Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the March 16th meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee. I guess this is our final meeting of this commission. And I don't know what... What point do I ask? You want to be chair? No, no, no. I'm asking you to chair.

Now, does anyone have something they would like to walk on for the March 16th meeting? Yes, please. Representative Maishide, what would you like to bring on in 10 words or less?

That's one thing I do appreciate from we've had years of meetings where it's been just a kind of a talk about hearts. And now there is, Genesis keeps us straight.

That's good. If anybody says anything, there's nothing to say because you kept it straight. All right. Do you have anything, Alan? I do not. Thank you. Approval of minutes for the February 17th meeting. Can I get a motion to approve or if there's any discussion if anybody found anything? I did not.

Is it like the commission who causes trouble at the last meeting? Spring break.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sorry. Not there yet. Oh, okay. No one will discuss the school bus. What progress have we made to a school bus rather than a coach?

The school bus broke before, and we got the coach. Not a problem. We covered our base.

They both bring the coach and the bus break. I guess our homework for this summer is to find a decent company.

What has been done from the town, from the manager's point of view, for supervision from the public service aid? I don't go out there and check because I don't want to get myself excited for no reason.

Because the manager did respond immediately to me of my suggestion of having, hey, Martha, of having a PSA. We've got community service aides riding all over town. Two times a day, they've got to go to two places. It's not a lot to ask for the safety of the children.

I would love to welcome Martha. You saved a seat for you. Thank you. And she brought a sweater. Marianne is freezing. I forgot.

Not ours. I have followed it twice. Coming home from school. It just happens to be ahead of us. It's a bus from a Hebrew school. Comes from North Miami. I contacted, on the way, I called Bay Harbor PD. I was at the west side of the gas station. It passed me. By the time I got on the bridge, it was over the bridge. By the time I got down the bridge, it was clear of the bridge. This bus was flying. Wow. It stops by, I don't know, it used to be by the movie theater. Do you all remember where the movie theater used to be? It's West Bay Harbor Drive, I think. It opens the door, lets children out, n

Through traffic to get to the other side, to the north side of 96th Street.

Yes. I called Surfside PD and I said, this bus just did that. I said, I know it's going to stop at Publix. Turned the corner, I followed it down. I was about four cars behind. There was a policeman behind me. Stopped at Publix. No flashes, no nothing. Kids going east across 94th Street through traffic. This is why I grab. They don't listen. So the cop goes down, and this is where it gets bad. Goes down, turns at 90th Street. I was ahead of the bus by then. I watched it turn. Turned at Abbott. Did not stop at the stop sign on Abbott and 90th. The policeman's behind him, puts on his lights. Grea

But it's the side of the bus, because it used to be probably a Dade County school bus. It's blacked out with spray paint, so there's no name of the school anywhere on the bus. And where it says school bus above the back of the bus where the evacuation door is, it's all blacked out.

But I don't know the name of the company, I don't know the name of the bus. Did you get a license plate? Yeah, the police have the license plate. But it seems to happen on Fridays, and I think maybe the kids get out of school earlier on a Friday to be home earlier. Because I drive at the same time almost every day, and I don't see it but Fridays. Would that be logical that the kids would get out of Hebrew school earlier to get home before dark? What time was it when you... 2.20, 2.15. When they got off on 96th Street going east and they ran through traffic.

Well, I wrote an email to the chief to see if Friday he could be... Is Friday a Jewish holiday? No. Friday night. No, not... Oh, the evening? It's not Passover yet. It's not Passover yet. No, no, no. It's April 1st. Yeah, April 1st. Yeah. So I'll write... I can write an email to the chief and ask him if he could just to look out for that bus on Friday at 2 to 2.30. You know... I couldn't keep this inside. You're saying the same thing. I couldn't keep this inside and not notify somebody. Thank you.

Nothing. I saw them put on their lights and the bus proceeded down Abbott going to 91st and left on 91st. That's why I wrote it up. There's a thing on our website called ClickFix. If you see a problem, if you see a pipe that's broke, if you see a sewer line or something, if you have a problem with a department, trash not picked up, you can put it on ClickFix. And I wrote it all in there and I'm waiting. Sometimes it takes a minute for them to respond because they probably are investigating which police officer was at that location and didn't stop the bus after it was reported to dispatch and a

The driver needs to go. Well, that's what I heard at the bottom of my next door thing. I said, you need to find a new bus, and the driver needs to be fired. It's the same as I report when I'm driving to school in the morning. I'll look at bus drivers talking on their cell phone. You can't do that. I get the bus number, and I call dispatch. I'm a tattletale when it comes to children in school. It's just me. But I'll follow up with the chief. Yes, sir. Thank you.

I guess they're making money, so they want to come out and replenish.

On the idea of food, what did the commission do about the? Concession. Concession.

At schools, they clean them out regularly, and when there's a problem, they've got to be cleaned out.

Are we still looking for vendors, or have they narrowed it down? Have they interviewed any?

Do they, I'm going to ask you to contact, do they have a coach bus with a handicap accessible ramp, lift?

The bus gives you in writing that they will be here on this date at this time to pick up this many guests. Then somebody's going to pay for this bus coming up, and it's not going to be us.

We definitely need to do some homework and look before the new budget comes out and looking for a new service. There's lots of bus companies. In Miami, we're a tourism city. Yeah. Unfortunately, I inherited this company and I inherited this contract. Before you, Rudy, this idea of the handicap ramp lift has been brought up for years.

A city bus has the availability of dropping all the way to the ground where a wheelchair could be getting on. But coaches don't have that. They're steps. And you certainly, and you don't need to be lifting nothing. And city employees shouldn't be attempting to lift someone that's... Correct. Rudy should not be... No, don't put yourself in that.

I mean it's not, I have put handicapped children on the school buses, but you're talking a 15, 20 pound little child that are in car seats. We run into the same problem when you have, you order a bus and we have 20 pre-K children going on and they're all under 40 pounds, so they have to have a car seat. Well the bus shows up with 20 car seats. Okay. You have to sit there and wait until dispatch sends you another bus with 40 car seats. I'm sorry that happened. When's the next? This Wednesday? This coming Wednesday? Okay. Where are you going? I say we get out signs. We're not entering the bus wi

Fort Lauderdale. Oh, Fort Lauderdale. The Jungle Queen?

A hundred years ago. Oh, I haven't done that. I just saw it. We went to lunch and the dongle bean game right there. I hope this works out perfectly.

Absolutely. Kids are cool. Adults stink. Youth Council College Prep Event.

Oh, Johnny can't read. Senior brunch, senior trip. Senior brunch.

Excellent. That's a company that comes out of North Miami. They are busy.

Okay, how did the college prep event go?

Fourth of July event, a Roma Catering Coaster. Kosher food, kosher.

2015. It was kind of before the kosher colon. It wasn't really a thing if I remember.

First thing, I'm just leery of cooking food ahead, putting it somewhere, And then warming it up. I'm a little, I wouldn't want anybody to get sick.

So they can warm stuff, they can't cook stuff.

Similar to what they had at different events.

But if they, like say at a regular event, they barbecue the chicken breasts. Then they put it in a chafing dish and it's warmed in the chafing dish. I guess it's just not cooked. It's just warm.

We can. Of course we can. Just like get to Halloween, Wednesday, Christmas, they had both. Kosher is in one set of tents and the non-kosher is in the other set of tents.

It's basically the same menu, it's just this is kosher cooked food and non-kosher.

I'm trying to accommodate as much as I can. And it's the aroma catering, which is a catering that they're very familiar with, and they should be aware of. This is something that we could also put out in writing ahead of time.

I want to phone a rabbi is what I wanted to. It's apples and oranges. Yeah, yeah. But I think we need to have both. But we need to... What catering did you use for the other?

Yeah, yeah. The same people that put up the amusement rides and stuff? This is going from a wedding in your backyard to a wedding at the Fountain Blue Hilton. Because we used to have the Kiwanis Club a hundred years ago. The Kiwanis Club cooked hot dogs. The Kiwanis Club sold beer. And that was 4th of July. A hot dog and a beer. That sounds American. Right. Now we're having a wedding at the Fountain Blue Hilton. But that's what people expected with us now.

It's just that with our community evolving, this is what... If we want all residents to come out, we have to... Correct. It's respect for everybody. You just can't have a Costco hot dog anymore.

But that's a good thing you brought to us though. So we're asking that you talk to the... I feel much better that I know that they're handling the whole thing. Yeah, it's in their hands.

Okay. I asked Rudy and Genesis to add 4G to the agenda. I just have a few thoughts. We have a serious problem in town with teens. Not only with the e-bikes and the scooters, but they are gathering at night and in the dark in the tot lot. There are major cameras in the tot lot, which I've asked chief, I've asked manager, I've asked Rudy. Who's monitoring the cameras? Well, they're monitored as possible. In other words, nobody sits here and watches all the cameras. The cameras do not have the same capabilities as my cameras at school, where if, I've explained before, if I'm there at eight o'cloc

No, they're jumping the fence and there's just a large group of them.

The park is closed at dusk. And it is, now that it, no, it'll, it's later now, but...

They're four foot. They fly over it. They're shorter than the kids. And I'm sure Rudy gets tired of me sending him pictures every time that I see him in there.

I call the police on a regular basis. And with what's going on in our town and the world, When we only have two officers on duty, maybe three, and we're covering three temples, there's not somebody to come down and say, Johnny, get out of the tot lot.

There's one street light out. At dusk, it's closed. It's right on the sign. And you're not supposed to be in the top light if you're under 10, over 10.

No. There's one street light that falls right on the ramp as you're going in. They're on the streets, they're gathering at night, and they have nowhere to meet. The police have better things to do anyway than to chase.

And I'm sure that they've stopped them before. But they also have a big problem with these e-bikes and scooters, which we've discussed. The teens, they're around adult supervision at school. They're adults at home with their parents, except the one that doesn't eat. They need some freedom. They need a social interaction. This is why I'm suggesting, and I would like to go get your thoughts, and plus bring in representatives from the team board. Our team board is kind of...

I don't know these children, I've seen them at events. They seem to be a highly intellectual group of children. Not your average teen. Some of the research that shows is that they have comfortable seating in a room. They have, you know, we don't need a jukebox anymore or something like that because all they need is Bluetooth speakers because they got all their phone, they got all their music in their phone. They have games, cards. They have foosball tables. Remember old foosball tables? It's just a place to gather.

We have two choices. The rec room of the second floor of the new 96th Street Park, except for when we have events. And Rudy and I spoke There's not a whole, we don't have events there all the time. But the teens, if this was to happen, would have to understand, hey, we're having a senior Valentine's Day dance tonight. We need to be closed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday because we're having this senior dance we need to set up. And you're welcome to come out. Or with not having after school tutoring or programming with the Y or anything like that in the fishbowl, is that what you call it? That

That room is a possibility. Except, can I finish? Yeah. Please. I'm real hard to rush through this. I really am. But you don't see it. You live in condo. You don't see what we have in the residential area. And I'm hoping that whatever new mayor gets in here takes it seriously because the mayor we've had for two, three terms before who lives in the neighborhood doesn't do anything about it. These children are going to get hurt.

I'm getting to that. I'm sorry I talk a lot, but I want to make my point. The park is open until 9 o'clock at night because that's when the basketball court shuts down, correct? So you have after school until 9 o'clock at night. Take a walk over to the park at 3 o'clock. Take a walk tomorrow at 2. That's always a fun thing. Where they're all gathered at 96th Street. I did today. They're all gathered there on their electric bikes and electric scooters. There is supervision at the park. Now I'm not saying there's going to be the park attendant. It's not there to watch them. I feel better about t

So you have one staff there and one staff there. From the research that I've done with other cities, they don't have a staff member to be in charge of the tea room. There's no checking out of games and things like that. They're expected to be somewhat mature to be able to handle that. Like I know with the park, don't they hand out balls and things?

Okay. So in the future, if this was to happen, I don't see this happening anytime soon, but especially with the new commission coming in, but I plan on speaking to the new commission about the same thing. And I just think that We've done programs for seniors, programs for families, but we've kind of left those tweeners out on the streets. And they don't want to be, they want to be with themselves, they don't want to be supervised. And I know the Youth Council does field trips and things like that, which I'll bet you these guys and girls don't include themselves. There is girls and guys. So, if

90th and Hawthorne. By the bay, on the bay side.

I've seen ten, fifteen kids in there. I've seen them with their e-bikes in there. I've seen them with their scooters racing around the circle. I've seen them, you know, the next thing they're going to break the equipment and then the tots aren't going to have anywhere to play.

Believe me, there's lots of municipalities that think the same way, because there's lots of articles on it.

Because there's an attendant there until 9.

I mean, if you had the fishbowl, I could see a pool table. We have ping pong tables out here.

I just remember that the game room over here was packed. There was always kids in there. I used to be in there.

They don't walk anywhere. They don't walk. They fly 80 miles an hour down Hawthorne Avenue on one wheel. Jesus. Sorry, sorry.

When my grandson was here, a couple of guys came down the street, and one came down the street on a bicycle. And I said, can you, excuse me, can I ask you a question? And he had a helmet on, but it's not strapped. And I said, could you do me a favor? I said, you know, from a parent who's had a child in rider trauma who was in the side of a car on a motorcycle. You know, it's not a pretty sight. Could you strap your helmet? I see him, I've seen him a half dozen times since then. Every time I see him, his helmet's strapped now. So I'm like, okay, I've sunk something into one of the, but he was o

Okay, so they're more mature. But I was going to get, I would like to talk to them and get their ideas about, if they had a place to go to hang out, what would they want?

No, but new cameras at schools are on principals' phones. So, I mean, they call me at 3 o'clock in the morning because the fire alarm went off and the camera went off. Now I can look at my phone and see what camera went off.

You're one of those lights that got on the TV. I was a kid once.

We went to the beach underneath the lifeguard stands. That was a great spot. If you build it, will they come? I don't know.

We have jailhouse lights all night long, but Right, because your neighbors would be very upset.

So if you just take that idea back to the manager and...

They're dispatching them. Wouldn't that be a good job for me? I'll volunteer to watch the camera.

You know, like, I know that during a couple weekends ago, you called PD and alerted them to go down and see. But again, is there someone scheduled to lock the gate? I know they're flying over the fence. But I've seen them open the gate, too.

Tell them to take a picture and text it to you. I'm walking the gate. That's what I used to do with custodians. I hate to tell you. Custodians are supposed to be there 11 o'clock at night. I go over there at 9, poof, ain't nobody there but me, myself, and I. All right. New business, senior programming. You done?

So in the past, we've always closed senior program during spring break. Yes.

Do we have spring break camp? Yes. Will the children be in the fishbowl?

I wonder if... I guess I'm going to ask you, spring break is kind of tight, but for the next two weeks, is to find out what it would cost to have the instructor come in for the classes.

Maybe the manager would supplement. Like Marion says, in a budget, there's ways to get it. You do a budget transfer. Yes, exactly. If Parks needs $500 because the pool blew up, the money's got to come from somewhere because it's not in that budget. It's got to come from the trash people. It's got to come from the police department. It's got to come from Mario's pocket. I'm just saying it's worth asking.

So you will... I would approach this, if I were you, I would say that it's going to cost an additional $1,000. Is there any chance that this could be put into our budget from another source so we can keep the programming going? I can't see spring break happening because that's next week, but I could see the next two weeks if he okays it. Or is he agreed to go in the black or the red at the end of the year?

I'm just saying, when you go into a negative at the end of the year, is that a black or a red? When you go into a red at the end of the year, is he okay with going into the red at the end of the year for programming? Well, listen, because we agreed to it, because the commission agreed to it, and they okayed it after you inherited this budget. So I don't know. Like I said, there's always money somewhere.

Well, like you said, it wasn't free. You didn't have the same need.

I've got a concern from a resident. That's why I'm just going to piggyback. So 9 to 10, okay.

Ages 18 to 54. Holy crud. I'm out of that one. That's the one I was going to go to.

They told us we'd have a school bus too. We don't have that. People lie.

I pulled the permit, but he's doing the work.

So, well, that's a good point. Hopefully you can work something out with the manager to get some all...

You need to call that bus company more and yell at them.

It's not overgrown. It's gorgeous. It was pretty when they first put it in, and then it got severely overgrown.

Yep, Gerardo, good job. Okay. Other than me having a public comment? Did you sign up, sir? Because if you don't sign up by now, it ain't happening. Really? No, sir.

If there's anybody in this room who knows how to sign up, but no, sir, it's not going to happen. Really?

Go ahead. You've got three minutes, sir. No, no, no. You're going to fill out the form first. First. Okay. Bike Safety Day. It's not on the agenda. There's no police officer here. Who are you working with? When's it going to happen? What's the date? It's April. I know you're tired of me calling wheelies going down the street. Let it be known, you're not the only one that I call.

Half the kids had the helmet. It's on their handlebars going down the street, not on their head. From the person that drove a motorcycle for many years without a helmet.

Wrong answer. We've been talking about this through Tim, through Cindy Lou Who, and through you. Two phone calls from that. Come on, Rudy. If you don't think it's a problem, say cancel it and tell me to shut up because enough.

What day is it? April. The chief told me six months ago April. Rudy told me April. Now we don't have a date. It's March the 16th. Bike safety day. How many of you have been talking about bike rodeo for two years? Go ahead, sir.

I don't know whether anybody else has spoken to any of the other candidates, but I've spoken to two of the mayoral candidates, and they are certainly in agreement that we need two things. We need a parking garage, and we need a facility for gym, if it includes basketball court, something like that, something to enhance that. One of the commissioners that I've spoken to about that, it was brought up 25 years ago, 24 years ago, when I was on the commission, I was vice-mayor, that you extend 94th to 93rd Street First floor would be enhanced by storefronts. The west side of Harding between 93rd an

He was a manager that had a construction background, he built Publix, and he built Flanagan's.

That's solvable. It's very solvable. Pay the lady off.

Give her what she wants. But are we... You've got the money.

It's not our decision at all, but that's my... Oh, yes, yes. Off-the-cuff answers. Of course. It's a very good answer.

But I think that it was interesting to talk to these candidates that had the same vision. It's scary that they all brought this up separately. Well, thank you for the opportunity. We'll make a motion to adjourn.