Miami-Dade County Commission Meeting – June 4, 2024
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Miami-Dade County Commission Meeting – June 4, 2024
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners convened on June 4, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission Chambers. The board honored local figures, held public hearings, approved a mid-year budget amendment, and acted on a range of resolutions and ordinances, including a major County property purchase and a resolution addressing 5G infrastructure preemption.
Special Presentations
- Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and commissioners recognized National Gun Violence Awareness Day with a proclamation. The Mayor noted that approximately half of gun deaths are from suicide and called for more investment in communities and restrictions on gun accessibility.
- Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera led a tribute to Sonia Castro, a beloved former staffer, with family present. Several commissioners offered condolences and praised her legacy of service.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Several residents from unincorporated Miami-Dade spoke during the reasonable opportunity to be heard about 5G towers in their neighborhoods. Lisette Monzon, Fernando Monzon, Stan Glazer, and Sylvia Morales Gutierrez described 32-35 foot towers installed without notice, asking the board to pass Resolution 11A8 and seek removal of noncompliant towers. Glazer, a cancer survivor, noted the tower is 15 feet from his children’s bedroom; Morales Gutierrez cited an estimated 15% property value decrease.
- During public hearings on the mid-year budget, Barbara Jordan, pro bono consultant for Greater Miami Service Corps, requested a budget modification to include $1.1 million in previously approved interdepartmental funds. Theophilus Williams and Munir Ingram also raised concerns about community representation and property sales without public notice. Renita Holmes criticized the lack of adequate public participation time.
Discussion Items
- FY 2023-24 Mid-Year Supplemental Budget (Item 5D): The board considered amendments to the mid-year budget, including a motion by Commissioner Steinberg to allocate $100,000 for enhanced Marine Patrol and Intracoastal Marine unit enforcement on Biscayne Bay through the end of the fiscal year. The amendment also directed the administration to create an educational leaflet on how jet ski operators can become legal. It passed unanimously.
- Purchase of 9250 West Flagler Street (Item 8F3): Vice Chairman Rodriguez presented a renegotiated contract to purchase the 26-acre, approximately 625,000 sq. ft. office property for $182,000,000, down from $205,000,000, for various County services. The board approved the amended motion directing the Mayor to begin planning for affordable and workforce housing on the site, including a housing market analysis, land-use review, potential subsidies, and identification of right-of-way for a future Flagler Street Metro Mover extension. The vote was 11-0.
- Resolution 11A8 (5G Small Wireless Facilities): The board passed a resolution urging the Florida Legislature to repeal or amend state preemption over local regulation of small wireless facilities. Residents and commissioners voiced frustration that the county is preempted and has no control over placement. The resolution as amended adds support for defining "temporary paint" and demands notice to the public and removal of obsolete facilities. It passed unanimously with multiple co-sponsors.
- Resolution 11A10 (Haiti): Commissioner Bastien urged the board to pass a resolution calling on President Biden and Secretary Blinken to dissuade Kenya from further military involvement in Haiti. She cited over 360,000 displaced Haitians and argued that $300 million would be better spent training Haitian police and closing the flow of weapons from Florida. Passed 11-0.
Key Outcomes
- Public hearings: Approved items 5A-5K unanimously (11-0), including reallocations of Building Better Communities GOB funds, renaming the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, street codesignation, special taxing districts, and Metro Rail station naming rights for UHealth.
- Second reading ordinances: Adopted Conflict of Interest revisions, Board Rules procedure change, Jackson Health System Capital Expedite Program sunset extension, and Ojus Sanitary Sewer Special Benefit Area boundary changes (10-0).
- First reading ordinances: Approved items including for-hire vehicle dress code exemptions, hospital mandatory payments, special taxing districts, and Comprehensive Development Master Plan applications.
- Other major approvals: Ratified FDOT grants for MIA projects, emergency helicopter contracts, professional services agreements, and multiple departmental resolutions.
- Allocations: Approved $2,050,000 for the Brownsville Music and Arts Festival and $2,000,000 for Ark of the City, Inc. property renovations, plus a $1,500 allocation to the Black Affairs Advisory Board.
Meeting Transcript
I'm Oliver Gilbert, the chairman of the Board of County Commissioners here in Miami Dade County and the County Commissioner for District One. This the portion of our agenda where we recognize organizations, uh events, days, and very, very, very special people. We're going to turn, we're gonna have a presentation uh about gun violence awareness. That's our first presentation. For that presentation, I'm gonna recognize our mayor, Daniela Levine Kava. Okay. Well, today is the day that is set aside for us to show that we detest gun violence. But guess what? We have to be on that issue all year long. You know, I have the distinct uh responsibility and uh burden, I'll call it, to get the news whenever there is gun violence in Miami Dade County. So the police department informs me of all incidents and my heart breaks each and every time. So we know as a society, guns have become so commonplace. People are resolving their disputes with guns, and uh horrifying as well is that I understand approximately half of the deaths from gun violence are from suicide, maybe not so well known. So we know that mental illness is a crisis in our society today, especially post-pandemic. People are still uh lingering, and we had the huge NAMI walk that was unprecedented number of people coming out supporting more services for those who are struggling with mental health concerns, and we know that uh guns are getting in the hands of people who are not really the best to have them. And so we uh we stand united uh to to recognize today as the day in which we vow to end gun violence. So we want to thank uh those who've come, and we have uh a proclamation as well. We can bring the proclamation over. I I'll just add this. Listen, there are things that we struggle with as a community that it's hard for us to stop. It's hard for us to stop cancer, for instance. That's a disease that kills people. But it's not gun violence. Gun violence is something we get to choose to stop. People possess guns because we allow them to possess guns. They aren't punished properly because we allow that. What we we need to develop a healthier, more robust value of life and not just our lives, everyone's life. Because when you see the carnage that weapons create in this community, it it has to stop. And we're not even close to being the worst in the country. This is a problem that we can deal with as a community. We can insist on better. We can insist on more programs for kids so they never pick up a gun. We can insist on harsher punishments for people who pick up guns. We can do those things, and we should. We dedicate this moment, this day to gun violence awareness because sometimes it we we become numb to it. And so you see it on Channel 7 and Channel 6, and you see it on the cover of the Herald, and it's just another person shot, and it doesn't affect you, it does not affect you. But in truth, every death affects us all. And we want to give a shout out to all of those who work to prevent people from getting access to guns who shouldn't have it or escalating conflict to the point of gun violence, but especially to our first responders, our law enforcement officers, our fire rescue teams who have done so much to make us one of the safety safest metropolitan areas in the entire country. So I want to say thank you. Well, good morning, everybody. Um to um the ladies from Gifford's and also the ladies from Mom's Demand Action. Gun violence, as the chairman said, is come is preventable. This is a uniquely American problem. There are too many guns in the hands of too many people who are not going through background checks. They are the wrong types of guns. There are guns that can outgun our police department as ably and as caply as they serve to protect us. Thank you for standing up and advocating for the kinds of common sense gun laws that we need in this country that respect the Second Amendment but respect human lives in every single neighborhood. And what you have done for me in some ways is a real blessing, but it's also um it's hard. Probably one third of my friendship circle is someone who has lost someone to gun violence. So that is what a difference you have made in my life by introducing me to the stories of how lives are changed and ruined, but also activated to make not just our community a better place, but America a better place.
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