uh it's a concern.

We've seen cars uh erroneously.

Thankfully, it's not been anything nefarious uh that have actually traversed on the uh beachwalk there.

Um so we need to move forward, we need to move forward swiftly, but we also need to move forward in in the manner that I said earlier, where taking pride in this is truly a world-class area, whether it be ocean drive, the beach walking, mid beach.

So we need to do things with the highest regard for aesthetics while also serving a great functionality.

So look forward to that design.

Let's move forward with this quick because like I said, uh this is something that is much better to be proactive on uh than God willing, not reactive.

Okay.

Good morning again, Mitch Novick.

I live in the uh entertainment district.

Uh Commissioner Magazine, you referenced the railroad type gate.

Uh that was ordered removed by the county.

Uh uh, that was the one in front of the Betsy Hotel.

Uh remember, we paid up to nearly a million dollars a year on private traffic management, which resulted in chaos.

Some poor guy got both at legs amputated, uh being run over by a tractor trailer truck along ocean court.

You can't close the street.

I traverse that street and it's net it in it it greatly disrupts my business whenever it's closed.

Uh uh as for the southern end, uh there's been traffic cones there.

Sure, that could be beautified.

But remember, public safety is paramount.

Uh who could forget the poor guy uh who was shot dead during the pandemic when uh uh fire rescue couldn't uh get to him, he had to be taken by a golf court cart to 15th Street so first uh responders could uh do their best to assist him.

Thank you.

Uh Madam Visemor?

Yes.

Um I just in response to your comments, Mitch.

I want to point out to anybody who is listening and and engage with you on this.

This is um not intended to impede the public safety access for our life safety people, fire station fire it would be hard to move a fire station.

Um we've tried.

Um fire engines and police vehicles and emergency vehicles are are going to be able to get through, depending on what the system is that we use.

There are various types of systems that will um indicate to drivers that they are not supposed to be there.

In North Beach, I've seen full-on motorcycles, but this is even before micromobility getting on at Ocean Terrace and speeding at 50 miles an hour down uh the beach walk.

Um we've seen people in Limit Park not knowing that they're in the wrong place driving on the grass.

So this is intended to do that and and prevent people from getting onto those areas.

And I would remind everybody if um you know there are literally medieval cities in Europe with incredibly narrow cobblestone streets that have bollards that can be um recessed and automatically um operated by the vehicle m uh vehicle trying to get in, even residents who are living on those streets to keep unwanted traffic off.

So it is a necessary thing.

It's been uh uh kicking around for a very long time.

I'm you know a little frustrated that it's been so long, but it's it's uh coming forward and it it is necessary for the city.

Um and there are ways to do it in a manner that um will not impede the desired flow of traffic.

So I just wanted to clarify that David, are we getting funding from the state for these ballards?

There is no funding for the state at this time.

The current budget we have is a partial funding.

There's there's another request that's happening as part of the budget cycle.

Okay.

Commissioner Magazine.

I think we're waiting on CIP, they sent a report to uh the city manager.

But we talked about moving forward, so I think we can uh table this discussion.

Right.

I don't think there's a motion.

Do you when you say table, do you want me to put it back next month or keep it on until I think we'll trust the administration to move forward, and if not, I'll put it back on.

Okay.

R 9T.

R 9T is a gustic action update from police and transportation on traffic congestion in North Beach, R9T.

Commissioner Bott.

Um okay, so this is like a slow rolling ongoing conversation.

Um it actually is um a conversation that incorporates um things that are being handled by transportation, um things that are being handled by public works, and things that are handled by police.

So maybe if we could have everybody up to the podium and and um we can talk about some of the issues that we are facing and the steps that we are taking so that everybody can be aware.

This is something I've been working on since I was elected.

Um, in particular, the um triangle, I call it the Bermuda Triangle.

Um, when you're driving north on Indian Creek, where it turns into the triangle with I think it's Abbott.

I'm terrible at street names.

I've only lived here 23 years.

Why would I possibly know the street names?

Um I think it's it's Abbott, right?

The when it goes off of Indian Creek and then intersects with uh with uh 71st and Dickens.

That Bermuda Triangle is a disaster at the best of times and absolutely impassable and unsafe at the worst.

It backs up starting at 3 30 in the afternoon.

It is um it backs up um heading south from about 7.50 in the morning.

Um the there is a side street that cuts in that people use as a back conduit, which is legal and permissible, but they don't seem to think that the rules of traffic apply to them, so they don't stop at the stop sign.

People turn into streets going in the opposite way of the right of way for traffic.

Um somehow in that triangle, people are so desperate to get through that intersection that they do the most insane illegal driving maneuvers, and I see it every single day.

So I would like to call on all three of you to talk about the the steps that we've been implementing and are in the process of implementing, even though um uh there's stuff that's still in very early develop developmental stage, and there's also stuff that we've been uh working with and has uh improved things, but this is not the uh where we're finishing.

This is just an update.

So you guys decide who gets to go first.

All right, everyone's looking at me.

Okay, Jose.

No pressure, ma'am.

Good morning, Mr.

Mayor, Commissioners, Jose Gonzalez, Transportation and Mobility Director.

Um we are all painfully aware of that triangle, that in you know, that area, not just that intersection, but that you know, the whole area there in North Beach.

Um, you know, the the congestion that we see happening there in the mornings, southbound, in the afternoons, now uh northbound.

Large part of it is a product of a couple things.

First of all, the the lay of the land.

The the roads that we have, not too many in that area.

It's a thin part of Miami Beach, so um not too many choices, and secondly, um demand exceeding the capacity of the roads.

Those roads have looked exactly how they look today.

They've looked like that way for decades and decades and decades.

Um however, the land use around it has changed quite significantly over the decades.

So let me stop you there for a second.

Tom, I think you're here, right?

You're back.

Sorry, dragging you up here too.

So this is a conversation you and I have had multiple times over the years, even from before I was on the planning board.

We require new developments to do traffic studies.

And Jose, this falls within your your bailiwick as well.

We require um individual development projects, um, even if they're being developed within zoning as opposed to through a DA to do a traffic study.

And I have never heard a project come back saying, no, no, no, we have to think differently about the size and scale of our project because it's going to impact the traffic flow negatively in this area.

Not once.

And my thing has been, and we've talked about it ad nauseum.

How do we do this better?

Because it the traffic study requirements that we have in our code apply to a small radius.

But nobody is looking holistically.

We have 13, now we have 18 buildings coming up in the town beach in the North Beach town center.

Nobody has done a holistic traffic study because it's not required.

Every independent development developer has done what is required, and yet I think the technical term is that screws over the residents.

Because we have now 18 projects that that when you aggregate them together, um destroys the limited space that we have.

So can you address how we can change that, improve that going forward so that we can I mean we can't add roads?

Uh and we'll talk in a minute about some of the things that John and Jose are working on together to change the flow.

But can you please address that?

If it's a a land use uh, you know, some kind of code amendment that we do, if it's mandated by the state, how we can change it because we can't keep going on.

It's happening all over the city, and it's going to get worse.

The the area of North Beach, um, like the rest of the city is falls within a larger concurrency exemption area.

And so under state law, the the city cannot deny a development project, even if it's a failing roadway.

And unfortunately, not just in North Beach, but other areas of the city.

We have a lot of failing roadways and a lot of failing intersections.

So how do we change that?

Is that a that would be a state law?

That is that a legislative priority that this shit city should adopt for next year?

I mean, this is a public safety issue.

If people can't get off the island during a hurricane scare, that's a huge problem.

Would you yield?

Uh Commissioner.

Okay.

Tom, could you explain that again?

Okay, because I this is like my job just dropped.

I've never heard of this before.

And it's quite frankly alarming.

So tell me specifically again.

What is that that that we're not allowed to do?

So under state law, um, we cannot deny a development project that otherwise meets all applicable requirements of our LDRs, our complan, even if it's maybe preempted in terms of FAR height through Live Local Act based upon failing roadways or failing intersections.

We can require traffic studies, which I do believe take into account uh future development projects and expanded areas, but those traffic studies and circulation studies basically help inform the best ways to get vehicles in and out of that particular project, but they don't address the larger issue of failing roadways and failing intersections, short of a change in state law, that's something that we just have to manage and deal with as best we can.

And so here, if if I may, through the vice mayor.

Herein lies the issue, because Commissioner Fernandez is arguably the most well informed about land use laws from the state and and the city and the county with his experience.

And the fact that I would push back on that.

I'll push back to on that.

I don't want to be the most experienced.

I'll leave that to our city attorney.

The fact that he didn't know this, and you and I have been talking about this for years.

I it is such a fundamental life safety issue.

And I've said from day one, our biggest job here, our only job here is protecting our residents.

Everything else is secondary.

We can argue about all the details, but our job is to protect our residents and our visitors.

And if one of the biggest threats is that they can't get to the hospital because of rush hour traffic.

I mean, we were at in a neighborhood meeting yesterday where people were saying it took 40 minutes to go two miles.

It's not during our boss, which is the way it used to be when I moved here, where everyone knew you just plan differently.

It's a random Tuesday in April.

It's not okay.

So we need to figure this out.

And I'm I'm not yet, I mean, I know it sounds like I'm yelling, but I'm not actually yelling at you.

I'm just sort of, you know, feeling salty.

Uh this is not an we can't let this this continue to be the status quo because people will die.

Matthew brought up some really um painful issues about people dying on our roads.

It's only going to get worse.

We are compounding all of these issues all of the time with lots of different angles, and we can't just say, well, we can't do it because the state.

So collectively, I'm I all of the staff and lawyers and everybody, we need to figure out how we're gonna resolve this because we the just status quo is not sufficient.

That's gonna be a longer heavy lift, and I and um I I hope we can engage constructively on this going forward.

In the meantime, if we can, and thank you for that, Tom, I appreciate that.

But if we can go back to the the tactical things that we're doing to nibble around the edges to improve things where we can, and will, I think he's probably here in his favorite corner, is um also working on issues which uh impact these um traffic situations as well.

So if you'll come up and talk about that.

So okay.

Commissioner Bonk, do you mind if I interject with a quick question on sort of the topic you just raised?

I just want to make sure clear we talked about sidewalks and intersections, but John John Norris, a public works director.

But still on infrastructure, we can reject projects if we don't believe it we could possibly meet the demand.

Is that is that accurate?

I'm going to start Tom.

Yeah, we're underwater.

Mr.

Mayor, under water and sewer.

Yeah, under the um state comprehensive planning laws, um, we are not prohibited from requiring that before a building permit is issued, any development project, whether it's live local or as of right, must meet the minimum level of service standards for water and sewer.

Okay, and so that we can absolutely still do.

Right, well, I I don't want to take the floor.

We have Commissioner Monica in the question.

But I thought I want to, but I know Commissioner Bottom has before.

Okay, Jose, you want to keep talking about sure.

So um I would like to focus on one aspect of all this congestion, which is the signal signal timing in North Beach.

So it's we've we've you know noticed upon reviewing traffic signal timing plans in that part of the city that the signals are absolutely not coordinated.

Um what has happened, I think, over over the years, because there have been coordination efforts on behalf of the DOT and the county, but they've been isolated efforts, separate.

Uh the two agencies may not necessarily coordinate these efforts, and they have focused on north-south.

And so one of the things we've noticed is because of that focus on coordinating the North South Avenues, the east-west corridors have suffered.

And uh on 69th Street, for example.

If you're trying to travel east-west on 69th Street, you may stop at every intersection.

The North South corridors, you know, the signals may be better timed than the East West.

So it's an unintended consequence of efforts that have not necessarily been coordinated by other agencies in the past.

So that's something that we are uh starting to get our arms around and and um and and address.

And we're doing that through a city-led optimization pilot that uh the goal of which is to optimize uh the the not just the that iron triangle, but the as much as possible of North Beach, the the primary corridors, including 71st Street from Bay Road to Collins Avenue, Dickens from 77 to Indian Creek, Abbott Avenue from 71st to Indian Creek, Indian Creek itself from 71st to 63rd, Collins from 71st to 63rd, and 69th Street from Harding to Collins Avenue.

So that pretty much covers all the key roads in that um uh area of North Beach that is definitely having some some issues.

And technology.

Just to clarify that, that's a pilot program.

So in theory, if it goes the way intended, then that learning and technology can be extended to the 41st Street corridor, which is a disaster, to 5th street to 17th Street.

Is that correct?

That is correct, Commissioner, because the beauty of this is that we will own this AI-powered equipment and technology.

We will own that.

So we will be able to, you know, once the signals that I just mentioned in North Beach are optimized as much as practicable, then we'll be able to take that equipment, install it somewhere else, and perform a similar exercise.

So it's it's I think I think it's it's very good.

I think it's been a you know a long time coming.

Technology has helped a lot.

Now there's AI-powered uh technology that is extremely intelligent and can just generate optimized signal timing plans much quicker than in the past.

Um as you all know, we do not control signal timing.

Uh Miami Dade County does.

So the outcome of this pilot, which will be optimized signal timing plans based on real-time data that will be shared with Miami Dade County for review and hopefully approval and implementation, but it's up to them.

And so on that point, I think Commissioner Suarez, you sponsored something last month, I think, to to take over the signalization for the entire city of Miami Beach from the county so that we can react in real time.

I mean, recently there was a breach of security in the county system, and so nobody was allowed because we have a situation where we are able to access the information.

We can't change it without their approval, but we can see what they're seeing and recommend.

And because they had a data breach of some sort or a security breach, we were shut out from that for a couple of days at a minimum, right?

It's longer than that.

Okay, so right.

I I I couldn't remember where we left off.

But so this is the kind of thing, and I know it's complicated, you know, it's it's expensive.

We'd have to figure out how to do it.

It's adding people, and I know we're all as a body trying to be very fiscally responsible.

But the number one traffic the number one concern we hear from residents all the time, regardless of boats and and Basel is traffic stinks.

What are you going to do about it?

So this is one of these things where this is the kind of stuff that government is supposed to do is figure the hard stuff out and do it.

Figure out the resources, test the pilot programs, take control over the infrastructure, and protect the community.

And so I I'm very excited about all of this.

And I I really urge all of us having this discussion to really um find a way to support these initiatives and help you in whatever way, if it means phone calls or visits with elected officials or you know, department officials and other jurisdictions.

But I think we need to stop nibbling around the edges and really look at this as what it is, which is a um systemic intractable problem.

I mean, every single person on this dais ran with traffic being one of our issues.

And every person in the prior commission and the prior commission before then, I mean, I can't tell you when traffic was not one of the top three issues that an elected official will run on.

So what are we doing about it?

It's been decades.

We now have enough resources, enough really talented people, and I think enough will and hopefully enough uh colleagues at the county level and at the state level who will work with us to let us manage a system that you know they should they've got their own issues to worry about.

It's it's very complicated.

So let us let us use the tools available to us.

Thank you, Commissioner.

That's exactly what we're doing with this AI-powered pilot uh project.

And the last thing I'll say um is in terms of interim improvements and more localized improvements that we're trying to do working with the county.

For example, we noticed that Indian Creek and 71st had faulty detection devices.

So we um we coordinated with the county to get and and also I want to uh thank uh Commissioner Steinberg who helped in expediting that on the Miami Dade County side, and that was resolved.

But that was really giving unnecessary green time to cars that weren't there, and just you know, really crippling that intersection.

Um and then in addition to that, and I guess it's a good segue for our police chief, there are officers at the intersections during the afternoon rush hour uh rush hours to try to at least at a minimum deter vehicles from blocking the intersection because when a road is over capacity, people start doing really crazy things, including blocking intersection, then no one moves, it's gridlock.

So that has helped.

Um for the pilot, actually the police resources uh were suspended so that we can collect real-time data that's not um you know skewed by any external factors or anything.

Right.

So we're working closely with police on that.

Chief.

The chair.

Through the just a quick question.

Jose, so you're can you just go a little bit more into detail about this pilot program?

So we have devices set up to collect data?

Yes.

And then okay.

What when was this approved?

Just curious.

I'm not trying to push back on, but just when was this approved?

How much did it cost?

And and is this movable?

Can we move it to other cities or other parts of the city?

Um so it was approved some some time ago.

We went through a lengthy procurement process to select the vendor.

Uh we we have the vendor rhythm engineering, they started this effort uh about I want to say about a month or so ago, maybe a couple months ago.

Um the devices uh which are you know have AI technology are more mobile or portable, if you will, and we are able to you know leave them in place for a while, collect the data.

This vendor has the software to that generates optimized signal timing plants, and that's really the the outcome of this effort.

So it would be it would be great to have if we could get approval from the county to take control over our roads, and we can this is another feather in our cap to to provide them and say, hey, look, we're we're investing in our city and the technology, and we can use this to better implement our signal timing.

We can this is another feather in our cap to provide them and say, hey, look, we're we're investing in our city and the technology, and we can use this to better implement our signal timing.

Yes.

And it and to build on that point, it it um makes their job easier because then they can focus on the rest of the mainland county without all the drama that is inherent in managing an overbuilt seven-mile stretch of sand in the Atlantic, right?

So they can focus their resources on the mainland, we can focus our resources on our stuff, and I think we'll all be better off as a result.

And if I could, Mr.

Mayor, I'm sorry, uh Commissioner uh Mateo Salinas, then Commissioner Magazine.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So um Jose, have has you and your team have we have us done any type of traffic study in North Beach to see where speed tables would be appropriate and applicable?

Uh speed tables uh meaning traffic calming.

Yes.

There is a traffic calming project.

It's a G general obligation bond project in North Beach, nor in Normandy Isle.

And that project is um I it's due to begin construction very shortly.

Um we've in essence passed the baton of the we conducted all the traffic studies associated, well, that are required for a traffic calming project.

And had the neighborhood outreach meetings.

And and had outreach meetings, and the project was actually refined as a result of uh community input.

And so we're finalized the plans and approved by Miami Dick County, and um I believe the project is currently with CIP.

They're going, they're getting ready for uh the procurement of a contractor for so um because my concerns are as these new developments are gonna be built and occupied, we're gonna have a lot more pedestrians in North Beach, and I am concerned about the safety of these pedestrians, especially considering what's been happening recently.

Um and so while I understand the need for synchronizing the lights, there's also the concern that you know people are gonna get hit um if if folks don't slow down.

So I'd like to see more speed tables in North Beach in appropriate locations.

Where are these speed tables going to be placed?

Well, um as part of the project I mentioned, they're in Normandy Isle.

So not necessarily, you know, in in the core of North Beach, this area that we're concentrating on of Abbott, Indian Creek.

Yes, uh 71st, 69th.

That's so and isn't 71st in Normandy and and also Collins, they're owned by the state FDI.

All of them that's correct.

So I'd like to um maybe you know have a resolution urging working with them to get we need speed tables on those streets.

They're just so dangerous.

And every time I go to the fountain, someone approaches me and says, why don't we have speed tables on 71st?

You know, I this person got hit or I heard and this person nearly got hit, and it's and also Collins is a big risk too near the public's.

I get every time I go to North Beach, I hear it.

So I'd like to um make a motion to have a resolution to go to FDOT that we need speed tables on these these three areas to slow folks down a little bit.

Through through the chair.

There's actually a resolution on this agenda doing that.

Yeah, I think it goes much.

Precisely that C7Z as in Zebra.

I think it goes back to that.

Through the chair.

Just real quick with Jose.

I think it was next to the quick follow-up.

So we have order or we don't.

Commissioner magazine.

Thank you.

We're a low-in-order city or not.

Thank you.

Um Jose, two quick things.

Uh one, this pilot program, we're not actually making changes.

We're just aggregating data, and it needs to go to the county for them to implement change, is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

And then secondly, whether it be in North Beach or I'll just use the area where we are at now in the Flamingo Park, Alton Road, between 5th and 17th Street, let's say.

The signals of the lights are are awful.

I think we can all agree on that.

Do we analyze in different areas whether it's appropriate to have alternative means besides traffic lights, right?

Would we be better served in areas like Flamingo Park adding more stop signs as opposed to traffic lights, adding roundabouts as opposed to traffic lights?

They make no rhyme or reason.

I go through that area every single day from my office or city hall down to South Point Elementary, and it can take me longer to get there without a single other car on the road than it can take me to get through from Brickle, quite literally to Alton Road, right?

And while I'm cognizant we don't want an open freeway because cars will travel on that as they will, but if we would replace stop signs with, I'm sorry, w replace traffic signals that seemingly are randomized and really not optimized well uh with stop signs.

But if we would replace stop signs with I'm sorry, w replace traffic signals that seemingly are randomized and really not optimized well with stop signs.

I think that's at least an avenue worth exploring.

What would be your kind of initial gut reaction to that?

Commissioner, very interesting question.

The study that you're referring to, I've never seen such a study.

It's not a study.

It's just using common sense.

Yeah.

Usually usually intersections are evaluated either alone or as part of a larger network, you know, a more comprehensive traffic study.

It usually does require a traffic study to install a signal where a signal does not currently exist.

Now, our signals have been there for many, many decades, so I don't know their origin, right?

I don't know.

But how about the opposite?

But the opposite in terms of removing a signal, it would also require a traffic study, uh sign and sealed by professional engineer.

Uh I will say that it's it's quite difficult.

It's been done before, but it's difficult because usually when there's a signal at an intersection, um the presumption is that that signal is warranted and that it's the safest device for that location.

That's why it requires a traffic study to undo, if you will, the existing condition of a signal.

Uh but it can be done.

Uh it can be done several ways.

Uh, you know, I I either as a standalone study looking at uh an intersection or a series of intersection, or as a neighborhood-wide uh project.

Either way, it yes, it it can be done, but it wouldn't need to be evaluated.

Okay, so uh by the way, since we're talking about this, I think it makes sense.

Um, Ralph, let's let's also call up R9AH relating to parking in North Beach this way.

We can simultaneously do bump items.

Yes, sir.

Can we can we just finish going through the the traffic stuff first before we get into the parking?

So subsequent.

Let's just call it up so it's yes, we can we'll do that.

So R9AH is disgusting action parking enforcement in North Beach.

So we'll have it both, but let's let's finish as you said, Commissioner Bach.

Who's next?

I think Chief.

Good morning, Mayor Commission.

Um some months ago, I remember you giving me a call was early evening in a rush hour time, and I won't use the word solity, but I think you're really energized about traffic in North Beach.

And in the next day, around 5 30, I decided driving myself to take a look at what you're referring to, and it took me 56 minutes and three seconds to move from the 63rd Street Bridge to 7-1 in a creek.

Well, I'm sorry, can we s did everyone catch that?

56 minutes and three seconds to go from 63rd Street to 71st Street on a Thursday.

Yeah.

Not during a high impact week.

No.

What would have happened?

I mean, in this case, it might have been okay if you, God forbid had a heart attack because there happens to be a fire station there.

But what the holy heck is that's just not okay.

Sorry, I was feeling salty.

Yeah.

Um so it was painful, and and and I quickly understood what you meant in the conversation the evening before.

Um I thought initially then uh perhaps my officers that were assigned to 73 and I'm sorry, six 71st in the creek.

Uh that person was not there that day when I got to the intersection, realized that the person was there, uh directing traffic using um what we call the pickle to manually override the traffic lights to make sure that um traffic is flowing as fast as as reasonably possible.

Um also had an office at the time at East Bay and 71st Street, uh preventing blocking of the box.

But given all that, it still was not enough.

Uh the final week, we temporarily assigned a motor units.

Um they were stationed 670 in the Creek, 690 Creek, um, in support of the officers that were already there.

The help um to some extent, but obviously uh not ideal.

Uh since then we've continued demanding a section at uh 71 in the creek, um, only suspending the manual override of the traffic signalization.

Um my colleague Jose said we need to do a traffic study to get clean data.

And if you were to continue to manually override the lights, you wouldn't have been able to get the data they needed to make a proper assessment.

Um officers still are there to make sure that um the intersection is not being blocked by cars uh too far straight to wait.

So if I may, um I I would suggest one of the additional things that we could do, especially while we're waiting for the pickling to be allowed to come back online, Jose, when do you think that'll be um let me let me get uh an exact date?

But things that contribute to the traffic drama is that people get really frustrated with the traffic, and like when you do get to the intersection of 71st in Indian Creek, um people do finally they're able to take a left term, but that traffic is really blocked up, and then you have people doing illegal U-turns into oncoming traffic.

So it might be a useful thing to have motor units stationed there as well to educate people that that's just not a thing you can do.

I'm sorry, but you cannot cross four lanes of traffic illegally and put all these other people who are coming at pretty high rates of speed around that curve at risk to slam into you and and t-bone your car.

Um and there are there are incidents like that.

There are places like that all over North Beach, and I'm sure other parts of the city as well, but you know, since since we're talking about this particular um uh uh set of actions, I think it we should look at that as well.

Sure.

Um I wanted to have Will and John talk about the things they're working on to help alleviate the traffic.

We have a couple of do you want to do that before we hear from uh a couple of your colleagues?

Um as you wish.

Well let's hear from uh Commissioner Monarch uh Mattel Salinas and then Commissioner Fernandez.

I just really quickly want to um the the resolution that's on C7Z, it's an urging to act out to implement traffic calming measures measures on Collins.

But I want to add to that if you're okay, Commissioner Dominguez, um 71st Street and Normandy, speed tables and traffic calming.

Would you be okay with that?

Yeah, I've uh so just to be clear, 71st Street already has um well, maybe you know, maybe you're talking about a different area, but there's a whole FDOT project that is about to break ground on 71st Street in Normandy going east and west.

Okay.

So but you know, whatever, we can work those details out.

And then I want to follow up with Commissioner Magazine's statement about replacing the lights with a four-way stop.

How do we do that?

Because I didn't know through traffic studies.

Evaluating intersections.

What do we have to do to get that?

Do we need to make a motion here?

Because there's a couple places where I agree with you that that would actually make sense.

Um, uh funding would be required to do that study.

And uh I'm not exactly sure.

I mean, it it depends on the scope and the scale of the study, how large it is.

So it's hard for me to say a cost off the cuff.

So could we bring back something?

I just there's just one in particular, just one intersection.

Yeah.

Through the chair.

Maybe a referral to the finance committee to discuss what the what the cost would be.

Okay.

Then I'd like to make that motion to make a referral to the finance committee to study one particular intersection in North Beach to see if it would make sense to replace the traffic light with a four-way stop.

Okay.

And whose rule is that Jose?

Do you need a study to remove that?

It's it's required.

But it's the state.

And in this case, I'm not sure if it's a local road or a state road or a or a county road.

So how do you know it's required if we don't know who's requiring?

If I may.

Um under the home rule charter of Miami Dade County, they have control over all traffic control devices, unless we have an interlocal agreement with them.

So that's the rule that Jose is referring to.

Um the county does not make modifications to the either you know, inclusion of stop signs or conversion of stop signs to signals.

I've never even heard of the reverse.

Um, but we certainly can look at that, but um the county will not entertain any of those asks without data to back it up.

I appreciate that.

Uh we worked for a year for stop signs, we had temporary stop signs, then we were told we needed studies on West Avenue by Fifth Street, by uh Five Park.

We went from a temporary stop sign and then it was removed because we said we needed to have a traffic study, uh, and then the traffic study didn't analyze.

We have a total mess out there now.

And then we just heard from our county commissioner yesterday going, that was all baloney.

You didn't you didn't need a study.

W we don't mandate where a city can put their stop signs.

Is she wrong?

To our transportation director.

My understanding, Commissioner, is that the county requires or the agency with jurisdiction, whether it's FDOT or Miami Dave County, requires a traffic engineering analysis to evaluate the best improvement for for that location.

Do any of my other colleagues that were there, do they have a similar recollection?

Well, what I mean but what I recollect is at the time Commissioner Oliver Gilbert initiated an ordinance transferring to local jurisdictions at municipalities, I think authority to make a lot of these decisions on their own as opposed to as opposed to having to seek approval approval from DTPW.

So shifting, shifting those approvals from the county having to do it uh to to the city.

I don't recall what that ordinance said and what the traffic manual said as it related to um to to these traffic studies.

What I do find uh incredibly frustrating is that whenever we have to do these traffic studies, we have to go to the outside to do these traffic studies, and they cost us like what, a couple hundred thousand dollars.

Not uh a normal, let's say, always stop control study that evaluates whether a stop, uh an alway stop is warranted at an intersection, that is a much less much less cost.

I I mean at some point I think it becomes cheaper to just do it in-house, have staff in-house that can do these traffic studies rather than constantly having to go out into the public and and and do this, you know, with with traffic engineers and giving them contracts and you know that's that's just a personal frustration I have Mr.

Mayor.

So I I'm a little bit um concerned that we have opinions of what we think the county and or state, but in this c case, primarily the county requires versus what and maybe it's just that somebody is misinformed and that's okay.

But I think we need to get a hundred percent certainty, because maybe what it is is that above a certain threshold there's a study that's required, but below a certain threshold we are empowered to do enough.

But somehow in translation over the years, that line got shifted in our collective, you know, uh uh memory of how things get done.

So can we, I don't know if this needs an urging legislatively, but can can you come back um no later than next month and you know, and maybe even an LTC to uh clearly delineate what what threshold for what type of changes by jurisdiction city, county, state, because the fact that this is not a a hundred percent I know X, Y, and Z is cause for concern.

And it might just be that a a new commissioner to the county um uh misspoke, which is perfectly legitimate.

People do that all the time.

I'm it's not a you know, it I you know it just happens, so it's not a slam.

I just think we all need to know for sure.

Yeah, and Commissioner, if I can uh I appreciate that, and perhaps the county commissioner did misspeak, and I actually just texted her right now uh to be very clear.

But if we got that wrong, it's not okay.

Yeah.

It's not that this cost us months of work and tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money.

And if I find out that FDOT or the county has no jurisdiction over that, and we're running through the the these hoops and spending taxpayer money for no reason, that that's not going to be okay.

I'm sick of this stuff.

It takes years to do anything.

Yeah, years to put in a stop sign to put in a crosswalk.

I've been up here for three years trying to put in a crosswalk and we can't do it.

What how how can how can we endeavor to to greatness?

If it takes three years to put in a crosswalk, if we can't sit here with a straight face and know if we could put a stop sign on our street or not, that's not okay.

That is not okay.

And if the county commissioner comes back and says, no, you don't need FDOT or the county uh jurisdiction to place the stop sign.

I'm I'm gonna have a big issue because we went through months.

We had community members out there on the streets at community meetings, spending tens of thousands of dollars on studies, and then we got rid of the stop signs.

That's going to be an issue.

We need to figure this stuff out.

So if I could um yeah, just through the same conversation of topic of traffic, I won't want to get back to traffic.

You know, one of the things that I see also in North Beach that are that causes a lot of traffic is you have these delivery trucks.

That's why Will's coming up to the podium.

Yeah.

So can we have Will?

I'd like to, yeah, I'd like to also like talk about it.

Right.

Um especially on Collins when you are approaching like the 63rd Street uh bridge, you you you have three lanes going north, and you have these trucks that service both hotels on the on the east and west side, and they'll just they'll just park right in the middle of the street um and block up traffic, and then that's usually what happens at the start of of things getting bad.

I even sent a picture to the city manager where you had a delivery truck, and then you had waste management in the middle lane.

Horrible.

And then and I'm I'm taking pictures of this and I'm saying, like, how you know how is this even possible?

Um it just seems like there's no enforcement.

Yep.

Okay, Eric.

You know, I'm and I don't I'm not gonna talk to you.

Well, I'm gonna talk to you.

You're the one who's responsible.

You're the one who is supposed to be managing the city.

So at least from from my perspective, all my issues are gonna be directed to you.

Because you're the one who's gonna be responsible for managing this.

Now I still see it happening.

I still see delivery trucks uh on on Collins going north, and then I also see waste management trucks going in the middle lane.

You know, I I there has to be enforcement.

If there's no enforcement, people are just never going to change their behavior.

So, you know, I I it's not a silver bullet for the traffic in North Beach.

But you know, I it's we we have to attack this from b all sides.

And it it really comes down to how detailed can we be when it comes to enforcement.

So, you know.

Eric, what what can we do about that?

Because it happens every day.

So we used to have the waste haulers come and do the pickups very early in the morning.

Um unfortunately, there were a lot of complaints from residents about the noise related to the early morning pickups.

And so when the waste haulers pushed later into the morning into the early afternoon, that's fine.

That's they run into a lot more traffic.

But then blocking the middle lane on Collins is illegal.

So I you know, it's not like they they can still go later in the day, but they shouldn't be blocking traffic in the middle of the lane.

And if you yield commission raise, I want to build upon that.

Okay.

You know, the garbage trucks, that's one scenario, and it's uh I feel almost it's like a deflection.

Because the real problem is that it's that throughout the day, our roadways, they're blocked by yes, X, Cisco, all these other delivery trucks that are blocking Collins Avenue.

And then and then you're sitting in traffic on Collins Avenue, you think there's a bad accident or something.

It is a delivery truck.

It is a delivery truck.

Why?

Because they can't park uh at one of the alpha uh one of the FLZs because someone else uh is is parked there who probably shouldn't be parked there by the way.

And so and so then now we we we end up with this situation that our city is gridlock because you have these trucks all over, all over.

And yes, on occasion, yeah, it might it might be um it might be the uh the garbage trucks, but it's much bigger than that than the garbage trucks.

And oh, by the way, go into the residential neighborhoods.

Go into the residential neighborhoods, and you can and it's it's so unsafe in the residential neighborhoods with all the trucks.

You try try to drive down Prairie Avenue.

Try to drive down Prairie Avenue, trucks not only blocking traffic, blocking bicycle lanes on the routes to school that children should be using.

Imagine that.

Where children are supposed to be using those bicycle lanes so that they can go safely to to school.

We have delivery trucks, we have construction trucks, we have pool repairmen, we have stuff throughout all of these residential neighborhoods that's also creating traffic.

And where's the enforcement?

And if I can build on that, Commissioner Fernandez, um on two points that you made.

Uh it's not just on and and Commissioner Suarez, it's not just on Collins.

I mean, you you guys know this, but for people who are listening in, you know, Will, I sent you pictures two days ago, I think, of um an 18-wheeler truck, an 18-wheeler truck on um 74th on the alley beh between Collins and Harding, doing a K-turn, like a double K turn to pull into the alley that was already blocked by other 18-wheeler or slightly smaller trucks.

It was it was it would have been funny if it weren't so dangerous.

And then you have in these residential neighborhoods narrow streets that were built for a different size vehicle, and now you have you know the F-150 king cab trucks that stick out into the right-of-way, and you don't have the proper speed zones, right?

So the state says or the county says you can go 25 miles an hour here, but if you do, God help you, because right around the bend, there's a pickup truck with a uh uh um a towing little harness thingy, whatever they're called, sticking out, and so you can't see what's in front of it, and you have an Uber waiting to pick up a passenger, and in front of that you have a delivery truck.

I mean, it is you know, to Matthew's point earlier, and and um it is such a disaster waiting to happen.

I feel like we are frogs in the po in in the boiling pot, and we are starting to watch the water go from lukewarm to a low simmer.

We're not boiling over yet, but how many people dying is it going to take for us to do the heavy lifting, the difficult work, and saying to to vendors, you know what, you cannot bring an 18-wheeler truck into the city, with very rare exceptions, and we can discuss that to talk about um uh delivery vehicles, uh uh Amazon and all those guys, that they have to pull into the buildings.

They have to pull into somebody's driveway.

I'm sorry if it's inconvenient.

I'm sorry if the valet person doesn't choose to do that because it slows down the valet, but somebody's life could be saved.

I mean, uh again, I come back to this position of our job is to keep our residents safe.

And we have so many impediments blocking us, no pun intended, that we have to start looking at this outside the box and and reminding people that to do business here, to make your deliveries here, you have to do it in a way that conforms with our safety requirements.

And unfortunately, we can't handle 18-wheeler trucks.

And and you can't just pull over to the side of the road.

And uh the having the waste management people come, I can understand nobody wants them at 6 a.m., I got it.

But they should not be able to come on main intersections and main thoroughfares before 9.30.

They can do their pickup work between 9.30 and 4.

And if they need to have a couple extra trucks to get the routes covered in that time frame, that they're making a lot of money off us.

They can buy a couple more trucks to make sure they get those routes covered, right?

They cannot do what they want willy-nilly.

It's enough.

I'm exhausted by this saying, well, this is how they've always done it.

Or their trucks are too big, or it would cost too much money for them to retrofit something.

Enough.

You want the contract, you want the business, we're gonna give it to you, but on our terms.

So again, if you could just oh, sorry.

But in the meantime, in the meantime, between now and week, and we create that shift, we have a responsibility as a city government to make sure that these trucks are not blocking our roads.

It's gonna take time to get to that point where we sit down with Amazon, where we sit down with all these companies, which I think is a great point you're making, Commissioner Bod, and encourage them to go to a transfer station and go from a big truck to a smaller truck, as so many urban communities, built-out communities do throughout the country and the world.

But in the meantime, we have the resources to be correcting these issues through enforcement.

Our roadways need to be open for our residents, and when the chief of police is telling you it takes them 53 minutes, 53 minutes to get from point A to point B.

Not from one end of the city to the opposite end of the city.

A small distance.

How far how far was it again?

Eight blocks.

Eight blocks.

That is alarming.

That is alarming.

It speaks to a traffic state of emergency that we are dealing with in our city, and I expect, Mr.

Manager, that all departments are hands-on deck in addressing it because it all can't fall on the police department.

And Will is working.

Can can Will just explain some of the things we've already put in place and then talk to us about what we can do to uh expedite, put more teeth into it.

I mean, we've had a lot of these conversations already.

Yeah, and also what do you need from us to help you enact this enforcement, which we clearly need to change behavior?

What do you need from us?

So I'll start with where we're at.

So uh we are currently, and I know we've talked about the color-coded curves, but not only these color-coded curves, but uh the city manager allowed us to enter an agreement with a company called Automotis.

These are AI cameras that we place at every one of our freight loading zones.

We are in the process of of getting this up and running, where we will not only be able to automatically identify when a violation is occurring, we can dispatch a parking enforcement specialist to that zone immediately to clear that freight loading zone, but we can also better understand the occupancy because we do hear we hear anecdotal evidence, like all your freight loading zones are always taken.

But these cameras will actually let us know that, for example, between the hours of 7A to 3P or 7A to 7P, depending on the hours of that freight loading zone, what's the actual occupancy?

On top of that, these cameras are going to give a live look to any delivery company on what freight loading zone is open at that point in time.

So if you are planning your deliveries, you can pull up your tablet and look.

This freight loading zone is within two blocks of where I'm at.

I can go there.

So this should be transformative in the way that we allow companies that are coming and delivering on Miami Beach.

Now, as far as Well, can I interject there?

What is the process to enact enforcement?

Um, because I want to be sure that there's not bureaucracy within that process.

And this is anecdotal, but maybe a year and a half ago, I was down the entertainment district and saw one who was highly inappropriate digital billboard sign advertising things that just we're knocking room with uh uh a city.

Um but it was in a freight loading zone in front of a fire.

It was long, it was half in a freight loading zone, half in a fire.

And I forget if I called police or something along those lines, they go, okay, we need to dispatch parking first, and they come out, they do their process, then they have to call somebody, then they call the towing company, and by the time the process played out, this guy came back with a I remember vividly with with full carry out food, and he just gets there and essentially after a half hour, uh he's leaving just as some of our staff is getting there to actually put teeth through this enforcement.

So are there steps that need to be cut out that make our process more efficient?

Well, as of right now, no, because that is what these cameras are supposed to solve.

So right now, the way that we dispatch freight loading enforcement, we have zones uh that are specifically for freight loading, and let's say on a daytime shift, we'll dispatch four parking enforcement specialists that are dedicated solely to freight loading zones.

Well, right now, they just it they leap in bound in there in their territory looking for violations.

But when they leave an area, they might not come back to that area for 20 minutes.

With the cameras, yes, ma'am.

I I was just gonna say it's not just the freight loading zones.

Like we need enforcement for the people who just pull over and block a lane of traffic.

So that's a different thing.

So that's what I'm hoping to, and I'll use I I believe and I don't want to speak for the police, but I think code enforcement as well.

So these cameras should allow us to go more toward a territorial enforcement.

So for example, I don't have to say I'm only going to focus on freight loading zones, because I have a camera that is watching that zone.

And as soon as it identifies a possible violation, I will get an alert, and then I can head over there.

But in the meantime, because I don't have to just look for freight loading zone, freight loading zone.

Well, how how are you gonna get over there if the traffic's backed up?

Yeah.

Well, I mean it's funny, but it's a valid point.

And and so the police are now they now have um uh six ema e-bikes that were donated, um, five of which are gonna be on the road to enforce certain kinds of activity.

Um we've had the conversation all of us on the dais over the last number of years of why do we have um so many trucks for the city, which I understand because you're hauling stuff and picking stuff up.

I get that.

But maybe one of the things we should be looking at as we go through the upcoming budget process is police code, um parking, and and maybe another department, but those three departments should have e-bikes that they are trained to ride safely.

This doesn't give anybody a pass to be.

Yeah, and and like they need to be really models of riding them safely for obvious reasons that we'll talk about later, but so that you have somebody is uh assigned to a zone, and you can get there in five minutes.

I mean, you can regardless of the traffic and still riding safely, complying with the rules of the road, you're not gonna be backed up for 56 minutes going eight blocks.

I mean, I think that should be a you know, can I make a motion to to have the administration discuss and bring back to us what a best plan would be to supplement existing departments with those sorts of resources?

I mean, this is this can't keep going on the way it is.

Like we've got to we've got to do things differently.

It is not good enough to say it's how it's always been, or we don't have the budget for like this is what we decide to spend the budget on, right?

This is this is the work we're supposed to do here.

So Commissioner, I want to I I sent PJ what I wanted to show you into what you're talking about with the 18 wheelers.

PJ, if you could play it up on the screen, please.

Point This is at the intersection on Collins and it's going to be Canada North, and then this is blocking literally the middle lane, and then it has to make a right.

If there's any third street can you know you could you could you could close the video things like that, Commissioner, where it makes sense like that doesn't belong there.

And you know, it it it hits the curb and then the curb breaks and it doesn't have a radius, so it's not just us making that turn, it now has to back up.

And nobody's expecting uh an 18-wheeler to back up like that.

It is a giant cluster.

The whole thing is a disaster.

Yeah.

So well, is there any way we can have photo enforcement?

So instead of having people to just go there, like you get a picture of the license plate.

So, yes, and actually, so the the cameras in the freight loading zones, for example, do they are going to be photo enforcement.

So our office.

Yeah, but they're okay.

So but for that particular intersection, we know that there's hotels on both sides and there's delivery trucks that constantly go by and then they block the lane.

Can we enforce um our our ordinances for that particular location?

Not necessarily in a loading zone, because if there was a loading zone, there wouldn't be no problem.

Yeah, so I believe so, and I I want to it it gets into if they are staying there, we would most likely be able to enforce with for obstruction of traffic, which does fall under parkings purview.

Um the challenge would be where are we mounting the camera at?

Because I know exactly where that is because that's about the same thing.

I guess let me ask the city attorney, is that you know, Mr.

DePico, is that something we can enforce where you have a delivery truck or any kind of truck blocking a lane of traffic, and we know where the hotspots are.

Can we issue a citation uh through a camera detection system?

I don't believe that through a camera detection system that is currently allowed under Florida law.

I think that's gonna have to be manual enforcement either by police or parking.

And there was what if it was on the Arctic where you had a police officer viewing the monitoring the camera live?

I will have to look to see whether that's a possibility.

I just I just my frustration is that we've we've had these issues always.

And what has happened traditionally?

House staff gets focused on enforcement.

And I get the use of technology and wanting to test technology and wanting to pilot technology.

There is no reason why today we cannot have people on the streets engaging in this enforcement today.

So that so that so that while we work on the technology and we explore what you could do with the technology, whether you can call the parking department, whether you can use the cameras to call the the towing department to uh clear c clear the parking space or issue citations or whatever it may be, why we cannot start today having people doing enforcement because I guarantee you that today there are people who will be suffering in traffic because of these very violations that have been happening in our city.

And 10 years ago, 15 years ago, the cameras didn't exist and it was still being enforced, and I do not see the enforcement happening.

I'm grateful that you're looking at the technology.

It is it's smart, it's gonna help us use our staff more efficiently.

But I'm looking at what can be done starting today, Mr.

Manager.

To address it because people are suffering in this congestion right now, and we cannot afford to wait.

It is urgency.

And through the Matthew, I need to know what we can do.

Yeah, let me respond.

So I'm hearing you loud and clear that we need to step up enforcement activity on both the parking side, the police side, and code enforcement.

And that will be the mandate moving forward.

So wait, I have a question about in regards to the 18-wheelers.

Mr.

Attorney, can we create a municipal ordinance where 18 wheelers are not allowed in our city?

An outright ban would not be constitutionally permitted, but cities or municipalities can adopt certain restrictions on certain streets or areas because of safety concerns.

So we could study that more closely, but but but an outright ban would not be allowed.

And if I could take this opportunity because I didn't really have a chance to weigh in earlier, the county absolutely has exclusive jurisdiction on traffic signals.

I don't believe there is.

So we can come back after we study it more closely, but I don't believe that the information that you received, Commissioner, was accurate.

I appreciate that.

Can I just wrap this up though?

So you'll look into this, Rick, and then bring it to the May agenda to reduce the 18-wheelers in our city in certain students.

Yeah, we'll we'll add an item and and we'll look to see what we can possibly do and bring something together.

Thank you.

To to build on the points made earlier, can we get for the May commission meeting?

I want to keep this on this on the agenda and come back because there are a lot of questions that you guys are have a lot of homework on.

Can we get historic enforcement data and and what it is now and really like a really thoughtful analysis of where the problems are, what's causing the problems?

Is it small delivery trucks?

Is it 18-wheelers?

Is it is it um uh garbage trucks?

Is it people doing illegal U-turns?

Like I want to know, I we we it's not what I want to know.

We need to have this data going back a decade to today to understand what the issues are so we can better mitigate them because otherwise we're gonna spend, you know, throw everything at the wall thinking all of it's gonna help, and it probably will, but let's do the most effective thing first and keep working through the list.

But we can't do any of that without the data.

And I want to know who's enforcing, who's fighting the tickets, who's not.

Do we do we have a thing where five strikes you're out?

Like if your driver can't adhere to our laws in the city, get another damn driver?

Like, you know, what are we doing, and how do we how do we quantify that?

And well, before you embark on that, uh, one other question to add is um later on today, if thank you, Commissioner Fernandez, we have a great item that is going to provide residential relief from uh towing enforcement.

However, for this, where it's commercial and it's significantly impacting our residential quality of life, how are you working specifically with our tow partners for enforcement?

Because a company like Cisco or Amazon, getting tickets it's a cost of doing business.

Nothing.

We need teeth.

How specifically are you working with our partners to enhance our enforcement here?

So I'll I'll towing commercial vehicles is a different step.

Uh I'll let me talk about the enforcement aspect.

So right now, I without having the data in front of me, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that we are probably writing more citations today than any time in our history.

I definitely know that is a factual statement for our right-of-way violations.

We have, for example, UPS um talking to us about settling for more than a million dollars for right-of-way violations.

So while we are, you know, I know that we there's comparisons of police force.

Um we have about 40 parking enforcement specialists when we are fully staffed.

So um uh we are not perfect, but I stand behind our staff's effort to get out in the field when we see deficiencies, we will absolutely address them.

I go out into the field until midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m.

to see our team to work beside them.

When it comes to the so, for example, when we start hitting these commercial venues with 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 violations.

Um we do have to end up changing our code because we are usurped by county rule.

So they'll go to a the special magistrate, they'll say, hey, blah, blah, blah, you know, we we want these cut down.

A lot of times there's a negotiation that we end up cutting those fines in half, et cetera.

When it comes to towing, we just talked about the traffic of the time it takes for a parking enforcement specialist to get there.

Now the parking enforcement specialist gets on site, identifies the issue, issues a citation, then immediately goes digitally and calls for the tow vehicle.

They're in that same traffic that everybody else is.

So by that point in time, the BedX truck driver, the UPS driver, the Amazon driver, they are trained to stop, get in, and get out.

And so the chances of us getting on site, writing a citation, doing a digital call, which the new technology that we are utilizing is phenomenal.

Um, but then because of the size of the vehicles, it has to be a different class tow vehicle on call all the time.

So how do we cut out that bureaucratic step where your specialists have to get on site, analyze, and then call, right?

How can we essentially have those arriving simultaneously?

You must be able to work with the end of the day, there are governmental partners, right?

There must be a way where you can work simultaneously.

I guarantee you if government is showing up, what I know about capitalism is they're going to show up just as quick as we do or faster.

I'll put our team up against anybody as far as speed, but automotive is potentially a way that we could incorporate that into tow books and then potentially order the tow automatically.

Yeah, so automotive actually has that feature.

Um, but that again, that is freight loading zones only, and that is for vehicles.

You know, if if we if a FedEx truck in a freight loading zone, then hey, every day is a great day.

Can we add basically a median or public right of way to that?

As far as well, what we're talking about in the automatically.

Yes.

Uh well, so right of way we use for commercial violations.

We the right of ways are for that 18-wheeler that's at that that 63rd bend where you have you know unnamed hotel on the right hand side with unnamed hotel on the left hand side.

Um if the cameras cover zones to keep those areas clear, so we wouldn't write a right of way for anybody in violation of a freight loading zone because then generally that's gonna be a resident, a visitor, uh you know, somebody that says, Oh, look at that big piece of curb, I'm gonna stop in for five minutes.

I can guarantee you if you went out at some point today, you would find multiple commercial vehicles parked up and down in the middle of West Avenue every single day.

And as many tickets as you write, and I have noticed an increase in your presence, which I thank you for, but that's clearly not enough teeth to change behavior at this point.

So, how do we take that one step further and say, you know what?

You're not just gonna take these tickets as a cost of doing business.

Now, Amazon, you've been parked in this public right of way that is a public safe.

Somebody is going to get hidden killed.

And I say it every single meeting.

Somebody I'll send you videos if I need to send them every day, I will do that, right?

How can we sit there and say, you know what, Amazon?

Your truck is now going to get towed.

Can I build on that as with possible?

What about I mean, in New York and Boston, people boot cars and trucks all the time.

It's very quick.

The truck is incapacitated.

They it will have to be negotiated, not literally negotiating, but you know, it'll have to be handled between the operator and the the enforcing body.

Um, and it doesn't block traffic additionally.

It doesn't remove it, but it doesn't block it the same way.

Is are we preempted from using boots?

Well, you well, commissioner, you don't want to boot up.

You don't want to boot up a vehicle that's blocking the light.

No, but but you want the car moving.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm just saying it's faster than getting a tow truck, right?

Like because then an officer can go, the the vehicle can't leave until the officer has written the the ticket or whatever, done the enforcement part, and then it goes.

But it's faster than having a special giant truck coming and moving it, because then they you just take the boot off and they drive away.

I think if I can just interject here because and no pun intended, but when there's a will, there's a way.

And there's a will here.

There is a will that wasn't.

And also it was really good.

And by the way, you're you're having a fun time by going out at one o'clock at night to look at traffic enforcement, God bless.

All that I know is that our residents sneeze and they're getting ticketed and towed like almost like immediately.

Yeah.

If it's if it's working to go after the resinists and the taxpayers of the city of Miami Beach, I expect for it to work even better when it comes to the enforcement on these commercial trucks, they're commercializing and profiting from our community, and they're and they're destroying the quality of life of our of our residents.

We've focused so much on going after a resident that parks on a yellow curve.

We've gone gone so much to focus on a resident that parked on zone two instead of zone one, or you know, these like minor things.

Let's put all of our resources and all of our effort into doing what we can today just to solve this issue that is destroying people's ability to navigate our our our city.

So what we can do, and uh the entire commission can have my dedication.

We can put out starting at 7 o'clock in the morning in the that we will begin the enforcement of towing commercial vehicles and go ahead and start calling those vehicles as early as 7 a.m.

You have my support for that.

You you could be could park tomorrow at the parklet on 10th and West Avenue, and you'll have 10 commercial vehicles by 1 p.m., right?

And that is when they learn.

That is when they learn.

And that the you know, the decopage and the Ritz disaster, which you know, I I think almost everybody on this day has had some hand in trying to resolve that.

It is that is an unmitigated disaster all the time.

The biggest challenge right there, I will be extremely happy when that construction is over, so we can get back our our other freight loading zone over there.

And through through the vice chair, if it's possible, you know, we have a member of the towing company, Mr.

Andrade.

I don't know if you want to come up and give some insight into what you know.

I have some stuff to say before he speaks.

How the towing company can help alleviate some of the problems.

I mean, I don't know if you have also uh an outside perspective on what you want to what could be beneficial for us.

So through the vice mayor, I'd like to, I'm not sure if we're still on this item or we've transitioned to RNAH, because I know at some point we said we were gonna call them together because I do want to circle back to North Beach about parking enforcement because I I presented at a neighborhood um organization in North Beach last week, and I know that there was a parking town hall that my aide attended, and they have some serious concerns about enforcement in North Beach.

And I stand behind what we're transitioning to with not towing residents, but I also respect the fact that there are some residents in North Beach that do want parking enforcement and towing.

Um so before we get to that point, I just wanna say that you know, can we can we have some more enforcement?

Uh I do you have numbers, Will, of what enforcement looks like in South Beach versus North Beach in in terms of both enforcement tickets and towing.

Uh because North Beach does not feel like enforcement happens up there, and you know, perception, right?

I don't data is data, but they do, you know, I had a woman approach me that said there's been an abandoned car in front of her building.

Yeah.

But so I I do want to see, I don't want the North Beach residents to feel ignored up there.

And as we transition into no more residential towing, I want to, I want to I want to make sure that these people feel heard and let's tow before that kicks into effect.

And I know it sounds crazy and cruel, but that's what these people want, at least they told me they wanted there, they don't see the enforcement or the towing in the residential zones, which is new.

And I know we did a process where it was, I think the first year we didn't tick it, it was just you know, warnings because it was the zones were new and that's still in transition and we're working out the kinks still, but they they did say that they wanted that enforcement and towing in North Beach.

So before our item, which I stand behind comes to neighborhoods, can we can we increase that a little bit?

Well, and and I just want to build upon that because you know, one of the key things is you know, ticketing, you know, it's $36 per violation, and the people who are doing this repeatedly, they can get ticketed.

And one of the great recommendations that MBU put forward is that if the person is still there after um after 24 hours, you know, if it's an abandoned vehicle there, you know, absolutely, you know, they should absolutely uh get get get towed.

So, you know, there's ways to enforce that doesn't necessarily start uh to with towing a resident.

Um and and to build on that, just really super fast.

Um the North Beach CRA pays for enhanced code enforcement, I think, but definitely enhance police.

Um Heather, I don't know, is Heather here or Steven?

But anyhow, there's money to to be spent both.

Okay, so there is money available specifically for this function in the North Beach CRA.

And if if that's what it needs to hire more um code off parking enforcement people to work in the CRA district, that's what the money is there for.

So does the city have what you need in order for us to move on from this item?

So I I'd like to point out one thing about North Beach, and I'm I say this about all of our residential zones because I understand um we talk about enforcement.

I'm gonna use Parkview Island.

Parkview Island has 450 permits assigned.

There is a hundred and twelve city parking spaces on Parkview Island.

So this is not a problem that Miami Beach can enforce or tow itself.

Well, that's also because of the building there.

Well, you're right, you're right on site parking.

We give permits to that building.

Correct.

Well, why we should working on that?

These are things that we have to take a greater look at at every one of our residential zones and say when we now look at permits, if you have off-street parking in your building, we cannot make you eligible for a permit.

Much like we did with the newer development in 70 seconds, that all of those larger buildings don't get residential parking.

We now have to start coming back and probably taking away, because we have a place where we've given away 450 hunting permits and probably the most congested place in North Beach with you know a hope and a prayer of finding a space.

So point of order just like what that's Commissioner Dominguez wants to kind of bring it all into to uh to order, which is smart because we went from traffic and semi trucks, and now we're kind of blending into North Beach, the R9AH.

So before we get into the R9AH where we discussed parking, I'd like to close out the last item we were talking about.

The last thing I just wanted to have my colleagues kind of listen in on is someone from the towing company where maybe you can give us a little bit more insight into how can we better enforce these delivery trucks.

Sure.

Um then you know to take it away, Ralph.

My pleasure.

Uh good afternoon, Mayor, Commissioner, City Manager, Will, um Ralph Andrade here.

Um and and look, I'm an attorney for for the towing companies, but my background for over 35 years, I've worked every aspect of parking, parking enforcement, repossessing vehicles, valet, you know it.

So I I'm not just speaking as a lobbyist.

I frankly, not that it's a big deal, but you know, I consider myself an expert in this area.

So just there's a lot of moving parts.

Um and just to focus in on the areas that I think contribute the most to the traffic delays that you experience on your streets, your choke points, Washington Collins, et cetera.

And it's the delivery trucks.

And the reason they're double parking is because vehicles are parking illegally in the freight loading zone.

So when the delivery truck shows up, it's illegally parked vehicles there, so they have to double park.

That's what creates the problem.

With respect to automotives, um, it can easily integrate with tow book and simultaneously alert the parking officer as well as the tow company for efficiency purposes, so that everyone should, you know, basically shows up at the same time.

You don't wait a half hour for the officer to show up, you don't wait a half hour after that for the tow company to show up.

Now an hour has passed and no enforcement has occurred.

So happen for that now.

Mike.

The city just needs to make sure that we're getting alerted simultaneously with uh with the parking officer.

And we have the capability to do that, Will.

So, yeah, we we haven't jumped into the back end of automotors yet.

Um, but yes, from our understanding, that is absolutely a capability.

We're starting that in this.

Yeah.

So that's one aspect.

The other aspect is, and Mr.

Mayor, you had an item on a couple of years ago regarding freight loading zone.

I looked it up, it was in 2022.

When your freight loading zone program worked best, and the streets were fleeing free and clear of this chaos was around 2015 to 2018 when the parking department used to give uh funds to the police department so that the motorman can work over time and help them enforce the freight loading zones.

For some reason, Mayor Phil DeVean was also personally enforcing during the jumping into jumping into trucks.

So look, the the parking department has a lot of different responsibilities.

So you're telling me that the the police department uh can also enforce parking.

Yes, and they used to, and it was a very successful program, and that's discontinued um as of this time.

And but hang on one quick second, hold that thought.

But let's not forget 2015 to 2018, delivery retail sales versus as a percentage of delivery trucks versus what it is now in 2026.

I don't know what that data is, but I know for sure that it was uh infinitesimal compared to now.

Like almost nobody goes to a mall to do errands or to buy clothes.

It's all delivery, the smallest thing.

So that when we're compiling our data, that also needs to be factored in because uh to compare it just purely based on the program that existed does not take into account the underlying conditions.

So we need to factor into that and figure out what else we need to do.

Which is all the more reason why the parking department needs a supplemental force.

What they have isn't sufficient, it's just not.

And so to the extent you all want to consider, you know, re-implementing you know the freight loading zones being also being in for and commercial loading zones, which is a whole other conversation that go entirely unenforced citywide for a different reason.

Um, you know, that may be something you could your chief may be interested in doing, or you can discuss with him.

But if the parking department got some air support from police or some other entity, you know, within the city, it would be tremendously helpful because parking just doesn't have enough staff to do it.

So I I would like to um put out to my colleagues, because we could spend the rest of the day talking about this, and that would probably be time very well served, but that does not serve the agenda.

I would like to recommend that we schedule a sunshine meeting and continue this conversation because we have thrown out a bunch of points, and there's a lot of information that needs to come back.

And so we could either do it at the next meeting in May, but then we'll spend another two or three hours having the follow-up from this conversation.

And I don't want to take away from the other two thousand pay or whatever it is, two twelve hundred, two thousand pages of agenda items that we have.

So I don't know if my colleagues are willing to do that.

I'm not suggesting we drop this conversation.

I just suggest we move it to a different venue so that we can get through the four bucks we have in front of us.

Would would my colleagues be supportive of that?

And then keep this on the agenda for next month.

Yes.

However, I do want to I saw you kind of shaking your head.

I want to be sure that we're all on the same page, and if there's things we're not on the same page about, and then I think we move that on, but you clearly were signaling something.

I don't know what it was.

So I I while I absolutely love uh any support within the city, um when I I understand that we as a city are always trying to do things in the most financially efficient manner.

And if there is a desire to put more individuals on the road that can enforce parking, um, I feel an overtime to a motorman would be very expensive compared to increasing five, six, seven, eight parking enforcement specialists.

So when we talk about expanding our ability to enforce um uh team members, um I almost would not understand why we would then say we are going to spend city funds to spend overtime money rather than just bring in team members whose sole focus is to do those things.

Why couldn't we do something like if we really want to have sole dedication of enforcing our freight towing zones and our medians and public rights of way, and we're going to use that what is it, the tow aler or tow mobile?

Well, why can't we ask for funding that comes from our partners?

100%.

They're gonna make money off of it.

Right.

And and but it doesn't provide that same incentive that they're outdoing it, right?

They're just funding a dedicated city parking resource that's just going to go out and focus solely on uh the freight areas.

And in a matter of fact, then just to build upon that, and I don't know if this is possible or not.

I mean, I'm gonna go out here and just throw this out there.

Our problem is so bad and it's affecting traffic so badly and public safety, in addition to quality of life, but in this case, the public safety issue is so bad with this.

You know, how do we get more efficient support from the outside to enforce the freight loading zones?

You know, can we can we get support?

Uh you know, they're making money off of off of enforcement of the freight loading zones.

Can you guys and the private sector help us and supplement us uh in addition to what the touring companies are a dedicated resource just to go out and police the uh freight loading zones?

The tow companies are here to serve the city's needs.

If that's something you all you know want to have a conversation about and explore, we're more than happy to do that.

And and I would remind you that under Florida law, and by the way, this is legislation that I passed for the benefit of the city in around 2020.

Under Florida law, the city can recoup or charge impose an administrative fee in the amount of 25 percent on the consumer to recover its cost of parking enforcement.

Right now, the city charges $33.

You leave you can with that 25% formula, you can charge up to $68.

So you're leaving whatever that is, $35 on the table that we can lawfully impose on the consumer so that you can hire more personnel, whether it's it's police officers or parking officers, if but it's a self-funding mechanism, it will have no fiscal impact on the city, or if like you're suggesting, you you want some external private supplemental help, sort of like with uh the security companies, right, where the police department hires outside securities to help.

We're more than happy to do that.

We're here to help the city, alleviate the traffic conditions that exist.

Um, and however we can do that, we're here to but the lowest hanging fruit right now, aside from hiring more parking attendants, Chief.

Is it possible like tomorrow that you can start at least on some of the worst hot spots in Miami Beach, because we have problems right now, literally as we speak, probably, where motormen can go out and enforce uh loading zones, for example.

Commissioner uh should not say yes among the myriad of responsibilities and priorities, motor department motor officers deal with a daily basis.

I'm sure we can find a way to lend support as we have in the past to the parking department.

Um is correct.

It's very expensive to hire an overtime basis, and motorman is far more cost-effective, quite frankly, to hire his own people, parking force inspections, and we can't.

Yeah, but like just uh just spitballing, you know, during the day, for example, like nine to five, or even you know, a little bit earlier.

We have you know the we this is going on throughout the day.

I don't know why it would need to be overtime where we're paying officers to do, you know, something that the city needs.

You know, I think at like you know, two o'clock.

I think the motormen aren't necessarily doing speed detection.

No, they can work on the enforcing the loading.

So why why does it need to be overtime?

Well, it's a bit of both, right?

Um the program that Ralph referred to, uh, those in motormen coming in early in the morning to address the um the freight loading zones, and that's where we're having the most problems uh back in 2015, 2016.

So those come in early prior to their shifts, uh address the freight loading zones, uh, right?

Uh a lot of citations to people, many of them residents and took a lot of cars, many of them residents, um, and it was effective, but costly.

So could but could we the the traffic um safety specialists who are in the intersections at 41st Street, for instance, at rush hour?

Are they permitted by the state with your job description to write tickets?

They are.

So, what are they doing when they're not dealing with rush hour traffic jams?

And can we deploy them for this?

Typically responding to nine merchant she calls a service and require report be written, like traffic accidents that are injuries, they require a report rewritten a Berkeley to an apartment or house that require report written, that's what they're typically doing.

They too, by the way, can work in overtime to enforce the freight loading zone.

Well what has to happen for tow to be implemented for some of this parking in a public right-of-way or a freight loading zone.

Can we implement some sort of see something say something where an officer is just on their normal patrol and he's going down West Avenue and he sees Amazon parked in the median, right?

We don't want them spending time getting out, writing traffic tickets, getting in discussions back and forth.

But is that adequate if that officer sees something that they could tow uh that they call our external partners, and that's enough to summon them to come out and make a valid tow?

Yeah.

And in fact, we did have the freight loading zone program.

It was really a comprehensive effort by the entire police department.

Officers were charged and directed to do what you just said, but not only just to see some say something, but also time permitting, they're not on a call for service, not in the route to call for service, get out of the car and enforce um the parking violation.

I just, you know, I think that's great.

I also I also want to be mindful of everything that we're that we put on our police department.

I first need to see, from my perspective at least, that our parking department is really stepping up its game.

Yeah, I would love to start seeing a weekly report on freight loading zones, so that okay, once we see they're stepping up their game and we're seeing, okay, this is really being taken seriously, but yet it's still not sufficient, then at that point going and seeing, okay, what support can the police department give us in this in this effort.

If you're telling me as they go about their day and they're driving by, you know, and they say, okay, you know, there's a truck, um there's a truck blocking the public right-of-way that they can call that in.

I think I think that I think that's great that they and they should be trained to to do that.

But I don't want this to become their job right now.

We have a parking department.

This is the responsibility of the parking department.

We need the parking department to take this on seriously.

If if the towing companies who make money off of this can support in this effort as well, then it's to the benefit of the residents of our city who are who are sitting in traffic, and we don't take away more resources and redirect resources from our for from an array already overtold police department, because we push our police department in every direction from traffic enforcement to traffic management to homeless management to to our waterways, to the parks to enforcing marijuana and open containers and absolutely everything.

Okay, we have to be very mindful that we're constantly every day we're sending our police apartments on new missions, you know, mufflers, bicycle gangs, uh high impact weekends, special events, everything.

We throw it on our cops and they're going in different directions.

There is only one sole purpose for the parking department.

The parking department isn't doing homeless enforcement, the parking department isn't doing bicycle gang enforcement, they're not doing marine patrol enforcement, they're not doing traffic enforcement.

This is the one job of the parking department.

And I want to see them do this job extremely well.

I have a question.

And once I see that, once I see, and I want to see, and I don't know if you guys agree, but weekly metrics, weekly metrics, so that we see, okay, are we really taking this seriously?

And once we show that we've had improvements, then they still need more support.

Well, then you know, start tapping into our other resources.

Commissioner Bott.

Will, are you fully staffed in your parking enforcement?

Very close.

Uh we just hired a new uh uh I think I want to say about eight or nine people into our part-time role.

We then promoted uh, I believe five of our part-timers into a full-time role.

So I believe we had some of the part-timers uh drop out, which you know happens um when people get hired.

So I feel right now we are about one or two full-timers shy of being fully staffed, and maybe about two part-timers.

But we are actively going through interviews.

How once you are fully staffed, will that be sufficient?

So I this is where I I say it depends on what good looks like.

And so um uh one of the things that Commissioner Fernandis talks about is metrics, and I absolutely love numbers.

I live in the numbers.

And so when we look at certain things that we're doing, um we see a decrease in certain areas.

And and I'll use I'll use the I go back to them a lot just because I'm so proud of them, and I think it is absolutely going to transform the city, but our color-coded curbs.

So when we put the pilot out there where we not only change the signage, but we shut down the zones so nobody could accidentally pay when they park there.

When they try to park there, it says no parking toe.

We saw an 80 percent decrease in our pilots.

We have now started painting those throughout the city.

In our first 20 days of April, we have seen a 30 percent decrease of illegal parking and freight loading zones.

The commission received a picture from one of our amazing interactive residents who showed illegal parking, but right across the street, absolutely open freight loading zones.

So, what we're talking about now is changing the habit of delivery drivers that for a decade or more have done whatever they want.

Now, we can if you tell me that you want to up our team from 40 to 60, our the parking department, I say it all the time, is an enterprise fund, we can absolutely absorb that.

And are we more effective at 60?

Sure.

We're more effective at 100.

Um, so I just say it depends on what good looks like for the city.

We are limited when we go give these millions of dollars of right-of-way violations and because we give millions of dollars a year in right-of-way violations to UPS, FedEx, Amazon, the drivers take them, put them in their pocket, and they pay them later.

Okay, but let me come back to something you said.

First of all, um a couple of things.

First of all, we are trying to disrupt behavior.

So even if we don't get the millions of dollars back, the pain in the neck of going to get them adjudicated and some settlement, it's you know, if we really hold everybody to the fire, their feet to the fire, then they might get tired of that.

And um behavior will change.

I mean, enforcement, we're we're gonna be talking about micromobility, and the the challenge will be to change behavior without in for punitive enforcement, but to change it with educational enforcement, right?

That's a different thing.

In this case, they're bad actors, they have a long track record.

I'm happy to let them accrue their fines.

But the other thing you said that's very um that I think we all need to hear as we start in on the budget process is parking is an enterprise fund.

So if we hire another, let's say dozen people between part and and full time, the the revenue that gets generated by their actions will pay for their employment.

Is that a correct understanding?

That is correct.

And and I will even say that.

So then so then um I don't know if this is a JSON question or a manager question or uh just a body of the you know, will of the body question.

Why wouldn't we uh up that that that amount today and do a resolution right now saying go get yourself another 10 people between five between full and part-time and you know throw the hammer down.

Let's go.

Let's go.

So I think the short answer to that question is it's much easier to hire people than it is to downsize.

And so we're always hiring for the troughs in our needs as opposed to the crests.

But I think there's opportunities to leverage technology, and I think what we're hearing from you is that we don't have enough enforcement today, and so maybe the trough has raised over time, and maybe we need to look at adjusting slightly.

So we're always rather understood.

I don't want to be firing somebody in the lean years.

But I would say that if we have been hiring based on a certain level of service from I don't know, 10 years ago, whatever the right number is, the marketplace and the landscape has changed so dramatically between over development.

And um e-commerce, just those things alone.

And and um Uber and Lyft, shared riots, those three factors say that without even looking at it one single point of data just from living in the city, that driving through the city in 2010 versus driving through the city in 2026 are night and day.

Night and day.

So I would love to know when the last set of um um assessments were for what the staffing levels should be, because I guarantee you they're not enough.

And if we're worried about having to lay people off, God forbid, um, then let's hire part-time people where it's it's a different kind of a thing, and they might be able to be transitioned to something else.

But I I am I would be happy to make a motion that hopefully my colleagues would support to direct the parking director to come back with the or uh or whatever needs to happen, but to go ahead and and and do the analysis of what the best level would be for you know the the most responsible way to do this and move forward.

Like we we spent, I don't know how many hours talking about all the things that are causing the impediment, and one of the most effective is standing right before not you literally, but is standing right in front of us saying, you know, we just need more bodies on the street to enforce, and we can do that, and the enterprise fund pays for it.

Like, why haven't we done this already?

Can we do that as a part-time employees?

That's what I just said.

Okay, okay, good.

Yeah.

I think we even supplement it not replaced, but on top of just the managed through peaks with some sort of contracting service.

Would you like a motion to direct you to come back to us in May with a plan that we can effectuate?

I think that would be better than answering a little horse trading on the dais.

Okay, so I would like to make that motion.

And hopefully it's somebody will second, and hopefully I'll get unanimous support.

Second.

Okay, all in favor?

If so, please say aye.

Aye.

That was directing the parking department to come back in May with an analysis of personnel, including part-time uh contracting services regarding their needs.

And and a timetable for implementing now and and at May, in Maine.

I don't want this pushed out to the fall.

Now I had three other motions that no one made second, so I need to clarify those.

You had we had a motion uh refer from uh Monica Mattel Salinas referring to FERC, the study regarding changing from traffic lights to stop signs, but no one made a second.

Oh, second.

So I have a motion by Commissioner Matassalina, seconded by Vice Mayor Dominguez a referral to FERC.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

I also had a uh a second motion from uh Commissioner Mattel Salinas regarding amending C7Z, which was to include speed tables on 74th Street.

Uh motion from uh Commissioner Mattel Salinas, seconded by Commissioner Las Mayor Dominguez, all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, hearing none, it's approved.

And I had a last motion, uh direct administration to supplement departmental budget with e-bikes.

Um I think that was Commissioner Bott who mentioned that.

Uh that was the police department?

Good idea.

Um police just got theirs, so it would be parking and code.

Parking and code with e-bikes, that was uh Commissioner Bott.

Do I have a second on that?

I'll start.

Just specifically, what is it?

What is the item calling for?

It was to motion directing the administration to supplement uh the part departmental budget, I'm assuming for the next budget year, uh for the inclusion of e-bikes for the parking department and co-enforcement departments to look into that.

Because the issue has been that okay.

Um and then the other thing that I didn't hear.

Before I'm sorry, so I have a yes on that uh motion, all in favor?

Excuse me, just for the sake of clarity is that to consider during the fiscal year budget process, or is this a referral to FERC?

Thank you.

That's what I was about to ask.

So I I think I'd like to get the assessment of how much it would cost.

And if it's not a huge amount of money, um then maybe we can do it this year.

And if it's like I I can't imagine that buying 12 e-bikes is going to be I think the there are about six thousand each, right?

Because uh the Andres Osion Foundation, I think donated six bikes for 34,000.

Correct.

Roughly.

But you know, let's not use that as a benchmark.

Let's do our own research.

Oh 100%.

I'm just saying that's their based on that it was.

No, I just wanted to make sure because we have and that you were consistent.

I just wanted to make sure the reason I was asking to make sure it goes through the I like the item.

I love it.

Just make sure it goes through the budget process like everything.

We can save the money by by putting two people on one skewer, Commissioner Butt.

No, not no, we can't.

It's not safe.

Unless you buy a certain scooter that has the devices to make it safe.

So I'm not giving up on this one.

But the other thing I didn't hear.

So can we just get a sense of what the cost will be, and then we'll decide if we're gonna make it a next year priority or if we can find it's a cool question.

Or we can do half now and half now.

Do we ever confiscate uh e-bikes from criminal enterprises?

I am sure we do.

I mean, we've got use it for this hundreds of bikes.

Are we allowed to do that?

Like the issue.

It depends on the nature uh on the conditions we confiscate a bike if it's um vehicle use and a crime, and um we can certainly uh uh use it.

So maybe it's part of this item, just explore that.

Because I know like in the Netherlands, people dump bikes all the time and they rehabilitate them and and give them to people who need bikes.

And this is a little bit different, but it's worth looking at.

I just want to jump in there because I you know I want to thank you, Commissioner Bod for bringing this up again.

It's just it's deja vu.

You know, in this city, we have these conversations and then we have them over and over again.

In 2022, this body adopted resolution 2022-3234, specifically asking department the the parking department to create a dedicated bicycle enforcement unit.

The directive is there already from this legislative body.

It was a different set of people.

But but it's the body, different people.

Yep.

But the legislation lives on.

And where is it?

We gave the directive, whether whether it was this commission or the one for four years ago.

The legislation is there asking the parking department to create a dedicated bicycle enforcement unit.

Um so and so I think it's important to bring it back up again so that it's fresh in everyone's mind.

But this it's like we have the same conversation over and over and over again, and the problem doesn't get solved.

Yeah, I look, I think um there's it's it's a complicated thing to to run a large organization.

There's turnover, there's shifting priorities.

I understand all that, but it's not like this was a fly-by-night crazy idea by some random commissioner, and the fact that um here we are four years later, and it hasn't been addressed.

Where does the buck stop on this?

And so that's a different question for a different time.

Right now I'm uh more interested in moving this forward.

Um I had one more question.

Oh, the the question about whether or not the city or the county or the state has jurisdiction on some of the traffic um calming is that does that need to be something we vote on, or is that something you can handle administratively to get those answers and come back to us?

I don't believe we need a motion for that.

We can do that administratively.

Okay.

But I don't want it to fall off.

Like we want ironclad correct answers, ASAP.

I'd be happy to issue an LTC by tomorrow.

Okay.

It's pretty clear.

Great.

Great, great, great discussion.

We're gonna call R9.

I just I just didn't want to say um, you know, sometimes it looks like we're taking uh a lot of shots.

Sometimes they're fair, to be honest.

Uh but we'll, you know, you've been here about a year now.

Uh you've less than you.

You've been a great.

No, a year yesterday.

Oh, yeah yesterday, congratulations.

Thank you.

So have the anniversary.

Uh and I can say from my perspective, you've been you've been a great addition to our city.

So uh thanks.

And and and I'm sure you're gonna obviously follow the directive that we're given here and implement it.

But thanks for your own.

So it's been a year yesterday, but it feels like 10.

And I think during your interview, you had a full head of hair, right?

No, ma'am.

I keep it shaved, don't show the gray that it has definitely.

Thank you as well for living in our city.

Yes.

I can see through your knowledge of the intricacies, it makes a difference.

And that's a very passive aggressive suggestion to our other staff and administrators.

But thank you very much for living in our city.

No, but I I will call out that Jose does as well and Melissa does as well, and they speak from knowledge when they are addressing issues that we are all frustrated with because they are also residents who are frustrated by the same issues.

Jason, that's right.

John Norris.

And I was like, sorry, we go through all the John Norris calls me every single day he's on the way home that he sees a truck stopped at 63rd because he lives just north of 63rd and he couldn't.

So can we deputize him to be?

I actually we've talked about giving him a tablet and a printer and having him go through the course.

That's cool.

It is kind of cool by the way.

I did that yesterday, it was a backup on Alton, and I texted Jose Gonzalez, and then two minutes low a few minutes later there's a notice going out citywide.

Hey, there's a backup because of uh but um Commissioner Vice Mayor uh Dominguez.

I just wanted uh to uh make a motion for this item to be heard at the next public safety meeting, um which is May 13th.

Which item, I'm sorry.

Um what we just discussed now.

I thought I heard Commissioner Bott say she wanted a special meeting, and my suggestion would be for it to be heard at the next public safety meeting.

Got it.

So a uh Commissioner Bat had instructed to hold a sunshine meeting.

So instead of that sunshine meeting on this topic, you would like it to go to the public.

May 13th, um public safety neighborhood quality of life.

It works for me.

And hopefully all of our colleagues can can join us for that because I think this has been a really fruitful and productive discussion.

And as the mayor said, it no one's coming at you.

Um but it would this clearly we're all quite passionate about finding solutions, so let's go get them.

I don't know why we haven't yet, but let's do it now.

When there is a will, there is a link.

And there is a will.

Okay, we're uh now we're gonna call the R9AH.

So uh just for the record of motion by Commissioner Blah, uh actually by Commissioner Dominguez for the referral to public safety, May 13th, seconded by uh Commissioner Mattel Salinas.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

Now we're on R9AH.

You want to call it Discussion, take action, parking enforcement and North Beach, R9AH.

Commissioner Suarez.

Thank you.

Um this seems to be the topic de jour of this morning, which is good because that's what residents care about.

I had a North Beach parking town hall last week, and believe it or not, one of the biggest uh requests from a lot of these North Beach residents is they want to see towing when it comes to enforcing uh zone twenty-six parking.

Um, I think Commissioner Fernandez or Commissioner Bot, I forgot who mentioned it says, you know, they'll see a stack of tickets uh on the car, and there's it's just there.

It's just left there.

Um and you know, people seem to just not really care about our our our residents' uh ability to park.

Um we passed, I think it was two years ago, it was one of the first items that I brought forward for a residential parking zone in North Beach.

It was zone 26.

Uh when we first started it, we we wanted to give as much education and grace period to all the residents and business owners in North Beach that we're not gonna tow.

Um in fact, we wrote it into the ordinance as far as the pilot program.

And we whenever since the program was started, it's been a huge success, especially in the beginning.

There was uh finally some sort of you know, structure for residents and visitors to know where to park and where not to park.

And for a good period of time seemed to work.

But when there was no teeth toward it, everyone kind of just was abusing the system, so to s sort of so to speak.

Um so last I I believe it was like a year ago where we passed uh three strikes you're out uh for towing in in zone twenty-six.

And um I wanted to ask Eric.

Eric, how many toes since our meeting to enforce through towing has there been in zone twenty-six for um residential parking enforcement?

So I would have to defer to our parking director.

Yes, sir.

So um this is the data that I gave at the meeting.

So we've had 450 toes uh for non-commercial reasons.

Now the way that and and forgive me if I misunderstood, but I was under the understanding that it was if you received three zone 26 violations in the same month, that's when uh we would we would initiate a tow at that point in time.

Now how many toes has there been?

So I'd have to look at the exact data because for example, we towed a vehicle the other day for a scoff law.

Well, I just want to know how many tows there has been in the last year specifically for a zone 26 violation.

So that's the challenge, sir, because it's a vehicle will not specifically just get towed under that specific clause.

Because there's other reasons.

And I um let me go to the SCOF law.

So there was a vehicle that uh uh never met the criteria.

It had uh two violations a month over the last several months.

It was designated as scoff law by the county because there they hadn't paid any of those violations.

So our team scanned it, it was recognized as a scoff law, we towed the vehicle.

The individual came to the parking office, obviously, you know, had some choice words for our for our customer service team, they sent them upstairs.

Um so, for example, that vehicle wasn't towed for not having a zone 26 permit because that vehicle specifically never met the threshold of having three citations in the same exact month.

That vehicle was instead towed as a scoff law because that vehicle, um, to be honest with you, I didn't bother to talk with the team to find out if that person was a resident there or not, if that person just ignored all the tickets.

Um listen, I I get it, put how many towes has there been?

So there's been 450 non-commercial toes in the zone 26 area.

Okay, can you give me a little bit of a breakdown that how many were because you had a a violation in zone 26?

I I can I can pull that.

In the residential area, not a commercial, not freight loading zone, just specifically in residential parking spots.

So that I'd have to go through addresses to get that information, sir.

Okay.

So when I say 450 non-commercial, that's not including commercial loading zone, that's not coming, including freight loading zones.

Okay.

So the the sentiment I get from the residents of North Beach is that, and I think we've said it uh enough up here is that there's no enforcement, right?

Um and you North Beach is unique in the sense that over the next couple of years with P parking lot 92, that's going to be um demolished for a much bigger structure.

There's going to be a transition period where it's going to be very uncomfortable for North Beach residents.

And the lowest hanging fruit is to park in the residential parking zones because there's not going to be and people know that if they park there, it's going to be a 90% chance that they're not going to get towed.

They'll just get a ticket, but they're not going to get towed.

And unfortunately, that leaves the people who live there that don't have a dedicated on-site parking space to fight against those people.

Um where the only penalty is like a $36 parking ticket.

So what do you need from us?

Well, let me ask you, how many parking employees are dedicated to North Beach?

So we don't have any uh dedicated, for example, if we if you talk about, for example, when we divide our shifts throughout the evening, um we look at how many individuals um are on shift, and for example, we'll say, hey, you are gonna go to North Beach.

So generally I will say on an overnight shift, we're gonna have one officer.

We have four different ships.

One of those ships is like a 6P to a 230A.

Um so that individual can be up in North Beach as well.

So it concerns me a little bit, Eric, city manager, that there's no real plan as far as enforcement, meaning like it's just kind of general out today, you're gonna go to North Beach.

I don't think that's how our city should run.

I think our city should be running on with a schedule, a plan, and a thoughtfulness as it relates to enforcing parking.

So, you know, uh I yeah, I don't know if again if this is a staffing issue or or what, and if there's just one person who is going to randomly be in North Beach, which is a decided on the day, apparently.

Um what happens if that person you know calls out sick and then there's no enforcement?

So, you know, Eric, what what do you suggest we do to really kind of make sure that North Beach has the proper enforcement?

So this is primarily an overnight issue because the residential permit zone kicks in at 6 p.m.

Correct and so I would say that we probably have to have dedicated resources there between 6 p.m.

and 2 a.m.

to make sure that um we're enforcing the zone 26.

So what I want to but uh we we do have a plan commissioner, so but but just like we have human beings at work and because we do have unionized employees and we give the opportunity of those unionized employees to exercise their rights, individuals can take evacuac, individuals can take sick.

So what our supervisors do is say, let's say we have five people on at this time frame, but we have one EvaC and one calls out sick.

Now we have three.

So now that supervisor says, okay, I'm gonna put one here, one here, one here.

Now I'm gonna take these two resources, hold them over for four hours and put them here.

So our supervisors are costly.

But you're telling me, I thought you said you're all almost close to being fully staffed.

Doesn't sound like you're no, but people still take vacation or call the sick or stuff.

But but can I jump on the build on this?

I'm sorry, but I'm like I I love I like where you're going.

You go for it.

Sounding at the bit here.

Um, so we talked about a little bit before.

I hear where you're going, and there are extenuating circumstances, and I I don't know, but I would suspect that this might also exist in flamenco park, but that'll be a different conversation for a different time.

Let's use this as the model.

So what we have in North Beach, and and I will say I was a huge skeptic of the parking program before, but because it was a year-long program, pilot program, I'm like, let's see how it works.

And so I have to give uh give you your flowers because it has worked very well.

And you know it pains me to do that.

I know but it's it's worked very well by and large, and that's what the pilot program has been to try to tweak it, and people who haven't loved it are like making their peace with it.

Nothing will be perfect for everybody.

I get that.

But the the Parkview Tower, the PP Tower, is a big issue.

That's a whole different conversation.

There is that alley that runs behind the West Lots on the west side of the West Lots that has, I think was originally in the program, and then we took it out because it wasn't communicated well enough and nobody was prepared to handle it, but now I think a year or plus into it, that now needs to be put back into the program.

We know for a fact we have people camping overnight in that alley and in our parking lots up there.

So knowing all those things, um, is this a department like police has a department, is a department, and code is a department where you have staff on 24 hours a day.

Correct.

Is parking also one where you can do that?

Yeah, no, we are.

You do.

Okay.

So again, because we have it's an enterprise fund, we can hire part-time people for now to start and see what we actually need, and there's money in the CRA.

Like this is the trifecta of you know, put the pedal to the metal, and but not driving unsafely.

No pun intended.

Yeah, exactly.

Um let's go.

Like, let's have a plan in place and let's go and let's alleviate these issues because um we need to make sure it it has gotten so much better than it was, and we also need to make sure we don't slip back, and that the other challenge is it's a very transient neighborhood.

So people who weren't part of the first year of education have no idea.

So now we need to, and and maybe when you know we need to talk about the communication that if this is their first violation, maybe there's an education, you know, this is your your mulligan, and then we go from there.

Um and then so I think that that is really important to do, and I I get that we have five people on and two people have the temerity to get the flu, and but let's always let's say we have five people on for the city, plus two people dedicated overnight in in North Beach, or whatever the right number is, okay.

And then to your point about the earlier point about the um 72nd Street garage or parking lot going away for a couple of years while it's turned into a fuller community asset, including many more spaces.

Um I I wanted to if we're done with this part of your conversation, have Will explain what the deal with the Doville Hotel is.

And I spoke to David Martin about this yesterday, and he said he's on board um to do the parking program that you and I have talked about.

But before you get into that, yes sir.

And I would love to hear about that.

Um one thing at the town hall that I realized is people uh wanted to say, hey, look, there's a car here, it's been sitting here forever.

Um and they tell me that they call the parking department and nothing happens.

Uh and then I find out that there's actually an ability to enter into a license plate and on online on our government website where it gives a thumbs up or thumbs down, so to speak, a yes no, that if it's a registered vehicle.

I think most people I didn't even know that.

I think most people in North Beach or pretty much anywhere on the beach knew that if you notice a car there that it's been there forever and it's probably not a resident, you could just put in the license plate and it'll tell you if it's a if it's a permitted car.

Um that and if they call a towing attendant or a parking attendant would come out and possibly get a towed.

Is there perhaps we maybe with communications to send out a message like that to the to North Beach and allow, you know, that we're not just relying on parking attendants will also rely on a sort of like a crowd source of residence on the beach to you know enforce their own little block of neighborhood.

And that applies to all the parking zones, right?

Correct.

So if any any individual who has a residential parking permit, so you you you must be you must have res access to the residential portal, um, can log into the residential portal, search for a um search a license plate, and then like you said, it thumbs up, thumbs down.

Um it's actually red or green.

But um so Melissa, can we can is it possible for communications to send out a dedicated email saying, hey, you know, if for parking enforcement, if you notice that there's a car that doesn't belong, you know, you you can use this link to figure it out.

And if and if it's not, here's the phone number for parking um department to get it investigated social media.

Well, I mean, we're happy to send out a dedicated email.

I would just work with the IT department to develop whatever that link would be.

Great.

And and that way, you know, we're not relying on I mean, it's good to rely on our city funded services, obviously, but I think when you have residents that you know can can do a bet can do a much quicker, better job of and they know their streets better than anyone else.

Um that that would be um a great tool in our shed.

Um Commissioner Butt, but then we have Commissioner Matilandis.

So two things to build on that.

One is um we need to be sure because we have these special permits that we have been working on over the last couple of years for churches, for volunteer organizations, for students and teachers, that we when somebody puts their the tag under question into the the database, that those tags that are allowed to be at that church on the Sunday morning um shows up as green.

We just had a you know, the the church that Ms.

Summer wrote in about saying that people are getting ticketed and towed, so that is going to be and and maybe if it's not um if it doesn't come up as red or green accurately when the officer goes to do the violation, they have to reconfirm and they have a more robust database.

So actually right now, the way that we perform tows in all residential areas, the officer first scans the license plate, whether their vehicle mounted.

But not just toes, tickets as well.

Okay.

Um tickets we probably have a little bit lighter because we know that we can always undo a ticket.

Um when it's but the res the problem is the people who are getting ticketed don't know.

Like some do, and they'll reach out to us, but a ton of people don't.

And so they're just like, you know, I went to church and I got a ticket.

It's like you know, no good deed goes unpunished.

I I and just look, you're gonna be able to you're gonna be able to digest that, you know, please with communications.

But I think Eric, what I'm asking for is we there doesn't seem to be a plan for specifically North Beach enforcement as it goes to zone twenty-six.

It seems like there's oh well on today we happen to have three people, so we're gonna send you the I think what would be appropriate was would be perhaps in about a week or so, send out an LTC to the commission on exactly what you plan on doing for enforcement of zone 26 and North Beach.

No problem.

Great.

Commissioner Mateo Silanus.

So uh similarly, I will again you're you're not fully staffed, correct?

Uh we're we're about uh two I would say one full-time or short uh and uh maybe two or three part-timers.

Are those positions posted?

Uh yes, we're actually doing interviews right now.

Okay, great, thank you.

One last question about the communication part.

The eGov app is so amazing, and you can report dumps furniture or carts or flooding and all that stuff.

Does parking is can you report parking on the eGov app currently?

You can report parking on the eGov app, and on top of that, anybody that you know I I I understand there's anecdotal um uh stories out there, but anyone that calls in a parking issue, um that is they call in on a recorded line, our team then enters that into the system, and there has to be um a solution entered into the system on what the parking enforcement specialist saw when they got there.

So if, for example, we we send an officer out there and there's three or four tickets on a windshield.

My expectation is that parking enforcement specialist calls the supervisor, and we have certain uh Miami Day parking codes which we can enforce that don't necessarily state you don't have a zone 26 permit, but it's another violation that we can tow immediately on.

So when you guys work on whatever the communication is, just let's remind people who already use the e-gov app that they don't have to adopt another.

Absolutely, we'll plug that as well.

Thank you.

Okay, I think we're good.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We're gonna get a weekly outfit now.

And one on the North Beach thing.

I'll it's not a public comment, but I'll yeah, come on up.

Honorable mayor, commissioner, city manager.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk here today.

Talking to you in reference of North Beach, lifelong resident of Miami Beach, been living 40 years on Normandy Isle.

I've I've been dealing with this situation with part before I go on.

I want to make it clear and transparent.

I have an entrance with beach towing, and I run the day-to-day operations there, so there's no hidden thing here.

I've had two incidents in my island.

Just last week I had a confrontation with one of the contract workers.

Called up parking, gave film.

I've been I have dated back to 2023 with situations in our island.

No enforcement has been done.

They go, give a ticket here, give a warning here, and they leave.

I'm letting the city know.

My family's safety.

I have my son that lives on Fairway, we live on North Shore.

My daughter lives on North North Bay Road.

My family safety has been compromised with the confrontation with those contractors.

Enough is enough.

Enough is enough.

Either start enforcing and I don't want one toe in our island to go to beach towing.

The Tremont have it, you can skip me.

Because the optics of it looks like I want to get more toes.

That's not the thing.

Enough is enough.

Enforcement has to be done.

Thank you.

It's happening in his neighborhood.

I'll tell you, you go into Bayshore.

It's happening all over Bayshore.

You go North Bay Road, it's happening all over North Bay Road.

It's the same issue we're facing in our commercial corridors.

So my quality of life with the amount of property.

Eric is that I paid.

It's the safety of my family.

Enough is enough.

Sorry, sir, I didn't catch your name.

815 North Shore Drive.

Thank you.

May I say something?

Yes, and then we gotta wrap it up.

Yes, sir.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

So uh Normandy Isles, Venetian Isles, Sunset, uh, Palm Hibiscus, Star, all of these islands share a very similar trait.

Technically, there is no legal parking on the islands anywhere.

And so we when we get calls for service, we go out there and we enforce.

Um if we do not get calls for service, we tend to not go unless called because the individuals that live on these islands say, my my my nanny, my cook, my fill in the blank year.

We have to walk a very fine line because on any of these roadways, if a vehicle parks, we should ticket for obstruction of traffic and tow the vehicle immediately.

157 ticket and tow immediately on every one of the islands.

Then when we do go, we do hear from the residents that weren't expecting this type of enforcement.

So I so I say that we will absolutely go in the direction that the commission would like.

So we're so if that's we're wrapping up, we're wrapping up this item.

Thank you so much.

R9D.

That was R9D is presentation by Commissioner Raquel Regalado on Neuroinclusion Toolkit.

Commissioner Regalato Raquel Regalato, thank you so much for being here.

Uh, for those who don't know, I think most people watching do, but just in case uh you are a county Miami Dade County Commissioner.

Former school board member, yes.

Former school board member, and uh we're really honored that you're here with us today, and I know you have a special presentation, so thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

And I'm here in my capacity as the very proud mom of two neurodivergent adults, uh, Bella and Sebastian, who are now 21 and 22 respectively.

Um so first of all, I want to thank you all for raising the flag.

Thank you so much.

It means so much to us to really get our municipalities to start talking about not just autism as a general idea, but really autism acceptance.

We really have come a long way from awareness to acceptance, and we have so many resources uh in our counties for who we lovingly refer to as the littles, you know, when you get your early diagnosis and all the different things that happen when you get that diagnosis.

But as many of you know, starting at 10, 12, 13, things start getting a little complicated.

Um, and I've been working uh over the last 10 years on programming specifically for adults as my children transition to adulthood.

I have to say uh my daughter Isabella came to the UM NSU surf camp here in Miami Beach uh over a decade ago.

So I know that you all have a longstanding relationship with UM NSU Card and UM NSU Card uh has been my number one partner in doing this work uh with a toolkit.

Um so with the toolkit is I created a document that has been emailed to all of you.

Uh I also have the QR codes here so that you can see them that really encompasses everything that I've done in the public sector on the government side.

It is written for you, it is written for uh managers, mayors, uh, commissioners and administrators in general, and it has all the legislation that I've worked on.

Please copy it.

Um, all the data that we have done over the years, the training as infrastructure, and then the different examples of everything from social stories that we've done in all of our libraries to how to um provide uh autism friendly and sensory friendly events.

Um, so first I'll just say why we talk about neuroinclusion and not autism.

Most autistic adults and children have more than one neurodiversity.

So, for example, my daughter was diagnosed with autism, but later in life, she was also diagnosed with ADHD.

So she has odd HD.

A lot of neurodivergent adults are autistic and dyslexic, or um are um they have autism and Tourette's or tourette's and dyslexia or OCD or autism and epilepsy.

So it's very common to have more than one neurodiversity.

Also, when we talk about autism, we're talking about one in 31.

When we speak about neurodiversity because neurological um uh delay includes autism, downs, epilepsy, uh, Tourette's ADHD, um, all of those exceptionalities, in the middle of the spectrum, we have neurological brain injuries.

So people who have injuries that lead to neurodiversity.

And then on the other side of the spectrum, we have individuals that have dementia or Alzheimer's all together.

The human beings that are neurodiverse in the state of Florida are one in five.

They're not outliers, they're not a small group of people, they're actually a very large group of people.

And a lot of the work that I do also helps people who have dementia and have Alzheimer's.

Because while most families um think that the first marker is forgetfulness, actually, the first marker for more than 89% of them is sensory overload.

So when you have sensory friendly activities, that actually helps everyone.

And I will tell you, as I mentioned in the toolkit, it isn't just wonderful for people who are neurodiverse, even neurotypical people like myself appreciate when you turned on the volume a little bit and turned on the lights.

So one of the examples that I give is the youth fair.

We've been working with the youth fair for several years.

They started with UM NSU Card, they did a sensory room and a social story.

The next year we did a map that had sensory friendly spaces.

And this year we did sensory friendly hours every Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 3.

So it is progressive.

It's not something that you do from one day to another.

I know that you all have done a lot of this work, and I want to thank you for that, but it is an ongoing process.

Um, the idea of this toolkit is to give you ideas on how to do it.

You don't have to hire a consultant.

You know, we've done this work as pilots in the county.

So with UM NSU Card, Miami Dade County has already trained 4,128 first responders, lowering the amount of baker acts and unnecessary arrests dramatically.

It's so important for our families to know that people who are coming at a point of crisis know how to deal with their neurodivergent adults.

One of the examples that I get, I've had uh a police officer from the sheriff's department call me and tell me that they were in North Miami Dade and they were responding to a 9-1-1.

They knocked on the door, and the mother opened the door a little bit and said, Have you taken Commissioner Regalado's autism training?

And the police officer was like, I am responding to a 9-1-1.

And she was like, Yes, but have you taken it?

And he said, Yes, I have.

And she said, You can come in now.

Because she was scared that in response to the 911, her son was going to be unnecessarily bakered or arrested.

So we talk about employment, and that's part of the work that I do.

And obviously, October, we really highlight that.

But there are many barriers to employment, not getting an ID.

How do you get an ID?

We have worked with the tax collector, and we actually have neuroinclusive days at the tax collector's office downtown where all of our families can go and get IDs.

The state of Florida recently changed the law so that you can add your disability voluntarily to your Florida ID, and you can get a Florida ID starting at five years old.

So there is a world in which autistic children and adults have a Florida ID and they could use it.

And that could be one of the many ways that as elected officials, we can help them come into these public spaces.

So at Miami Dade, we've trained all of our transit workers and everyone at our airport.

This is the Sunflower Lanyard.

This is for invisible disabilities.

And it just gives someone a heads up that if they see this, that they might want to approach and that their approach might be a little bit different than a neurotypical approach.

This is also used, like I said, for people who have dementia and Alzheimer's, and it's a very subtle way to say that someone might need a little bit of assistance.

We have this in our airports.

I give them away, the airport gives them away.

And at the airport, which is in the toolkit, we have MIA Air, which is a dress rehearsal that's available to all residents of Miami Dave County if you love a neurodivergent person, where we walk them through the process of boarding a plane without actually flying.

They come to the airport, they get a boarding pass, they go through TSA, they board the plane, they meet the, they meet the pilot, and then we show them where our sensory wounds are.

And that way when they go to fly with their families, or even if they go alone, it's not an overwhelming experience.

It comes with social stories in English and Spanish, and we actually connect the caregivers with TSA cares.

So this is one of the many programs that we've established at the county that really leans into inclusion.

Everything that I have done is within our existing systems.

I haven't created anything, I haven't created any jobs.

This is not an economic opportunity.

This is about really giving specifics to what inclusion is.

I think inclusion is like happiness.

You know, we all want to be happy, right?

But how do you get there?

What does that mean for you?

Um, so what this tries to do is at least from the public sector side, try to explain what inclusion looks like and how we can embed it in our existing systems to make everyone feel welcomed.

Our families have a tendency to stay home, to not come out, to not congregate.

And we're seeing them with these new events and these opportunities really coming out.

I'm hosting a fair on Saturday at uh Temple Bethum in Pinecrest, where we're gonna have the sheriff there with uh the decal and the registration.

The registration is for everyone in Miami Dave County.

It allows you as a caregiver to register a neurodivergent person that lives in your home and to give specific instructions about their needs, if they're verbal, if they're nonverbal, what their specific de-escalation is and what the officer or firefighter should know when they knock on your door.

That is available to everyone's 911.

It's voluntary.

And this year, the sheriff has added vehicle registrations.

So now when you register your vehicle, you can also add that a neurodivergent person may be in that vehicle and what their special specific needs are so that when you're stopped, everyone is aware because a caregiver may not be there or a caregiver may not be at that moment be able to communicate in front of the person, what is the best way to de-escalate?

Um, so those are some of the many tools that are in the toolkits.

Uh, I'll pass it around.

It was emailed to you.

I'm here to help.

I would love to see more adult programming in Miami Beach.

If I had a magic wand, that would be my ask.

You all do so much, but we have a huge need for adult programming.

Um, unfortunately, our healthcare system is created for elderly people.

So our system pushes people towards getting someone to take care of them at home.

And if you're an elderly person and the remainder of your lifespan is five, seven, ten, eleven years, that's great.

But when you graduate our kids to the couch, when at 22 they go from a structured environment, an educational system to the couch, what you're saying is that they're gonna be home for 40, 45, 50, 60 years.

So think about that.

Um, I I know that it's uh it's a lot, you know, when we talk about adult programming, but there really is such an amazing need, and it can be co-located uh with vocational training, with um employment opportunities.

And remember, our children have a neurological delay.

So unlike the elderly that we're trying to keep them from getting worse, our kids get better.

They get better with intervention, they get better with support.

And while you may have a child now at 22, like my daughter, who is in a vocational program, but is not ready to work in five years, in seven years, in 10 years, she will be.

And that's what we're all moving towards.

And we also have a lot of adults that need less resources, but they still need accommodations.

And at the county, I've created opportunities for them.

We're changing the way that we hire.

Instead of just posting on LinkedIn and telling people, you know, that they have to make eye contact and communicate well.

Uh, we allow them to come in and actually perform the task.

And that's a way, a very easy way where you give a neurodivergent person the opportunity to work.

So I'm here to help.

Uh I want to thank you all for your support and for the opportunity and to answer any and all questions that you may have.

So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Regalato, and thank you for all the hard work you do on this.

It is it's an important issue.

We all we all know individuals like yourself who live with this every single uh day and care for their loved ones and in most cases kids.

Um I have so many friends who are grappling with this issue.

So highlighting it, educating people, but also taking concrete steps and actions like your that you're talking about is is imperative.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And well, I'll say I would have given anything 15 years ago for my kids to be neurotypical.

I wouldn't change them today.

Um they have made me a better person.

They're amazing human beings.

Uh, and I know that it's hard when they're little.

My son was a runner, my daughter was nonverbal.

It's really challenging when they're very young, but uh for all the parents, it it does it does get easier.

And obviously, it takes a village.

So when you live in a community that really leans in, um, it makes it so much easier.

Thank you.

Uh I have Commissioner Fernandez and Commissioner Bottom.

Yes.

And thank you, Commissioner, for your leadership uh in this.

I think the great thing about this is it's not just general statements.

This is an actual toolkit that you have put together through your years of public service that communities can model themselves uh after.

And um, and and I think you know, those that clear shift, those meaningful policies on signage, on sensory uh aware of public spaces, on on the in-person interaction that you were just mentioning is so important.

I think for us as uh as a destination, not only are we a great community for our full-time residents, but um like most of Miami Dade County, we're we're also very tourism-driven.

And in order to be a hospitable community, uh, we need to make sure that we're properly training uh our hotels, our restaurants, uh, our park staff and uh and and our police departments uh and and how to handle this.

And I know our police department actually has been very much involved in these in these efforts and training and training their their staff.

Um, but this is such a great uh initiative, part of a I think a broader commitment to the diversity uh of our city, which is ensure it is in part making sure that every resident can navigate our city services, can uh visit our restaurants, can visit our hotels, uh, and feel feel comfort, feel clarity, feel respect.

Uh and so I just want to thank you.

Thank you for for for this effort.

I love the toolkit.

I love that you're making this available to elected officials throughout the state so that we can mimic uh these policies.

And as you mentioned, I think we have so much great opportunity to work on more programming here and engaging our business community so that so not only are we truly a diverse and an inclusive community for what we think of traditionally, but also the broader sector, people who just see the world a little bit differently, and we can do so much uh to help them feel a little bit better in our community.

Thank you, Commissioner.

And the Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau is in the toolkit.

They were one of my first uh partners.

Uh I won't reveal anything, but they're there might be the first um hotel that where everyone has been trained in Miami Beach.

Amazing.

Uh so stay stay tuned.

Um there's a lot of things that we're working on in that space.

Um, there's gonna be a rollout specifically for that in October.

So October is disability month.

One of the things that I mentioned in the toolkit is using April and October as goal setting moments, not just performative moments.

Um, and October for us is gonna be uh a big one where we talk about what we've been doing in terms of autism-friendly spaces.

We have a lot of museums that have been doing that, and we're going to roll out a lot of special things so that people know where to go, right?

That has actually done this training and where they've focused on making this a priority because our families do have economic power, and they are asking the questions, right?

Where can we go?

How do we get there?

And that's something that I think is one of the things that we're seeing as this community grows.

And I would love to have Miami Beach lead on that.

And UM NSU Card is a wonderful partner for you all.

You know, we do a lot of the training with them.

The one that we did, we've trained all of our uh police officers, firefighters, parks, uh, transit um, and libraries.

So it's it's been an enormous training effort and Miami Dade County.

And I will tell you when I talk about training as infrastructure in the toolkit, not only does it make the customer experience life-changing for parents and caregivers and individuals, but it also sends a mini ambassador back to every home and every business.

Because everyone that's been trained with our training, now they become the advocate.

And that's a multiplier.

And wherever they go, every time they go somewhere, every time they see someone, they educate them.

So it really is an opportunity for us.

You know, to your point, Miami Dade County is known for diversity, cultural diversity, ethnic diversity, right?

Um there is a world, there is a world, right?

Uh in which we also become the Mecca for intellectual diversity.

Because our kids just think different.

That's all.

And there, and there's so much stereotype in this arena.

But but in when you when you get to meet these these individuals, their talent, their creativity.

They have amazing abilities.

Truly, truly incredible uh uh abilities that they have to contribute back to society, but oftentimes they're pre-judged and they're stereotyped by individuals who just don't know better, and and it's incumbent upon us to to help make that shift in society.

I think that that's that that's where a lot of these trainings and a lot of these toolkits and creating opportunities for the engagement uh and oftentimes putting in individuals uh with these uh neurodivergent uh uh issues um in places where they're front facing, engaging with people.

So that's so that's what the Greater Many Visitors and Convention Bureau did.

Um they actually hired some of our graduates from Easter Seals to be greeters uh at many of their events, uh, and it was lovely because they really gave a face to it.

Easter Seals also has like a coffee cart that they take to uh corporate events, and then they have the graduates serve coffee and talk about um autism.

We have a lot of programs that are doing a lot of in-community service where you can invite them to a lot of your events, and they do the education for you.

Um, in our police training uh and in our perks training, we actually took autistic adults that explain to county employees what their interaction was like and what their experience was like.

So, yeah, thank you.

Commissioner Bach.

Um thank you, Commissioner Regolado.

I will not take up more of your time, but uh I want to just say two quick things.

One is a question which you don't need to answer here, but I want to put in your mind to see if there the information exists.

Um you said some of the neurodivergency comes from traumatic brain injury, and I would love to know if there is a data set that you can access or UM has or whatever, if we've seen a spike in that or a trend line going up as we've seen an increase in micromobility adoption in the county because I'm it's something I'm working on, and I know that people are going to the hospital and sometimes surviving and sometimes not with traumatic brain injuries, and um I think that would be a really valuable data point for a lot of things that we're doing here in the city and in in the county.

I can get you that.

I represent Cubis Kane.

Okay, awesome.

So you feel me.

Yeah, yeah.

And then the other thing is, and I I'm gonna pop off and give you my card, but um, so you may or may not know that we are transitioning Miami Beach into the health and well-being capital of the world.

And a big part of that, I mean, all of my colleagues, every single one of us up here has been a big part of that, but um, and not the and um sort of the overarching umbrella for that, or one of one of the the legs of that stool, depending on which analogy you want to use, is the blue zones initiative.

And a big part of the blue zones initiative is community and connecting people who otherwise would be left out, and we talk about it with seniors, or we talked about it with young adults who don't have families who are plugged into the school system.

I think this is a brilliant um element of inclusion that I hadn't really crossed the transom yet, but I am going to reach out to you because it fits in so well, and there's so much for neurodivergent families to do here in a scale that is not overwhelming, like it's not going to prickle or you have to drive for three hours to get here, it's close, it's easy, it's low in low scale, you can dip in and and do and dip out.

It's close, it's easy, it's low in low scale, you can dip in and do and dip out.

So I think we are going to have a lot to talk about.

And I'm I apologize in advance, but it's very exciting.

No, I would love to work with you on it.

In the toolkit is also the training that we did with Jackson Health Systems.

So there's a whole healthcare component, healthcare training too, uh specifically at emergencies and emergency rooms and urgent cares.

So there's a lot of different components to it, but um there is very simple things that can be done to make events um sensory friendly, and that helps everyone.

Uh and there's a lot of existing resources that are very easy to mimic, uh like social stories.

All you need is like a few pictures and there's a PDF and you're good to go.

And that really reduces the anxiety.

So it's it's a lot of easy things.

And and the idea behind the toolkit was to do just that for everyone to incorporate it in their existing policy and and to not have to hire a consultant to do it to just kind of like step into it uh and do what you feel comfortable with and and build on that.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Commissioner Regalado, and uh we're looking forward to working with you and partnering partner partnering with you on this.

Same.

Sam and thank you so much for always being so supportive.

I really appreciate it.

Have a lovely day.

You too.

Call R7R.

R7R is authorized issuance of resort tax revenue refunding bond series 2026 R7R.

I move the item.

Uh motion by Commissioner Fernandez, seconded by Commissioner Suarez.

Any discussion?

Hearing none, may I call a vote?

Call the vote.

R7 R.

All in favor, please say aye.

Can we can we just uh get on the record for what we're doing?

And and what we're saving.

Sure, I'll I'll be quick.

Thank you.

Jason Green, uh City's chief financial officer.

So we have uh an opportunity to refund the original 2015 resort tax bonds, which were issued back in December of 2015 as of the end of the prior fiscal year, we have about 156 million dollars outstanding.

Uh through this refunding opportunity, we will not be exp uh extending the life of the bond, so it'll still be paid off at the same time frame.

But through this refunding, uh we are projecting approximately an 8.5% uh net person value uh savings of $13.3 million.

So on an annual basis, what looks like uh early projections, you don't know obviously that we go out to market, but we're looking at just shy of a million dollars a year in savings.

Incredible.

Thank you, Jason.

Thank you.

Call the vote?

I did.

Uh everyone was in favor, it was a motion by Commissioner Fernandez, seconded by Commissioner Schwartz, 70.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Uh let's try to call a couple of hopefully quick items before the lunch break.

R5A.

That was a hint.

5A is an order of the mayor to the Commission of the City by Beach Front, amending the Miami Beach Resiliency Code by Benning Chapter 2 and Tel Administration and Review Procedures, Article 5, and title Rezoning and Development Approval, Section 2.5.3 and title design review subsection 2.5.3.3 thereof, and title administrative design review to extend the planning director's authority to administrative review of eligible temporary surface parking lots by amending Article 13.

The title Historic Preservation Section 2.13.7 thereof and title issuance of certificate of appropriateness.

Uh certificate to dig certificate of appropriateness for demolition to expand administrative review authority for temporary surface parking lots, providing for codification, repeat reservability and effective date.

This is a second reading public hearing.

Commissioner Fernandez.

I move my item.

Just have one uh question.

When you give uh approval for this, is there a finite time frame or is it on a case-by-case basis?

And where I'm going with that is um I I personally think, you know, especially in some of our more vibrant areas, uh surface parking lots are just the lowest uh use for that.

And I get that it could be uh necessary or beneficial temporary situation, but what I don't want to encourage is just a five-year, ten-year, fifteen year, twenty-year covered land play in some of our uh critical areas where it takes away from walkability, it takes away from incentivizing housing going in place of that.

So while I'm fine with the administrative review, is this just uh a permanent approval or there's some sort of uh sunshine provisions?

The uh the the code already sets, I believe chapter five already sets a five-year period with a five up to another five-year renewal pump.

That's correct, and that's not changing.

That's not true.

This is this is the the only thing that the ordinance touches because that's already set in a different part of of the code.

This only changes the the approval process for it.

And I guess this isn't the right form to talk about this because this isn't the meat and potatoes of the issue.

I just hate that if we're approving a surface parking lot that we're giving a covered landplay for 10 years, right?

Because you're essentially taking away for the next 10 years incentive to do a highest and best use of that land.

Um but the meat and potatoes of this issue uh I have no issue with the and I'm happy to work with you on something if we we want to go back and show you know, on a temporary basis, we we may want to allow for parking.

Um this ordinance addresses the review process, but I'm happy to work with you.

Okay, how long do we want these approvals to be for?

And I'm happy to work with you on a revision on if we want to it is a public hearing.

I see no one in Zoom, and as you know what in the audience requesting to speak.

May I call the role?

Yes.

Commissioner Mateo Salinas.

Yes.

Commissioner Bott?

Yes.

Commissioner Fernandez, yes.

Mayor Dominguez.

Yes.

Commissioner Magazine.

Yes.

Commissioner Suarez.

Yes.

Mayor Minor.

Yes.

Motion carried.

The item is approved.

That was item R5A.

R5B.

I'm sorry, B as in boy.

This is an order to the Mayor City Commission of the City by Beach Florida, amending appendix A to the code of the to the code of ordinances to change the advertisement fees for public notices required by section 2.2.3.5 of the resiliency code of providing for repealer shovel ability calification and effective date.

This is a second reading public hearing.

It is a uh item R5B.

I have a motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Fernandez.

It is a public hearing.

I see no one in Zoom and no one in the audience requesting to speak.

May I call the roll?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Dominguez.

Yes.

Commissioner Suarez.

Yes.

Commissioner Mateo Salinas.

Yes.

Commissioner Fernandez.

Yes.

Commissioner Magazine.

Yes.

Commissioner Bot.

Yes.

Mayor Minor.

Yes.

Item is approved.

That was R5D.

R5E.

R5E is an order to the Mayor City Commission of the City by Beach Ford amending the code of the City by Beach, so Part B entitled by MB to resiliency code by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations.

Article 2 entitled district regulations, section 7.2.2 entitled RS1, RS2, RS3RS4, single family residential districts by modifying the two-story house standard specific to open space requirements for site elevations of single family homes and providing for qualification repealer servability and effective date.

This is a second reading public hearing.

The item requires five sevenths vote and it's R5E.

It's been a while since we did this.

Can you just give a quick brief overview of this, please?

Sure.

Um this particular item uh was approved at first reading by the city commission on March 18th.

And it basically um simplifies and further fine-tunes the current regulations in single family districts that require a certain amount of additional open space within two-story single-family home volumes that have a depth that is greater than 60 feet in length.

Um the planning board endorsed the item, and there were no changes when the ordinance was approved at first reading.

Okay.

I move my item.

Call the vote.

Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Fernandez.

It is a public hearing.

No one in Zoom, no one in the audience requesting to speak.

Commissioner Magazine.

Yes.

Commissioner Suarez.

Yes.

Commissioner Bott?

Yes.

Commissioner Fernandez, throw me off there.

Yes.

Commissioner Mattel Salinas.

Yes.

Yes.

Motion carries the item is approved.

That was item R5E.

No, I'm pushing my luck now, but let's see.

Uh R5F.

R5F is an order to the mayor, so the commission of the City by Beach Florida amending the code of the City by Beach, so part B entitled land development regulations by amending chapter one entitled general provisions.

Article 2 and title definition of section 1.2.1 general definitions to create a definition for bicycle ride share stations by amending chapter 5 and title off street parking.

Article 2 entitled vehicle parking, bicycle parking and off-street loading requirements, section 5.2 point 14 and title alternative parking incentives by modifying the alternative parking incentives to include a provision for bicycle rideshare stations by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts or regulations.

Article 1 and title general to all zoning districts, section 7.1.11 and title residential use incentive to include a provision require bicycle ride share stations by amending Article 5 entitled supplementary district regulations, Section 7.5.3 and title supplementary yard regulations by amending the allowable setback encroachment to include bicycle ride share stations and providing for codification repeater sub ability on effective date.

This is a second reading public hearing.

The item requires five sevenths vote.

It is R5F.

I move my item.

Second.

Co-sponsored by Commissioner Bott, uh sponsored by Commissioner Fernandez.

I'd like to co-sponsor as well.

There we go.

I have so it I have a bush by Commissioner Fernandez, seconded by Commissioner Suarez.

It is a public hearing.

I see no one in Zoom, no one in the audience.

We will list Commissioner Dominguez as a co-sponsor.

Uh if no discussion, Commissioner Bott.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr.

Suarez.

Yes.

Commissioner Mateo Salinas.

Yes.

Commissioner Magazine.

Yes.

Mayor Minor.

Yes.

Motion carries the item is approved.

That was item R five Ferry.

We're going in the roll.

Uh call one of Commissioner Bott's items.

But um, we actually have a working session during during lunch to discuss uh attorney client case.

So I have to read a announcement.

She's here.

You know what?

Let's call it quickly.

R5i.

R5.

Don't maybe regret calling this, Commissioner Bottton.

Oh, I feel like we've got all the cards now.

R5 I is in order to the mayor, so the commission of the city of my beach forward.

The code of ordinance of the city of my beach by amending appendix A to the city code and title fee schedule to include an automatic annual consumer price index adjustment for water impact fees and sewer impact fees imposed by city pursuant to sections one tenth dash one sixty seven and one ten sixty nine and providing for codification repeat or servability of an effective date.

This is a second reading public hearing.

It is item R5 I.

Um before anybody has a nervous breakdown.

This is the one that we all approved unanimously last time.

I believe nothing has changed.

Is that right?

That's correct.

This is only a CPI increase in previously adopted impact fees.

So with that, I'll move it.

Second.

Well done.

I have a motion by Commissioner Bott.

I believe I heard Commissioner Fernandez second it.

Commissioner Suarez.

Yes.

Commissioner Bott.

Yes.

Commissioner Mattel Salinas.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Dominguez.

Yes.

Commissioner Magazine.

Yes.

Commissioner Fernandez.

Yes.

Mayor Minor.

Yes.

Motion carries.

The item is approved.

That was item R5I.

Okay, so now we're going to take our working lunch break.

I am required to read a notice into the record uh regarding our attorney client session.

Uh the attorney client session shall commence and will be head, will be held during the lunch recess of the city commission meeting in the city manager's large conference room regarding the following case.

Penrod Brothers Inc.

versus the City of My Beach and Boucher Brothers.

I'm also required to announce the who will be in attendance.

That will be me, Vice Mayor Lori Dominguez, Commissioner, Commissioner Mateo Salinas, Commissioner Fernandez, Commissioner Bach, Commissioner Suarez, Commissioner Magazine, City Manager Eric Carpenter, Assistant City Manager Mark Taxis, City Attorney Ricardo DePico, Chief Deputy City Attorney Robert Rosenwald, Deputy City Attorney Henry Huntenfeld, and Attorney Eric Hotman of Weiss Sorota Healthman Cole and Beerman and Beerman.

And with that, we will break and resume with our sucknik time at one o'clock.

Thank you.

Don't do things about the screen.

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 five, four, three, two, one.

Second, third.

Welcome back.

The city commission meeting is here by reopened.

The turning client session announced at the uh that I announced before the lunch break has terminated.

We went close to uh an hour and a half, which is why we're back later than we anticipated, but uh obviously needed to get through that business.

We'll open up the um Sutnik time uh now.

Good afternoon, everyone.

If you wish to address the commission, please approach the podium, state your name, address, and you have two minutes.

Hi, my name is Brenda Jordan.

I live 2316 Bay Drive.

Um, and I'm here because oh, happy Earth Day, everyone.

Today is Earth Day, and I realize this commission has a lot of obligations, you know, to so many people to so many areas of the city.

And you know, the decision, um, as you know, I'm an artist vendor, and I'm always here to talk to you about this situation.

In every um interaction or relationship, there's two sides to a coin.

And this program was set up with only one side, and that was the city side.

And even again, we readjust the issues with the artist vendor programs, and the same action was taken.

Only one side of the coin was heard before making decisions that critically affect other people's way of life.

All of us want food on the table and to be able to pay our bills to feed our children.

And the decision that was made caused a lot of people not to be able to do that, to maintain basic necessities.

Now I'm a beach resident, and people say, Well, why are you so worried about it?

Because it's unfair, it's unjust, and we're all human beings.

We're born equally, whether we're artists, whether we're commissioner, whether we are millionaire, billionaire, we are born equal.

So I just want fairness, I want transparency, I want us to be able to sit at the table.

When you're counseling a marriage, you bring both parties and you find out their issues, and you try to mediate what is good, not only for the city, but the artists.

So I'm asking that you stop and halt this latest um ordinance, grandfather the people in so that they can be allowed.

I didn't have two minutes yet, um, that they can be allowed to come resume their work so that their needs can be basic needs can be made.

And then we go from there.

You know, I just want fairness.

Same thing you want for your family, these people want.

And I know we're all human, we make mistakes, but the greatest thing is when we come back to the table and you say, you know what?

Maybe I didn't get it right.

Let's start over, but in the meantime, let those people be grandfathered in because it's still a mess.

People are still selling crap.

So anyway, thank you, and I appreciate all your efforts to make this a viable program.

But both parties have to sit down and mediate together.

Not only the city side, but our side needs to be represented.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate you.

Happy Earth Day.

Oh, yeah, and the traffic in North Beach, a mess.

It took me so long to get here this morning.

But thank you.

Uh yeah, my age.

I'd rather look hi.

How are you doing?

My name is Janet Figueroa.

I'm one of the artist men in the city of Miami Beach.

And I see that you guys got a lot of work in your hands with the city itself.

Um we don't want to be a burden to you guys, so I would appreciate if there's not that many of us already.

Some of them are very old in age.

They should be grandfathered in for the program, and they could continue doing their art until whatever God's life gives them.

It's not gonna be much.

But um, I'm one of the artists here, and I'm a jewelry artist, but I'm also a fine artist as well.

I do all types of arts, tons of arts.

And I can't do it all and bring it all here because carrying everything is not that much fun.

Okay.

So the heavier the things become, the harder it is.

We also have uh a limited space, which is a table of six feet, and we're not allowed to go over 24 inches.

So if you have paintings and drawings or anything of that nature, you also gotta all understand that we're dealing with the elements outside, rain, heat, and so far.

Um working with art when you're a fine artist, involves a lot of chemicals.

So you have to be very careful what you bring here and what you don't bring out here.

The 24 inches, if you bring a canvas, it's gonna you're gonna have to be limited to what eight by tens because you're not gonna be able to to put all of this stuff.

So also what she wanted to say is that the coalition that was started, we all have different views.

That's not gonna work.

The young man had because he wasn't here from the beginning.

He doesn't know that before we were regulated, people would set their table up at six, come back at nine.

We don't need that case.

Okay.

Yes, I think that's the first one.

The best the best thing, I think it's only a very small group of people left in the program.

If they could get grandfather in, of course, as a multiple artist, a person that could do more than one art, I could always bring some other pieces and show in my table as well.

But my passion is also my jewelry because I'm I've been doing it for a long time.

So I understand that you want beautiful tables and things like that, but the limitation in space, when you do uh display, you have to be very careful because I already had an incident when they told me that it was too tall.

So you have to you have to understand that there are certain things that you could bring here, and there are certain things that you cannot do here.

If there's a high wind and you have your your stand is too high, a fly hit somebody.

So we're trying to keep it as short and simple as possible.

So if you could grandfather us in for the ones that we already been here so long, I will appreciate it, and we could continue with the program with the new ordinance and so far, and try to work together to make it happen.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Um good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners.

You know, we have uh Andres on 1000 South Point Drive.

We have a major um issue with 395 traffic going east and westbound, especially after four o'clock heading westbound onto the city of Miami, and it's only gonna get worse between BH3 and Terror Group, which are building four high-rise towers on Watson Island, um, possibly over a thousand units plus hotel retail and condos, the traffic is just gonna be extremely worse.

And the county and the state has only implemented a one-lane exit onto Biscayne Boulevard, and that was the original one-lane exit that we've had over the past 40 years on that exit ramp.

And it is going to be a nightmare if the state does not use the power of eminent domain to be able to buy out some of the land right adjacent to it to be able to expand that lane and make it a two-lane exit.

Once that development is built, we're not gonna have the power to be able to do that.

I think the city of Miami Beach should do some type of an urging to um sort of request together with the county and the city to the state to use your power of eminent domain and be able to get more land to be able to do another lane exit onto Biscayne Boulevard, not counting the approximate 10,000 condoles that are being built in four square blocks right off of that exit.

So something needs to be done, and if we don't start getting at to this now, we're not gonna have control to do it.

The second thing I just wanted to mention real quick because I heard the parking director talking about Palm Island parking together with all the other islands, specifically only in Palm Island.

That island had had curbside parking for the past 60 years.

I grew up there.

And when the city redesigned Palm Island, they did the median wide, wide too wide that it didn't have legal space for a parking space and a fire truck to go through.

That's why there's no parking there.

So right after the design was done, the city basically put no parking signs every 50 feet throughout the whole entire island, making it impossible for anybody to be able to park if they were a visitor or a house that does not have a driveway, or the new houses were on 6,000 square feet, only have two car parkings in their driveway because a lot are small, so they have nowhere else to park.

So I just want to make sure that you guys know that that specifically in Palm Island, it could have been fixed to have legal parking if the design would have been done appropriately to fit a car and also um a fire truck go through.

Thank you very much.

I just thank you.

I wanted to address the first issue you raised about the MacArthur causeways.

So one of the issues is the um the westbound traffic uh early afternoon.

Starting, I've gotten caught in it too.

It's severe.

And one of the issues that's been identified is the port, the trucks coming out of the port.

And um so far we uh so uh I've I'm working with the South of the Fifth Naval Association, Palm Hibiscus and Star Islands.

Um we're trying to get everyone to the table.

It looks like we're gonna do that soon, get the port, the state, the county, Miami Beach, um, residents, and uh try to work something out.

Right now we haven't been able to get anybody to budge, um, which is it's hard.

I'll tell you that the second is certain union regulations, which is also uh but I'll tell you the second issue is that the arena forces every car that's parked inside of that arena to take the port of Miami to get out of the arena.

So they go up the port of Miami Bridge, loop out to that causeway, and force everybody to get down on that ramp or go up the expressway as well.

The city should allow people that are going either onto the beach or heading south when they're leaving the garage of of the arena, not to force them to go into the port and go in through that exit as well, which causes another bottleneck.

But again, for 40 years, there's been one lane exit.

You can't redo that bridge and leave it as one lane when you have all this new development happening around it.

So if the state doesn't use that power, we don't force them to do so, we're gonna get stuck.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who wishes to speak?

Seeing none, we're gonna go to Zoom.

First caller is Omar, Omar State, your name, address, and you have two minutes.

Good afternoon, Omar Jimenez, uh North Beach.

Uh so this was mentioned a little earlier about the North Beach parking, but um, when the city first introduced the residential parking pilot zone number 26 in North Beach, Barbecue residents contacted the city about Parkview Island and how that how that would affect um island residents.

This new zone would affect us.

Um we asked you to consider the impacts on on granting street parking permits to the largest condo building on the island on how that would affect us all.

It's a 240-unit building.

And as we heard earlier, the city only has 125 parking spaces on Parkview Island, but over 450 permits were granted to Parkview Island residents.

This has really been working against our community for the past year.

We are having huge difficulties with parking as a result, and we're in the worst position now, uh, rather than you know, having alleviated the issues previous to the uh zone 26 being uh created.

So there's an easy fix.

We're asking the city to temporarily convert the small paid surface lot outside Parkview Island into a residential zoned uh lot to relieve the issues until this is resolved.

Thank you.

Thank you.

No one else is on Zoom, and I'll see no one else in the audience requesting to speak.

Mayor the Sutnik can conclude Steve.

Mayor?

Sonic's over.

Let's call um our thank you, everyone who spoke.

Um I would just a couple of uh priority items.

I'm gonna try to get to them uh quickly.

R5Z.

One second, sorry.

R5Z is an order to the mayor of City Commission of City by Beach, Florida, amending chapter 66 of the code of the city of the city and titled Marine Structures, facilities of vessels by amending Article 2 and title restricted weight zones by amending Section 66-Sh-43 entitled restricted areas to establish a designated public swim area and corresponding motorized vessel exclusion zone in the water surrounding Flagler Memorial Island, also known as Monument Island, pursuant to Section 327.46 of the Florida Statute and further authorizing the city manager to undertake and execute the necessary applications in coordination with the various agencies of Miami Day County, the state of Florida, and the United States government in order to effectuate the establishment of the designated public swim area and corresponding motorized vessel exclusion zone and providing for repealers of a built-in calification and an effective date.

This is a second reading public hearing.

This item R5Z.

Thank you.

And uh happy to sponsor this.

Thank you, Commissioner Mateo Salinas for co-sponsoring.

Uh I'll tee it up.

I just want to give a big overview that uh this had been an issue our residents had raised about Monument Island and the noise coming from there and the cleanliness.

Um this is uh I'm I'm I'm really um happy with this item.

But in the bigger picture, I'm really so happy with what this commission has accomplished to clean up our waterways in a big way.

Some of it cleaned up literally with environmental issues and all our volunteer organizations, but whether it's the charter boats and the marina that we've been uh we've been able to crack down, whether it's the derelict boats, and thank you, Commissioner Suarez for taking the lead on that.

Uh it's nine day.

I took a marine patrol tour uh a couple of weeks ago.

I mean, we used to see a hundred 180 votes, I think we had out there where they're not there anymore.

Um they're gone.

So it's this has been a big win for um for our our our residents.

So and and we increase the hours of marine patrol, the service.

Um so we're doing we're doing a lot in um and doesn't often get talked about, but it's uh it's integral.

But I'll turn it over to you.

This is a second reading.

Can you give us just a quick reminder of of this item?

Of course.

Good afternoon, Mayor Commissioners.

Happy earth day first and foremost.

Thanks, Liz.

Um, as you mentioned, I did a very thorough background on this item for first reading, but essentially, like you mentioned, what this is doing is it's allowing us to move forward in the permitting process to create to create a swim-only zone, approximately 150 feet from the shoreline of Monument Island to create a much safer environment for recreators that wish to utilize the island, visit our historic monument without the fear of getting unfortunately run over by a boat.

I'll move the item.

Got a motion and a second.

Yes, sir.

It is a public hearing.

I see no one on Zoom, no one in the audience requesting to speak.

I have a motion by Commissioner Monica Mateo Salinas, seconded by Commissioner Fernandez.

Commissioner Mattel Salinas.

Yes.

Commissioner Magazine.

Yes.

Commissioner Bott.

Commissioner Bott.

I'm sorry, yes.

Yes.

Commissioner Fernandez.

Yes.

Commissioner Suarez.

Yes.

Mayor Minor.

Yes.

Motion carries the item is approved.

That was item R5Z.

R5AE.

R5 AE is an order to the mayor, City Commissioner City of Bay Beach Forward, amending the resilience code of the City of Bay Beach by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations by amending Article 3 and title overlay districts, Section 7.3.10 and titled North Beach Commercial Character Overlay District to modify requirements for tobacco and vape dealers by amending Article 5 and title supplementary district regulation, Section 7.5.5 and title specialized use regulations.

It is item R5AE.

Commissioner Dominguez.

Thank you.

So this item, Mr.

Mohammed Islam had purchased a property what was unaware of the overlay.

He and his family have many properties throughout Miami Beach.

And the overlay would prevent him from selling certain uses.

And we had a robust discussion during the public safety committee.

And I think that everyone was in agreement that if you sunset the use, um we could look at granting this.

And the land use committee sent it back to the city commission with no recommendation, but did suggest that if it was to move forward, that the narrow exception that was drafted only be applicable for three years.

So the ordinance, the draft ordinance for consideration at first reading was revised and does contain that three-year sunset provision.

So I would like to move the item with that provision.

Second.

It is a public hearing.

Yeah, good afternoon, Commissioner Mayor and the city officials.

Today I came here thanks to everybody.

It is exceptional because uh the heavy business actually cannot be survived, you know.

This is the main product of the business is the cigarette tobacco and alcohol.

But tobacco is restricted in some certain uh rules.

Uh it is restricted by uh by city law.

So it is a very harmful for the business, you know.

Business, small business, they're they are they're surviving with this uh main product, tobacco and uh alcohol.

Anyway, uh I request to our commission, our uh uh planning division, everybody, to help us to be at least sealing tobacco, then uh we can survive.

So in these circumstances, I request to our commissioner, uh commissions and uh official to help us to be uh to approve this to at least legalize uh so I heard that last land use board, they approved for three years.

This is good enough.

So we can be proceed on, you know.

Mr.

Mayor.

I have a question.

I I get complaints about vape shops.

Uh I I do.

We even had legislation a couple of years ago to prohibit it.

I I just it's not a vape shop.

It allows allows vaping products to be sold.

And because the people above, just north of him and people south of him sell it already.

So it's um allowing a use that other businesses have already.

Commissioner Bott.

So what I want to be clear about is that there is a distance separation for vape shops.

There is a movement to get to reduce the the proliferation of vape and tobacco shops, and this is not a permanent solution.

This is I want to be really clear about this for you and for anybody listening, because I think a lot of us have had um people reaching out to us.

I know I've had very mixed feelings about this.

In this very unique instance, it would have been very difficult for a person to buy this building or this business without and not get the full extent of the legalities because the basic cursory review, and Tom, you can explain this better than I can, would have suggested that if you're doing it on either side, you can do it yourself, and it it was a very opaque situation without your realtor doing some real due diligence.

Um it's understandable how this fell into being.

What I want to be clear on, again, for you and your business partners and the neighbors who are very distressed about this, is this is not a solution.

This is a an exit ramp so that you can either figure out a different business model or sell the business.

And three years is a lot longer than some of us would have liked to have given.

So please use it wisely.

I hope you're out sooner than that and you make a lot of money on selling your business and somebody else brings in something that's wonderful and a different use.

But Tom, if you want to explain that just a little bit.

Yeah, um sorry.

This particular exception is um specific to convenience stores.

So this exception would not apply to a standalone smoke shop or vape shop, vape shop.

More importantly, the exception would allow no more than five percent of the floor area of the convenience store to contain these products.

So it's a very limited component that would be part of the exception.

Um with regard to the um previous use on the site, um, if the previous owner did not disclose any existing overlays, um that's something that the property owner may not have been aware of if I may.

Commissioner Fernandez.

This is this is such such a challenge because we want to help small locally owned businesses succeed.

By the same token, what is the precedent that we're setting?

So I'll tell you a couple of weeks ago, I had a business owner come to my office, a business owner who owns a similar type of establishments on Collins Avenue in the 30s.

You know, an elderly person can barely speak English, bought this building, the establishment next door can sell can sell cigarette products.

Um his business can't.

What do I do then?

I'm saying yes to one and then no to the other.

Are we gonna be fair and we're gonna start allowing these type of exceptions for for everyone that comes forward in our city?

And that's the challenge that I that I have here, because to me what I see here, I see here a civil issue where the proper disclosures were not made to someone who bought a business and who bought a business under a set of understanding that you know something was not disclosed to them.

Um but I sponsored this legislation.

I sponsored this legislation because this was the direction that the community wanted to go in.

And I feel bad.

I feel bad because now we have you know um a business owner that didn't get the proper disclosures from from a seller.

I mean, to me, that seems like a isn't that a civil issue, Mr.

Attorney.

And what remedies could they get?

Yeah, I mean, there are certain disclosures in residential sales specifically.

I don't know that in a commercial sale a seller has the same level of uh disclosure required.

It would have been incumbent on the buyer to do the the research, but as Pum mentioned, this may have been something that is a little bit opaque and may not have been easily discernible by the buyer.

Mr.

Mayor.

Commissioner Suarez.

This um this came before land use.

And um that was also kind of torn because I understand we are setting a precedent if we do this, but you know, that's why I I originally had the idea to help this item move forward.

Where look, you know, we understand that who do we believe is it the realtor, as it falls is it the landlord, is it the business owner?

But at the end of the day, I I don't think we're going to be I don't think we're we're setting a precedent where we're gonna allow vape shops to move forward.

I think what we're what we're signaling is, you know, we understand there is an issue, we don't know who's at fault, but like Commissioner Butt said, we're giving we're giving a grace period, if you will, for this business to adapt and move on.

Um look, you know I I understand it's it's it's tough because you know it we're if it if this was, by the way, standalone vape shop, I would be completely against it.

But I think they're just selling minuscule vape products in the counter, even though like both neighbors are doing that.

But I think we're telling them that hey, look, you got three years to move away from this sort of business model and adapt.

Or sell.

So I think it I think it carefully gives everyone what they want.

We're gonna have we're gonna have enforcement in three years.

It's just that pro that particular property is not going to be able to sell this product after three years.

And you know, we're we're essentially calling balls and strikes on who you know who could have been at fault for uh not relaying this information.

So you know, I think it's a I think it's an easy compromise.

We flesh this out at land use, and you know, I don't I'm ready to just call a vote on this and see where we land.

I'm just I just gonna just put out there, you know.

We have the same issue with other businesses in our community.

This is not the only business in our community that has this issue.

All right.

There's uh there are stores on Collins Avenue in the 40s that have been coming to my office.

I think they've been going to US well, I think what is it called?

Primos, I think it's called Exact same issue of distance separation.

The neighbor is allowed to engage in the activity.

They are not.

I believe so.

And now and now how do I vote for this and tell the other person on Collins Avenue that I'm not gonna support them?

And then when we do that, it's gonna open the door in the entertainment district, it's gonna open the door in outer road and all the other areas where we have a distance separation.

It almost happened on on Alta Road.

Remember, I love I think it was I love liquor.

Yes.

I love liquor.

It was the same exact situation.

I love liquor.

And in fact, I think we ended up not doing it.

This we did not want to set the precedent.

And you know, and it it's heartbreaking because I love Muhammad.

Muhammad is a it's is a friend that I wanna and I want to help Muhammad, I want to help his business, but I also need to help the vision of the direction that we're taking out we're sitting in.

And how do I say yes to Muhammad and not to the other people who are coming here that they're coming to my office because they can barely speak English.

And they're coming to me crying, asking for help.

What do I tell them then?

But the Commissioner, it is this sort of different where Mohammed's situation this I I think he moved in as soon as the legislation passed.

I I think this might have just been a slightly different in that situation.

I think the situations you're describing are more these people want a to have it permanently, and or they have been there for a longer period of time.

I mean, Tom, maybe maybe you can just give us the quick overview of where we are today and how we got here.

So the the legislation that regulates tobacco and vape was adopted in 2017.

It was initially an effort by a former commissioner to regulate tobacco and vape stores along 41st Street because of their proximity to a couple of schools.

And then the legislation became more expansive to include distance separations for all retail sales of tobacco and vape citywide.

And that went into effect sometime around 2018.

So our current regulations have been in place since 2018.

Apparently, Mr.

Islam when he acquired the rights to this particular property was under the assumption that he could sell tobacco and vape.