The Miami-Dade Transportation Committee met on July 8, 2025, at 9:00 AM in Commission Chambers under Chairwoman Eileen Higgins. The meeting began with a special presentation recognizing Theo Karantsalis as the CITT Ambassador of the Quarter for January–March 2025. The committee then addressed a discussion on interior residential speed limits, an update on the Miami Freedom Park pedestrian bridge, a public hearing on the Coral Gables/University Station Rapid Transit Subzone, and voted on a consent agenda of routine items, all of which were forwarded to the full Board of County Commissioners with favorable recommendations.
All right. Um Madam Clerk, would you mind quickly calling the roll? Good morning. The clerk's office received notice that Senator Senator García would not be at today's meeting. Commissioner Bastian. Commissioner Bermudez. Vice Chairwoman Regalado. Chairwoman Higgins. Good morning. I am here. All right, everybody. Welcome to it's July, shockingly. We're halfway done through the year. Uh, to the transportation steering committee. If we could all um rise as we are able to consider um, I don't know, prayers, so many prayers for the people in Texas, especially for the family of David Lawrence, our beloved, beloved community member who lost two of his grandchildren in these horrible floods. When things happen so far away, sometimes that you think it can't affect our community, but it makes us feel more connected to the world around us. And so let us all in our own way pray for David, his family, and the souls of his two little granddaughters. Um, to the attorneys. Yes, madam chair. Uh, if no action is taken, yes, you may. No, we're well, we're taking action, we're recognizing people, but uh but I guess it's not a vote. All right. Well, good morning, everybody. As we uh like to do, usually once a quarter, um, we try to recognize uh some of our transit riders who are also uh more officially known as CITT ambassadors. And they are volunteers, they're also transit writers, and they share their experiences, the good and the bad, and provide feedback in real time uh to the to the CITT and to the department. So they're like our secret shoppers, uh, which is how we're able to improve our service. Um, so really appreciate them, and then of course, they um they do get a few little awards for uh for this work, but generally it's very, very well earned. So this morning I see the chair of our CITT, Robert Um, well, Farth Line to come on up and introduce us to this quarter's champions and also have your vent in court, and then we'll all probably go down to the well um to take a photo as well with uh Theo. Yes, uh, good morning, uh, Chair Higgins, and good morning, Commissioners, good morning, Transportation Committee members. Um, we're here today to celebrate and congratulate Theo Karen Salais. Uh, we recognize Theo Karen Salis as our CITT ambassador for the first quarter of twenty twenty-five. And in honor of your outstanding service, we're happy to present you with a beautifully engraved plaque that uh demonstrates your exceptional dedication. Um the plaque that you receive, um, you will also get five thousand points uh on your app. And uh our records show that during the first quarter of twenty twenty-five, you've completed feedback surveys on your transit rides, earning an impressive thirty-nine thousand one hundred and fifty points. And so this remarkable achievement makes you our top performer for the first quarter, and so thank you, Theo, for your unwavering service. Um before we take a picture, I think I'd just like to mention to our transportation writing public that if you are interested in becoming a CITT ambassador and serve like Theo has been serving for since 2003, top 23, uh, please visit our website at um day.gov slash the ITT. You can learn about the program, you can apply for an application, or you can contact our program coordinator, Cheryl Mitzell. Thank you all very much. Um Theo. Would you like to say a couple words? Yeah, please take a picture. Um, and then to the clerk, would you show Commissioner Bastian is here as well. Thank you. Thank you. To the counties transit board, the the CIT team, and and especially uh Javier and Cheryl for for for your leadership on on the people's transportation plan and and and the and the ambassador program. As a district leader for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, um, a peer advisory board member of the schizophrenia and psychosis action alliance, um, a presenter for Nami, Miami, and and vice chair of the county's commission on disability issues. Um, I I want to speak to the importance of this program and and the impact it has on those of us living with serious physical and and mental health challenges. Your your program give gives our disabled community a voice. And you've shown that that we belong and and and that together through service, we we we can affect change. True wealth is measured not by what we have, but by what we give.