Climate Resilience Committee - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

City of Miami's Climate Resilience Committee. Thank you all for coming here tonight. Let's start the evening with a roll call. From my right, please.

Grant Musser.

Sarai Perez.

Nicosi Muse. Erin DiMaio.

Sorry. Barbara Bisno.

Silvio Frank Pupo-Casco.

Avra Jane.

Thank you. Miriam, please.

Miriam, from over us. Alyssa Farina, Assistant Director, Office of Resilience and Sustainability. Jahan Salman, Office of the City Attorney.

Thank you. All right, item two on the agenda this evening is public comment. We can start with anyone here in person who'd like to make public comment. Please keep it two minutes and state your name for the record and address too if you haven't signed in already. If there's no one for public comment, okay.

Start. My name is Manuel Carranza. The address is 7301 Northwest 47th Street. We own a concrete plant, and I think that the city of Miami in reality would benefit in adopting some regulations as I feel that in reality you're building a little bit blind. You have some really great professionals building some of the most beautiful places that are going to be on the east side of the United States of America, and currently you're receiving from the most consumed product, which is concrete, a piece of paper that could be written by hand. It states how many yards of concrete you get and they mix code, but you have no other information backing that piece of paper up. I think you could build trust and you could also have a very good durable product if you know what's exactly going into it. The second part is also having testing done the appropriate way. So currently in Miami, the only thing that is required on most buildings is for you to test the slump or workability of the concrete, and then they make concrete cylinders. But if you were to take the unit weight of the product, if you actually take the product, you put it in a quarter cubic foot pot, and you weigh it, you essentially know at that point what the composition of that product is, versus what was submitted to all of the engineers, all the professionals that are building these buildings. So I essentially suggest that you model it after something that in New York City's Department of Buildings does. The Department of Buildings gets a technical report from the concrete producer that is signed by a professional engineer. Then independent testing labs verify this, and at the time of production, each concrete producer has to state each thing that was put into that truck in real time by placing batch weights on these tickets. After they do this, you get to the job site. That concrete is weighed. They do other tests also, but the most important one is this one. And I think that if you did that, not only would you build public trust, you would ensure that the product that's going into the beautiful shores is the one that you're paying for, and that it has the lasting durability, and you'll know of problems prior to those happening. I think that would allow and help for great sustainability if your building really does last the 50 to 100 years that it's supposed to.

Thank you so much. Appreciate the comment.

Good evening. Good evening, all. Steven Lightner, 1131 O 2nd Street, Bay Harbor Islands. First and foremost, I want to thank all of you for supporting a withdrawal resolution to the city of Miami for their proposed tree ordinance. That was incredible that you all came together and made that resolution. And I'm sure you all are aware of the results of that as well. So in terms of budget, I'd like to ask that you guys consider funding a arborist for the city. And that is my budget recommendation. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. My name's Maddie. I live at 2508 Southwest 19th Terrace, and I'm the program director of Debris-Free Oceans and lead our Zero Waste Miami Coalition, which is a group of over 130 partners working to build a circular economy. And we got some federal funding to do a four-part workshop series, and we did our first one in April and wanted to share some key takeaways that could inform the budget. one thing we did was identify a ton of items that currently lack any diversion initiatives locally and Many of these items could be diverted through one solution, which is a creative reuse center And so that's a community hub for donating lending swapping repairing and reselling goods and we also identified common traits of waste diversion initiatives that are successful and this is included free or low-cost participation and opportunities to earn money and convenient pickup drop-off logistics and strong nonprofit support. And these high-impact traits closely align with Creative Reuse Center models, and we're excited that at least two local nonprofits have already started working on this, including the Things Lab and Recreate Miami. And so allocating funds towards creative reuse implementation could be transformative. The Repurpose Project in Gainesville has already done this by partnering with the City of Gainesville's Public Works Department. We are also joined by a guest speaker from the city of Paris who zoomed in to share insights on their efforts to make the Paris Olympics plastics free. And this involved the city investing in thousands of reusable cups that they then lent out to all event producers throughout the Olympic Games. And they're now lending out these cups for free to event producers for three years. And after that grace period, the event producers will be required to invest in their own reusable cups. And the city also partnered with Coca-Cola to install over 250 beverage refill stations throughout the city. And so these approaches could serve as powerful models for the city of Miami. Those cups could also be stored in a creative reuse center. And they would be happy to connect with you all to share more information if that is of interest. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, you can.

Ma'am, sorry. Is it possible for you to provide us with a written copy of what you just said? Because I personally was having trouble taking notes. Does it always happen that there's written copies of public comments?

The ones that are submitted online are all in the agenda packet, or the minutes, but the ones that are spoken in person, I'm not sure how they are written in.

This is recorded. It's all recorded. So on the links, on those steps that I sent last, two weeks ago, I'll send you the steps on how to get to the link, and you can listen to the recording. Okay.

Great. Thank you. But I do agree. I think if you could... possibly send to Miriam, maybe a bullet point of what those items were, especially if there's particular items that you think should be diverted in particular, so we can maybe hone our focus if this is an item that we talk about today, that could be helpful. Thank you so much.

Good evening. Good evening. Um, Marcella by DARS one six one seven one Southwest 73rd street. Um, hi everyone. Happy heat season. Uh, so last night I was doing my nighttime reading of the Climate Ready Extreme Heat Action Plan. Some pretty exciting stuff in here. I really just want to, I guess, encourage the committee to really do what you can to make sure that the goals in here, especially things like expanding our tree canopy, are able to be fully realized and doing what you can within your power to, you know, encourage the City of Miami's Board of Commissioners to fully realize that vision and really properly protect everybody throughout the City of Miami from heat as we see a increasing, more frequent, more intense heat season year by year. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Noel Cleland. I live at 5990 Southwest 50th Street. And I know a couple months back, the city was thinking hard about how to get rid of the recycling program because it was too expensive. And I was just going to happen to be up in Brevard County over the weekend. And they had this amazing idea. I was just like, what they were doing with their waste. So I was just going to try to explain it to you just in case anybody's interested. So they have three green containers. all the same size. One has a brown lid, and that's for yard waste. One has a green lid, that's for garbage, and one has a yellow lid, and that's for recycling. Wow.

Thank you.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. How are you guys doing today? Really appreciate your time. I'm not going to take up too much of your time, but I see here on the agenda we have the policy necessary to help the city. I'm born and raised here in Miami. I have a small business called Best in the Biz Tours. And we do tours all around the city of Miami. And as growing up in Miami, Coconut Grove has lost a little bit of its vibe, right? Most of the tourism in Miami now is based in South Beach, Little Havana, Wynwood. And Coconut Grove is becoming a little part, a forgotten place in Miami, right? By the way, my address is 1870 South Bayshore Drive. And I really think that we should maybe focus a little bit more on the tourism here in Coconut Grove, right? A little bit more on the Hollywood landmarks that have been filmed here, as maybe Meet the Parents Part II, Meet the Fuckers, all the TV shows, movies, Burn Notice, CSI Miami, and everything like that. And I would also appreciate the coastline, maybe have some kind of Hollywood landmarks of what has been filmed here in Miami. maybe give some initiative to Coconut Grove as well. If anybody here grew up in Miami, they know that Coconut Grove was a very happening place in the 80s, in the 90s, early 2000s. And now it's very sad for me as a Coconut Grove resident to see places closing down as the one in Cocoa Walk has really, it was renovated, but companies that have been there or restaurants that have been there, some of them, a lot of them are closing down. It doesn't really have the appeal that it used to have. So I just, as a recommendation right as a policy necessary to help the city i would just came here to just maybe recommend that maybe we we try to help uh influence the um tourism in coconut grove as being one of the sites founded as coconut grove being the oldest neighborhood in miami founded back in 1873 by people from the bahamas the bahamians really gave it its vibe out here We're trying to get that vibe back. I know we have the Arts Festival. I know we do a lot of things here in Coconut Grove, and I really appreciate that. But if there's any kind of way that we can maybe help the community, Coconut Grove, to really get its essence back. and really compete with other neighborhoods in Miami, like Little Havana, like Wynwood, like South Beach, like Brickell. I would really appreciate that, and I really appreciate your time. I know Mr. Silvio. He knows me from back in the Founders when we were at the Hub a couple years ago. I'm really proud of him, and I really appreciate you guys, your time. I'm not here to really talk down about anything that has happened. I just would like for all of us to really, if they have been here in Miami for a long time and know what Coconut Grove used to be and what it is now, if there's any way that we could try to help the initiative, especially for small businesses or for the tourism in Coconut Grove, then I would really be appreciative. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And if you could state your name for the record, I missed it.

1870 South Bayshore Drive, Alian Miranda. Best in the Biz Tours. Thank you.

Hey, good evening, everyone. My name is Michael Hepburn. I reside at 1445 Northwest 14th Terrace. Full disclosure, I'm actually running to be the next mayor of the city, but I promised after canvassing I was going to stop by to see you all because a concern keeps coming up. One, we are doing a great job with marketing the cooling centers that recently opened here in the city of Miami, but one of the concerns I am continuing to get daily is bus stops. When we were talking about cooling centers and stations, we were thinking maybe going into this year, we'll have something more like portable movement when it comes down to locations where people are not able to actually jump into a library or go somewhere to be cooled off because, of course, they're waiting for a trolley or a bus in the city boundaries. So I just wanted to drop that note. Ms. Johnson, if you're watching, I'm here. I'll drop the note so they can hopefully see if they can do something about that. it is definitely a concern that continues to come up. Are we going to do anything? I know tree canopies and different shelters that we have at some of our bus stops, but real talk, the majority of our locations within city boundaries are pretty isolated as far as with no coverage, no assistance to water or any of that type of, I guess, accessibility. Definitely doing the stream heat times. So just wanted to kind of leave that note with you all and see if you could kind of help me push for some solutions on that end. Other than that, thank you so much.

Thank you. Appreciate that comment. We actually had another public comment within the last, I would say, eight months or so of someone asking for for bus stop shelters in particular locations, and I've included that as one of the recommendations for us to discuss this evening on budget recommendations. Thank you very much. Miriam, do we have online public comments?

We have seven public comments, so bear with me if I pronunciate the name incorrectly, I apologize, but I will do my best to read it correctly. The first one is from Crystal Rodriguez, Regarding the high heat index currently passing through Miami's area, we are seeing record highs above the 90 degrees threshold. After 90 degrees, it is danger for residents to be outside in the weather as it may cause heat exhaustion, lead to heat stroke. We have approximately 20% of our workforce in Miami working blue-collar jobs. Our city of Miami has already established a 30% canopy goal back in 2009. I would like to continue to enact laws that continue to drive the importance of planting trees, Additionally, Florida is also known as the state most affected by hurricane season, with Miami being no exception due to its coastal location and vulnerability. The next one is from Carol Respondek, I apologize if I'm saying it correctly, regarding resilience and sustainability. First thing is add composting. If New York City can do it, we can too. This will reduce the total amount of garbage and create much needed soil amendments. Second, recycle better, more efficiently. More and constant education needed. Three, clean up the stormwater as it's collected at drainage points. Increase the amount of retention areas. Four, more effort towards native trees coverage to a minimum of 30%. This is from Kelly Freeney. Hi, Climate Resilience, thank you for your work. As a homeowner of rich water residents, here are some issues I'd like to see addressed in no particular order. Top issues, flood mitigation, especially at the end of Northeast 23rd. The flooding issue due to the low-lying streets and underlying pipes has been an issue for years. We are about to enter another rainy season with no permanent solutions. We have two temporarily pumps that have basically been permanently deployed to our streets. This portion of our street floods even when other streets do not flood in the neighborhood. Please see data photos and videos from the IC Change apps for the past few years. Thank you for your help. Third one is from Michael Posner, regarding today's City of Miami Climate Resilience Meeting for the CRC City Budget Recommendations, I hereby submit transition to electric leaf blowers citywide, two, strengthen enforcement of landscaping ordinances, three, utilize swales and medians as green infrastructures, four, achieve 30% tree canopy coverage, five, strengthen composting recycling regulations. From Ana Gabriela Villamizar, Please consider the following budget recommendations. Shade 100% of bus stops, prioritize planting trees, designing for airflow, retrofit abandoned parcels in neighborhoods and gardens and parks with tree coverage. Affordable housing constructions in areas outside of the urban area.

Whoops, it's freezing.

The next one's from Isabel Sullivan. Plant 50% more trees, municipal composting, electric leaf blowers, more grass, less toxic herbicides, and pesticides and fertilizer. This is from Adriana Brito. Good morning, my recommendations will be transition to electric leaf blowers city-wide, strengthen enforcement of landscaping ordinances, utilize soils and medians as green infrastructures, achieve 30% tree canopy coverage, also compost and recycling. This is from Barbara Lawless. Please ensure native shade trees being planted and not palm trees that provide no shade and little for birds and animals. Budget should be used for this and native plants and swales. This is from Melanie Oliva. Please prioritize these issues. Citywide composting achieved 30% canopy. Coverage transition to electric leaf blower. Citywide strength enforcement of landscaping ordinance utilized swales and mediums as green infrastructure is recycled. Jessica Ricks. Transition to electric leaf blower. Citywide strength enforcement. Landscaping ordinance utilized swales and achieve 30% tree canopy coverage. This is from Belinda Stoner. I would like the city to require landscaping contractors to use electric leaf blowers and continue working toward 30% canopy. Michelle Bovay-Wagner. In the goods of citizens, please approve or considering approve transition to electric leaf blowers, strengthen enforcement, landscape ordinance, Ensure achieving a 30% tree canopy. This is from Journey Cowdy. I'm full support of the blowers being electric citywide. Sandy Moise. I'm ready to urge you to prioritize following initiatives becoming upcoming city budget. Transition to electric leaf blower. Citywide gas-powered leaf blowers contribute significantly to air pollution, emit harmful pollutions, and carbon monoxide. Additionally, the noise levels often exceed thresholds, leading to potential hearing damage and increased stress levels. Strengthened enforcement of landscape ordinance. The city's landscaping ordinance mandates a minimum number of trees per property and requires yards to maintain a certain percentage of green coverage. However, enforcement has been inconsistent, leading to properties with insufficient greenery and excessive use of impervious materials like fake turfs and rocks. These practices contribute to increased heat island effects and reduces stormwater absorption. By enhancing enforcement, the city can ensure compliance with these regulations, promoting healthier urban ecosystems and improving residents. Third is utilize soils and meetings as green infrastructure. Soils and meetings play a crucial role in managing stormwater. Four, achieve 30% tree canopy coverage. Miami's current tree canopy coverage is approximately 20%. The urban forestry plan released by Miami-Dade County outlines strategies to achieve these goals, including tree planting canopies, campaigns, and community engagement efforts. I urge the committee to consider these recommendations as part of the city's budget priorities to build a more resilient, sustainable Miami. These public comments will be attached and be on the city's screen on the webpage.

Thank you, Miriam. All right, moving on. Thank you all for the public comments. Appreciate the participation this evening very much. The item three on the agenda is approval of the CRC minutes for our April 7th regular meeting. Does anyone have comments or would anyone like to make a motion to approve those meeting minutes?

Yeah, I did, Chair, make a comment on some edits for the meeting notes. I sent them back to Miriam. I don't know if you got them. I'm trying to find them here. but I think it was just a little bit of context toward the end of the meeting. Minutes to make sure to contextualize the recommendations that were shared.

OK. I'm not familiar. If you want to read them, and then.

Yeah, I don't have access to that email right now.

All right.

We normally print the meeting minutes. It wasn't printed this time around, right?

Not sure. I don't think we usually have the minutes printed.

OK. You think you'll be able to pull it up? No, I don't think. I mean, we'll probably be sitting here another couple minutes to pull that up. I've been sending a lot of emails back and forth.

Excuse me, did you say you sent it to us?

Yeah, there was...

When did you send the minutes?

Some comments on the minutes that I added, probably somewhere in our email exchange.

Just give me a date.

Last Monday or Tuesday. The last Monday or last Tuesday. See if I can pull them up here on my side. Okay, let's see. Please see below, April 29th. Please see below for the agenda meeting minutes along with the recommended change in brackets. So, Aaron Demeo, Silvio, Aaron, CRC, budget recommendations, May 5th meeting. Please remember to submit to liaison your ideas for what to discuss. And then I put in brackets, on a proposed budget, end bracket. beforehand by April 23rd and I will consolidate. So the recommended change there is the ideas that were requested to be submitted by April 23rd were on specifically a proposed budget.

You're okay. I mean, I feel like that looks like it's obvious. It's underneath a paragraph that's titled CRC city budget recommendations, May 5th meeting. And then please remember to submit to liaison. That's what you're referring to. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's under the paragraph titled CRC budget recommendations, May 5th meeting.

Right. Okay. This will be explicit.

Okay. That's it. So are you making a motion to change that and move forward? Yeah. OK. Do I have a second? I'll second. All right. Barbara will second. All in favor? Approval of the CRC minutes for April 7. And Silvio is asking to add clarification to an item that comments needed to be submitted by April 23rd? Wanna elaborate maybe, just like?

It just says, you know, hey, we need to submit ideas by the 23rd. I'm just saying, okay, it's ideas for the budget proposal.

Yeah.

Yeah, all in favor of passing the April 7th minutes? Aye. Any opposed or abstain? No, I believe all in favor. Okay, thank you. All right, moving on to item four, presentations. We have a...

Chair, if I may, I'm so sorry. Moving forward, I will require that all amendments to minutes be made on the dais, not in an email. So that way it becomes a record of the recording. So just moving forward, if you have revisions, write them down, bring them, and you're going to read them all the way through what you would want revised. Moving forward, because that was not the cleanest.

Do we need clarification before we move forward on exactly what was just said?

The vote already took place. We'll move forward.

Understood. Thank you. All right, so we have a presentation on indoor heat research from our very own vice chair.

So I will not be leading this presentation, one of my colleagues will my recruits is online, but I was also a co author on this study where she's going to describe it, but we essentially we're trying to understand what indoor heat looks like across Miami dade county and my are you there. Maybe we can't hear you I see your face.

Like. Is that any better?

Yeah, there you go. Take it away. Okay.

I'll just not use my headphones. Okay, slides look good.

Yep.

Okay.

Okay. Good evening. Everyone. Thank you for having me. Um, as coast mentioned, we worked on this study, um. Myra Kruse, Ph.D.: And it was just recently published back in March of this year, my name is my recruits i'm a PhD candidate at university of miami's environmental science and environmental science and policy Program. Myra Kruse, Ph.D.: So yeah, this is our study in case you want to read more there is a link included, and I believe that might have been shared with you all already in case you want to read further. But yes, this study took place back in 2022. So I'll just go through some of the things that we did for this study and highlight some of the findings that will be most pertinent to you all. So just a quick recap of how we put this team together. You'll see some familiar faces and partners here, but we worked very closely with Atlas Miami, who was our nonprofit partner for the project, as well as the Women's Fund, FIU, Miami Climate Alliance. And then we worked also very closely with Jane Gilbert, the chief heat officer, to help us scope out the study. So one of the main questions that we wanted to answer is what does indoor heat look like in the county, and so yeah, I'll emphasize that it's not just City of Miami that we looked up, but the entire county. And really wanting to emphasize the fact that there is a general consensus that people have that indoor heat is not an issue because everyone has AC, but the assumption there is that everyone has functioning AC and that that adequately pulls their home and that they can afford to run that, which we know isn't always the case and it comes up a lot throughout the findings of our study. So what we did is we worked closely with Catalyst Miami to put together different recruitment materials and the three most commonly spoken languages. We also did a lot of flyering, working with the public library system to put out flyers, going to the different community action agencies and putting out information there to recruit people. Essentially, if they, through a survey that we collected to recruit them for the study, if they said that they were either too hot at home or were having issues with affording their energy bill, we included them in the study. And so there's a lot of information that was collected, as you will have gathered if you read the study, but we collected information on people's energy bill for the heat season in 2022, so for several months from June 1st to October 31st, how much they were paying for rent or mortgage at that time, their water bill and gas if they happen to have gas in their home. There was surveys that we collected that include information asking questions about how they were using their AC. if they felt that their bill was affordable or not and why that was the case, any physical or mental health impacts that they were experiencing in the home. And I won't talk about this, but maybe in the future I will. We also conducted in-depth interviews with all of the participating households, and those findings will be in a future study that I'm working on now. Just to get a sense of who was in the sample, we ended up with 57 participating households. And you can see that we had actually a pretty fairly good spread across the county in terms of representation geographically. So you see that we were all the way down in Homestead and all the way up in North Miami Beach in terms of visiting homes. And in terms of the age range, largely fell between 25 to 64 years old. Identify largely as black or white in terms of the household income, largely under 60,000. so, lower middle income homes are more represented. And then the building type, we had a pretty good mix of single family homes or people that were renting an apartment. So, once again, that was 57 households that we had in the study. So here we'll go into some of like the nitty gritty of the results. So one of the things that we found is that the homes were experiencing heat, but in different ways, and there's kind of different ways that we can explain what happened. But here, these are different curves that show the indoor temperatures for two weeks out of that time period, just for the sake of simplicity to show you examples. But the first example we have, which is probably one of the most extreme households that we had, I should mention that we had, oh yeah, I skipped that, sorry. We had sensors in people's homes. So that's the picture at the bottom left that you'll see. So these were sensors that were placed in people's homes. that relied on the 2G network, so we were able to get real in-time data. And that was collecting their indoor temperature and humidity levels, which allowed us to then calculate their heat index for inside the home. And this was collecting every 10 minutes for that entire period from June 1st to October 31st in 2022. So that's what these results are. But for this first home, the dotted line, that's what the temperature was for the National Weather Service station that we have, which that's out of the Miami International Airport. So that's the average that we were seeing for that time period as a comparison. So you'll see that in this case, this particular home was actually basically serving as a greenhouse, meaning that If you see the red line, that's the temperature inside that home. It was tracking hotter in some cases than what the Miami International Airport tells us, which is very concerning how high the temperature is getting inside that home. You see that that's hovering around like the 90 mark. And then this is a different example that we would also consider heat burden home, but it looks a little bit different. In this case, you see that it's still very hot and it's kind of a messy raft to look at. But essentially what this is telling us is that likely in this home, they might be opening doors a lot or opening their windows a lot. And it's kind of tracking like the outdoor temperature that we see from the airport weather station. And then this last home, this might be more of Not necessarily use or error, but someone maybe being more comfortable with higher indoor temperatures, but you see that they probably set their thermostat to be at 84 and they always just kept it that way, which is kind of hot if you think about it and whether you'd feel comfortable being in that kind of indoor environment. So that's just a snapshot, but what this tells us from the study is that there's definitely cases where we had some homes where it was definitely hot inside. at temperatures that we know can cause negative health and mental health impacts on people. So then we wanted to look a little bit closer at the data and to understand patterns that we might be able to glean from the 57 households. So this is all done by Linnea Torrey-Kinkins, Dr. Torrey-Kinkins, who's the lead in the study in terms of the calculations that you're seeing here. But what she was able to do was to categorize the homes by different patterns that she was able to glean from the analysis. So here you'll see that the dotted line is the average airport heat index. And once again, so we have that comparison to outdoor temperatures. The 82 degrees Fahrenheit line, that's what we considered thermal comfort. So that was the upper end that we would consider a safe indoor temperature based on building standards that are in research and literature. And then 6%, that's the energy burden limit that we place. So that means that you're paying at least 6% of your income is going towards paying for your energy bills. So 6% or higher, we would consider you energy burdened. So we definitely had households that were okay. They were not heat burdened, meaning that they weren't higher than that 82 degree mark. And they were paying less than 6% of their bill towards energy. Where it starts to get interesting is that we definitely had energy burden homes, but what I would say is staggering to look at is that you'll see that there were homes that were definitely above the 10% line, even some cases above 20 and then above 30%, which is a gargantuan amount of money that is going towards trying to stay cool in someone's home. If you think about your annual budget, that's a very, very significant amount. And then we also had homes that were considered heat burden. So in this case, these homes were below that 6% mark for energy burden, but you can see that they're pretty far above that 82 Fahrenheit threshold that we place for thermal comfort in some cases above 100 degrees inside their homes. And this is heat index. So this is combining temperature and humidity. So the feels like that people tend to use that is very high. So in terms of health impacts, that's a major concern for someone to be experiencing that high of a heat index inside their home for a consistent period of time. And then lastly, which I would say is probably one of the most significant findings in this study is the fact that we have both heat and energy burden homes. So you have cases where individuals and households are putting in the effort, they're paying higher than they should for their energy to try to stay cool, and they're still not able to meet that thermal comfort level, which indicates that there's probably a lot of different factors that are going into why that's the case and why it's so challenging for these households to afford energy and also try to stay cool, which I'll get into shortly. But the last thing I'll mention about this figure in particular is that we also see a difference. So June, September and October from that time period in 2022 are we would consider the cooler, hotter months. And then July and August were the hottest months that we had. And so if you look at the comparison here, you'll see that some of these dots are moving. And so what's happening here is that as the outdoor temperatures intensify, we're also seeing that households are moving into these new heat burden categories or energy burden categories, or in some cases, both, which indicates that in these cases, there's households that with Increasing temperatures, they're going to struggle to keep up with their energy bills and with staying comfortable inside their homes, which is definitely indicator of what's to come as we face hotter and hotter years in Miami-Dade County. So I'll just go through some results from the surveys that we conducted as well. So here you'll see the similar categories that I've talked about before where people, where households were both energy and heat burdened, just energy burdened, heat burdened, or neither. And so we asked, you know, how often they felt too hot at home. And not surprisingly, especially that heat burden category said that they felt too hot at home almost every day. In terms of physical or mental health impacts, that both category had the highest number, where they said that they were experiencing both physical and mental health impacts, which kind of tracks in this case, if you think about the amount of effort that is going into trying to stay cool, but we're seeing that they're not reaching that from the survey, from the um, sensor results. So it kind of makes sense that they're feeling that way. Um, and you also see for energy burden, they had the physical, uh, they had, um, uh, also very high physical impacts. And then we also asked if they limited their AC use and why. And so you'll see that in this case, it was because it felt too expensive, especially for that both heat and energy burning category, as well as the heat burning category. So this is what we call energy limiting behavior in research. Essentially, because the energy bill is so high, some studies have found that in some cases, what people will do is either completely turn off their AC or they will set the thermostat to be at a very high temperature so it doesn't turn on as much. So it gets really hot inside. So this is what we're seeing in our study as well. And then also mentioning, once again, that energy bill was inaffordable or felt unaffordable as well. That came up. And then I think one that is really important to think about more is we asked if people felt for what critical expenses to pay for the energy bill. And that was a pretty high amount. So there's a lot of trade-offs that are going on at the household level, different things that people are doing in order to try to afford their energy bill and really trying to prioritize that. But with limiting levels of success, or if they are successful in staying cool, like I mentioned, they might be paying, you know, 10, 20, 30% of their income towards energy, which is concerning. And so what can we do with all of this? Once again, this is all from Linnea's wonderful analysis that she did, but she was able to use the data that we collected, quantitative and qualitative data to come up with basically like pathways to try to explain why some households were heat or energy burden. And what we found were four categories that kind of explained some of the things that we were seeing in the results. One of them being that low-income female-headed households with children would mention being heat or energy burden. If we think about the literature, especially in the poverty space, this kind of tracks with what we already know. And I think especially as I dig into the interviews that I conducted as well, one of the things that I've noticed is that especially female-headed households, if they had children that had like asthma or had other health issues, they were really prioritizing trying to keep their children cool. So that's where we see that energy burden trade-off happening where they're going to do their best to try to afford that, but obviously that means that they might forego other things then to try to make that work. We also had housing-constrained low-income households, meaning that in this case, we had people that were actually living in pretty decent quality housing. That's something that we collected information on. But because of the rent burden was high for them, that left little room for them to afford their energy bill. And then we also had households with compounding physical problems, meaning that in this case, we might, this really explains a lot of like more of our middle income homeowners that we had in the study where let's say they needed to get impact windows or get insulation in their house, they had an older home, because of the cost of those repairs, their house was not energy efficient. And so they knew that, but because of the cost, programs aren't really meant to cover middle income homeowners, usually it's lower income homeowners, they were in that gap where they're not able to get the financing that they need to address that problem. And then lastly, if the AC was really ineffective or breaking a lot, that was a big challenge and contributed to people feeling heat or energy burdened. So what I'll end on here, which I think is relevant to budget discussions that you all are having, is that we can use these groups that we were able to glean from our results and kind of think through targeted policy interventions. So I'll just highlight one here. But for those low-income households with ineffective AC, perhaps there's ways of using weatherization or maybe LIHEAP, the Low-Income Home Energy Systems Program, to target Um, senior homeowners, which was a population that we were very concerned about, um, and thinking through, are there repairs that we can help with maybe helping to pay for that rather than trying to pay just for their energy bill? Can we get at the root cause? That's just 1 example of how these results can be useful. All as you consider different solutions for heat and energy burden. And, yeah, I will stop there and hopefully there's time for questions.

Thank you so much, Myra. Nikozi, did you want to maybe do like any comments now before?

Yeah, thank you, Myra. I think this just, I mean, this study just speaks to the importance of now as we enter heat season, how we're also prioritizing not just outdoor heat, but how people are experiencing heat indoors as well. I think that's also something that the extreme heat plan that was put out very recently is also trying to address. Alyssa, are you allowed to talk about the C40 thing at all, too, and how that overlaps? Okay.

Yeah, what was the pool of the study? Like, how many homes?

Fifty-seven.

57? Yeah. Okay, next question. Were any of them, so we've done some affordable housing where we put fans, ceiling fans, and they had windows that had screens so they could do cross ventilation if they wanted. Did you look at any other situational things that, you know, or was this, I'm just curious, because maybe there were some other alternatives that... to look at, you know, that are not as, not very expensive, right? Just to mitigate, especially things that are kind of in the middle. And we've noticed that made a big difference with expense with some of our tenants.

Myra, you want to take that one?

Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, we weren't... looking at like effectiveness of different responses, but I think to your point, I think it's important to think about how to meet people where they're at. And so if that means like fans or screens, I think that's great. I think what, I didn't talk about because it was outside of the scope of the studies, just concerns around mold that did come up a few times. And so fans, for example, might not be as effective with that. So the humidity levels that were inside some of the homes were high. So those are trickier things to address that come down a lot to landlords, especially. That's outside of the scope of this study that Lene published on that I'm looking into more for my side of it. But I think there is a further conversation to be had about landlords and protections for renters because that did come up a lot as a concern and not having landlords that were wanting to do the appropriate like remediation or taking care of ac units so that gets further into the weeds of that but that's something that um i think merits this group thinking about as well

Yeah, sorry to put you on the spot, Alyssa, but just how you see the importance of this work also being done at the city level, too.

Yeah, so when Nicosia and Myra and Lene were working on this over the past two years, we were very interested in the findings, but we are also the city, so their research was countywide, so to build on the work that they have done and... So to make it more granular and applicable to the city, we applied to a grant with C40 Cities, a peer network that we are a part of. We were granted funding to conduct research along the same vein of investigating indoor and outdoor heat throughout the city. So we have been taking the learnings from their research and looking to conduct research using similar questions, similar resources, trying to find similar outcomes, but focusing on the city. So that's something that's ongoing for this summer. I can talk a little bit more about it once we're further along, but we're looking at collecting information in the peak summer months, and then by the end of this year, have that information just to, you know, one of our major goals of this is to be able to substantiate the work that we're doing with Extreme Heat. There's a lot of data about flood vulnerabilities and the risks that the city has. But for heat, we have less information. So just looking to build that out so that way over time as we're building programs and initiatives, we have this research to support everything that we are looking to do.

Thank you. Avra, just to piggyback on your question really quick, you were curious about just more... cheaper incentives that would allow people to stay cooler in the home, right? You mentioned fans, ceiling fans, things like that, opening windows.

Yeah, especially like in the, obviously when you get to extreme heat, that's not a solution, but in the, like you get to 82 degrees or just under, we see it with our tenants. They make that choice, and it's a cost savings. Of course, we use mold-resistant materials, and we build for that. And so we actually intentionally put fans and screens on our windows to give the tenants that option. And so that they can reduce their own expenses. So I think that's something when we talk about affordable housing, sometimes they're asking for granite countertops, right? And affordable housing in their checklist. But we put fans in every room, screens in every room, and all our materials are mold resistant. So again, not extreme heat, but on the edge, on the periphery, I think there's an opportunity there.

I think what's also concerning too is how the heat is experienced differently in Miami. We actually have another paper coming out that's going to describe that very soon, that actually Myra's leading to, but how we're able to cool homes at times where normally in a different climate, say in Phoenix per se, you'd be able to open your window at night and get a nice airflow throughout your house. But in Miami, opening your window is really not going to help at all. It's just going to funnel more humid air into your home. So the humid heat that we experience here creates an issue in how we handle not just heat outdoors, but heat indoors. And I think that's something that we're also seeing with this paper, too.

Yeah, and I think to Avra's point about mold resistant materials, I think that's a really big part of it. And so I think like moving forward with any sort of proposals for like new building standards, that sort of thing. I think that should be such a big consideration because that is a concern. Like, you know, we had home, like older apartment building in the Grove area. And that was something that we had two participants in that same building. And that's something that came up a lot was that, you know, they can't open their window. It's already a concern with humidity inside. And so that's definitely something that wasn't thought about then. But I think, Aubrey, like, I think you have the right instinct in terms of how to build homes to be able to help in this case. And so I definitely support that.

Yeah. And on the moisture, I mean, ACs don't always work. So you can flash cool and make it worse. So there's a, it's not that easy. So to really work on the moisture, you have to have a variable fan system. And most of the wall units don't have that. So unless you have a mini split, I'm sorry, we're getting technical here, but it's complicated, right? So it's just a little bit more than that. So actually having air circulation. So if you are going to have a wall unit and you want to help with the moisture, having the fan also helps with the wall unit because of the variable speeds, right? So it's a whole study. All I'm saying is that I really think that yeah it's comprehensive I mean I just think that I can only speak on our experience with our tenants and that the fans and the screens with the ACs helped everybody you know seem to have worked I was wondering public schools some of them are air conditioned in Miami

and the schools are generally not in session in July and August, the hottest months and the highest humidity. I thought I figured the mic out, but I hadn't. I'm sorry. What I'm getting to is, are there air conditioned public schools in the neighborhoods that you were looking at and since they would be mostly vacant, it would seem to me that a person who is really suffering some health issues or physical issues might enjoy some sort of activities for their children and the adults are some relief, at least during the day. And senior centers, I don't know if, and this may overlap with the cooling centers. I suspect it does, but I just, I think that the heat is so enormous in Miami in July and August

Barbara, please don't get mad at me. I can't hear you, and the recording's not going to pick it up correctly. Oh, my gosh.

Now can you hear me? Yes. You couldn't hear anything I said before?

I heard it, but then it would phase. It, like, goes real low. I'm sorry.

Anyway, my point is, was that considered as a possibility, perhaps, if the homes themselves, couldn't be air-conditioned or fans are great, at least for some relief, even if the temperature doesn't change, the fan helps. I'm old enough to remember life before air conditioning, and fans were certainly helpful. So I just wonder how that builds into your study of what can be done In terms of policy intervention.

yeah I mean.

yeah and senior centers if they exist air conditioned Community centers in the neighborhood.

mm hmm yeah I know I think your instinct is correct we I mean that wasn't part of the scope of this study, but that is something that. I know we've had conversations with Jane Gilbert around at the county. about the fact that, you know, these schools are running AC for every day. And so why can't we use them as a as another tool for the cooling center plan for both the county and the city. So I think that that's a good idea. I know it's a matter of like, are they open at that time, meeting parents or, you know, people on site for that. But I think any sort of communal area that's already open, why not make it a wider thing for people to be able to attend? But I will mention that something that might be outside of the scope of the climate ready plan, but I did have a few teachers in the sample and they mentioned that in some cases they didn't have working AC in their classrooms. I don't think that there's been like an official audit of that, not that I know of for schools, but that is something to think about, it sounds like there might be some cases where there's malfunctioning AC systems and it's taking a long time for teachers and students to get released. So on the flip side of that, that's also an area where there might be indoor heat exposure going on as well that hasn't received as much attention that I'm aware of.

To add to that too, I had the opportunity to speak with one of the well, not one of them, the sustainability, chief sustainability officer for schools for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. And the thing is a lot of these school buildings in Miami-Dade County are like the oldest in the entire state. We have, I believe, 392 schools here. And I think we have like the oldest Average age of the buildings, like 50 years old for like a lot of the schools as compared to like Orlando, I believe they're like 14 years on average. So a lot of them weren't built for AC. So the AC is not running in the schools as well. Another thing on top of that is, you know, we have Title I schools that are in certain neighborhoods that aren't canopied, don't have as much trees. So the passive cooling there on top of the fact that their AC may not work is, you know, creating a compound issue as well.

So there's definitely a disparity in how the schools, even in themselves, are able to cool down per classroom to classroom, right?

That's just because of how these schools were built.

Right. Thank you.

Chair, I have a question. And I know you guys have asked a lot. So something Avra touched on, which is the difference between designing with air circulation in mind versus like a window AC unit versus a mini split versus HVAC centralized AC system. I don't know if you took some of those into consideration just listening to Avra with your comments on the windows and the ceiling fans. You know, we have one building that has a lot of window units. So if we could replace those with, you know, mini splits and also add, you know, ceiling fans, for example, you know, would that make more of a difference to give that option? I just don't know if you have Any insights around that in terms of the folks that were surveyed and what types of cooling systems they had?

Yeah, that's something that we did collect. We collected if they had a window unit or a central AC information around their housing quality, how old the building was. So all of the information we had and how many appliances they had in the home. In terms of, I think what y'all are asking, which I think is correct, is the effectiveness of different responses. That wasn't part of the scope of this study, but that is something that our lab group at UM is going to work on in the coming couple of years through a grant. So we're working with different community groups like Miami Homes for All, Cows Miami, We Count, focusing on really trying to build out the work that I've already covered here and that Kos has talked about. So that is something that we're gonna be looking at is if we can do kind of like pre and post testing of different interventions to get at what you're all are asking, which is how effective is it to use this versus that, the cost. So I think definitely, something that we are also really interested in. But yeah, for the purposes of this study, it really was just to get like a baseline of like, this is an issue. If it's an issue, how severe is the issue? And like, we can definitely say that this is an issue throughout the county. And I think with the work that Alyssa is doing, we'll get more helpful information around that. But I will say like, In terms of money budgeting all that stuff like it is super important to to help in terms of building out these studies and funding ways to really get at the questions that you have in terms of effective responses like you know it's something that that would be really useful as well, moving forward.

Excellent Thank you so much for the for the presentation and and data for us to be able to utilize moving forward and. it'd be great to stay informed on the future studies that you all do and data that comes from other relevant studies as well, if you guys could just keep us in the loop on that so we can make informed decisions. So thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right. Moving on to the next item on the agenda is item five. We have the CRC city budget recommendations item. We're a little bit behind schedule, but it's okay. We'll make up for it. So this item was, I introduced in the March meeting to see if there was general interest in us taking up this topic. And then we also discussed it at the APRIL MEETING AS WELL AS FAR AS, YOU KNOW, SHOULD WE DO THIS, SHOULD WE NOT DO THIS IN THE FORMATTING. THERE WAS AN APRIL 23RD DEADLINE WHICH WE TOUCHED ON EARLIER DURING MEETING MINUTES. BUT SO BARBARA SUBMITTED ONE IDEA. SILVIA SUBMITTED A LIST OF IDEAS AND I SUBMITTED ABOUT NINE IDEAS AS WELL. The intent today is to also think about some of the public comments that we got at the beginning of the meeting and how we might consolidate those into a potential resolution that we could vote on in June. They could go to commission as far as what the CRC recommends for budget as far as, you know, sustainability, resilience, and Grant had to step down as a public employee just to not comment on it. So just so you know, that's why he stepped away. And what? Their comment on the budget is there's an interference. I'm not sure exactly the details. So I think right now we should start maybe with... Maybe we start with Barbara's proposal, the proposal for Elevate Miami, which thank you for submitting an idea and also example as well. I thought it was pretty interesting.

I'm so sorry. In order to find Barbara's proposal, you're going to see a little pink tab. That's hers.

Perfect. So would you like to kick it off and explain what it is and some of the rationale for the idea?

Yeah, I'll just take a few minutes because if anybody's had a chance to look at it. The idea is that Miami is sort of the poster child for climate change and rising seas because the city is so close to the water. And so Florida has started a program called Elevate Florida that allows homeowners to either elevate their homes in terms of the water that might come in or you can't hear it? You don't hear me? Well, the gentleman in the back doesn't. I have to put it in my mouth. Maybe that'll work. The point is you can elevate your home, you can harden it for storms, you can have it torn down and build a new elevated home, or you can have it torn down and left a lot. And the entity that sponsors it, be it the state, the city, whatever, contributes a certain amount of money for each home, and the homeowner is expected to put in a certain percentage. And it's being done to a certain extent in Miami Beach. There's a similar program. Florida's program is really directed toward those counties that suffered largely from the hurricanes As far as I know, Miami does not have a program like this. So my suggestion was to, because I am who I am and I know certain neighborhoods and don't know other neighborhoods, that my neighborhood might be a model. The Venetian neighborhood is surrounded by water. has lots of single-family homes. Some of them have already been torn down and elevated homes built at the homeowner's expense. And I consulted District 2 commission office and Sonia Brubaker in our office here to try to make it something that Miami would consider. doing a study to see, compare it with other cities that have tried it. What works? What doesn't work? How do the property owners deal with it? Are they receptive? Are they just going to bail out, so to speak, and let whatever happens, happens? Or do they want to try to do something like this? And it was suggested that we should ask for no more than $100,000 to do the study. And that's basically it.

You mentioned the Miami Beach study, which you didn't mention here, but I remember. I think theirs is particularly on flooding, right? I think it's $25,000.

Correct.

I think it was kind of kicked off from the West Avenue properties around where they did the road raising.

Right. They, for some reason, felt that they should raise the roads, but they left the commercial areas in the houses low. And they pumped the water back into the ocean. So nothing is perfect, but that's why I think it would be good to do a study, see what they tried, see what Houston, who has really dealt with a lot of flooding after the most recent hurricane, And the state of Florida, how they're finding the homeowners in the various counties that were hurricane damaged. I just think it's worth a study as long as we are here in Miami, right on the water.

So there's a couple different things you're touching on. And also what's written here as far as looking and there's like an engagement portion of making sure that people are aware of options. Then there's a kind of self-education portion of seeing best practices from other municipalities. And then going to the state level, which is where a lot of the funding is for this other program, which is a much higher price per unit of 220,000 compared to the 25 in Miami Beach, like a city versus the state funding. You know, seeing how they allocated those funds and perhaps being prepared to, for the city staff to be prepared to be able to help residents gain those funds in the future. Like, that could be a good way of...

Right. Well, I'm not sure Miami will ever, that a city that is not hurricane... damaged would be eligible at any time for the current state program because they're getting their money if they, in fact, get it in these days from FEMA. And so not that they won't at some point support programs in cities that weren't damaged, but the funding source would probably have to change. I don't know that FEMA would do it, but maybe it's within FEMA's jurisdiction, too, to stop the rising seas from taking our neighbors.

Yeah, so you're saying that the Elevate Florida was more responsive to disaster, and what you're saying is more preventative. Exactly. The thing with that that I see that, personally, I think looking at Funding preventative measures on a place with fairly expensive homes like a lot of I read into the elevate, Florida the reason for the price tag was that they They wanted to make the funds hit as many units as possible. So I think it might be difficult to ask the city to fund the demolition and raising of waterfront houses Whereas we were just talking about people who are struggling with air conditioning.

Well, pardon me, I don't mean to interrupt you. As I explained, I don't know what neighborhoods in Miami face the rising seas that are of a different economic strata. I'm not saying we shouldn't study one of those neighborhoods. I don't know those neighborhoods. I only know where I live. And so that's why it was like it is.

What if this was broken into two separate things, where it's this looking at what we were talking about before, what's worked in other municipalities, and looking at Elevate Florida for the whole city, like not just Venetian, But from what I understand, Venetian Islands does not have a master plan for long-term planning. Maybe that could be a secondary thing specifically for Venetian Islands, which could also, a master plan could take into account the things that you've mentioned here, these four different things of, you know, retreat, of home raising, of various things, as well as these...

Very reasonable idea.

So maybe it's a whole city thing and then a separate... Venetian master plan, because... That sounds good to me.

I don't know how anybody else feels about it.

I'd love to hear Avra's kind of comment, your expertise on some of this, but yeah, I think that... It's a great recommendation, Barbara. It's definitely an issue, and it's a hard-button issue people don't want to talk about. Are we going to do manage retreat? Who's going first, and what's going to happen when we get there? So it helps us get to that conversation faster. I think Erin's suggestion, making it citywide, would probably be good. There might be some pushback saying, hey, that's a $25 million home. But ultimately, we do need that study. But Avra is our sort of token expert.

No, I just think conceptually what I like about it is you're trying to leverage a state program or a federal program to see how it could help the city if it's not now or it's being proactive. Like, are we in general accessing some of those resources? And maybe if we had a study that puts us in a position to make the ask, right? You know, again, like, We've talked about it before, whether it's septic or anything, where there's federal dollars involved. Are we doing enough as a city to access federal opportunities and being proactive? So that's what I really like about this.

Thank you. Yep. Being prepared when those dollars are available, like having shovel-ready things or at least knowing what needs to be done to get there is a good proactive measure for programs that exist. Wonderful.

Great. Thank you very much for your comments and your suggestions. I think it's great.

Wonderful.

Who would, may I just ask a question just because I'm a newbie? Will somebody like you or Miriam write up the kind of proposal you're talking about or proposals to go to the city commission?

I'd be open to assisting with that. Maybe, you know, we haven't done something like this before, but in the past when there was things that we worked on collectively, we've had workshops. So, you know, the intent, I think, for today was just kind of talk about various ideas and kind of workshop. And also, we had a lot of public feedback from the public at the beginning. And then to finalize it at the June meeting, but perhaps we schedule a workshop between now and then for us to, you know... two, three hours, talk through things, write things up.

However you want to proceed or the committee thinks is the best way to do it is fine.

Okay. We should probably schedule a workshop then at some point this evening and pick a date.

Chair, I apologize, but may I? Is she looking for a resolution that would be voted on?

No, not tonight. Is that what?

I'm trying to understand. Well, I'm just trying to understand her understanding ask would be that the city commission may adopt something this kind of policy okay that's i just wanted to understand what was being discussed how would she go about turning this from and please barbara want to speak on your behalf an idea to the legislation that got you okay then the workshop is the best yeah well it'll probably be some type of either resolution or memorandum not

We'll figure out the formatting where there'll be an intro and a rationale of what we're doing and some statements, and then we would follow it with the series of items, however many that may be, just listed of each item. I think it would all be one cumulative suggestion.

I'm just curious, in advance of the workshop, should I or somebody, a staff or whatever, contact Miami Beach and get a description of their, a more detailed description of their program? Because I know about it slightly, and I should have mentioned it, but I didn't.

Yeah, if you could provide even a short sentence or two so that... we should talk about what that format may be. Just to compare. it might be two to four sentences per item in this final thing. And if we chose, we could have a supporting document outside of the actual memo or resolution with supporting documentation, but maybe it's separate. And I don't know exactly what the formalities are of that, but we'll figure it out. So I think if you wanted to work on maybe just drafting, refining a little bit the two things, but we can do it collectively at a workshop in a week or two.

Yeah, Chair, I think you're right.

We might need to, this is a lot. This is pretty dense stuff and it's all very important. So your suggestion on a workshop seems like the most practical approach to really get something like this done. And yeah, Barb, I would try to gather as much detail and information as you can before then so that you can always circulate it through Miriam as the board liaison to the rest of us before that workshop just so we're prepared and then bring it there and we can sort of fine-tune those.

Sounds good.

I think we should pick a date. We usually meet at the city administration building on the river in downtown. OK. Maybe we pick a time in the middle of next week, perhaps the 14th. We could meet at 1 PM right after lunch for a couple hours. Would the 14th at 1 PM work?

Work for me.

Works for me, too.

I will be out of town starting the 14th to the 18th, so I can only do the 12th or the 13th.

The 12th or the 13th.

You're out of town for the rest of the month?

No, 14 to 18. 14 to the 18th, yeah.

If that's the case, I'd prefer that Tuesday.

The 13th, around afternoon, maybe 1 p.m.? Open in the afternoon. Miriam, does staff have availability the 13th afternoon?

I have to change one thing, but I'll do it. Aura, would you be able to make it? I have to change this, but I'll do it.

Yes? Okay. Yeah. All right, so let's, do we need to take an action to set a workshop? Haven't done this in a while.

I'm more worried, can we, that can be noticed in time, right?

Right, the sunshine.

That was my concern. Hold on, I'm just having to do math, which I didn't go to school for.

Is it two week notice? Yeah, that's actually, perfect, okay.

It's eight days. I'm sorry, do we know what time after? You said the afternoon.

13th at 1 p.m. Perfect. Okay, great.

And where is this location?

444 Southwest. Southwest. Second Avenue? Southwest Second Avenue.

Okay.

And Miriam will send us...

I've been there, but it's been a while.

Miriam will send us directions. There's a...

Okay.

Now, just so you know, the parking area is under construction, so you may have to get to it from the back end, but it is accessible. Okay. So you may see it, but it'll detour you around.

Okay.

Okay.

Sounds good. Thank you.

Chair, one question. What was, Gigi, the question on process, just to know that you're doing the math for? What's the requirement there for this is a sunshine, basically sunshine?

Yes, it's a sunshine meeting, but no meeting, no action will be taken. So, example, the members of the public do not have a right to speak. they have a right to attend, not to speak. So that way it will be available. That's why it's going to be at a public building. But it is to, it'll be very informal. It is, unless the chair wants, sorry. But normally these workshops, you don't have such motions. You don't have, it is just, you know, a group think of thinking things out loud, talking it out. So it's super informal. No, no recordings, no minutes necessary since it's not an official action. But again, members can show up, but they don't have a right to speak. And usually I will say they are not, they should not speak because it's not the time. You know, this is where the sausage is made, so to speak. So usually they don't speak. They are allowed to attend and then they can come and make public comments. But, you know, again, that is through the chair. The chair can allow members to speak if he wants. But usually that's not legally necessary. Okay.

So I guess it goes depending on the level of work. If it's just a workshop and no decision is taken, then no public comment. But if it's a workshop and it's to make decisions?

Well, there is no action that can be taken. No decision can be made that binds the board. So you can draft a resolution, say, yes, I like it, but it's not a draft. It's not a resolution of the board yet. So, yeah, no action being taken, but action may be done. You know, you talk to things, you may draft something and finish it. but it must come here, and that's when the public has the right to speak. Thank you.

All right, great. So I'm glad we have that scheduled. Well, thank you very much.

And I'm sorry, just for clarification, too. If you attend the workshop, it is in person, not Zoom.

Yeah, correct. All right, so I submitted nine items. I'll talk through them one by one. The first one was a cost-benefit analysis. for the next phase of the Southwest Streetscape Master Plan. That's the presentation that we saw last month. I think that that work was very good. And when we asked about next steps, there was a conversation about green infrastructure and gray infrastructure and the differences between them, but they didn't have a direct... Data on the differences between the two and there was a lot of different benefits being brought through those green infrastructure options, so I think that a clear next step should be. Working through a budget of what the what a normal. streetscape uh renovation might be for one of those streets versus what is proposed in the southwest streetscape master plan and then uh what the potential outcomes could be with or without and then that could be utilized to help on push funding either to that or to other things if it doesn't make sense but i think that that would would help in that Streetscape master plan, and then there's also streetscape master plans happening in other places as well. For instance, they told us about the one happening to the north in Alapata. And I believe also in Liberty City. But I may be mistaken. And then there was also green infrastructure, for instance, in Wynwood with the Woonerfs. And I believe other locations. So I feel like this is a good way of quantifying impact. Okay, if no comments for now, item two, also related to the streetscape master plan, I think that a potential review of some streets going into one-way conversions might open up the necessary width and area to implement the various ideas. They did a good job of pushing all of these different strategies and designing good solutions. But at the end of the day, the two factors kind of determining what the solution is is cost and square footage. So looking into potentially doing one-way conversions opens up 11 feet of lane. or additional onsite water retention for these very low lying areas, bike lanes to help move people in those very dense areas and open up street trees, because there's like conflict of mobility. So that would be my second proposal.

I'm sorry, I have a quick question. How long do you want the workshop to be?

I'd say probably like two hours or three hours. I think that it's going to take some time to work through things.

Okay.

And people, if you need to leave early, that's understandable, but I think hopefully we can knock out most of that document at that meeting. And I also included in the submission some examples of other municipalities who have done similar things, like as reference. All right, item three was implementation funding for the Southwest streetscape pilot project. So, you know, after that study on the comparison of the green versus gray, perhaps money can be funded to one of the solutions, whatever they saw to be the most cost effective and greatest outcome. For permeable pavement technology review and demonstrations, I've seen some conversations from practitioners that are speccing permeable pavement in various projects. We have some examples of good street design, like for instance, Miracle Mile, which was done by local office, which has a very high amount of water retention. But there's also permeable pavement being used in other municipalities, even for full streets, I thought that maybe a technology review where we invite people who make this technology to come and present it to both the private sector and the public sector. Maybe they can even be on separate days. Maybe there can be a public sector day and a private sector day. or just like an open day for us to understand what the opportunities are. Because I think that technology, you know, we've heard about permeable pavement in various presentations throughout the year. Maybe this could help move the needle on that.

Is it possible to throw something more related to, well, not more related, but potentially like a reflective pavement technology review as well, too? I mean, we had a presentation on that. I don't know if this was in, like, my first year on the CRC, but we had a presentation from a private firm that was looking at something like this. I'm going to pull this up so bad, but I know I can't right now.

Cool pavement?

Yeah. It was, like, something they would spray on the pavement, and it would... I don't know what happened to that. That's something I think would have been a tangible solution, especially along Miami's hottest roads and things like that. So maybe that's something we also incorporate into this pavement technology part.

I did a little research on the cool pavement and I saw in like just preliminary mixed reviews but I'll go back again and see if I can find additional supporting documentation but at a minimum I feel like bringing allowing those people to be included in this uh you know workshop day or what did I call it uh uh, demonstration day. I think that, you know, that's definitely relatable. It would make sense to, to showcase the new technology. Um, it kind of gets back also to the idea that, uh, not exactly, but Wayne has talked a lot about business leaders, you know, and bringing the community to, to, into the, into the city to make sure that they know about what's going on. I think this kind of relates to that. All right, number five is something you've brought up many times, Nikozi, mangrove planting and maintenance program. I looked through the budget from last year and I didn't see that there was a specific item about mangrove planting or restoration. And last February, I brought up potential resolution for the city to support the statewide legislation on looking into mangrove and green infrastructure benefits. I think it was SB 32, but we didn't have quorum that day. But even the state is acknowledging the benefits on insurance. So like citizens insurance was going to be the partner in that. I feel like a mangrove planting and maintenance program could be a good strategy.

And that would definitely be part of the long term plan for the Venetian because they've talked about it already as as A suggestion, in my view, it won't solve the problem, but it certainly attacks it partially with natural beings.

There's a couple hundred feet of mangrove there, right, on the southwest corner?

Already, but it doesn't receive any particular care or increase, and it doesn't go the whole way. You know, it's just part of the natural vegetation on the area that's the right-of-way on the causeway that has never been developed. But anyway, that point would definitely be part of any... rising seas sort of approach.

I think it's a great start, too, for just creating more mangrove-friendly legislation in the future. We can establish that we have a program that works and is maintaining the mangroves, which is very difficult. What's the issue with planning more?

It may help us also with our bond rating or our insurance ratings because even the state acknowledged looking into that for for the statewide insurance, it could help us with our bond costs. All right, the next one was item six, which was public shade infrastructure expansion, so bus stops, parks, streetscapes, and looking to fund shade structures, tree canopy expansion, built-in shading devices along high ridership transit corridors, areas of high pedestrian activity, heat-vulnerable neighborhoods based on income and exposure, and locations with limited existing shade or green infrastructure. So basically just earmarking dollars specifically to shade the vulnerable population as much as possible.

Which hopefully... That ties in with some of the public comments.

Yes, Ms. Johnson. What? can let us know where she needs to see it happen. All right, seven was expand natural capital accounting initiatives. This was kind of just going off of what, Sylvia, I think you've been talking about a lot. I think it's a great idea. And maybe there should be dollars earmarked to look into that and in accounting for the biodiverse habitat, which we know and love.

Yeah, and I think it reinforces point number five. If we're investing in mangrove planting and we know that there's potential insurance benefits, one way to capitalize that would be through this natural capital accounting. So we might be able to tie point five and point seven as separate, but equally important. Thank you for that inclusion.

maybe we can drill down on this. I think that there's already something in the works of tree mapping in the city already ongoing, but if we can find a specific that maybe is missing in the natural accounting, maybe it's a natural accounting of the mangroves to start, or maybe I think the more specific we get with this, probably the better chance we have.

That was what Dr. Ellie Fenichel from Yale recommended that we consider the value of mangroves as a good potential account, a pilot account.

Would that tie into the arborists that they were asking for?

Well, there was a suggestion of funding an arborist. There's also suggestions of funding... a urban forester at the last meeting, which was described as a separate role. That was not something that I looked into. But I think I wrote it down as an additional thing that I wanted to look into before the next meeting. Eight is gas powered equipment phase out program. That's we passed a policy last January or March, maybe it was. I don't recall exactly of 2024, suggesting the phase out of the equipment. It was kind of stalled from the confusion at the state at the time. But I think going back and suggesting again, possibly with some dollars earmarked to help businesses if they can't. come up with a small amount of money for the transition or also for residents to purchase the equipment could help in easing that transition of that small financial burden. And also using the money to educate people on why. Because there's all those reasons of health, so many different reasons of health related to it. It's also the emissions issue. Honestly, I think it's more about the health, really, like the noise caused a lot of health and also the air pollution.

Chair, if I may, I think that this was the resolution I proposed, I presented in front of the commission.

And it was I wasn't able to make it and you stepped in. Thank you. Yeah.

So it got turned down. So I don't think we passed that. There was a couple of things I think we're waiting for. One of them was Gabela's reservation that we shouldn't sort of impose, like you saying small businesses that to switch over to EV. So that was like one sort of concern he had, but there was also a bigger concern from state preemption because we're waiting on the state bill passed a study for University of Florida to maybe analyze this particular bill. I'm not sure where that, I don't know if you've been tracking that, but I think we were going to think about waiting until that report was done to sort of circle back up on this.

I don't think that that passed, but, you know, and again, I think maybe I'll reach out and try to speak with Commissioner Gabella about it, but, I mean, there's other preemptions for other health-related things on a number of topics, and it's not about control, but it's for freedom of free will to choose, but, like, when the choice of a gas leaf blower over an electric one that does essentially the exact same thing with far less health outcomes. Doesn't disturb your neighbors. I feel like there's a pretty strong amount of the public who like it. I was kind of surprised at how many comments there were today about the leaf blowers, actually.

Yeah, there were a lot. There was like five. I would just check what the status is on that University of Florida study so it helps make the case. Maybe we can discuss that at the workshop.

Okay, we'll do. Nine is property buyouts and stormwater park conversion program. So there has been examples of utilizing plazas or existing parks in many locations, as well as the buyout of repetitive flooded properties, which actually happened a bit north of here, I believe in Broward County, where they utilized a property that kept flooding to actually hold stormwater. And this idea, I think, part of the rationale for this is that introducing the stormwater master plan and reducing inland flooding, the farther you go inland, and if you don't follow the stormwater master plan's phased approach, it could be a long time before those inland properties actually get to have the infrastructure. So perhaps smaller scale property buyouts, which could be, you know, under a million dollars a lot of the time for a single lot in a lot of Miami, city of Miami properties, can offer a new public benefit to the neighborhood, and then also be a stormwater location where a low-lying street can have a much smaller gray infrastructure investment rather than massive pumps to try to force this water, could be miles, to the nearest outfall. So I think that something like this offers a solution for people who are suffering from a flooded street, and it also offers a benefit to the whole neighborhood.

if this aligns well with what Barbara was talking about.

Yeah. Yeah. Very much the example of Barbara. There's also a study, Chairman, by Dr. David Kelly at University of Miami that does an analysis on property values where flood pumps are installed in different locations. And if you think about, you know, the example of like Casey, Casey's property in Little Haiti, it's the last sort of contiguous natural land with a lake in that whole neighborhood that does provide a massive ecosystem service and i think walter meyer might have a study on the potential uh storm water capture of a of a site like that to sort of think about as an as an example of something but yeah this is barb i think it very much aligns with with your recommendation and and something that's needed okay i'll reach out to walter on that this

This though, just like, I think it's going to be more cost effective for inland properties where the cost per acre is much lower than on the, right on the waterfront. Those, the buyouts may happen, but I mean, we're seeing, I think national or even worldwide records of waterfront houses across South Florida recently. So there's just like an appetite for waterfront that it's going to be You know, those property owners probably don't have a challenge in finding buyers, whereas if you are a small four-bedroom, two-bath house on a street that continually floods, you know, this can offer a solution to that homeowner and also to their neighbors.

I really, like, love this idea. And I think that the trick is, and when you budget for this, is suggesting a small bite. Like, if you go in with a $20 million price tag, right, right, But this idea of taking some of these neighborhoods, and hopefully there's some mapping that's been done, where some of these low-lying areas, you know, and there may be properties for sale, right? Like, that are already... But they've been flooded a lot, and people would be very interested in selling. And if you allocated, you know, like you said, like, maybe you do five lots, right? And... You're talking $500,000 max a lot or whatever. It's $2.5 million, and it's another million dollars, let's say, for parks or whatever. But I think the trick is if you can do something bite-size and show that it works, if you ask the city for a bite-size amount of money and show that it works, then you go back later for more. I love the idea of doing sort of suggesting a trial program, let's just say.

I got ahead of myself with the 1 million to 20 million. I was thinking there could be a lot of them, but I agree. This was the last one I wrote, and by then I was feeling ambitious.

No, but I think it's great. No, but I think the idea of presenting a trial size is fantastic.

The work the local office and Curtis Rogers did for the Southwest Streets Gay Master Plan was fantastic. Super thorough really, really high class work and they have beautiful mapping of all of the basins and the historic movement of water throughout that whole corridor. So they've already mapped it and they've identified which streets are different right of ways and which ones are, you know, you can overlay that with the with the stormwater master plan data. and then you know exactly where to go. So that's why, you know, three or four of what I'm suggesting here is going right to that area with the Southwest Streetscape Master Plan. It's because the data, they've already created it, and it's so thorough, and it could really be a great pilot.

Yeah, and I think the pilot, the other thing that I really liked in your proposals was anything that we can do to help work that's been done get completed is great. Because when they've spent all that money on the plan, the park plan, the streetscape plan, anything we can do to help them push to a conclusion through the budget, like your idea of analyzing two different approaches, anything we propose that leverages work that's been done is great. The only thing that I thought was missing, and I know it's in the next budget, which was mentioned a lot, in public comment is also some sort of a trial for compost that comes up a lot, right? And we had a great presentation on that. I did see it like in New York City, people walking down to the corner and putting compost on every corner. I was like totally shocked. So again, maybe again, a trial on compost or something like that would be something else I'd like to see. I think it's proposed in the next one, but certainly it's been coming up a lot. And I don't think it would be that expensive.

Especially if it's done on land that's already owned. Like it could be in the parking lot, one big bin in one parking space or off to the side of one park.

You just see where people come. Maybe it's in all the parks for most of them. But I love your first... first proposal as well. Let's see how we can help them get to a final proposal.

The cost benefit.

Chair, if I may, I think Avra brings up a good point. Anything that we can do to sort of make sure that this project gets forward through completion. As I said, they got some grants and they weren't able to do everything they had intended. I would also like to propose that we overlay data from tools like ICChange that probably have a lot of inland flooding data so that we can analyze maybe other areas Thinking about Alapata specifically, I know that they have some areas they've identified. You have some public, some county property that's nearby. So maybe what happens in that case where you have county and city parcels but still inland?

Okay, great. So let's move on to the submission from Silvio, which you submitted a list of ideas, but perhaps you could just give us a brief kind of high level like for each one. Yeah, let's go one by one.

Yeah, I think you did an excellent job showing maybe how to improve something like that with examples in more detail. So key budget recommendations. The first is urban tree canopy and forestry program. There's a presentation that I wanted to give today. I've shared it with Miriam and Alyssa. Maybe we could share that later. I think we should be putting, not just count waiting on the tree trust fund dollars, but more proactively trying to allocate funding into urban tree canopy and programs that wrap around that. Some comprehensive tree inventory I think would be pretty helpful, especially when it comes to natural capital accounting, ecosystem service benefits. The Alapata Underlying Project, that's another one. You know, it could be something going off of Avra's bite-size recommendation as simple as a feasibility study or a way to start getting public feedback. Ultimately, I think that, you know, the $5 million price tag here that I'm recommending could go up to maybe $20, $30 million. I know there's an Alapata CRA conversation that's underway. Who knows when that's going to come around, but that's something that I think could also tie into flood management, cooling, bus shelters, a lot of the things that have been mentioned today, I think would all tie in very well in this Alaparra underlying corridor, which is a critical area. public-facing digital map of resilience projects. So the Miami DDA put out a map showing currently finished projects, projects in the pipeline pending approval and permitting, and projects under construction. I'd love to see something similar to that so that we can overlay where all the resilience projects, whether it's not just future buildings but public works initiatives, so that we could just have a single place to track that and their status. An emergency response innovation pilot project. Something else, you know, I think supporting emergency management, emergency management communication, civilian emergency response team, and other innovations that are possible there for emergency preparedness is something we should take a look at and invest into now before an emergency. Piggybacking off of the recent legislation we suggested and adopted for zero waste or circularity, I think that'll probably beg for a zero waste consultant. I'm not sure what zero waste consultants cost, so I put $120,000 in there. Urban Forestry Citizen Science Program, that's the LEAF proposal. So a budget for that, $120,000. Community composting. It seems like there's a lot of... of quick wins from the studies I've been doing of all the waste and waste management and waste streams by bringing people together. I think composting seems to be maybe one of those quick wins. It could be a small ticket to get that rolling. So that's something that I would put high up there. Overtown Relief Project, that's a very, very specific project in the Overtown area. And this was actually a proposal from the Miami-Dade Heritage Trust. to replicate the Coconut Grove relief project that was done for tree inventory with Citizen Science here in West Grove. That has a $60,000 budget. Smart sensors for storm drains and flood alerts. Not sure what storm drain those smart sensors cost for storm drains, but I think it could really help inform decisions, especially when we're wanting to invest multi-million dollar tickets. If we have that storm drain data to understand what is flooding for how long, How long does it take for that water to permeate and return? That's 15K. That could go up. I think maybe if we pick an area, perhaps the Southwest Street project is a good one to consider here for adding more data or other areas that are flood-prone. Coastal Park Climate Adaptation Pilot. So I think you already touched on this. So it's like what are parks or waterfront properties that we might be able to either invest into to turn into parks or buy to use it for flood mitigation or stormwater prevention of some sort? City of Miami Resilience convening, some kind of public-private partnership collaboration. So just, you know, funds to host more of like our business leaders workshop, for example. If you wanted to do, you know, a community engagement event or conference like a lot of folks will do that invites these public sector, private sector, other cities and individuals to come in like a demo day, it could maybe go to fund part of that. That's 25K. Rainwater capture barrel program. So I know we have a lot of issues. I'm advising the UNESCO chair for sustainable water security. We have a lot of concerns around water security. But we do have a lot of water in Miami. It just happens to be in the air. So looking at atmospheric water systems or rainwater barrel systems, Systems could be really an interesting way to support local residents. The county currently has a program like this with UF IFAS that we can look into or piggyback off of. Public ledger to pilot for Tree Trust Fund transparency. So that is, you know, I made a request for, you know, understanding where our Tree Trust Fund dollars were. I got some information. It was kind of lackluster. to say the least, and I know Sierra Club and other groups in the community were able to get very detailed information on the Tree Trust Fund, but I believe just going through this frustration over the last year, we could adopt something like blockchain with the Government Blockchain Association, and we could have a pilot, instead of putting all our public budget on the blockchain to be transparent, we could start with something like the Tree Trust Fund, having a public ledger so everybody could follow. Where is the Tree Trust Fund? Where are the dollars going? How are they being spent? And so bring that sort of Web3 technology to document and make sure that we can follow where the money is. And so small 10K for that, I really don't know what it would cost, but I wouldn't recommend anything more than 10K. Maybe we could even get somebody to do it for free if the city would be willing to adopt it. Public engagement, education, and community resilience events. You know, I guess just let's go out there more and engage the public is I guess what I'm asking for. You know, how can we be more intentional about communicating with the public. Parametric insurance for disaster response. This is, I think, another big one. Whether it's looking at insurance with mangrove restoration projects or looking at what happens if we get hit by a Category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane, I think we should adopt some kind of parametric insurance. What is parametric insurance? That means that if we have a third-party agency like NOAA create a, hey, you've reached Stage 4, Stage 5 hurricane within a predetermined area, call it City Hall, then there's an automatic payout that happens from that insurance policy to the community. That could really be very key in getting funds for disaster response, preparedness, et cetera, while you wait six months to two years to go through your regular insurance. So I think, I know that the Miami Foundation is exploring parametric insurance, and maybe this is something we can piggyback, we don't have to pay for ourselves, But nonetheless, something absolutely critical worth emphasizing that we should invest into. And then a framework for, okay, maybe it's time for us to kind of aggregate these different resilience projects overall. And different suggestions like manage retreat. And think about a new resilience bond. Interest rates are some of the lowest levels. right now, and if we are able to be wise about having natural capital accounting, we're able to prioritize knowing what projects are where in their stage, potentially considering a new resilience bond for the city. Is there something else?

Sorry to interrupt, but it is two minutes before eight. Do we want to put in a motion to extend the meeting?

Motion.

Do I have a second?

Second.

All right. All in favor? Aye. Thank you, Sarai.

Aye.

Okay. I think it was unanimous. Thank you.

So that's it. I would say these initiatives are meant to support the climate resilience objectives while delivering tangible economic, environmental, and social returns. I would welcome the opportunity to get more feedback from yourselves as well as the public on these recommendations. I would also note that... Commissioner Pardo, which is another finance expert on the commission, has also said that we should consider some type of bond issuance. So maybe a conversation to be had there.

I think that if you could add a little clarity to each of these before the workshop and share it with Miriam. So we have that to work through I think would be helpful, and then we can have a more productive conversation next Tuesday. Also wanted to give you guys a chance, you didn't submit anything, but if you brought anything tonight or had comments.

I did have a few things. I sent them to Miriam too late. But one of them was mentioned, which was introducing the composting, something as simple as that. We have neighbor. cities or municipalities that are doing it. Coral Springs is doing it. Oh man, there's another one too. But we have examples of this already working. They actually are distributing compost bins to residents to be able to compost with. But if we can start doing this in our parks, that's just a light lift right there. It's a good pilot start. Another second thing is exploring the alternatives and the efficiency for waste reduction and recycling. It's something that we talked about a lot last meeting. So how do we move that forward so we're not just filling up our landfills continuously and incentivizing folks out?

So you agree on funding someone to figure that out?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we're not incentivizing somebody to recreate an incinerator again. Budgets for municipal boards such as ours, I think that's something that could be carved out within a budget too. It doesn't have to be. anything insane but you know i think 10k could get us you know for our distance and then lastly um we have an arborist right yeah we don't have an urban forester i think an urban forester position is the direction that we should go especially if we want to expand the street canopy somebody to actually stay on top of those things i think that's something that we should carve out as well

Which brings me to discuss the leaf proposal that I wrote in here as an example of an urban forester program that could have like a main person from the city, but really lean onto members and volunteers of the community and residents to really help take charge to scale the needs for the community.

Excellent. Could you make sure Miriam has that and also with, you know, short overview of each idea. Awesome. Thank you.

Honestly, for all of mine, it was already previously mentioned. I really like to focus on the bus stops because it has been something that's been previously brought to me as well. During my investigation, though, I did hear that it was up to those that, can you hear me fine? You know the advertisements that are on bus stops? According to what I heard, it's those advertisers that buy those shelters that go on the bus stops. In the city, I don't know if there's a possibility for us to be able to establish those, or it has to be through an advertiser that funds it directly. I don't know which one would be an easier pathway. That's what I heard in my research a couple months ago. It's something that's worth looking into more. I can do it myself, but if each of you could also see how that could be possibly done, because I think it's something really important. And it's part of meeting people where they're at, and transportation is a big way of doing that. Same thing with the composting program. I can do a little bit more research, but mine is more detailed towards how schools and universities are doing it, how we can potentially partner with public schools that are doing it, senior care centers as well, how we can kind of entail that into that program. And having more stable recycling bins throughout, like again, more labeled, more explained, more illustrated. I know it was brought up a couple months ago before too, just prioritizing what things should be recycled depending on cost as well and value. Having some consistent messaging throughout the city I think could be important and make it easier for people to be able to do so. But I can also just do a little bit more research onto that. I never sent anything, sorry.

No, I think it's a great point, Chair, if I may. The, actually, just last Thursday, during the commotion event that happened, I mean, Wednesday and Thursday at Miami Dade College, I was there hanging out with one of our advisors from NVIDIA, Alex Pazos, and he was explaining that they have something that they can put in the bus stops, so it's like, and we were doing a brainstorming session Monday and Tuesday with the SDG folks as well, and we were trying to figure out how do we meet people where they're at, right, to get their input, right, so like, Having an interactive map like a Miami-verse, for example, is good, but what if you don't have a computer? So we were exploring how we can add these interactive screens to actual buses and bus stops. Those screens could be interactive. They can get feedback from people, but they also have little cameras, right? So if you can get data to find out how long people are standing there, If there's one person that's standing there too long and the bus is going to cost you to move it from one part of town to get them, maybe it's $5,000 or $500, then you can make quick decisions to have an Uber come take that person for $15 to wherever they have to go. But we, again, need more information at each bus shelter. I have studied the bus shelter route in detail in the past because of my work with smart cities. Some bus shelters have power. Sources, a lot of them do not. And so I would look at, you know, I'm not sure if this is something, Alyssa, you might be able to help with, but identifying what are the bus stops that are under city control, which ones do have maybe like a power outlet of some sort, because then we could, you know, do things like you're suggesting there, and it seems like it's not very expensive to do, and it could either be done in partnership with advertisers or, yeah. Yeah.

I would say that there's probably legislation tied to the outdoor advertising at the bus stop where they have a requirement. I think that was one of the obligations was, okay, you get to put up the sign, but then that means you have to also... We just have to make sure that we're making sure that those outdoor advertising guys are doing what they're supposed to be doing. So there may be legislation that the city just hasn't followed through on.

And also, you have to be worried about LED billboards. That's what a lot of advertisers want to do on bus stops and bus shelters. And I can assure you there's going to be a lot of criticism of any new places. They've tried it. and we've been able to stop it, LED billboards on the streets of Miami. So if the advertising is a sign, I'm worried about the screen. What advertisers will try to do on the screens that you're talking about?

Don't worry, FDOT actually regulates that heavily and monitor, well, other.

I know, okay.

You know what?

Everybody says they regulate it, then suddenly. I know. That's special. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I just, I worry all the time. No, no, no. I'm a worrier, and I appreciate your reassurance.

No, that's in litigation, and, you know, FDOT is supposedly sending correspondence asking and demanding compliance regarding that. I know, I know. But they are at least, they monitor advertising and bus stops very heavily, as well as the county. So there's two layers of enforcement.

Well, I don't mean to belabor this, but as you know, even though you still have the problem where you have to litigate. So I just want to put that caution out. Thank you.

All right. So we talked about a lot of ideas. Also had a number of suggestions from the public this evening that we should... continue to look into and prepare for for the workshop on Tuesday. And, you know, please come prepared with whatever recommendation you have for, you know, to be fairly buttoned up. I think it'll make our discussion a lot faster and easier.

And please, you have a quick turnaround time. The next meeting is June 2nd. So that means when you prepare for the May 13th, you need to have everything ready to go. not the last minute submitting documentation. You need to have some sort of idea what it is you're going to talk about, what your plan is, what is your action, and then be prepared to jump on and start discussing and decide whether or not you're going to choose that item or the next item, or let it pass. I'm just advising you because you don't have much time for the June 2nd meeting. And once we do the agenda, that's it.

Thank you. All right. So to wrap up this item, we are going to move to item seven, city-owned waterfront projects. We have a project update on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant.

Hello, yes, so for the project update, in July of last year, we applied for funding from the National Fish and Wildlife National Coastal Resilience Fund for final design and permitting of the shoreline project at Legion Park that was presented to the board. We received notice in December that we received the funding for that. So we finalized the grant agreement recently. We are moving forward with bringing on a consultant. And then we'll be working to implement the project as described to the committee here. We also have integrated public meetings into that design process. So when that schedule is available, we'll be giving you guys more notice. But just to say that The project at Legion Park, which was looking at, it was one of the projects looking at a berm along the waterfront, looking to integrate a living shoreline at the park, a permeable trailway. The funding is for design and permitting of that over the next three years. And then as part of this grant program, they really like funding pipeline projects. So we're hoping that Once the design is finalized, we'll be able to go back to these funders for them to contribute to the funding of implementation of the project. So more to come on that, but that project is moving forward. Our office is involved, and we're really excited.

Excellent. Appreciate the update. All right, let's move on to the next item, if there's no comments on that. Item 8 is Office of Resilience and Sustainability Updates.

Okay, so first thing that is on this list is our cooling centers program that launched May 1st. So May 1st is the beginning of heat season. Last year we did a pilot of three cooling centers at city community centers at parks. Learned a lot about the considerations that we needed to launch a larger scale initiative. So on May 1st, we announced that we launched a network of 10 across the city. These are at community centers, at parks, and they are places that residents of the city can go. Again, if they're feeling hot in their homes, if they don't have access to adequate air conditioning, we have locations at these 10 city parks where They can go to the side, they have access to air conditioning, water, we have some materials to educate them about heat, illness, and some other interventions if needed. Restrooms, yes. Our office also worked with Division of Emergency Management to come up with the protocol for these cooling centers, as well as provide some training to the parks department staff who will be staffing these cooling centers, but also to be aware of what their limitations are and that people should always call 911 if there is an emergency. Chief Musser, do you want to add anything from the DEM side about this program?

I can't overstate enough how much you guys have done to implement this program. I had a meeting when I first got this seat in December and National Hurricane Center and Weather Services was talking about how we set the standard for Miami-Dade County. And the only complaint that they had in our pilot program was that we didn't have enough parks open on Sundays. And we're happy to state, I believe we have six between the libraries and the parks. We have six open on Sundays, if I'm not mistaken, I think it's six. But a very good job. We commend you and we really, really love our working relationship. So kudos to you.

And yeah, thank you for the partnership as always.

And yeah, just to go off that last point, this network, complements the network that Miami-Dade County runs. They have cooling centers at libraries throughout the county. There are a number of libraries within the city that also serve as cooling centers. So with our parks and the libraries combined, there's quite a big network within the city to provide relief to residents. So we're really excited about that.

May I ask if there's funding for any activities at the centers if they come with children or even seniors so that they are engaged while they're there? I don't know. Is that part of it?

So not for specific activities, but they are at parks. So there is programming that is ongoing at the parks. The cooling center, each park kind of has a set-aside area for cooling centers, so that way it doesn't totally interfere with uh ongoing programming because there is quite a lot of programming going on in the summer especially with like summer camps and things like that so we were thinking about how we can make sure that the summer camp programs can still go on and we can provide this amenity to our residents yes so that was actually contemplated but that was actually um

adverse to what the mission of a cooling center is. You don't want to activate someone. The idea is that they're overheated and they're coming in to cool down. You don't want them to be running around, be rambunctious. And that's actually why they are in located parks, segregated from the community centers that also exist because the mission of the cooling center is to come in because you are getting too hot, you're maybe outside already playing at the park, and you're maybe needing to come in. So that was just, I don't wanna say it's a liability issue, but it was to focus on the mission.

Thank you.

Okay, so in addition, just wanted to mention in regards to the beginning of heat season, some key initiatives that the city has been doing and will continue to do this heat season. One thing that is great that the Division of Emergency Management started a few years ago is Alert Miami text service, so residents can text ALERTMIAMI, all one word, to 888777. They provide SMS text updates to residents about extreme heat and other emergency weather situations. So throughout the heat season, there are texts that go out to the community when there is a heat advisory, so they can know to take certain actions, they can be aware that there's predicted high heat conditions. And those are SMS, so people who don't have smartphones can easily get those text messages. Something else that Division of Emergency Management has been doing is tracking 911 calls related to heat-related events. They produced an after-action report at the end of the heat season last year documenting all the 911 calls that were heat-related. It was close to 100 from May through October last year. Another thing that the city has worked on and continues to do is compliance with the assisted living facility requirement to have generators. There is a thermal requirement for assisted living facilities to be able to maintain a temperature of 81 degrees or less when there is a power outage. Our building department works with the ALFs throughout the city to ensure that they have generators and sufficient power to meet that requirement in an emergency situation. Additionally, we are working on a Pilot Street for the Southwest Streetscape Master Plan. We are looking at a street in Little Havana to support shade from trees and thinking about ways that we can use the right of way differently to support using green infrastructure to promote cooling and having that project align with all the other ongoing work that's going on with Jose Marti Park currently. And then lastly, one thing that the Parks Department is trying out this year, they purchased wet bulb globe thermometers for certain parks that have recreational fields. So for kids who are playing sports and things like that, this is a thermometer that looks at temperature, humidity, and also wind to gauge felt temperature for people who are outside. It's used a lot in sports to monitor safe conditions. So they are piloting the use of that this year to inform programming decisions. So that is the heat season. And then the last thing that I'd like to bring up is that recently our GSA department went to the 2025 NAFA Institute and Expo. This is a fleet, national fleet conference. And our city fleet is in the top 100 in the nation. We have a lot of hybrid cars in our fleet. And that is part of the reason why we received this recognition. And our GSA team is excited to continue to work with this organization to increase our ranking in years to come. So we're proud to announce that.

Excellent, moving to reduce.

Can I make one addition? I think it's important to note that it was mentioned that we have 10 parks as cooling centers, but also within the city of Miami, we have 10 Miami-Dade libraries and one government building. So we have a total of 21 cooling centers within the city of Miami.

Very useful. I hope that... you know, community organizations become aware of it and like they spread the news about it. So, you know, people who need it know that they have it available.

I'm going to just quickly plug our website for that. Miami.gov slash cooling centers. It has the list of all the parks and all the county sites as well as their phone numbers, their addresses, and the hours of operation. So miami.gov slash cooling centers for all your cooling center needs.

All right, perfect. Thank you so much. Okay, let's move on to item nine, open discussion and other items. I'll just give a brief mention that I saw that the amendments to Chapter 17 were withdrawn at the last Commission meeting, and that aligns with what we talked about at our previous meeting in April, that there was going to be a pause and an outreach portion from an outreach consultant, and that that was an ongoing thing. Has that been moved along at all, that process of the Chapter 17 outreach?

So currently, with the legislation being withdrawn, there's still ongoing discussion about the timing and the format of the meeting. So I don't have any additional information, but when I do, we'll make sure we bring it back to you all.

Great, thank you. Any other topics for open discussion? What's the status of Laura? That went to the Commission in the middle of March, I believe. where it was, was it March? I think it was March. Correct. Where it was indefinitely deferred. An indefinite deferral from the commission means it automatically goes on the commission six months out and could be brought back earlier. And that was done so that FLORA could be integrated into a more comprehensive Chapter 17 and overall landscape updates. which I think kind of works with the overall spirit of Flora in itself, of trying to be comprehensive and looking at all the different circumstances and how it relates. But the Flora proposal that we voted on was a little bit open-ended, as it should be, because there are really all different contexts throughout the city, and a more granular approach makes sense for different neighborhoods. So hopefully they can look into how Flora and other complementary areas ideas could all work together and be contextualized for the different neighborhoods with different lot sizes, with different types of tree canopy. So as far as I understand, it's gonna be discussed during those outreach meetings.

And to that, yeah, there are a couple of things I have worked on. I think we talked about the leave proposal like three months ago. I was waiting for budgets. I was recommended for the budget recommendations to bring it back up. I think it's really important. Miriam, I don't know if you have that leaf presentation link available to do a screen share should the chair let it. But I kind of have a couple of other topics here that I want to run by really quick. Updates to old business and then hopefully if we have a couple of minutes to walk us through those complimentary proposals that I see basically two. going along with flora. One of them is called LEAF, Local Engagement at Urban Forestry. And the other one is around canopy, which does address sort of improvements to Chapter 17 in terms of the recommendations, for example, that Dr. Baraloto gave. And so I'd love to, during the last meeting, I requested that maybe we can have some time to review LEAF during this meeting. And the idea is that that is really more a program for public engagement. And then during the next meeting, I'd like to bring up Canopy. Again, I'll circulate it if you haven't gotten it already. Um, uh, and the rest of the committee, which I've asked to receive those, uh, the, the documentations for your review and for your input. Which will be more about, you know, how do we properly account for trees, mitigate trees, what are recommendations for valuing them, et cetera. So I'll spare you those details. Um, now. But I would like to maybe in open discussion for other items, bring that up. And here on other topics, but the CRC business leaders have a quick update on, which is the UN Masters of Sustainable Business Program and the UN Resilience Institute are both in to support us with hosting a CRC business leaders workshop, maybe sometime in September or October. And I would like to request from the committee that you think about any questions that you think should be sent out in a survey. If you want to send the survey out, you know, kind of general survey to get info or insights that we want from the business community, residents, et cetera. I'm also going to include consulates in there because there's a lot of consul generals And consulates in Miami that have businesses that are really relevant to sustainability, environmental resilience, coastal development that would like to maybe join our demo day, for example. So that's enough to kick update on that. Also on the recycling and zero waste resolution that we passed last time. I was able to engage different experts, kind of just invite everybody to have a conversation. I worked through the document that you prepared with Dave, Chair. It was very extensive. There's a lot of 300-page documents linked in there, which I was able to kind of review with everybody. on an open call to show what we're looking at. I have also talked to experts in Austin, Texas, in Kyoto, Japan, and New York City to understand how they've been able to handle their waste crisis and issues successfully, as well as requested Miriam set up a meeting with someone from the Waste Management Division for a conversation. So I'm hoping to hear back from somebody in Waste Management be able to have an off-the-record conversation to see where they're thinking at, maybe, you know, so they know we can review that document with them and try to get more feedback along the way. So those are two things. And then next month is also Oceans Day. So we'll maybe have a meeting before that. But June 8th, I wanted to see, and this is a little bit outside the scope and powers of our committee, but potentially a proclamation request for Oceans Day to be given to our Oceans Day ambassador here in the city of Miami. And that's it in terms of other topics that I think were relevant to bring up for now. Chair, should you be so kind to, in the next open discussion item, allow me to share and circulate more on the LEAF presentation that I put together and asked to be circulated. Over.

Okay. A lot of different things. I'll definitely think about the survey for the business leader workshop. I think that finding a host location was a great and important step. So thank you for locking that down. We'll add that as a discussion for an upcoming agenda. And I appreciate you taking up the recycling and zero waste item as well. And that was signed and circulated to the departments after we voted on it. hopefully all the commissioners saw it and the relevant departments saw it as well. So now it's up to them if they wanted to do something with it. As far as another presentation, I feel like it's already 8.30 and in the essence of also making sure that it's included in the agenda packet beforehand so people can be prepared. Just if you could get it to us in time for Miriam to put it together for the next agenda packet so that we can accurately schedule it on an agenda. I know you mentioned it at the last meeting, but we didn't hear from you when we were making the agenda. So we make the agenda two weeks before the meeting, and then we use that week from two weeks to one week before the meeting to ensure that we have all the supporting information to be sent out and prepared in the agenda packet.

Yeah, and thank you for that. Maybe on process, I think it would be helpful because, and this is maybe a question, Gigi, you might be able to help clarify for me in terms of process. Sometimes I just feel like I'm hopping through hoops all the time, and it's kind of annoying. So I want to just make sure we get this stuff.

Welcome to government.

Yeah. So we did get the procedures and protocol in terms of our committee and our bylaws approved. It says that we need to request those agenda items be added. So during our meeting minutes, I said, hey, let's please add LEAF to the next meeting agenda. Then in the packet that I received, it says that you need to receive the presentation materials no later than seven days before the next meeting, which was last Monday. So I did send a very detailed memo, resolution, PowerPoint presentation seven days before.

I got that on Tuesday.

I understand. Miriam was on vacation or out, was out of the office.

If I may, if I may. Yeah. I just want to make sure. It was sent at 6.45 p.m. and I received it midday Tuesday. Okay. Six days ago.

Right.

We've been very clear. We've had to state the procedures up here a number of times. You know, I don't want to spend any more time going over it. Like, if you could just, I've put multiple agenda items that you've asked over the last months. Yeah. I've seen you post on social media complaining that items that you've asked for. I think that's very unprofessional. Why are you doing that? Just submit things about two weeks before so we can organize it so everyone has time to draft an agenda. It's 8.31 and, you know, it's late. I don't think we should be spending time going through a presentation that no one's had the time to be able to see before this evening. It wasn't included in the agenda packet. that the public wasn't able to make comment on. I just, I don't think that makes any sense. So, I mean, we've been very clear about the request. So you could just submit it earlier and then we'll work it in the future agendas.

Okay, so.

Excuse me, I have an 8.30 hard stop. So, excuse me, Chair, I have to leave in one minute.

Understood, thank you.

So just for protocol, that sounds like our rules are seven days before, but we really want it to be two weeks before, if I'm understanding. And that being said, to help conclude, let's please add the leaf and canopy proposals and presentations for the next meeting agenda. Miriam, you already have those presentations, if you'd be so kind to kind of circulate that to the committee. Let's clarify something. So you have that information maybe now a month ahead of the next meeting?

Okay, I'm so sorry, but you can't direct staff like that. It has to be a board motion. I just, I don't know. But I just want you to know that you can't ask her to do something and she do it. Or I mean, you can ask her. It doesn't mean she will. But protocol is to get it through the chair and have a vote if you're going to direct staff. I do believe... And I could be wrong, but the chair has said that it will be on the agenda so long as the if she has the packet information already. So, you know, but the idea is, I believe, through the chair, the seven days means, you know, 5 p.m. You know, these we do have hours working hours. Some of us, you know, work 24 seven, which we shouldn't do. But I just I'm wanting to just. to stop this kind of back and forth, all comments are through the chair. So if you're going to talk to Miriam, it's through the chair. Chair, can I ask her to do this? Again, just trying to minimize the back and forth.

Yeah, no. Process and procedure. Let's get this right. Thank you.

I also prioritize certain things on the agenda based on urgency. We had Chapter 17 for, I believe, five months in a row, and we had to push other items. So it's a certain level. The main focus of today was On a budget discussion and our discussion went over on the indoor heat, because there was a lot of interest and you know I don't really try to rein people in too much you know when we have questions I try to let the discussion kind of flow. And you know some of our meetings go a little longer so it's it's a balance of making sure we have a full agenda without having too much so submitting things early so everyone has time to review it beforehand just makes us have more productive meetings.

So if I wanted to circulate something, and Gigi, this is another procedure question, and I wanted for everybody in our committee to receive it, does it first need to get sent to Aaron, and then he needs to approve if it gets sent to the committee?

Generally, yes. Generally speaking.

To Aaron or to Miriam?

Well, I can't communicate to anybody on our committee. unless it's through Miriam.

Well, no. No? No. You can only communicate to them here. Right. Yeah, you sending something is, yeah, just because this is recorded, it is not a communication if you're talking to her. But I do, so the thing is, I'm just trying to funnel this message When I say generally, it is because it's supposed to be something that is not coming to the board. So example, you could usually ask her to circulate maybe an event, you know, you're having an event that's related to CRC kind of mission and goals. Sending that out, that would not need Erin's approval because that is not anything that's coming to the board. It's just an FYI, here's a cool event. But if it is gonna be something that is coming to the committee, Everything is, anything discussed, the agenda is subject to chair approval. So that's why. So usually sending it to her, she'll know, okay, this is regarding the board stuff. Let me get Aaron's approval because it's related to the board. So if it's something generic, no, you don't need chair approval. If it's something related, that's going to be coming. I'm like, my God, right? I sound like such a lawyer. That's what I'm saying. I'm trying to dumb it down, but it's quite nuanced. The more and more I'm But that's really the key. If it's going to be something that's like this proposal that is coming to the board you want to discuss, that has to get a chair approval. But just send it to her. She'll know if she could send it out without his approval or if it's something related, she'll get his approval.

Is that clear?

That sounded very... Yeah, no, it is. It's a lot of details, and I want to make sure we get them right.

It's complex. Thank you so much for the clarification.

May I ask a question that has nothing to do with that?

Sure.

You made reference to some kind of memorandum on the waste that went to all the departments.

Correct.

Did we... How do I... Did I see that?

Well, I think you came after, but we can get that to you. It was voted and approved by the board.

I'm sure it was approved by the board. I just didn't know that we did that.

Oh, yeah. Miriam circulated it last week, the final that was... finalized by Gigi, and then I signed, and then it became finalized, and then she circulated it to us, I believe. Everyone should have it. And then also it was circulated... Three times. And then it was also circulated to the departments. I'm sorry. We're also in the process of updating the CRC website to ensure that the... The little tab of voted legislation is up to date.

And this is the memorandum on the recycling, is that correct?

Yeah, on suggestions on waste resource strategies.

Okay, I'll look for it. I'm sorry I didn't see it.

No problem. All good. Any other open discussion or comments on any of the items that Silvio brought up before? All right, let's move to item 10, future agendas. So next month's agenda will have a good portion of it for the budget recommendation for us to go through the final thing after the workshop and then to hopefully vote on something. And we'll also look to include a LEAF proposal and time for a presentation from Silvio. Any other suggestions for agenda items at this time? No. All right. Go ahead.

Does that take into account Silvio's already intended for next June 2nd? Yes. Okay. Sorry.

Yeah, there's LEAF and Canopy. So hopefully, Chair, you should be able to receive the PowerPoint presentation on LEAF. There's a draft resolution on LEAF. There's a draft resolution on Canopy. And there's a memo that talks about why the two and how they work together. I think for whenever we plan those things, and if we can get some feedback before that, maybe we can even discuss it at our workshop. that might be good to bring forward together with Flora. And hopefully we cover all their bases with that.

I'm not sure we could discuss that at that workshop unless there was like a, unless we specifically stated a focus. One question for, Sylvia asked a question if we would be able to discuss the leaf or canopy items at the workshop. If we are open to that, could that be a separate thing?

As you notice it, budget and various, yeah, we just need to, when we notice it, Miriam, the, what day was it? The May 13th. May 13th meeting. When you send it to notice, could you just put for the title CRC budget and various items? That way you can make it a free-flowing discussion.

Perfect. But it'll be free-flowing but structured. We're going to start with budget, and then that can happen after. All right.

Got it now. It's working. The CRC budget and workshop and various items.

Yeah, CRC budget recommendations workshop and other items, various other items.

Thank you. She saw I changed it. Various CRC items. I'm sorry. I'm drafting on the fly. I'm trying.

I have it right now ready to roll. That's why I'm asking.

Okay.

The CRC budget recommendations.

And various CRC items. So it's two different. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you.

Got it. Thank you. All right, if there's no other comments on future agendas, we'll move to item 11, public comment. Anyone in the public, please state your name and two minutes per person.

Albert Gomez, 3566 Vista Court, hello. Hi, Barbara. Nice to see you here, elder statesman, wonderful. Erin, your, or Chair DeMaio, your, it was weird, the intersect of your Flora presentation kind of, emerging in the last Commission meeting in a weird sort of way with the attempted mid-rise that they were trying to do in Coconut Grove in a neighborhood conservation district. So I feel that that's an interesting dynamic that you should address in your workshop. There should be some level of priority and hierarchy within the Commission and within the order of the day within the city manager's office, that if we have these very kind of core policies like neighborhood conservation districts, that the first option that you go for on increasing square footage for kind of benefit isn't in a neighborhood conservation district. So like having these hierarchies and priorities of where we deploy flora, So we don't create these logical fallacies or make it about the tree or the high rise or the mid rise in an area that it shouldn't ever be in the first place. So I hope you can bring that up in the discussion so that they can kind of order how they deploy it so they don't weaponize it. So just a point of reference against the NCDs, it's a critical topic that I saw it emerge and- It was directly mentioned, Flora was mentioned. flora was mentioned and during during during the discussion kind of sideways a little bit about it and it was from the public as well but I don't want it to be misconstrued and or utilized in the wrong way. And I think it's a topic of discussion that could be brought to bear because as they push these things, they can potentially weaponize it. Just a point of reference. The second thing is I read over Silvio's presentation. Wow, a lot of value if we had the oomph to deploy. I think that with the county, The county literally, I presented a solution to the county recently and they bought into it, but they bought it into it in a weird way, which I think you guys can take up. I did that root bridge initiative concept, it went, They received it positively. I submitted it during the forestry launch down in Tamiami Park, and Jane Gilbert came back to me with positive feedback about not necessarily making it about writing an ordinance, but actually changing the operating manual of public works. and potentially the design guideline that Public Works goes by. They're still operating both at the City of Miami and the County from a Public Works operating manual from 1980. And they defer or default to that. And that basically goes, throws in the face of any kind of resilient policy or design guideline or anything like that. And we're stuck chipping away with little ordinances when we can actually go right to the root of it. So I asked them if we could put four corners around it, around the Commodore Trail. And she liked that idea because it gives it a pilot. And it gets four corners around. So she really seemed like this is what she wanted to focus on, which was the operating manual and design guideline. And she found that it dovetailed into City of Miami because there's the overlay of Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, and City of Miami in that Commodore Trail. So we could capture a lot, and both the city and the county can maybe harmonize their operating manuals for public works and design guideline. That's something worth hooking onto. I hope you guys address that.

awesome Thank you very much for the recommendations and I and I and data as well appreciate it. Right any other public comments. or public comments from online during the meeting Miriam. All right, well, really appreciate all of the participation from the public this evening online and in person for showing up and sharing with us what you all think our recommendation should be. You know, we'll go to the workshop and we'll make sure to put it into a good format and bring it back for the June 2nd meeting. And thank you all for your participation this evening. Without anything else, item 12 is meeting adjournment. See you next week.