City Commission - Regular Meeting

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How you doing? We're going to kick this morning's meeting off, our first meeting in September, with a proclamation.

It is a little easier to do this.

Let me turn the double. We're going to honor a couple of people this morning and groups rather than individuals today who really make a significant difference in in our community. And one of those is the Florida Redevelopment Association. And it is fitting that Commissioner King and Commissioner Pardo, both who work in leadership roles at some of our redevelopment agencies, have put together this presentation and this honor, because this is actually Florida Redevelopment Week. So Commissioner King, let me turn it over to you.

Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Happy Thursday. It's been so long since I've been standing in this space. Can't say that I missed it. But we are back to do the work of the city, and I'm so happy to be a public servant in the fine city of Miami. Today, joined with Commissioner Pardo and I, we are celebrating Florida Redevelopment Week. I am the chair of the Southeast Overtown Park West And Commissioner Pardo is the chair of the Omni CRA. But also my colleagues sit on the board to make sure that we are good stewards of this money. Also joined here are the executive directors who really do the work. Carlos Suarez for the Omni CRA. and James D. McQueen from the Southeast Overtown Park West CRA, who also grew up in Overtown, which makes his job a calling, and it is his love of community that he serves the Overtown community with such passion. So I'm gonna read a little bit of this proclamation. Whereas the city of Miami recognizes community redevelopment as an important tool for revitalizing neighborhoods, strengthening local economies and commercial corridors, and improving quality of life through investments in infrastructure, public spaces, small businesses, housing opportunities, and community development, blah, blah, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whereas the city of Miami remains committed to the thoughtful, transparent, and community-centered redevelopment that strengthens neighborhoods, identity, expands opportunity, and builds a more vibrant and resilient city for the present and future generations. Now therefore, I, our mayor, Eileen T. Higgins of the City of Miami, together with Commissioner Christine King, that would be me, and my colleagues, do hereby proclaim Florida Redevelopment Week. And one thing that this proclamation doesn't include is the work that we do with organizations in the community. We use non-TIF dollars to support programs like the Overtown Optimist, Urgent Inc., Girl Power, which we can't do with TIF dollars, but we find a way. And I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Pardo because he's also doing amazing things in the community, and we uplift small businesses as well.

Thank you. I'll be very brief. I think what I want to emphasize is the public servant aspect of this and the love of community. I think in all of our offices and the people that do this work, there's nothing better than to see a community start being lifted up and to see whether it's programs or affordable housing units or outreach and meeting with organizations, to be able to feel that growth and that gratitude in an area and to be able to walk a block that looks different and that feels different because people are excited to be there. People are not worried in the same way or concerned as they were maybe a year ago. That's all the reward there is for this. It's really an amazing position to hold. So thank you for that. I want to turn it over, Carlos, to you and Mr. McQueen. Oh, come on, you guys. You have to say something.

I just want to say thank you for the opportunity of being the executive director of the Omni CRA, like our chairman, Commissioner Pardo, said. It is very, very fruitful when you see the labor of everything that you're doing in the community to build community. We're very active in the Omni area, and We have lots to do, we just passed our bond and we're committed to the community and we're building it one step at a time.

I don't know really what to say other than none of this would be possible without the support of our commission. And when I say our commission, I mean all of the commissioners, but The lady that serves as my boss, Commissioner Christine King, you do not know. Everybody looks at her and says, oh, she's so sweet. That's how I hear her. But behind closed doors, when she wants something done, she doesn't want it done later. She wants it done yesterday. So we couldn't do anything or get anything accomplished without her contribution to us. And Commissioner King, I'm talking about you. Thank you so much for your service.

All right. So, I would like to add that our colleague that just joined us is hopeful. He has fought tirelessly to get an... Turn around, I'm talking about you. He has fought tirelessly, and he is rolling a boulder up a hill to get a CRA for Alapata. He really is rolling a boulder up a hill. So this also includes Commissioner Gabela because he is trying with all of his might to get an Alapata CRA for his community who is in desperate need. of such an agency to help redevelop Allapattah. So I wanted to include him and allow him to have a word or two about what he's doing to try to improve his community through the CRA. Commissioner Gabella.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair, for the word. But yeah, I want, thank you, Chair Warren. Yes, we have been trying to establish the Allapattah CRA for about two years now. We are almost there. We have this meeting and one more meeting, and then we're finally established. And so we hope to bring a lot of the good things that happened in your CRA in southeast Overtown Park West and what happened in Damien's CRA in the Omni. A lot of you guys don't know if you remember it. I was a kid when the Omni in 1987, 88, and completely day and night of what it is today in your area, too. So we hope to make a lot of progress to do infrastructure, the affordable crisis that we have now with the rents and helping the infrastructure. So it really is, it's been an uphill battle, but we're almost there. And I want to thank you and all of the commissioners, Ralph, Commissioner Escalona, Commissioner Pardo, and all of you who helped me accomplish this. Without you, I couldn't have done it. So thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you, Mayor.

And next year, we'll have you sign in on this proclamation because the Alapata CRA will be the real deal. All right. In the picture, but you gentlemen need to get in the middle because, you know, you too. Carlos and, yeah, because you're being honored. All right. Okay, now back to redeveloping, gentlemen. Meanwhile, October, we celebrate a lot of things in October, but one of the things we do also recognize is National Respiratory Care Week, and that happens to be this week. A very, very important piece of work, particularly for our team from the Center at Jackson. And so let me turn this over to Commissioner Rosado, who brought this item and this recognition to us. Commissioner.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yes, this month we are celebrating National Respiratory Care Week. This is something that's actually very personal to me as I have a number of folks in my family that have respiratory issues, but what's really come to the forefront is the work that they did, particularly during COVID, when they were on the front lines, really more so than anybody else, and they were in an incredibly vulnerable position for doing so, trying to save the lives of everybody from young children to the elderly and everybody in between. This is something that is essential to each one of us at every stage of our life, the fact that we can breathe clearly. And so I want to recognize, in particular, my friend Rick Morgan, who is the lead respiratory therapist at Holtz Children's Hospital. But really, all of you are heroes on a daily basis in your own right. Thank you for helping us to breathe, which means thank you for helping us to live.

We really love to serve our community. This is what we do with passion. We are a group that we have many years of experience and that's what we do. We do community work and we work for our community and we're very grateful for the community of Miami.

Yeah, to reiterate what she said, we are definitely grateful. It's a labor of love to work at Jackson to give back to our community that I myself was born at Jackson Memorial, so being able to give back to my community in that capacity is an honor, and to be recognized here is a great honor as well. Thank you.

I'm going to thank Commissioner Rosado for doing this and bringing awareness to respiratory issues. I myself have asthma and I know what it's like not to be able to breathe freely and the work that you do to bring the awareness to the community and also what Jackson is doing. If any of you have ever had a moment where you couldn't breathe, it is so scary. It's beyond explaining When you're trying to catch your breath and you cannot. So thank you for the work that you are doing.

And I was reflecting back on my niece who, um, visited me this weekend and, um, told me she was having a baby. So anyway, I'll get another, another member of the family one of these days, but when she got COVID, she was quite young. She was 26 and she was one of the people that got long COVID and had to go through months and months of respiratory theory. in order to be able to breathe as she does today. So your work is not only life-saving, it is life-changing, and we're very grateful that you're here today. Thank you so much.

Anyone else? No?

All right, then we'll take a photo. Where do you need us to be?

Oh, we have to have the proclamation.

Who's taking the proclamation?

You?

OK. Get in the middle. Yeah. All right, friends, we're just about to get started. We're returning from our summer break. Today's going to be a long day. We not just have commission. We don't just have commission. We also have our budget hearing this evening. So it's a perfect time for reflection. Thank you, Pastor Kinnard, for coming here today and sharing some words of hope and prayer with us today. Please rise if you are able.

Good morning, everyone. Let us pray. Eternal and gracious Father, we thank you for the opportunity with gratitude to serve the people of the city of Miami. May this meeting be given to those who serve the community. May every decision be made with grace patient, compassion for every resident. May you watch over our mayor, the commissioners, city administrators, staff members, and everyone who take part in this meeting today. Most of all, Father, I ask you to look upon those individuals whose voices have been lost, whose voices have not been heard, Father, let us give special care and attention to our children, to our senior citizens, to those who work in our community. The great work that we heard before the prayer that's already been done in our hospitals, in our communities. We ask that that work and those who can influence that work continue. with equity, justice, compassion for every resident. Father, may you look on this nation and give us the compassion and the wisdom that we need to be successful. And as we continue with the wisdom, the compassion for this great city of Miami, that you continue to look on the mayor and those involved in decision makings. Now, Father, we ask that this prayer be sealed today with your glory, with your presence, one faith, one hope, one baptism. Jesus' name, amen.

Before we do the pledge, maybe we also just want to take a quick moment of silence to recognize the lives that were lost in the terrible aircraft accident over the weekend. Those were members of our community that worked at the airport, and it is right and proper that we express our grief for them. Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Rosado, would you lead us in the pledge? All righty, good morning everybody. Good morning again. Welcome to the City of Miami Commission meeting for September 10th. In our historic chambers, where we have lived and worked for so long, procedures for public comment will be explained by the city attorney, as well as the procedures for swearing in parties for planning and zoning or quasi-judicial items will be explained by the city clerk. To the clerk, show that all members of the city commission are in present. Also appearing, city manager James Reyes, city attorney George Weiss on the third, and city clerk Todd Cannon. Mr. City Attorney, I think it's time for you to read the procedures. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. George Weisong, City Attorney, City of Miami. Detailed information about the processes, order of business, rules of procedure, and scheduling or rescheduling of City Commission meetings can be found in Chapter 2, Article 2 of the City Code, a copy of which is online at www.municode.com. Any person who is a lobbyist pursuant to Chapter 2, Article 6 of the City Code must register with a city clerk and comply with related city requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the City Commission. A person may not lobby a city official, board member, or staff member until registering. A copy of the code section about lobbyists is available in the city clerk's office or online at www.municode.com. Any person making a presentation, formal request, or petition to the city commission concerning real property must make the disclosures required by the city code in writing. A copy of the city code section is available at the office of the city clerk or online at www.municode.com. The City of Miami requires that anyone requesting action by the City Commission must disclose before the hearing any consideration provided or committed to anyone for agreement to support or withhold objection to the requested action pursuant to City Code Section 2-8. Any documents offered to the City Commission that have not been provided seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be entered into the record at the City Commission's discretion. In accordance with Section 2-33F and G of the City Code, the agenda and the material for each item on the agenda is available during business hours at the City Clerk's Office and online 24 hours a day at www.miamigov.com. The meeting of the Miami City Commission is a limited public forum. Any person may be heard by the City Commission through the chair for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the City Commission unless modified by the chair. Public comment will begin at approximately... 9.30 a.m. and remain open until public comment is closed by the chair. Any person making offensive remarks or who becomes unruly in the commission chambers will be barred from further attending city commission meetings and may be subject to arrest. No clapping, applauding, heckling, or verbal outbursts in support or opposition to a speaker or his or her remarks shall be permitted. No signs or placards shall be allowed in the commission chambers. Persons exiting the commission chambers shall do so quietly. Members of the public wishing to address the body may do so by submitting written comments through the online comment form. Please visit www.miamigov.com forward slash meeting instructions for detailed instructions on how to provide public comments using the online public comment form. The comments submitted through the comment form have been and will be distributed to the elected officials, their staff, and city administration throughout the day so that the elected officials may consider the comments prior to taking any action. Additionally, the online comment form will remain open during the meeting to accept comments and distribute to elected officials, their staff, and city administration up until the chair closes public comment. Public comment may also be provided here live at City Hall located at 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, subject to any and all city rules as they may be amended. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to be heard may be at such later date before the City Commission takes action on such proposition. When addressing the City Commission, the members of the public must first state their name, their address, and what item to be spoken about. Any person with a disability requiring assistance, auxiliary aids, and services for this meeting may notify the City Clerk. The City has provided different public comment methods to indicate, among other things, the public's support, opposition, or neutrality on the topics and items to be discussed at the City Commission meeting in compliance with Section 286.01144C Florida Statutes. The public has been given the opportunity to provide public comment during the meeting and within reasonable proximity and time before the meeting. Please note, commissioners have generally been briefed by city staff and the city attorney's office on items on the agenda today. Anyone wishing a verbatim record of an item considered at this meeting may request it at the Office of Communications or view it online at www.miamigov.com. for planning and zoning items. PZ items shall proceed according to section 7.1.4 of the Miami 21 zoning ordinance. Parties for any PZ items, including any applicant, appellant, appellee, city staff, and any person recognized by the decision-making body as a qualified intervener, as well as the applicant's representatives and any experts testifying on behalf of the applicant, appellant, or appellee may be physically present here at City Hall to be sworn in by oath or affirmation by the City Clerk. The members of the City Commission shall disclose any ex parte communications to remove the presumption of prejudice pursuant to Florida Statute Section 286.0.115, and Section 7.1.4.5 of the Miami 21 Zoning Ordinance. The order of presentation shall be as set forth in Miami 21 in the City Code. Staff will briefly present each item to be heard. The applicant will present its application or request to the City Commission. If the applicant agrees with the staff recommendation, the City Commission may proceed to its deliberation and decision. The applicant may also waive the right to an evidentiary hearing on the record. For appeals, the appellant will present its appeal to the City Commission, followed by the appellee. Staff will be allowed to make any recommendation they may have. Please silence all cell phones and other noise-making devices. Access to the meeting. This meeting can be viewed live on Miami TV, the City's Facebook page, the City's Twitter page, the City's YouTube channel, and Comcast Channel 77. The broadcast will also have closed captioning. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the clerk.

Thank you, Chair. The procedures for individuals who are providing testimony to be sworn in for planning and zoning items and any quasi-judicial items on today's City Commission agenda will be as follows. The members of City staff or any other individuals required to be sworn in who are currently present at City Hall will be sworn in by me, the City Clerk, immediately after I finish explaining these procedures. Those individuals who are appearing remotely may be sworn in now or at any time prior to the individual providing testimony for planning and zoning items. and or quasi-judicial items. Commissioners, are you comfortable with all the notice provisions set forth in these uniform rules and procedures we have established for this meeting? Chair, may I administer the oath? Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. If you'll be speaking on any of today's planning and zoning items, those are the PZ items, may I please have you stand and raise your right hand? Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give at today's hearing is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? And your response is? We do. Thank you, Chair.

All right. I think, Mr. City Manager, the time is for you to let us know if there's any changes, deferrals, withdrawals.

Good morning, Madam Mayor, Commissioners, Mr. City Attorney, City Clerk. At this time, the administration would like to defer or withdraw the following items. CA1 to be deferred to the October 8th meeting. CA1 to be deferred to the October 8th meeting. RE13 to be deferred to the September 24th meeting. RE13 to be deferred to the September 24th meeting. RE19 to be indefinitely deferred. RE19 to be indefinitely deferred. FR4 to be withdrawn. FR4 to be withdrawn. DI2 to be indefinitely deferred. DI2 to be indefinitely deferred. DI3 to be indefinitely deferred. DI3 to be indefinitely deferred. And finally, PZ2 to be withdrawn. PZ2 to be withdrawn.

All right, colleagues, are there any other changes that you have to the agenda? Okay. Seeing Mr. Clerk.

And thank you, Chair. Briefly, for the record, I do have some co-sponsor requests. Commissioner Gabella will be co-sponsoring FR6. Commissioner Pardo will be co-sponsoring FR6. Commissioner Escalona will be co-sponsoring RE9 and FR6. Commissioner Rosado will be co-sponsoring RE3 and RE9. Commissioner King will be co-sponsoring RE10 and FR6. Thank you, Chair.

All right. With Commissioner Rosado, I see you.

Yes. I was going to say, Mr. Manager, RE19, I didn't ask for an indefinite deferral. It would be to the first meeting in October.

All right. So show that to the first meeting in October on RE19. All right. I think we are now ready for public comment. If we could form two lines. Yes, Mr. Clerk. My apologies, Chair.

I missed the motion in a second. Or for the deferrals and withdrawals.

Okay. Is there a motion? Second. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Okay. So there's an agenda set. All right. If you all would line up on both sides. Everyone has two minutes. Thank you very much. So, all right. We'll start with you first. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Hans Lagerwey. I'm a hospitality and destination management consultant. And I'm here to share a concept proposal here for Miami City Hall. It's not just because of my hospitality expertise. I'm also a history buff, so to speak. And despite being a Dutchman from origin, my first flight in my life was with Pan Am, and that has stayed with me all my life. This is not just a municipal building. It's a historic gateway to the Americas. So the concept that I would like to share with the commission is a self-sustaining path to restore this, to restore this to the treasure and its old legacy. The coalition behind this proposal is, first of all, Greg Carter, who is the owner of the Pan Am brand at the moment. It's also Linda Frera, who is in charge of the Pan Am Museum Foundation, and for the rest, hospitality and restaurant expert Jerry Burke and myself. This afternoon, by the way, we are aligning with Ed Weigel, who is in charge of the airline, who has also expressed some ideas for this beautiful building. In very short, the concept has four pillars. The first one is conservation and preservation, so a full restoration and protection of this historic Miami landmark. And we try to do that at zero taxpayer risk. Secondly, is to develop from this a culture and tourist, a touristic landmark, a world-class museum, not just a Pan Am museum, but, you know, Miami airline history is broader than just Pan Am. And it will consist of authentic artifacts, a 22 feet historic timeline, and a rare 1 to 400 scale dinner key diorama, which has already been created and developed. The third pillar is continued civic access. So our proposal is that the city keeps 100% ownership of this building, keeps flex offices for use.

Sir, sorry, your two minutes are up, but thank you very much.

Okay, where can I leave the...

Please, with the clerk's office, you can leave your remarks. We appreciate it, and they'll distribute it to us. Thank you. Go ahead.

Morning. Good morning, Mayor. Good morning, Commissioners. Kristen, Browdy 888 Biscayne Boulevard. I welcome back, you know, I appreciate that each of you is trying to help us build a better city, a better Miami. And when you see me, it's always somebody saying, it's me saying, what are you doing to our neighborhood? So here I am. What are you doing to our neighborhood? FR2, the one thing downtown neighbors have... consistently said is that the advertising that is springing up, these are the cold sores on an otherwise healthy neighborhood. And here is a proposal for a no-bid contract to put in more advertising downtown. It sort of plays into another thing that sort of is an irritant, and Commissioner Rosado is probably really tired of hearing me complain to him about it. That's the tax we pay. the DDA the downtown residents pay now we're about to if you go prove fr2 you're going to be bringing revenue from downtown exclusively these signs are only going to go downtown but is that going to offset the revenue that we pay to the DDA no it's going to go into the city coffers our contention is that fr2 really shouldn't happen but if it does that money should offset the money that we pay, because, as Commissioner Rosado rightly says, ours is a neighborhood that has unique needs in Miami. It is also the economic engine for Miami. It is where the jobs are. It is where, increasingly, the population is. We ask you first not to add to the eyesores that we already have. But if you're going to do it, at least offset what we pay in extra taxes with this revenue. Thank you.

Good morning, Albert Gomez, District 2 resident. Good morning, Mayor, Commissioners. There are several important decisions here today. Keep City Hall at Pan Am American Tournament. This is our civic home, and RE10 appropriately keeps it here, so thank you. Reject advertising on construction fencing. Our neighborhoods should not become billboards simply because someone pulled a construction permit. F2 would open that door. And please start publicly tracking the city's liability settlements. This is something I bring up regularly. Today alone, the consent agenda has $97,500 in negligent settlements. We approve these claims meeting after meeting, but where is the running total? Where is the analysis of what is causing them? This is a budget issue. Which brings me to Flora and Chapter 17. Advance Flora, but while we improve the system, enforce the law we already have. Stop approving tree removals that conflict with approved construction plans. Stop treating mature trees as disposable obstacles. And city government must follow the same rules itself. At a pocket park next to my home, the city replaced the walkway to eliminate a trip hazard, to reduce liability, and the process... The workers used a forklift to rip through the roots of a mature gumbo limbo tree. When I objected, I was mocked and laughed at. Then this week, a repeat offender at a construction site at the corner of my house was documented another legal discharge, heavily silted water, no dewatering permit. Durham and City Code concurred. They all were there. The resource officer didn't have the knowledge to put the stop work order, but he wanted to learn, and he followed the DERM officer. Train your staff, please. This is where we can use FLORA to resolve liabilities, but we can train the staff, enforce the code, track liabilities, protect trees, and hold the city to the same standard it demands its residents. Regarding 9-11, my wife, Dr. Allison Thompson, is flying up to New York.

Thank you.

Please remember that day.

Good morning.

Good morning. My name is Deborah Stander. I live at 830 Northeast 74th Street. My father, Humphrey Toomey, had a lifelong career with Pan Am. He was a pioneer aviator, and in the 1930s, he worked in this building as division engineer when Pan Am's famous flying boats were Carrying passengers and bringing passengers from the Caribbean, the West Indies, Central America, South America to Miami through this very building. And I am also a Miami native. So for me, this building has tremendous significance. I feel like it's a part of my DNA. But not just mine, it's a part of the DNA of all of Miami residents. Because for the past 70 years, it's been our city hall. And I think the fact that it stands here today and still pays such tribute and such honor to Pan Am, the way it was beautifully renovated around, I think it was early 2011, something like that. Everywhere you look, you see Pan Am's history. You see it on the walls, in the photographs. It's like a gallery right now, and the public is able to access it and appreciate it. And I can't think of a greater honor for Pan Am than that this building should continue to be. Miami City Hall, and it also gives me a lot of confidence that generations of, as long as this is City Hall, children of today's residents, their grandchildren, generations of children will be able to appreciate its history and its significance for our city and our identity. Thank you.

Good morning, Debbie Dolson, 4205 Lenox Drive, Coconut Grove. First of all, I'd like to talk about keeping City Hall in this current location. This building has served generations of Miami residents. 46 years ago, my father stood in this room and accepted a commendation from the mayor, and it's hanging at our house on the wall still. When our son turned 18, he cast his first vote right here on Election Day. He also went to Melrose, but not to vote. not to see a commissioner, he went there to golf. And honestly, I'm not sure if he had to go to Melrose, he would have turned in his vote that day. Our grandson stood in this room to offer public comment. So from my father to his great-grandson, including me, four generations of just my family have been served by this city hall. So for these reasons and all of the reasons stated in the agenda packet, please preserve the legacy for generations to come. RE11. Please allocate these funds for repairs and modernization projects for the City of Miami Department of Fire and Rescue. If we have the funds, this is an urgently needed project. Mayor Higgins has spoken about it and shown this to us. And if we can do it, let's do it now. PZ4 and 5, of course, please support our tree canopy. You hear this over and over and over again. It's one of our city's most valuable assets, so please protect it before it's gone. Thank you.

Hello, my name is John Elliott. I'm from out of the Commissioner King District. I just want to give you a reason. I can't go through some of this, but I want to go through, but I at another time of day. I work with Commissioner Arthur Teals, Commissioner Audrey.

Would you mind giving us your name and address for the record, please?

6475 Northwest 6th Avenue. Thank you. I work with Arthur Teals. I work with Commissioner Audrey. Also, I'm working with Commissioner King. I'm a community advisor. Make sure I go through my community, make sure whatever the complaints, whatever's been going on, you're doing a marvelous job. We love you. It was on her behalf, of the people in my community, which I had to get out there in my community to vote for you to be the mayor. I brought in over 40 something people. Commissioner King, second term, 80%. She won in her district. We put you in office, man. I don't have nothing personal against you. But we're not seeing the things that Commissioner King have been doing in our community, the proposals, the things that she have set up. We don't feel that you're following that. You're taking a lot of things from what she's trying to do for our community. And what we look for in our community and what she's been doing, you know, all praises to her. We ask that they send me here. We ask of you. And let her continue on doing what she's doing for our community, because nobody else is doing nothing for us. And she's been doing a lot. This is why she ended up getting a second term. She finished 87%. Nobody was able to beat her. So she had been doing a lot for her community. I didn't want to come here today, but my community, people in my community, asked me to come here. We have watched everything that you had online. In a way, we appreciate it. Thank you. You know what I'm saying? But yes, you want to cut me off because you know what I'm saying.

Well, your two minutes is up. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you, Commissioner King.

Continue on doing your job. We love you.

She does a wonderful job. Thank you for being here. Good morning.

Good morning. John Dolson, 4205 Lenox Drive, Coconut Grove. My wife's more eloquent on this than I am, so I'm going to. I've heard today that there's widespread support with you guys for keeping City Hall here. If that's true, thumbs up. This is a very cool place to come have public meetings. It's unique anywhere in the United States. I don't know a better spot. Mel Rees is going to be hell getting to for anybody in Miami. This is a lot easier and there's always plenty of parking and it's fun to come here. On the subject of repairs for the Fire and police departments, let's do it. Take the money you got down and get busy with it. PZ4 and 5, those are tree permanent things. Whatever you do today when you hear that, side with the trees. They can't speak. But there's something that we value in here and we are way short of in coconut grove across Miami and we're losing our canopy daily. So support the trees today. And thanks for keeping it here if you do. City Hall, thanks.

I do know my name. Good morning. My name is Metris Bats. I'm the executive director of the Overtown Business Association. My work address is 1490 Northwest 3rd Avenue. I want to speak specifically to RE14, the establishment of the neighborhood revitalization fund for Cuyahoga Ultra Corridor. I support this item because it recognizes something very important. Historic commercial corridors need intentional target investments. The historic Overtown certainly has investments through the Southeast Overtown Park West CRA and the Omni CRA. And we appreciate the work that they're both doing. But as I look at the item, I begin thinking about a dedicated corridor revitalization strategy and what it could mean in the historic Overtown neighborhood. particularly our Main Street corridor, which is Northwest 3rd Avenue. Overtown became a Florida Main Street in 2025. It supports economic vitality, design, promotion, and organization. This month, and this is for all the commissioners, Miami will be hosting the Florida Main Street Fall Quarterly Workshop. It's an opportunity to showcase Allapattah, Coconut Grove, and Overtown. It's an amazing opportunity, and I'm sure all of you have received something in your mail, if not already, this week. Thank you.

Good morning. I am Sandy Moise, 5910 Northeast 6th Court. I ask you to support PZ5, Sierra Club Miami Group's appeal, which raises two fundamental questions. Will the city follow its own tree protection ordinance, and will it apply that ordinance as it is written? At 645 Northeast 64th Street, 41 trees were approved for removal. including specimen live oaks and estate-protected mahogany, as well as specimen trees on public property. This appeal is not about stopping development. It is about requiring the applicant and the city to follow Chapter 17 and genuinely consider preservation before approving removals. A developer should not be able to design a project over protected trees and then point to that design as evidence that the trees must go. The trees should inform the design, not become casualties of it. The applicant's own arborist shows that development and preservation can coexist And also, there is a serious issue with standing. Chapter 17 recognizes an environmental nonprofit or a homeowners association which has one member who owns property within 500 feet. The critical word here is which. Grammatically, which modifies the homeowners association immediately preceding it. It does not reach backward and impose a 500-foot requirement on the separately identified environmental nonprofit. Yet, the HEP Board was advised by city attorney otherwise, and standing was denied to other environmental non-profits without a refund of their expensive fees based on a requirement that does not appear in the environmental non-profit position. Also, one correction is necessary on today's agenda. The HEP Board voted 5-0 against the initial appeal with a modification to preserve tree number 5. 25, which is a specimen live oak on the corner, which is probably public right-of-way, but the commission agenda incorrectly identifies this as tree number 23, which is a small pigeon plum. We are not asking you to stop development. We are asking you to apply Chapter 17 as written. Buildings can be redesigned, site plans can change, but once a mature specimen tree is cut down, it's gone. Please support Sierra Club Miami Group's appeal, uphold Chapter 17, and preserve our trees. Thank you.

Good morning, Madam Mayor, City Commissioners. My name is Gloria Romero-Roses. Address is 808 Brickell Key Drive. I wanted to speak with you today on Agenda Item DI4, the Live Local Act. Thank you, Commissioner Pardo, for continuing this conversation. I've been on the campaign trail now for 10 months, walking the neighborhoods that are most impacted by this law, and I wanted to share some insights, because I think it's important for us to have a pulse check I've heard the frustrations of so many voters in this district about the supercharged development that is stressing out our neighborhoods. The pace of change, the type of change, and most importantly, how this change is actually going to help or hurt our hardworking families. As you dialogue about the actions that are going to be taken on Live Local Act on what I hope will be a pushback from the preemption that LLA has undermined, how you can achieve a more balanced approach to what I would call is on one extreme greedy development and on the other extreme perhaps developers that want to do the right thing but unfortunately get undermined by other forces. I want to share a few things. Number one, it's very evident to me from walking these neighborhoods that LLA is supercharging the very development that is pricing out and pushing out hardworking Miamians. Number two, it's supercharging the very development that's causing young professionals and families to reconsider whether they can make Miami their home in the long term. And then finally, LLA is a structural problem that is going to need a structural solution. I aim to be an ally with you when I earn the votes of the House District 113 voters and be an ally in problem solving how we fix LLA for the future. Thank you.

Hello. Good morning. My name is Kyle Ockridge. I'm a resident here in Coconut Grove at 3724 Loquat Avenue. I fully support the idea of keeping City Hall here. I really don't understand the concept of putting it effectively in Doral by the airport, which I travel to quite often and is a bit of a logistical catastrophe. Beyond that, really what I'm here to speak about is planning and zoning, specifically PZ4 and 5. I received this in the mail because I'm within 500 feet of the address at Irvington Avenue. I've been to prior meetings where this subject has been discussed, and I'm a big supporter of the tree canopy. The reason my family and I and many of our friends live in Coconut Grove is because of the beautiful old-growth trees and the shade that they provide and the beauty to the community. There's documented statistics that Large trees benefit the property value of homes beyond drainage and storms, flooding issues, wind mitigation and hurricanes, dropping down temperatures in our terrible hot weather here we have, especially this time of year. And I find it very disappointing to think that people would buy homes here with the idea of taking them down or expanding them. to build something where there is already a tree in the way. So it's incomprehensible to me that we could approve and support the idea of removing a tree, as a few other people here have said, for the convenience of a homeowner to add a second-story balcony or something. We have to build around the trees. I've done that at my house and planted countless others. So please protect our trees. They have no voice, and they are incredibly important to us. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Suzanne Howland. I'm a native, born and raised in Coconut Grove. My grandfather built this building, Fred Howland of Howland Construction Company, when it was Pan American. And this is an iconic building and should be preserved. I think we all agree to that. Our history is being erased. Another iconic building that he built was the Miami Public Library, the destruction of which was protested and ignored. It's now a patch of grass. This building's second life serving as city hall has allowed the citizenry of this city to gather and speak in a building worthy of that task in a location that is entirely accessible. Moving this process of engagement to a place that requires cars to access, a traffic commute to get to, or a place that doesn't represent our history so succinctly is not in the best interest of the public, in my opinion. Thank you.

Good morning, Mayor Higgins, members of the Commission. I am Natalia Crujeras, CEO of the Museum of Miami, formerly History Miami. Our museum, as my son and affiliate, has documented the people, places, and events that have shaped this city for 86 years, making us Miami's longest-standing cultural institution. As the city prepares to relocate, we would like to help shape what comes next in this historic site, ensuring dinner key remains a public asset. We support Commissioner Pardo's legislation to keep commission meetings here. But important questions remain. Who will preserve our care for the historic Pan Am terminal in the long term? How will it be activated for the community? And what will become of the public space around us? Our museum is interested in exploring a public-private partnership with the city built on three commitments. Restoring and preserving this historic building, developing a new home for the museum adjacent to the Pan Am Terminal, and creating a city-owned, publicly accessible civic campus using private funds with no pledge to the city's credit. We see a museum and a Pan Am terminal as anchors for a vibrant campus that welcomes the public every day, a place where you can come visit an exhibition about our city's history, attend a commission meeting or a community event, or walk alongside the bay in one of the most beautiful places in our city. Our museum preserves and shares our community stories, and Pan Am is one of them. We actually hold the region's foremost collection of Pan Am artifacts, from photos to flight attendant uniforms to model airplanes to China and menus. So we would not simply be bringing the Museum of Miami to dinner key. We would be bringing a piece of Miami's history home. Thank you.

Good morning, my name is Yvonne Grassi. We originally moved to Miami so that my father could occupy that seat right there as city manager of Miami. That got your attention from 76 to 81. I bought my house on Irvington, 3916 Irvington Avenue in 2000. I've been there for 26 years. And as many people, excuse me, have said here before, the reason we're in Coconut Grove is our tree canopy. That's why we're here. And unfortunately, many of the developers who have come in want to take advantage of Coconut Grove and the beauty we offer, make profit from it, put some big cement block white sugar cube house in there after tearing down the trees, and then leave with their profit. This is not what Coconut Grove is all about. In fact, specifically, PZ4, which is the item that I'm speaking to, Sorry, I'm losing my voice. The developer purchased that property knowing that there were four specimen trees on that property. They could have made the plan for the house building around the trees. And all the trees, in fact, are either at the front of the property or there's one at the very back of the property. There were two buildings, two houses previously on that property. built within the space, which is quite large, that the trees allowed. But unfortunately, because the city of Miami has historically until this year, sort of routinely granted the developer's request to cut down the trees, developers have now the mindset that they don't have to think about the trees. They know the city of Miami is going to say, yeah, go ahead and cut the trees down. So they don't even try to plan a house that works with the existing trees. This is the wrong attitude. I understand business. I was an attorney for 31 years, including a shareholder at Greenberg Trowery, and I did corporate M&A. I get it. I get the whole idea of profit. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. So just one thing.

Please support your HEP board unanimous decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Go ahead.

Good morning.

Good morning. Mayor Higgins, members of the commission. My name is Tom Gibson, 1581 Brickle Avenue, and I'm a proud trustee of the Museum of Miami. Natalia has shared our vision for restoring and preserving the Pan Am terminal, relocating the Museum of Miami to Dinner Quay, and creating a beautiful civic campus at the site. I'm here to speak about why our board believes this is an opportunity worth pursuing. Miami is fortunate to have an extraordinary public asset at Dinner Quay, a historic landmark surrounded by open space right on Biscayne Bay. The question before us is not simply what happens to this building when the city moves, it's what kind of place we want Dinner Key to be for the next generation of Miamians. We believe the Pan Am Terminal and Dinner Key should remain public assets that celebrates the history, the culture, and the people of Miami. That's why the Museum of Miami is raising its hand to be a part of Dinner Key's future. We envision a partnership in which the city continues to own this property while the museum brings the private investment, philanthropic support, and institutional stewardship needed to restore the Pan Am terminal, create a new home for the museum, and help make Dinner Quay an extraordinary civic destination. Importantly, we are not proposing to privatize this waterfront, quite the opposite. This partnership would establish Dinner Key as a place where Miami tells its story, brings the community together, and conducts civic life, sending a message that our city takes pride in its history and is committed to chronicling the future. Great cities preserve the places that tell their stories, but preservation is about more than saving buildings. It's about giving those buildings purpose and ensuring they will be relevant for generations to come. We believe the Museum of Miami can help provide that purpose here at Dinner Key. Thank you.

Hey, good morning, everybody. My name is Luis Hernandez. I live at 3790 Irvington Avenue. I'm the unofficial mayor of Irvington. So I want to ask each of you if you ever have been called ugly. I'm sure some people have. Other people say you look real pretty. But this issue at Irvington Avenue with the tree is really about aesthetics. One, where the tree has been called ugly, it does not fit the plan as envisioned by the developers. And I just want to cry out for that tree and any of us who have ever been considered ugly. Because as we know, this is something about being creative. The Head Board asked the developers and the architect to think outside the box. And obviously, they're still stuck on a box. The only person that should not be inside a box is a cat. They should do everything inside a box. But I think humans, we should be able to really be creative. in terms of the aesthetics of anything we build. As someone who's a frustrated architect, and I studied some architecture, the first rule of course is always the aesthetics and the beauty of the design, that's the ultimate goal. But certainly you want to have a balance with the environment, you want to be able to solve problems with any particular structures, and you want to be creative. And that's really sort of the keys of architecture. So when we think of the architecture, to think that a tree is in the way of being ugly, I think that's really unfair to the tree and anyone else. Again, consider all those things and really be creative. Thank you so much.

Hi, good morning everybody. Desiree D'Souza-Lazardo, board member of the DNA. I'm sure everybody knows us here. I'm here to oppose FR2. Please, no more advertising. Downtown is tired of being the victims of everything that is negative. So on behalf of all the residents, I request the commission, hear our voices, act on behalf of us, maybe for one thing, and that's all I have to say. Sweet and short. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Christine Riquez, first time participant in local government, so I'm nervous.

Well, welcome.

Don't be nervous. Please inspire my millennial generation with this because I'm from 338 Irvington Avenue. PZ4 is what I'm speaking on behalf of. I moved in 2023. When you enter Irvington, it's magic. It's trees. It's community. I call it a blue zone because it's like neighbors from 1950s. This is a special community. We have Halloween every year for the whole community. And the community has banded together to save this tree. We want this tree. And I know the HEP board voted in unison to save this tree. Our neighborhood rejoiced. We screamed. We were so happy. I hope this inspires me to do more civic duties, but just think about the tree. They knew the tree was there before they bought it. I don't know how to speak in public. I'm sorry.

You did just fine. That was a great first appearance. Come back more frequently. All right, go ahead, Mr. Cleland.

Hi, Noel Cleland, 5990 Southwest 50th Street, Miami. Good morning. I'm here to address a critical issue regarding standing, specifically a fundamental legal error that occurred at the July 21st hearing. The question before us is simple. Does Chapter 17 require an environmental nonprofit corporation to have a member who owns property within 500 feet of the subject property? Plain language of the law is no. Chapter 17 explicitly separates, establishes two separate and distinct categories for eligible applicants. It recognizes a nonprofit corporation dedicated to conservation and protection of the natural and physical environment, or a homeowner's association as defined by FS Chapter 720, which has one member who owns property within 500 feet of the subject property. Grammatically and legally, the 500-foot qualifying phrase modifies the homeowners association, not the environmental nonprofit. The city must apply this ordinance exactly as written, and I offer these points to support this position. First of all, the text of the ordinance. The qualifying phrase, which has one member who owns property within 500 feet, immediately follows a homeowners association. It does not retroactively jump back to the modified, separately identified environmental nonprofit category. Secondly, the prior version of the Chapter 17 recognized nonprofit environmental organizations cleanly without ever imposing a 500-foot membership rule. And third, the city's appeal of intended decisions for trees webpage clearly distinguishes that these categories use the word or for environmental group or homeowners associations. So the issue is flawed from the legal advice that was given to the board on July 21st. Board members appeared prepared to recognize the environmental nonprofit standing. However, they were advised by the city's attorney. And that's the end of my time.

Good morning, Madam Mayor, Commissioners. My name is Carl Anthony. I'm a Coconut Grove resident. I am here to support the resolution proposed by Commissioner Pardo to keep City Hall where it belongs at 3500 Pan American Drive in Coconut Grove, the first and oldest community in Miami. I'm aware the case for Freedom Park leans on a brand new 383,000 square foot eight story building with nearly 900 parking spots. replacing the 34-year-old, 10-story, 375,000-square-foot Riverside Center. But nobody is including the building of a massive, private, mixed-use waterfront residential complex in its place that will serve only a very small fraction of Miami residents. So on paper, it sounds like progress, but look at the actual numbers. The new plan... It is two stories shorter and adds only 8,000 square feet. The city changed its own no net loss parkland rules to make this deal work. So there's no replacement for the green space. Modernization does not translate to efficiency. Then there's distance. Placing government next to a private soccer stadium and the airport pulls it away from the neighborhoods that need it most. Anyone that has ever done business by the airport knows how crazy traffic is within the industrial, manufacturing, and logistic rings of an Aeropolis.

The city government,

needs to stay where it is. Understand, this is a resolution that does not reject modernization. It says fix this building, preserve Miami's history, and don't abandon it for an airport or stadium's backyard. Combining city services under one roof doesn't make it more efficient. It just moves existing inefficiencies to a new address that looks all shiny and bright.

Thank you.

I urge you to support this resolution.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

Hello, Stephen Leidner, 1130 102nd Street, Bay Harbor Islands. Please support Miami Sierra Club's appeal of PZ5. We see no indication the developer, this appeal is based on not adhering to Chapter 17. We see no indication that the developer tried to accommodate the existing specimen trees when they planned their development. We see no indication that they've made any attempt to keep alive, to move, to preserve the specimen trees on the property. which is stipulated in Chapter 17. So again, please support the appeal of PC5.

Good morning, Commissioner and Madam Mayor. My name is Amina McNill. I'm here on behalf of PH9. I'm the Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation, and I'm here today to ask for your continual support of our Wills to Work program. First and foremost, I would have to thank this commission for supporting this program for the last 10 years. Our initial class was in 2016, and should this item be approved, we would be on our 11th class. What this program does is that it helps the economics of members or citizens of the city of Miami on an individual level. While we appreciate the efforts that the elected officials continue to do to improve the ability of people to move around, The fact of the matter is that in the city of Miami and in this metro area, to be able to effectively seek work and get to school, take care of your children, you really need a vehicle. And what we've seen in this program over the past 10 years is that the people that are able to participate in this program, they've been able to get better jobs. They're not taking the bus two hours each way to get back and forth to work. They're able to put their children in schools of choice, not just the schools that are limited on their bus route. They're able to start businesses. And more importantly, and most importantly, not only do they keep these benefits for themselves, but they pay it forward. In our program, our participants, they do several hundred hours of community service. They tell other people about this program. We've had participants that have used their car as a carpool to help other people at their jobs who do not have reliable transportation to get to and from work. So we ask for your support in this program. With it, we will be able to purchase cars for City of Miami citizens that either live or work in District 5 of City of Miami. So thank you for your time.

Good morning, Mayor and Commissioners. Billy Corbin here in support, enthusiastic support of RE10. Many of us in this room will live to see a time as Miami changes so fast. to see no Haitians living in Little Haiti, to see no Bahamians living in the Little Bahamas of the West Grove, to see no Dominicans living in Little Santa Domingo of Alapata, and to see no Cubans living in Little Havana. I never thought we'd see a day that City Hall wouldn't be at City Hall. In fact, the address, this address is in the city code, section 2-1352A, and you're already moving the city of Miami government out of the city of Miami. You're moving the MRC, the administration building, you're moving the public safety buildings, the headquarters for fire and police, you're moving them out of the urban core, out of District 2, to Mel Reese. They'll be closer to Doral than to downtown. There's a reason why everything is centered here in District 2 in no small part. It's because this district participates. You walk, you ride your bikes, you take the trolley to come to these meetings, unless you don't want the public to come to meetings and participate, because that's what will happen if you move it to Mel Rees. Perhaps that's the intent. But there's a reason why these folks turn out. It's because they're the greatest stakeholders. District 2 contributes 70% of the city's revenue. It's the sole donor district, and that money gets spread around to support all the other districts, which means that you should participate more. You have a greater stake. Commissioner Pardo, thank you for bringing this item. At the risk of getting the warm and fuzzies, I was heartened to see three of your colleagues standing beside you outside the meeting. It's a rare day that I'm here asking you guys to do the right thing. And you actually do the right thing. So today, today might be a special day, a different day. And I hope that you keep City Hall at City Hall. Thank you.

Good morning. Good morning, Commissioner. Can you hear this one? Madam Mayor. By the way, I've sat up there twice, once as a chair of the HEP board many years ago, more recently as the vice chair of the PSAB, and thanks to Commissioner Gabella, I hope to be sitting up there very soon as part of your tree ordinance revision committee. So needless to say, I hope City Hall stays here. As far as PD4, the Irvington tree, I lived in that house for four or five years with my wife. I was thankful for all the trees on there, particularly the one that the developer wants to remove. For five years I lived there and blessed that tree every day I got up. It was a wonderful house I lived in and a wonderful tree, and now the house is gone but the tree remains. Finally, as regarding the tree revision committee, 11 people are supposed to be on that committee, only eight have been appointed so far, thanks to Commissioner Gabella, I'm on that revision committee. That's important that we have all very soon appointed, because if we don't, the quorum then becomes eight, Sometimes we don't have people show up. I guarantee you people are going to show up for the tree revision committee. And if they're there and we don't have a quorum, it's embarrassing for the committee. It's embarrassing for you guys. It's just a total embarrassment. Please make your appointments if you haven't and support this tree revision committee. We'll take some of the heat off you guys. Thank you very much.

Good morning. Katrina Morris, 4130 Library Avenue, Coney Island. I'm really tired. I am tired of developers buying properties and then saying, oh, this tree is in the buildable footprint. You drew the house. They drew the house. They drew the building. They drew this stuff. I'm also tired of the city interpreting the code in the most developer-friendly possible way, whereas the code is written to preserve trees. The tree code as we have it is strong enough, but we are as residents made to go through a process of picking apart the tree ordinance that is already strong enough that the city refuses to read in a way that protects trees. The ordinance actually says that we should be protecting trees to the largest amount possible. What I would like to know is what the city's fundamental philosophy is about development. If you all have a fundamental philosophy, that all of the trees must go, all of the buildings must go up, for a specific reason. Like, just let us know. Say, we can't make the finances work unless we give the developers what they want. If we don't give them what they want, they're going to sue us, and then the residents will lose money. I mean, just lay it the frick out. I am so tired of dancing around semantics. Let's talk about philosophy. in our city and really talk about it. Really talk about it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Mercedes Rodriguez and I reside in the city of Miami at 1510 Northwest 19th Avenue. I'd like to welcome back our mayor and our commission. I hope you all had a great summer. I'm here in support of the item pertaining to having the city of Miami City Hall be turned into a museum. I think that there's a lot of history here. My dad, for once, also worked for Pan Am before joining Miami-Dade County, so I'm a huge fan of turning this building into a museum. Many of us visit the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Also, my family was a big advocate in having businesses in the downtown Overtown area, and I'm here in support of the item that has to do with the graffiti abatement program. Our family had the property that the City of Miami converted into the Miami Arena, almost five acres. And we used to have graffiti. Graffiti has always existed. And from time to time we had to spend money in cleaning up our area and our walls of the properties. And so I hope that the commission considers having this program be a pilot program. At least we can see how it turns out. I don't see the fuss that's been caused being against the advertisement. Right now, public and private schools have advertisement along the fences of their property. Thank you.

Good morning, commissioners. My name is Mary Block. I reside at 4015 Irvington Avenue, and I am here to comment on item PZ4. When we did our home renovation in 2019 on Irvington Avenue, our original plan had a protruding garage facing the street. According to Miami 21, this is not permitted. We had to redesign and resubmit our plans. My point in bringing this up is that there are restrictions on what a property owner can do, even within the buildable footprint, that protect the interests of the neighborhood. Protected specimen trees fall into this category, and the city needs to uphold these protections. I'm asking the Commission to please uphold the HEP Board's unanimous decision to preserve the specimen live oak tree at 3736 Irvington Avenue. Thank you.

Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Richard Campbell, founder of Geological Agriculture, or GeoAg. I am speaking in support of item RE3, concerning landscape maintenance along the Miami River Greenway. GeoAg is a patented method of growing plants and common rocks without the use of traditional soil or fertilizer. It combines plant growth with the natural colors of mineral characteristics of rock here in Miami, while eliminating weeding within the rock-growing area. GeoAg has already been demonstrated in Miami at Florida Memorial University, NAMDI Contemporary, and the historic Ward Rooming House in Overtown. I respectfully ask the Commission and the Department of Resilience and Public Works to include a small GEOAG demonstration site within the Miami River Greenway Landscaping Program. This would give Miami an opportunity to evaluate a locally demonstrated approach to beautification, public education, and lower maintenance planting. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. Jennifer Del Mastro, Sorry, 1717 North Bayshore Drive, Miami, Florida. I'm here in support of FR2. My father had a dream for the city of Miami, one that began almost 10 years ago. In January of 2019, I accompanied Rosario to the county offices to present our vision and introduce this potential project. We were met with overwhelmingly positive feedback, giving us the encouragement and support to move forward and take this idea to the Miami commissioners. Please excuse me. Sadly, in 2020, our father passed away from COVID-19. With his passing, my sister made the commitment to carry his vision forward and bring it to life. The city of Miami meant so much to our father. It holds that same special place in our hearts. His vision was about more than a project. It was about giving back to the city. He wanted to help address some of the challenges facing our community while bringing greater beauty, cleanliness, safety, and pride to the neighborhood we all call home. Today, we're asking for your support. Our goal is simple, to make Miami a little stronger, a little cleaner, a little safer, while creating something our father would be proud to see come to life. We respectfully ask that you support our vision, support Del Mastro Outdoor as the sole company to move this program forward. We're ready to continue the work built upon the conversations that began almost 10 years ago. and turn our father's vision into a lasting contribution to the city he loved. Thank you so much.

Good morning, Commissioner. My name is Genesis Najera, PZ3 on the address 536 Northeast 65th Street. I'm here with my family regarding the appeal for the home that we have on 536 Northeast 65th Street. We've been working through this process for a month, and we respectfully ask the commission to grant our appeal. allow us to replace our roof with shingles. Our engineer determined that existing structure cannot support the required tile roof without additional substructure reformation. That additional work would create a significant financial burden for our family. Our home has historically had shingle roof and we have also submitted photograph, estimate, and engineering document and evidence of active leaks and problem with our existing roof. We're simply asking to replace our deteriorating roof with shingles so we can protect our home and stop the ongoing leak and finally move forward with this necessary repair. We respectfully ask the Commission to grant our appeal and allow us to install a shingle roof. And thank you for your consideration.

Thank you for being here.

Good morning, Madam Mayor, Commissioners. My name is Francois. He is representing New Tradition Media, which maintains offices at 333 Northeast 23rd Street in the City of Miami. I'm speaking regarding item FR2. To state in the July meeting, new tradition continues to have some concerns about how construction fencing advertising may affect the visual environment surrounding neighborhood and the public perception of Miami's established outdoor advertising industry. Today, however, my request is simple. Allow every qualified outdoor advertising company operating through the mural and billboard programs in the city of Miami to participate. The service is neither unique nor proprietary. New tradition, clear channel, out front, and other experienced operators already work with this city and bring established advertiser relationships, local operating experience, and a record of working responsibly with neighborhoods. FR2 says any party may apply, but then designates Del Mastro as the only applicant. That contradiction should be corrected. Please remove the exclusivity and open the pilot to all qualified operators, ensuring the greatest financial and public benefit for this city. Thank you.

Good morning, commissioners. Good morning, mayor. Good morning, city manager, city clerk. Good morning, residents of Miami. My name is Chaplain Stanley Young of Freedom Prison and Jail Ministry. We assist those inmates that are coming out of your prisons and jails that a lot of people don't have very little to do with. I'm here to speak about something that is positive, something that works, something that the city of Miami has been doing, and I want to thank our commissioners, Rosaro and Cabela, who have been spearheading, or at least helped this particular initiative. It is PH8, the anti- poverty initiative that the city of Miami has that helps those small CBOs, those small heroes that are in our community that's really trying to make an impact in the lives of people that really don't have a voice. or have the wherewithal to come down to this prestigious hall to share their needs and their things that they really are facing. I face every week your citizens who need your help and they need resources, they need you, they need their families, they need help to continue their life going forward. That's what I do every week in the city of Miami to help that human dividend. Those people who was once honored citizens of your city who are now needing you to give them that helping hand to lift them up out of whatever the things that they are challenged with. Well, thank you. God bless.

Thanks, Stanley. Morning.

Good morning, Madam Mayor, Commissioners. Thank you for having me. My name is Rob Piper. I'm at 1401 Southwest 17 Terrace, Miami 33145. Just two things. I'm here to thank you for... DI4, and I encourage more discussion regarding the Live Local Act and that horrendous legislation, as well as finding ways to avoid relying on profitability solutions to solve affordability problems. So, thank you for having more discussion on that and ways to resist that preemptive law. Thank you. I am here also to come out against FR2. just simply because spam, not the meat, is defined as unwanted and overwhelming digital advertising. So I would encourage to vote against FR2 because it's one thing we don't need on construction fences. We already have enough of is spam. We don't need more spam, especially if it's in digital or LED form. Thank you very much.

Ms. Alger, good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, Madam Mayor, commissioners. So nice to be here. I'm going to start out with something good. Commissioner Pardo, thank you. They have installed the Charlie Stop sign at the Coconut Grove Metro Station after one year of asking. And I believe your office got that done. I don't know if they've done it at Douglas Road yet. Okay. So about RE10, you know, if you stand out front here on a weekend, I take the trolley a lot. And if you stand out front on the weekend waiting for the trolley, you'd be amazed at the number of tourists that walk through this area and stand in front of the building and look at the building and ask questions about the building. I would ask that if... If we can stop City Hall from being moved, I would like to see it stay. If we can't stop it, there needs to be a resolution that it doesn't move until the new pedestrian walkway that we got the grant for, until that pedestrian walkway is built and enables people to safely get that quarter of a mile from the MIA over to the stadium. And then go back and try to get a grant like that so we can get a pedestrian walkway at 27th Avenue and US 1 to get people safely back and forth to the Underline and the Coconut Grove Metrorail Station. Okay? And I'll be back to speak about the trolley thing that I know has been...

So, Chris, we're going to need your name and address for the record. Oh, I am so sorry. Sorry about that.

I'm sorry. Chris Alger, 2784 Southwest 29th Avenue, 33133. Thank you.

Good morning, Madam Mayor and Commissioners.

Good morning. Rosario Kennedy at 2645 South Bayshore Drive. And just like Andy Parrish, I too sat at that dais where Commissioner Gabela sits right now. Today I bring you a program that aligns with the Mayor's vision of keeping our city clean of graffiti. It's called the Graffiti Abatement Program, or GAV for short. We all know that construction fences are necessary in a growing city, but too often they become magnets for graffiti, vandalism, and illegal dumping. Well, the gap stops that. For over nine years, we've navigated the legal and administrative challenges. We created the pathway at the county to allow the city to opt out of the county sign code. Today, then we refined the program with two city administrations, but COVID hit and the main force behind this program, Rick Del Mastro, became one of its first victims. Now his daughter Dawn is carrying on this vision. Today, we respectfully request approval of a one-year exclusive pilot. Because our client conceived and developed the idea, we're asking the opportunity now to demonstrate it. We're grateful for the support of the Brickell Homeowners Association, the DDA, the Southeast Overtown South Park West CRA, and the president and vice president of the Biscayne Neighborhood Association. By the way, we also reach out to the DNA to hear their concerns, but we were never given the opportunity to meet. Our goal is to test the program with the city and turn construction fences from eyesores into clean, safe, and well-maintained sites. We've invested nine years on this program, and today we're just asking for one to show you what the gap can do. Thank you.

Good morning, Commissioners, Mayor, Dawn Del Mastro-Crumah, 1717 North Bayshore Drive. Del Mastro Outdoors should be the exclusive vendor for the pilot program. A one-year exclusive pilot period is necessary to ensure program consistency, establish uniform safety and maintenance standards. The requested one-year pilot exclusivity is not intended to limit competition permanently, but rather to allow Del Master Outdoor to recover its investment, establish proof of concept, and provide the city with measurable performance data before a broader market rollout is considered. Del Master Outdoor conceived and introduced the program. We identified the opportunity, developed the program structure, operating standards, and implementation plan. Del Master Outdoor invested time and resources in bringing this concept to the county, and the city. Without a limited exclusive period, there is little opportunity to recover our upfront investments to launch this program. An exclusive for Del Mastro Outdoor provides a better evaluation of the pilot because the city can measure the safety impacts, appearance improvements, revenue generation, and community feedback. Allowing competitors immediate access would enable others to benefit from our investment. One operator means one point of contact. One operator means faster problem resolution and more consistent standards. One operator creates a controlled environment for measuring success. Again, I respectfully ask for your approval for us to be the sole company. Thank you.

Good morning Madam Chairman, or Chairwoman, I'm sorry. James Torres, President of Downtown Neighbors Alliance. We're here on FR2 to completely oppose it. Let's start off with the premises. Beyond this ordinance, we're told construction fences are ugly. They're graffiti. They create visual blight. We all agree on that. But somehow, Commissioner Gabela's solution to visual blight is more visual pollution. Think about that. Apparently, if you have a corporate advertisement on a construction fence, graffiti suddenly disappears. That is not the case. Seriously, let's look at the aspects of everything that is going on here. You want to give company in exclusivity for one year. That makes no sense whatsoever. The downtown community is not into any additional billboards, lighting components, anything that has to do with it. It is very clear. These fencings require cleaning. They require enforcing. Guess what folks? We have that at the City of Miami. It's called code enforcement. It is very simple. Instead, we're creating a financial incentive, something of something that we are not supposed to or want to. The uglier the fence, the better excuse is to sell advertisement. And this is where the ordinance completely loses everyone. A construction fence has a purpose. Screening the construction site, it should become another piece of commercial real estate. But because you have one commissioner on this dais wanting to push an ordinance that does not belong in downtown, we're asking you not to push it through. Put it in your district. It's very clear. Miami should be risen for its standards of how the city looks, not lowering the standards because somebody figured out how to monetize it. So Commissioner Gabela, if your goal is to beautification, then beautify it. If graffiti is the problem, clean it up. But do not sell out our neighborhood by wrapping a billboard around a construction fence and calling it beautification. This is not a solution. This is selling out the city one square foot at a time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Torres. Appreciate it. All right. Okay. Get at the podium, folks. If you're not there when it closes, I'll close public hearing. So if you're thinking about speaking, get in line. Thank you.

Elvis Cruz, 631 Northeast 57th Street. Madam Mayor, I have a procedural question. There are three or four tree appeals today. Will each individual appeal have its own public hearing when that item comes up?

Could you repeat the question, sir?

There are three or four tree appeals today. Will each individual appeal have its own public hearing when that item comes up?

They're quasi-judicial items, so they each have to be determined individually.

Thank you. Or there will be. Thank you. Great. So I don't have to speak to any of those, but I will ask that in general the city uphold Chapter 17 of the City Code, the Tree Protection Ordinance. That has not always happened. Most Miamians do not know that at the Mel Rees Golf Course, many, many trees were removed without any intended decision or public hearing. How many trees were removed from the golf course? 1,300 trees were removed with no opportunity for the public to appeal. Am I wrong?

No, I just wanted to clarify something. You asked whether it was a public hearing. I said it's a quasi-judicial hearing. So there's a difference between a public hearing, which is where members of the public can get up and speak. This is a quasi-judicial hearing where the parties will speak. The interested parties will speak. So it is not a public hearing per se, but they will be determined individually as a quasi-judicial hearing. Just wanted to clarify that for you.

So every appeal hearing I've been to before, they do open it up to the public. Is that not going to happen for the tree appeals today?

Not at City Commission. It's like a mini case. It's a quasi-digital hearing where the commission sits as a judge and the advocates make their legal arguments if they have standing and things like that. So it's not a public hearing per se.

So that happens at HEP Board, but not at City Commission?

I can't speak to what happens at HEP Board, but I can tell you how the commission acts.

Okay, so getting back to the Melrose Golf Course, how many trees were removed from the golf course? 1,300 trees were removed. Does it get any more evil than that? Also, please don't pass FR2, which turns construction fences into billboards. We already have too much of the visual pollution known as outdoor advertising. They're selling it as anti-graffiti, which makes no sense. The graffiti vandals will simply spray graffiti on the advertising. Lastly, thank you for opposing Live Local, one of the most horrible laws ever passed in the state of Florida. Thank you.

Mr. Cruz, I think we know your name and address, but you still have to state it on the record. Sorry. Thanks. Did I not say it at the beginning? I don't think so.

Elvis Cruz, 631 Northeast 57th Street. I appreciate it. Thank you. My pleasure.

Mr. Trainer, did you want to speak, Monty? Yes? Okay. Please, go ahead. Thank you. You can speak from there. That's no problem. Todd.

Remember. This is nice to be back. No, no. I hate to make a joke out of things. Anyway, I've just got out of rehab. And I came down once again to speak as far as Rosario's committee and the GAP program and all the graffiti that goes on around the construction. But in the meantime, I was thinking in 1969 when I started building Monty's, I thought this would be a beautiful restaurant here. And I would like to see this be a museum, restaurant. It would save you a lot of constructions. because it's ready to go right now as it is. They're doing things like this in New York. Why can't we do something like this in Miami? Oh, here I go. Anyway, I think it's a worthwhile project on an annual basis. It's not going to be forever, but one year on this pilot program for the Gap, and see how it works. And I think it would be beneficial for all of us for all the graffiti that goes on. And I know that coming back in from the rehab, I noticed all the construction going on and so much graffiti. So let's see what we can do with it for a year and put a little holder on it. And in the meantime, think about a restaurant. It's not a bad idea. You like it, everybody.

Yeah.

And listen, everybody up here has been part of the restaurant, and it'd be something that'd be very popular.

What did I tell you?

Okay, thank you for the time, and it's nice to be back for a while, and nice to see the mayor up there along with the commission, so it gives a little flavor. And so thank you very much for having me, and welcome to the new commissioners once again. and I'll be back to see you as soon as I get out of the rehab again. Thank you.

Thank you, Monty. I'm glad rehab is going well. We're always happy to see you. All right, I see no one. All right, you're in line. Okay.

Good morning.

Anybody else? Folks, get in line and get by the podium. Thank you. We're trying to be efficient. Appreciate you.

Thank you, Mayor. Go ahead. Of course. Thank you, Mayor. Commissioners, hope you've all had a great summer. Thank you all so much for all the progress you've made this year. As we get into the fourth quarter, I think it's really worth looking back at how much it's taken to get up to speed. Particularly, I want to thank all the workshops that were held this last month for trees in the different neighborhoods. I think that was a good effort. I, like a lot of you, was out of town, so I wasn't able to participate. I heard it didn't go so well. It was kind of disorganized, messy. We need to do a little bit better. And Gabela, Commissioner, I think that, you know, the idea, and I've heard a lot of people giving comment on ads. I think it would be nice to be able to see, like, what will people get if they don't do this versus what they get if they could. And visualizing things would help people understand. Maybe they get a really worse deal than they're thinking. But Outfront is a big opportunity for us to negotiate. They have a lot of promises. They run our bus shelters. It's a separate contract, but I think it's a good opportunity to come to the table with them and see how we can maximize the value to the city. So I do commend you on trying to get value for our city. And of course, I also want to think, talk about the headboard comment that the Sierra Club made. I agree. The legal opinion that we got, I don't think was adequate. I think that the reading of the language preventing us from having standing as a community and for nonprofits was wrong. So I think that that should be addressed and we should be able to try that again one more time. And lastly, talking about The bond, as a member of your police department with Citizens on Patrol and Fire, I support it. I think it should go, as we've mentioned during the last discussion, we should have a dashboard to understand where we're at with our city debt, what is our debt holding capacity, and how will it affect us for 2027 as we're expecting a big hit from the state. So I think we should analyze that a little bit better if possible and leverage the Finance and Audit Committee for things like that and the Tree Trust Fund. Thank you.

I think we just need your name and address for the record, correct?

My name is Silvio Frank Pupo Casco, and I'm a resident of D1. Thank you for that.

Thank you for coming, appreciate it. All right, I see no one else, am I right? All right, public comment is closed. All right, colleagues, we'll take a few things in order. Commissioner Gabella, there's a couple items on the agenda that cannot be voted on until the Allapattas CRA meets. So there'll be a moment, probably this morning, that we'll recess this. So team Alipada CRA, be ready in the middle of the morning to go into action. All righty, I would entertain a motion on the minutes from the past four meetings.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Show those passed. On the consent agenda, is there anything that would like to be bifurcated? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion. Motion. Mr. Clerk.

And Chair, so that motion will be on CA items CA2 through 7, and CA4 is going to be amended to substitute Exhibit A in the backup documents. So CA4 is amended. As amended.

All right. Can I have a motion again on that? So moved.

Second.

All right. All in favor? Aye. Show all of those passed. On the public hearing items... Do we have any bifurcations on those? All right, seeing none, I would take a motion. Motion. Second. Motion and second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, show those passed unanimously. Okay, on the resolutions, do we have any bifurcations on those?

Yeah, I'd like to pull RE 9, 10, and 11.

Say that's 9. 10. 10.

And 11.

And 11. Anyone else want to pull any of these others? I'd like to pull RE14. RE14. Anyone else?

I'd like to pull RE18. Okay, RE18. 17.

Okay. Okay, anything else? All right, so let me just recap the ones that are pulled so we see if we're all in agreement. RE7 isn't pulled, but Commissioner Gabella, we can't do that until after the CRA meets. RE9, RE10, RE11, RE14, RE17, RE18. Have I missed anything? Okay, I would entertain a motion on the rest. I believe, Mr. Clerk, you may have some minor amendments to make on... Did you put 17 in there? I have already 17 pulled.

Thank you, Chair. RE2 will be amended pursuant to a substitution memo dated January 29, 2026.

Okay, so I would entertain a motion on RE1. RE2 is amended. RE3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12... 15, 16, 20, 21, and 22.

So moved.

Moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, so all those items carried. Commissioner Gabela, are you ready to run the Allapattas CRA if I recess now so we can get to RE7? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Manager, do you mind giving up your seat to the? So the CRA director, is he in the house? All right, so show this item resource recessed for, I don't know, probably five minutes. You need to redo the tape? All right, so you let us know when you're ready. Soon enough, we'll go back to our regular scheduled where we won't have to get a few items approved before we can do with the agenda. You won't have to wait for these anymore. So just give us a few months to get into sync on that. Thank you.

Thank you all.

Mayor Higgins, we're good to go.

All right, meanwhile, we are back in session at the City of Miami Commission meeting. The next item on the agenda for the resolutions is RE7. My understanding is we would need to amend that similarly to the amendment that was just made at the CRA meeting. Is that correct, Mr. Cook?

So I have separate amendments. I'll defer to the city attorney regarding the amendments that were made at the Allopata CRA if there need to be additional amendments to RE7. But the amendments that I have for RE7, the ninth whereas clause of the resolution will be amended to include the Allopata CRA meeting date of September 10, 2026. and resolution number ACRA-R-26-0004. The title in Section 5 of the resolution will be amended to change city clerk to city manager or designee, and Exhibit A will be updated to correct the name of the CRA. Now, I don't know if there are additional amendments that also need to be made.

The actual interlocal agreement that was an attachment will be amended as it was amended by the Allapattah CRA. Understood. So that's the only other amendment.

All right.

So, Commissioner Gabella, would you like to move that with all those amendments? Yeah.

All right.

Motion. Is there a second?

Second.

All right. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

So, that approved. Okay. We're moving on to our... Thank you again. Yes, sir. We're moving on to RE9.

That's the item I put... Yeah.

Yeah.

That's vacation and short-term lodging. And really, this has been a scourge in the district. This is... it's incredibly difficult to try to deal with. And I know city manager, that's why this is directing kind of like let's identify the universe, let's figure out how many violations are out there with the city attorney. It's more about after 2011 and the registries for these short-term rentals and what the legal challenges might be. And I don't know, do you have any update with regard to any of that? Yes.

Yes. Let me have Assistant City Attorney Rachel Dooley. Right over there. Who is my subject matter expert. Give a brief update on that. Thank you.

Hi. Good morning. Rachel Dooley, Assistant City Attorney. The question was in terms of legal challenges?

Legal challenges, what would our capacity be to set up a registry so that we can start taking more of an enforcement perspective?

Right, well I think those waters have cleared a lot in the last few years. We were involved since I believe 2016 or 17 in a lawsuit where Airbnb sued the city with regards to our T3 transect zones. We had a very favorable ruling from the Third District Court of Appeal, which we stuck with, which protected our T3 single family home transect zones. That case stayed open for quite a long time. Airbnb finally sort of walked away from that lawsuit. But it took many, many years. They are currently, I think, in support of a registry program going on on the West Coast. One we have drafted is very similar to that. And currently, as long as we are not... creating something that either impedes short-term rental that doesn't already exist, in other words, preventing it, saying you can't do it here, you can't do it there, that doesn't already exist in our law, or we don't try to limit, I believe, what people can charge, then we seem to be okay.

That's great.

So we're following along with the other ones that have gone through, that have passed, but that other lawsuit lasted for a very, very long time, so... During that course, during the term of that lawsuit, we stayed our course and held everything in abeyance.

Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm sure my colleagues might have questions.

I would like to ask a question to the chair. I know we created, before my time, a task force. I would like to know what happened to that task force.

Good morning, Mayor, Commissioners. No, sir, there was no task force created.

They came, yes, there was. I guarantee you there was. It was created by previous Commissioner Carollo, and they went out there, they assigned two employees from court enforcement.

I will bring the court compliance director up, but- Commissioner, if I may?

MOVING FORWARD AND LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE AND ASSISTING WITH THIS RE9 I THINK THANKS TO RACHEL'S EFFORTS. I DON'T KNOW WHERE RACHEL WENT BUT THERE SHE IS RIGHT NEXT TO ME. SO THANKS TO RACHEL'S EFFORTS AND THE OTHER DEPARTMENTS. THE COLLABORATION THAT I'VE SEEN AS A RESULT OF SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT WE'VE MET IN THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS DEFINITELY WARRANT A TASK FORCE. I WOULD SAY AND I APPRECIATE THAT PERHAPS IN THE PAST THERE WAS A to the point of both of you, a quasi two folks assigned. I truly believe that this warrants a multidisciplinary task force, right? That involves fire rescue, police to measure calls for service, code to impose, obviously, as you know, the restrictions and the warnings necessary to move us in a direction where everyone feels that their needs are being met. So we have had discussions in terms of establishing a task force. Regardless of what existed in the past, what my recommendation would be is that it would be multidisciplinary so that everyone's represented to include legal. Because one thing I did find in the last couple of months as we tackled some of the issues that have been well documented is that everybody brings a different perspective. Everyone has a different role in the enforcement. And we're stronger together. So that's what I would recommend moving forward.

When can we have it ready, the task force? Yeah.

Yeah. Is this something you can just set up so we don't have to waste an agenda item?

Absolutely.

Thank you. Madam Mayor?

Yes, ma'am. I have a question. When I got elected, short-term rentals was a big issue, and it is governed by the state, so we had very little authority to do much. I proposed for short-term rentals that it had to be owner-occupied. We still can't do that.

because of the state. So the transect zones run differently in our T3 transect zones. That's a whole different ballgame from our T4s, T5s, and T6 residentials. But in general, no, we cannot add any new restriction after that time. So if it already isn't there, the Third District Court of Appeal sort of flushed out what we're allowed to do in our transect zones for T3s.

And so that's why that's more clarified, but for the rest of them- We're just checking because I think a lot of our issues would be resolved if short-term rentals were designated only for home-occupied residences and then longer-term rentals. But, you know, somebody might in Tallahassee come up with that sooner or later. Thank you.

So did we include as part of that a directive to establish that?

I think so. How much time do you need to get it started and then to maybe report back to us?

30 or 60, whatever. All right. I mean, we already have a framework that we've been using the last couple of months, so it's just formalized. Okay, so 30 days? 30, we can do it in 30 days.

Stand it up in 30 days and then work for 60 days and get back to us, I think. Is that acceptable with you guys? Yes. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. Do I have a motion on RE9, Commissioner?

Second.

And that will be, my apologies, Chair, that will be as amended to include the directive stated by Commissioner Pardo.

Yep. All right. All in favor, aye?

Aye.

All right. Show that item approved. RE10, keeping our home our home. Commissioner Pardo.

RE10 is basically we don't have to abandon our past.

Beautiful.

And we have 70 years of history, of legacy, you know, really of everything in this building. And if you think of what this was originally, which was Pan American Airways, starting routes from here to the Caribbean, South America, Latin America, that defines what we became. I still remember American Airlines talking about, we are the gateway to Latin America. And even now, with tech, Microsoft just moved their tech hub here as the gateway to Latin America. So when we think of our city, kind of like the soul of our city, and this building, and to think that what we're doing right now, right now, our leaders did for 70 years here. We're debating about your future, and you are here telling us what you want, what you think, and what you'd like to see. This is the civic space, kind of like our ancestral home in the city of Miami. It doesn't just represent, you know, because it's located in Coconut Grove. This is Miami's city hall. It represents Alapata, Overtown, Flagami, Little Havana, like all of us. This is really what it's about, and it's our history. And I just wanted to put that in writing because this had never come before us. So that's my piece.

Well, I'll take that as a very beautiful motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

All right. All in favor say aye.

What are we doing?

Mr. Clerk.

I think there was some unreadiness by Commissioner Gabella.

Okay, Commissioner Gabella.

Yeah, what exactly are we voting on?

That we will continue to have our city hall, our commission meetings in these chambers in the foreseeable future.

Okay, so I have reservations about this, and I'll tell you why I have the reservations. I agree totally with everything that Commissioner Pardo said here today. The problem is that we just spent money on a supposedly new city hall that some of us approved about two or three years ago. And I, for one, do not want to give the impression that, you know, how many city halls are these commissioners going to have? And if they weren't going to use that city hall down in the Freedom Park, why the hell did they build it anyway and spent the taxpayer money? You see, that's what I'm concerned about. Maybe there's another use as a museum. I mean, hell, I love my office. I have a beautiful view overlooking the Biscayne Bay. I'm a boater. I mean, I love it. You know what I mean? But, you know... You know, I fear, you know, that, you know, and by the way, yes, there were a lot of people in support of that, but, you know, a lot of the people that are in District, let's say, 4, District 3, District 5, my district, are not here today. Because simply put, what I saw here today were the regulars that are into this, and God bless them for being here and speaking out, but not necessarily when they speak out, are they representing my district or her district or a scholar's district or your district down there, Commissioner Rosado. So, like I said, I would not entertain this right now. I think, yes, we heard from the audience here today, but this is not all of City of Miami. This is not all the five districts. Mainly, sir, with all due respect, this is the people in District 2. And I also find it a little bit offensive that you guys, I live in District 1. I come all the way down here. I find it a little bit offensive you guys can't drive to District 1. to have these meetings. We've been doing it for so many years. But for me, the most important thing is, what does the taxpayer think? What is he going to think? That's a question that I think we need to answer. And I, for one, do not feel comfortable just doing this right now as it is. So my vote on this, if we're going to keep the city hall, and that is the question, I will be voting no. Thank you very much.

There is plenty of opportunity to redesign the spaces and figure out the uses in the other place and still maintain this as city hall. It cost us $290,000 to maintain this building. That is well worth it and we can have multiple uses here and combine civic use of other organizations, leasing it, we can make revenue. We just have so many options that this shouldn't be a hindrance to passing this item. That's my point of view.

And just for the record, I did have a constituent in my district come and advocate for us to keep City Hall here. Just for the record. All right.

Any more discussion? There's a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

No.

Please show one no. The item passes. Thank you very much. Okay, we will move on to RE11. Commissioner Pardo? Yes. Who pulled this item? Did you? I pulled it. You pulled it. Okay, Commissioner Pardo, I thought so.

Yeah. So anyway, what I wanted to, I'm going to kind of break this down in steps. First, I want to talk about the reserves because I think the reserves, excess reserves are 37 million and I know that The administration would like to reserve 20 of that 37 for potentially future revenue that might be coming down the pike. But what we're talking about here are the stations that have been delineated in the schedule and repairs and modernizations that all of us have said are critical and important to get done. So my concern here is we should absolutely use that money and apply it to these projects on this schedule, nothing else. has as far as the bond goes if the bond passes this can be reimbursed entirely by the bond so all we're doing is we're starting these repairs and modernizations now so that you know it's going to take procurement it's going to take months maybe eight months to a year for these stations to get going when the bond passes those buildings those structures may take two years to you know just to issue the bond just to get everything in order so I'd like us to move on these because they're critical they're important we have the excess funding and we should just apply it so Commissioner Pardo I didn't see the language specifically saying that when the bond passes or should the bond pass that that fund would be how we

reimburse the reserves. Is that in the item, Mr. Attorney?

No, it is not in the item.

Should we modify it to put in a sentence?

Well, we would have to do an intent to reimburse resolution, which is what we do for tax purposes. So every time we want to reimburse ourselves, we'll do an intent to reimburse resolution. And we can only reimburse ourselves for any expenditures after that or 60 days prior to that intent to reimburse resolution.

Are we able to do that today with the resolution or you need to prepare an item for the next meeting?

We'd probably have to prepare an item for the next meeting.

Okay. Okay.

And just another question. With that item that you have to prepare for the next meeting, are we okay passing it contingent on that item being presented in the next meeting?

I would have to confirm that, but as long as no expenditures are made, then we should be fine, as long as no expenditures are made. But yeah, we'd have to do an intent to reimburse resolution on that. And I think from a reserve standpoint, I think there is a process to do that, which would be at the close, I would assume, right?

It definitely is better for us because we're not paying interest expense. It's not being charged to the bond, so it accrues to our benefit to do it.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Gabella.

Yeah, you know, I think that's a good idea. As long as, remember the provisions that we put in place, okay, that number one, when we sell the building, you know, you guys know the whole deal, it's got to go down to pay down the debt, you know, and we don't start changing anything. doing stuff like this every so often. I'm okay with it. I think it's a good idea, Commissioner Pardo, that we start doing this stuff and then we reimburse as long as it doesn't change anything of the guardrails that we put in place for the bond. Agreed. I'm okay with it. And that it doesn't change our credit rating because of the reserves. So those two things, then I'm good to go.

Assistant City Attorney, can we legally, if the bond passes, would If we pass this today, the bond passes in November, can we legally take the money from the bond and put it back into the reserves?

So that's why I think what I was discussing was there's a process to get the reserves, and it's usually during closeout, right? Because then the fiscal year has ended, and then you can determine exactly how much you have in excess of the reserve requirement, and then you take that money to move forward to pay for anything moving forward. So that's the appropriate way to do it so that you're not taking from the reserves outside of the requirements under the financial integrity principles and that you are reimbursing yourself for something, not reimbursing your reserves.

So, Mr. City Attorney, can I ask you a question? I mean, it's pretty clear that we found a good solution to start to accelerate these projects, Commissioner Pardo, but also find a fiscally responsible way to reimburse the city when the bond passes, is it better for us to defer this to the next meeting and come back with an item that combines all those attempts, or can we do it in a two-step process? What do you think is best?

So it would be better to move it on, but the only other thing I want to raise is to do an intent to reimburse resolution prior to being authorized to issue bonds, I believe is an accounting, there may be some accounting issues with that, because if the bond is not approved, then we cannot reimburse ourselves, and that's a liability to the city. So that would be an issue on that end, because we have spent money, said we reimburse ourselves, but it's accounted in a different way, if you can, the CFO can go. Yeah, it's booked as a liability if we do an intent to reimburse resolution.

So, I mean, I know Commissioner Pardo wants to get this done quickly because these are issues that, you know, we're not going to be able to do all these repairs right away. We'll do them in series, but I think what you're saying is you'd like to get started, right? We all would like to get started. It is very clear that we could put that intent to reimburse item on the November 19th agenda, because that would be after election day. But I'm not positive we want to wait on this until then.

The reason I don't is because, God forbid, if it doesn't pass, we already have started down this journey, and we already have the reserves. What you're talking about is the resolution for reimbursement. I'm talking about committing these 10 to that, and you've already stated that, yes, we could get reimbursed from our bond after issuance. That's our intent. We're stating we'd like to be able to reimburse this money after issuance. But in the meantime, let's get going. Let's not keep pushing this down the road. We have the opportunity to act now.

So colleagues, here's my suggestion. Since we can't make a motion or do the item on the intent to reimburse until after the November election, maybe we do the sort of simple show of hands that we all are committed that we would pass an intent to reimburse once the bond passes. So, you know, show of hands. So at least publicly on the records, You know, we're showing that intent and then go forward with this item.

The issue that I have with that is what if the bond doesn't pass? I mean, I don't think we should wait.

I agree. You and I are agreeing. I'm probably not explaining myself as well. I think the bond is going to pass, right? I've been out in the community. We've been talking to residents. We've communicated a lot. We've been doing polling. It has pretty overwhelming support. People want to be safe. They understand that our city has been fiscally restrained and that we haven't built the fire stations in the neighborhoods we need to provide coverage to places that have very, very slow response times. And it is our job to communicate to them that this is needed. But I do think we could have an item, or we could direct that an item would be prepared for the November 19th, which by the way, gives you plenty of time to work on it, Javi, meeting. That was my thought.

Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out why these can't be separate.

I'm saying they can be separate. Should we vote on this now? Correct.

I'm just saying the reimbursement. I'm sorry, I misheard.

No, I just want to be clear that the reimbursement can only occur once that's issued and also based on when the expenditures are made. So if an expenditure is made tomorrow, we don't have this intended reimbursement. We're outside of the timeline. Then we would not be able to reimburse. I'm sure it won't be made tomorrow. I just wanted to make it clear that that's where the issue comes up. Thank you.

All right, so is that sort of legally spiegely enough, good enough for you, Mr. City Attorney? Yes, Madam Mayor. Okay, thank you. Colleagues, any more discussion on that? If not, we'll vote on Commissioner Pardo's item today. I see Mr. The City Clerk.

And there's just, I have one amendment for RE11, and that is to add the following language in Section 3 of the resolution and signature of the mayor. That'll be added to Section 3 of the resolution for RE11.

Okay. And then we will basically be giving you a directive, which we won't vote on, that you will prepare an item for us for November 13th. Is there any unreadiness?

So move as amended.

All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show that item passed. You have your work cut out for November 19th. All right, now we are moving on to RE14. I believe there might be an amendment on that too. Commissioner Escalona, do you want to explain your item? I want to hear Commissioner King.

And I think Commissioner King, you would want to just speak about it as well.

I simply want to ask staff, where's the funding coming from for this item?

Commissioners, to be determined at this time, the item does not identify the funding, so the funding would come out of either two options. Obviously, from this side, it would be general fund or reserves. I believe the commissioner had some discussion that he wanted to have as it relates to the funding.

The only reason we want to do this is, as you know, we passed a resolution to create a bid for Calle Ocho. Coconut Grove bid took four years. We're not doing that. We're already collecting signatures. We're trying to get it done within two years. So I'm okay to cut it to two years, if that's okay with you. Because I know in two years we're going to get this done. But Calle Ocho is one of the most visited places in Miami. I believe it's the second, if I'm not mistaken. And we need public safety. We need sanitation. We need many, many other things just to try to make it to what it should be.

So are you saying that it won't be funded for two years or it'll be, how is it going to be funded? That's what I'm trying to get at. I agree with you. I'm just trying to see where the funding is coming from. And when do you anticipate this being funded?

Next fiscal year.

Next fiscal year. Mr. Manager.

As I said prior, obviously the proposed budget that we have before you that we presented did not take this into consideration. So if it's solely general fund, then we would have to adjust our proposed budget for 2627 to reflect.

Well, he said next fiscal year. No, no, no. You mean this? Okay.

26, 27. So that means we need to cut $3.5 million worth of whatever's in there right now to accommodate the $3.5 million that's being requested. So that's one option. The other option, obviously, we just discussed. Reserves, exactly. Or something else, reserve dollars, using reserve dollars. Excess reserves. And, you know, the other question that comes into play, like in some of the other bodies, right? I look at Commissioner Gabela, is the reimbursement portion, is there a reimbursement portion to the item? And the reason why that's important, and I think Commissioner Rosado has a discussion item as it relates to Amendment 3, is that with Amendment 3 on the November ballot, we want to make sure that we maintain a healthy reserve because we will talk, as part of the discussion item, what the potential impacts of that are as it relates not only monetarily but service-oriented as well. So we want to make sure that we have capable reserves that we could absorb some of the impacts that will be being passed on to our residents as a result of having a smaller budget. So with that said, it's making balancing or this body can balance entertaining using our reserve dollars for something like this or making difficult decisions to cut $3.5 million worth of services or budget going into 26, 27. so that the Calle Ocho bid can have their funding for year one of this item.

So that makes my point for what I've been saying about the city being fiscally responsible. We are asking the city to pass a bond to shore up our fire stations when I have spoken to so many developers within the city of Miami, Miami-Dade County, and within the US who are utilizing public-private partnerships. We don't have a lot of money. I was told that our budget is $20 million short and they have to figure out how to do it. But this is a glaring example of the needs that our community has. You need that money. Perhaps we could have used some money from the bond that is proposed to shore up Calle Ocho, which is a tourist destination and other things. We are also trying to propose a bond, and we don't know what's going to happen with Amendment 3. And if we lose those resources, how are we going to make that up? Commissioner Gabela needs a CRA. There are so many needs. And I'm not saying that we don't need to shore up our fire stations. I'm saying What if the bond doesn't pass? Because the mayor seems to feel that there's overwhelming support for the bond. But I would say, and I'm looking at people shaking their heads agreeing with me, I haven't spoken to one person who is in support of the bond. And I haven't even started. Started. community outreach in my community about it, which I will begin to do town hall meetings, I've not ever seen someone try to put forth a $450 million bond without first going to the communities. I see those polls. The questions are skewed. It asks this, that. I saw one that says, am I favorable? What do you think about me? Am I favorable? pretty favorable in my community, and no one that I've spoken to as yet, not just in my community, but in other communities, supports this bond because of all of the uncertainties. Now we're trying to stretch into our reserves, but again, there have been public-private partnerships that have built fire stations in the city of Miami. Absolutely. In your district, Commissioner Rosado, Public-private partnerships, the mayor said, don't work in the city. It doesn't work in the city because we don't require them to work, because we do not put together agreements that would hold the developers to the fire and make them do what they promise to do. That's a failure on administration, that's a failure on us, but we don't have an unlimited source of money. We can't grow money in our backyard. And I personally want to be more fiscally responsible for my district. I don't know about the rest of you, but for my district and is why I'm saying, where is this money coming from? And then Mr. Manager, if you can find 3.5 million for him, I dare say you would need to find it for me as well, because I have needs where I don't have a CRA in my district that has infrastructure, flooding, issues, parks, and everybody knows I'm an advocate for parks because that's where our children go to be safe. We have safety, police issues, everything. So if they can find 3.5 for you, I'm telling you right now, Mr. Manager, you need to find it for me as well.

Okay, can I, Madam, through the chair?

Commissioner Caballon, then Commissioner Pardo.

Okay, all right. So I was going to say also, okay, so, you know, I happen to agree with the chairwoman on that if she can find 3.5. Look, I want to help your area. I know your area needs help. I know her area needs help. Everybody's area, right? Okay, but here's the thing, guys. I was in line here. You know, you guys remember going back into memory lane here, when you, Commissioner Pardo, was here, and Commissioner King, you were here, and I was here. Commissioner Escalona was not here, and I think Commissioner Rosado was not here either. But we agreed that we were going to establish the ala pata series. And you, sir, have been forthcoming and have forked over the money that you promised to the tune of $2 million a year, which now you owe us another $2 million, by the way. So that's four. But we also had a discussion here that we were going to take another five to six and give it to the Allapattas CRA for seed money for about five years. So now I'm going to do the same thing. And by the way, I went through the hurdles. I went through the hoops. And I want you to succeed. I want all of you guys to succeed. But so what I'm saying is, I'm coming. I think we had this conversation of the promises that were made to me by my colleagues. You know, and that was the deal. A year and a half, you know, before anybody's talking about this today, that was said, that was promised, okay? And I'm not, you know, I'm not letting any one of you escape from the promise that you made, okay? Because the verbatim is there. You know, it might not be on paper, but the verbatim is there. So, sir, the next commission, prior to the next commission meeting, I'm going to hand you a piece of paper, a resolution, that says I am looking for the money that was promised to me. And remember, I was two years at this jumping through hoops and hurdles for this, and I'm not going to let go because that was the promise made, and that's what we agreed to. So, guys, you know what I mean? I'm with you. I'm for you, by the way. I'm for you. I think you should have the money. But I just want to reiterate that I also am in the, you know, I'm lined up also for the funds. Thank you.

Commissioner Pardo.

Yeah, I'm thinking very differently. Little Havana and a bit of Little Havana is transformational. That area hasn't had anything. I mean, we have CRAs, we have other, in many of the other areas.

What's going there?

And I think that this is one of those moments that, yeah, we represent our districts, but maybe it would be good to step out a little bit and think about an area in our city that is trying to embark. I mean, these are baby steps for the bid. And I personally am not going to hold back the very first baby steps of an area that really needs revitalization and has been asking for it really for many, many years and not received it. Just like I did with Alapata. Right? So, I mean, I think we should move this. I think we should adopt this.

If I... Commissioner Rosado.

I was just going to say I'm equally supportive and happy to move this.

So, let me ask a question if you'll allow me.

Second, by the way.

Similar to CRA, when you put seed capital from another source into the CRA, the CRA will eventually be able to pay it back. Right? Similar to the discussion we just had on your item, Commissioner Pardo. But a bid Well, also, a bid doesn't generate quite the amount of revenue that a CRA does as quickly. But would you think about if we give some seed capital as a government to start up this bid in advance of the bid, that there would be a time period in which the bid would reimburse the city? Okay, we're done. And I think that puts us in this position because Sometimes it does cost a little money to start something, and then eventually the revenues come in to where you don't need that and you can pay it back. It's easier for a CRA to pay back more quickly than it would be for a bid. But I don't know, Mr. City Manager, I see our fabulous CFO here. What are your thoughts?

My thoughts is I heard a first and a second.

Let's do it.

Let's move. Should we, you know, Commissioner,

I would like to move it as amended by me, two years only instead of four, so we can get the bid started and collect the signatures.

Okay, and would you entertain an amendment that the bid within, I don't know, five years after startup would pay the city back for these?

Since we're taking seven millions, if we can pay one million per year, because the bid doesn't generate that much money, I'm okay with that.

Okay, and I think, Mr. Clerk, we have a map as an amendment, too. Will you read that into the record?

Thank you, Chair. RE14 will be amended pursuant to a substitution memo dated September 2nd, 2026, and that incorporates the new map.

Okay, so Commissioner Escalona moved as amended and amended. Is there a second?

Second.

All right. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? All right. So we've got two ways that we all pay each other back. So, so far, so good. We're doing the best we can to help you out, Mr.

Manager.

RE17.

So that one is my item, but I know that Commissioner Gabela, I think, is the one that pulled it. But i'm happy to provide a little bit of context in recent weeks i've had several people say hey we reached out to you about such and such issue and we didn't hear back and I get. incredibly uncomfortable when I hear that because I think I have a wonderful team and I want to make sure everybody has responded to. And in every situation it's turned out that somebody called 311 and they assume that if you call 311, which is a county phone number that that message is routed to our office. It may or may not be routed to city departments that can take care of issues, but in no instance do we actually find out at my district level. And I imagine this has probably happened to others. And it makes me very uncomfortable not to know what folks are calling in about. I certainly don't want to encourage the county to stop promoting 311 because if you live in unincorporated Miami-Dade, it is the right place to call. So I just want to make sure that moving forward, that there's coordination between the city and the county. So anytime somebody calls 311, we are each notified of anything that happens in any of our districts. We'd also included the Downtown Development Authority. In speaking with the manager, we realized as a practical matter, it's probably easier if everything is routed through his office and then he disseminates. And so I just think this is probably something that should have been in the works for some time and we're happy to help spearhead this.

Commissioner Gabella?

Yeah, no, I'm for it. The only question was the liability issue that somebody raised in the thing, and I just want to know. I'm for it. I mean, I think it's a great idea. Because people assume that because it's over there, we're going to automatically find out about it. But we're going to suffer the consequences, right? Because they're going to call you, they're going to call you guys, right? And we've got to answer because that's what we're here for.

And the item is being substituted to avoid those liability issues to the elected officials.

I've got no questions. I'm ready.

Okay.

So, Mr. Clerk, do you need to read anything specific about that substitution?

Just briefly. So, our ASM team will be amended pursuant to a substitution memo dated September 9, 2026. Thank you, Chair.

OK. Any more discussion, colleagues? All right. Commissioner Rosado, I'll take you as a mover. Second. All right. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

So that item passed. RE18, Commissioner Rosado, I believe you pulled this. Yes?

Sure. I know we've been talking about looking for money. This is one where we have found some money that wasn't on, I think, many folks' radar, including my own, until pretty recently. But I know we each have a number of really important park initiatives, and I always try to figure out where there's money to fix parks and create new parks. And in speaking with our assistant city manager, we realized there is a fund intended to benefit the city at the Miami Foundation, specifically for park projects. It's been in place almost 20 years. I think it was founded by Mayor Manny Diaz, and he put the initial investment, which was substantial. but it's not something that we ever hear about, and we have over $3 million sitting there. Now, the challenge here is that the rules that were put in place when it was created only allow us to draw down about 7% a year, which is piddling. I don't think any of us, if we got the full 7%, could do much, and certainly if it's spread across the five districts, we couldn't do almost anything. And so the idea behind this is to work with the Miami Foundation, renegotiate the endowment structure, and reduce all, receive all the funds and actually have them distributed equally across the board. We would each get over $600,000 if that's the case, and I know we each have park projects that could benefit from this. If we have to leave some funds in there, I'm sure we can work that out with the foundation, but my request and recommendation would be that we release all the funds and have them distributed equally across the board.

Yeah, and colleagues, as Commissioner Rosado so ably Mentioned this was one of the first funds I met with the Miami foundation. It was set up as an endowment Which means well, you're the I see our finance guy nodding his head over here Which means you can't touch a huge chunk of it and you're only able to peel off 7% a year Which is basically I don't know enough for a swing set So it it will take some effort and may not be possible to change it from an endowed fund to something else or to abolish it altogether so that we can take it out. So I know that our assistant city manager and the manager have already been working on this, so I think it's a good initiative. So any more discussion or questions on this, colleagues? All right, is there a motion and a second? All in favor?

Aye.

Show that aye. All right, Mr. City Attorney, we're on to the second readings. Would you like to read everything?

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. SR1, second reading ordinance, an ordinance of the Miami City Commission amending Chapter 19, Section 19-2.1 of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended city code titled Fire Safety Permit Required, Issuance, Fees, Annual Renewal, revocation and penalties use of fees to create subsection g to require the electronic submission of fire protection and life safety system inspection testing and maintenance reports through a web-based system including a third-party system designated by the city containing a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date SR2, second reading ordinance, an ordinance of the Miami City Commission amending Chapter 20 of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, City Code titled Flood Damage Prevention, providing guidelines and timelines for recertification of existing drainage systems. Amending related fee provisions, providing that applicable fees shall be set by resolution. establishing reporting criteria for compliance, and aligning drainage recertification requirements with the City of Miami's building recertification program, containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date. SR 3, second reading ordinance, an ordinance of the Miami City Commission amending Chapter 54, Article 5 of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, titled Base Building Lines, to include an encroachment on the 9th Street Mall, containing a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date. SR4, second reading ordinance, an ordinance of the Miami City Commission amending Chapter 2 of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, titled Administration, Chapter 18 of the City Code, titled Finance, and Chapter 62 of the City Code, titled Planning and Zoning, by amending Sections 2-160, 2-830, 2-884, 2-886, 2-1013, 2-1108, 2-1123, 2-1272, 2-1308, 1886, 18-89, 18-139, 18-178, 18-182, 62-2.1, and 62-16 to provide, where applicable, that certain city commission supermajority requirements may be satisfied by the otherwise required four-fifths or two-thirds vote, or by unanimous consent of the quorum that exists because of either abstentions or vacancies resulting from resignation, death, suspension, or physical incapacitation containing a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date. That concludes the second reading items.

Colleagues, does anyone want to bifurcate any of these?

Four.

Okay, we'll bifurcate number four. Mr. Clerk, do you have any changes to SR 1, 2, or 3?

No, ma'am.

All right. I'll entertain a motion on those three, please. Motion. Motion. Second. All right. Motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Show those passed. Commissioner Gabella, you're recognized on SR 4.

Okay. So we had a little briefing on this, right? So I'm not comfortable with all of the, like we discussed, George, right? So I'm willing to do it, sacrifice the 4-4 when somebody is removed from office, incapacitated, you know, what we had, what we said, but not on everything else. I don't know if you guys share my concern that some of the things here, there's a reason why it needs a 4-5 vote, and I'm not comfortable now that two people are missing because they decided to miss the vote, and then all of a sudden that 4-5 vote that's needed turns into 3-3, and we're calling it, you know, a forfeit vote when it really, in actual fact... I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. As amended. Okay, can you... Yeah, as amended, yes.

George, you want to read that amendment?

I'm not sure I... Well, so, I just wanted to clarify. There was some concern about the genesis of this ordinance was to clarify in the city code what a supermajority is, because the city code... is amended from time to time. A piece is amended here, a piece is amended there. And so sometimes the language gets inconsistent. For example, some parts of the code say a supermajority. Some parts say a four-fifths vote of the full city commission. Some say a four-fifths vote of the city commission. So we were trying to sort of make all the language uniform to say that whenever a super majority is required it would have the language of um may be satisfied by the otherwise required forfeits or two-thirds vote or by unanimous vote of the quorum that exists because of either abstentions which you can only abstain pursuant to chapter 286 of the florida statutes if you have an actual conflict and then you have to stay the conflict so that is not something that can be used generally So either abstentions, vacancies resulting from resignation, death, suspension, or physical incapacitation. So unfortunately, from time to time, we've had a short commission meeting. So if, for example, God forbid, two commissioners were unable to attend meetings and we only had three, three is sufficient for a quorum, but then the question would be, If it's a four-fifths of the full city commission, that would be you would require to have four votes versus four-fifths of three is a unanimous vote of the city commission. So it's up to you. I don't, you know, like I said, our intention was to sort of allow the commission to proceed when there are vacancies due to resignation, death, suspension, or physical incapacitation or those rare circumstances. instances where say one or more member has to abstain themselves because they have a a conflict or something like that so um otherwise you know the item couldn't move forward if you required four votes of the city commission so that's so but so far we've been we've been moving as it is right now and it seems to have been working right so flip it around take

All else, in other words, if we get into the situations that you just mentioned, right, of being removed from office, resignation, death, that kind of, I mean, that to me, okay, that, you know, that works, you know. What doesn't work for me is that, you know, now we turn this into somebody doesn't want to show up because they don't want to take that vote, you know, or, you know what I mean, it's something so important, you know, that we're talking the taxpayers' money or anything else. And, you know, there's a reason why we have the four-fifth vote. I mean, it's not there for anything. I don't want to see that go up. I want to see that protection remain except for the, you know, potential of the, you know, catastrophic, you know, reason that's not going to happen. You know, the odds of that happening, you know, are very low, right? But we're protected if it does happen. But that's it. Nothing else.

I'll just, colleagues, talk about something that came up routinely at the county meeting. all of which was good. Many of the county commissioners and many of you either teach at universities, and we were getting to the point where there were so many people that could not vote on an item because, let's say, they taught at St. Thomas University or they were on the board of St. Thomas University and St. Thomas was going to get something that we couldn't even take a vote. And so the abstentions, because state law is so strict, The only time you can abstain from a vote, if you're in the chambers here, is if you're conflicted out. And so we did have to, on that case, even to pass our budget, go with members present. So that's just a little history that every now and then you get caught in an endless loop of, we used to joke, nobody else can teach at FIU and nobody else can teach at St. Thomas because otherwise we're not going to be able to vote on anything going through. So, George, do you have suggestions on how we might accommodate Commissioner Gabella's worries?

Yeah, I just— Not my worry alone. No, they're good. They're good. Commissioner King, I mean, others I think are worried also.

I brought that up first reading, and George gave the same response. A four-fifth vote is a four-fifth vote. There are situations where, you know, I've lived through it with Commissioner Reyes. but we fill the seat. We had that situation when you guys got elected and we were voting on the budget and they didn't accept our vote as a total commission because it wasn't four-fifths and there were all kind of ramifications for that, but I would not want to water down a four-fifths vote to make it super majority of three. I said that before. during first reading. I think that we could creatively come up with a way to avoid what, George, what you are speaking about, but not by removing the four-fifths vote. The four-fifths vote should stay and you could carve out exceptions under certain circumstances that then in in the face of an absence, a vacancy, a death, then it could be the majority of the commission, but not because somebody didn't show up to work. And that's our, this is what it would be. I don't think that's right.

We don't want to dilute. We don't want to dilute. All right.

And I appreciate that, but what I wanted, You know, what I wanted to explain was the various sections of the code that are being amended. For example, 2-884, membership on boards. The city commission waives the restriction by a four-fifths affirmative vote of its membership. That language already said four-fifths vote of its membership, so there you could not appoint a person with a... some sort of conflict, unless it's a unanimous vote of the quorum that exists because of either abstentions or vacancies. So, the next one, Education Advisory Board. What we're changing is city commission made by affirmative four-fifths vote Abolish the advisory committee at which time the powers and duties so it just said for this vote So there is it a forfeits vote of the Commission or is it a forfeits vote of the? members present or Appointed so there was there would be confusion anytime to dash 1106 comes into play and 2-1123, the same thing. Members of the full city commission. So arguably it would be four votes to appoint, to waive somebody's appointment to the Interfaith Advisory Council. 2-1272, Climate Resilience Committee. That currently requires four-fifths vote of the members of the full city commission. So you couldn't appoint somebody if you didn't have at least four members present and voting.

Let's make it simple. Sorry to interrupt you. Let's make it simple. Let's make it the commission because the buck stops here with us and we hold the purse springs to the taxpayer money. The buck stops with us and... the panels or the boards, committees, whatever you want to call it, that have executive authority, then do those too. Everybody else, it's just an advisory board, it's an advisory board, right? So that would be my suggestion.

And the only other thing I want to mention is, like you may recall, when you first took office, there was a question about the millage rate and what the minority was. That was governed by Florida statute, so our codes don't address that. So that's not being affected at all. This was just various sections of the code that had different definitions for what a four-fifths vote was, and we were simply trying to make it easier to interpret that. So what you're saying is as far as boards and committees, you're okay with the four-fifths?

As long as they're not at an executive level, right?

All right. We'll make those modifications.

So it sounds like we're going to defer this item for further work and clarification. That's a good idea. All right. Do you have a motion to defer?

Motion. Second.

George, you want to spend some time with this? We won't set a date now. We'll do indefinite, but we could bring it back earlier if you're ready. Yes?

Yeah, we could do it. Exactly. Okay.

Is that okay with you, Commissioner Escalona? Okay, he'll bring it back when he's ready. So we'll do indefinite deferral here, but if it's ready sooner than the six months, we'll bring it back when you're satisfied. Okay, all right, all in favor of a deferral?

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, so that item deferred. George, we didn't take up too much time. You have to go back to reading the first reading titles. Thank you.

FR1, first reading ordinance. An ordinance of the Miami City Commission amending Chapter 40, Article 3, Section 128 of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, titled Personnel, Civil Service Rules and Regulations, Grievances and Abuses Generally, to establish Section 40-128C, titled Whistleblower Complaint, to provide directions to persons desirous of a hearing before the board, pursuant to the Florida Whistleblower Act, containing a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date. First reading to fr2 first reading ordinance in ordinance the Miami City Commission amending chapter 62 article 13 division 7 of the code of the City of Miami Florida is amended entitled planning and zoning Planning and zoning approval for temporary uses and occupancies permit required reserved more particularly by amending division 7 to be titled temporary off-site commercial advertising on construction fencing to allow a pilot program for off-site commercial advertising signage on a temporary basis for certain situated construction site fencing within the City of Miami urban core containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date. FR3, first reading ordinance, an ordinance of the Miami City Commission with attachments Pursuant to Sections 163.353, 163.362, 163.410, and 163.387 Florida statutes amending Chapter 18, Article 7 of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended City Code titled Finance Redevelopment Trust Fund, more particularly by adding Sections 18-265 through 18-270 of the City Code to establish the Alapata Community Redevelopment Trust Fund for the Alapata Redevelopment Community Redevelopment Agency, Allapattah CRA, providing for the annual funding of said trust fund by each taxing authority that levies ad valorem taxes on taxable real property within that certain geographic area of the city known as Allapattah, generally bounded on the north by State Road 112, Airport Expressway, on the east by Interstate 95, and Northwest 7th Avenue on the south by Miami River and on the west by Northwest 19th Avenue, as more particularly described in Exhibit A, attached and incorporated redevelopment area. Determining and fixing the base year and the most recent assessment role for purposes of computing the tax increment, providing for an amount and time of the annual appropriation and for penalties and interest upon late payment, providing for the duration of the obligation to fund, providing for the administration, permitted expenditures, annual budget, year-end fund balance, reporting an annual independent audit of said trust fund, containing a servability clause providing for codification and providing for an effective date. FR 4, it was skipped. FR 5, first reading, an ordinance of the Miami City Commission authorizing deviations from the standards for temporary banners set forth in Chapter 62, Article 13, Division 8 of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, titled Planning and Zoning, Planning and Zoning Approval for Temporary Uses and Occupancies, Permit Required, Temporary Banners. For such permits issued within a portion of the downtown area for display and connection. with the release of grand theft auto 6 no sooner than october 15 2026 and no later than december 31 2026 establishing terms and conditions in order to regulate the activities for temporary banners providing for a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date fr6 first reading ordinance in ordinance of the miami city commission amending chapter 10 article 5 of the code of the city of miami florida is amended titled buildings code relief program more particularly by amending section 10-75 and 10-76 to reactivate the driveway amnesty program, which expired in 2024, and create a pilot program effective for one year with the option to renew for a further year, containing a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date. That concludes the first reading ordinances.

All right. Would anyone like to bifurcate any of the first reading items? I'd like to pull FR2 and FR5. All right, FR2 and FR5. Anyone else?

FR1.

I'm sorry, say that again?

FR1, sorry.

FR1. Okay, so we may as well take them one by one. Although I guess we have two that are going together. No one's pulled FR3 and FR6. Is that correct?

Yeah, motion.

So I could take a motion on both of those? Second. All right, and I am able to take FR3 in a block vote, correct?

Okay, I see the clerk nodding.

All right, I have a motion and a second on FR3 and FR6. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, show those passed unanimously. FR1, Commissioner Gabella.

Okay, so this is the board that we had spoken about this before, that they were taken off, and we kind of want to make this permanent. Is that correct?

Well, FR1 is the... the Civil Service Board brought forward an amendment to the code that basically changes provisions relating to whistleblower complaints. And the code allows a board to ask the manager to place an item on the agenda. However, the board hasn't really come forward and briefed any of you commissioners to explain the need for this change. We have a dispute with the Civil Service Board Council that The city of Miami has whistleblower protection in the code, and it has been found to be adequate by courts of competent jurisdiction. Our concern with this amendment is there may be unintended consequences, or it may make it more difficult for the city to defend these type of complaints. So we don't believe that this item... really needs to move forward. We reached out to the Civil Service Board Council and said, hey, please reach out to the elected officials and advocate for its passage. It's their ordinance. I don't want to basically kill it without their presentation. Nobody reached out, at least to my office, from them, I mean.

Yeah, so we didn't reach out, I guess.

And this has been on the agenda since November of 2025. Our position is either indefinitely deferred or just withdraw it. And if they feel compelled to bring this item forward, then they can renew the process and meet with you and that sort of thing. All right.

Motion to withdraw if nobody else.

Wait, I still had discussion on that. Okay.

Yeah, I just wanted to say that this is a community board. These are people. I'm not sure how strong or good the communication is.

This is a charter board in that they're elected by the union. There's two people appointed by the police and fire union, and then the city commission appoints the three other people.

Right, but when we discussed this, you had said that you did not have any direct communication with the board.

Well, we appear in front of the board every Tuesday.

Okay, I'm just concerned that we don't know why they want this, and yet we're making a motion on this. I'd be okay with indefinitely deferring it and just leave it out there, and that way they know that we haven't. Second.

Are you okay with an indefinite deferral, Commissioner? All right. We have a motion and a second on the table. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed, show that item deferred indefinitely. All right, FR2, I think Commissioner King, correct?

Yes, we've discussed this item quite a bit and my position hasn't changed. If this moves forward, it has to move forward with D5 being carved out. I just want to make sure that's on the record.

And I feel the same way with District 2.

Commissioners, I have some amendments I don't know if you would like to hear them. No, go ahead. Mr. Attorney, can you read the amendments?

Yes, sir. Basically, the requested amendments are, and these would be obviously amendments to the draft, but number one, a property may obtain a construction advertising license only once. The license shall expire one year after the date the first construction permit is issued for the property and may not be renewed or reissued for that property. That's number one. Number two, must be active construction site that is permitted and under construction for more than 50% of the property. Number three, limit size to advertising being no larger than 250 square feet per property or one square foot for every linear foot of frontage, whichever is smaller. Four, let any private property owner select whomever they want, but city should issue a license and take 40% of the revenue. I believe that's the elimination of the exclusivity. Number five, all permits should be posted in person at site and have a database where permits and dates are posted. And number six, violation of above causes you to lose license and property fine and and cause a property fine of the media operator at $1,000 per day. Those would be the amendments per District 3.

I'm just going to say again, D5 has to be carved out.

Yeah, you don't want to participate. Right. Yeah, can I speak? Okay.

Commissioner Gabella, please.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. So we have two main issues here, right? Number one, for me, For me, okay, this is a safety issue, okay, because often I see, you know, let me say this. I've been lobbied by both sides, okay, and I have friends that are on one side and people that I've known on the other side. But I got to do, you know, what I think is right for my district, okay? And here's the deal. Often you see these construction sites, which a lot is going on, you know, in your district down there, Yep, and in my district. And what do you see? You see a green mesh with a lot of holes in it with graffiti, and they're ugly, and they're unsafe. For me, when they came up to me and they presented this proposal, it makes sense. My people in District 1, with all due respect to everybody else, are more concerned with safety than what you guys call advertising pollution. OK, we're simple people that we just want the basics, you know, you know, and so we you know, when I put on my head here as a commissioner, these are some of the things that I keep in mind and why people voted for me to be in this position. OK, I think this is a good idea to maintain safety. OK, why not? If they're making money on it, you know, we're all capitalists. We're in the United States of America. You know, everybody has the right to, you know, to. I don't see the problem, the big deal, with the signage and the advertising, big deal. I speak for my people. I respect the others. Now, that's one issue, that people come here and, oh, because you're selling out to advertisers. No, I'm not selling out to advertisers. Safer is more important than light pollution. than advertising pollution. I think in the normal human being, the common folks would agree that safety is a little bit more important issue than you don't like to see in advertisement, okay? Then we have the second. So for me, number one is safety. And I think this is a good idea. And it also looks better. I prefer to see advertisement than graffiti and a hole and ugly stuff. That's me. You know what I mean? That's one. Then we got the other problem. The other problem is the exclusivity that they want for the year. And I expressed to that site that I had a problem with that. They also expressed to me that they had been at this for a while and it would only be fair for them to have the first year which I don't think is a lot, by the way. My friends on the other side might get mad at me, you know what I mean? But I understand that everybody here is protecting their turf, okay? Let's call it what it is, you know what I mean? But at the end of the day, I think that this is a good idea, okay? I thought of some things that, you know, I am also concerned with the The exclusivity idea on their part, the ones that are proposing this, because what's going to happen? Somebody's going to come and say, hey, what am I? You're just doing it with them. You know, why not us? And I don't want the city to get sued. You know, I'm always, you know, looking out for that. And I don't want to... Yes, we might win at the end of the day, but you know what? Meanwhile, we have to defend the lawsuit. We have to defend the lawsuit, and that's either going to cost us labor of our in-house guys at Georgia's department there, or we're going to have to outsource it, which meaning it'll probably cost us a lot more money. So that's my two concerns. I want to see it happen in my district. I welcome it, by the way. I think my people will welcome it. I respect you guys that don't want it. I understand why you're not doing it. I want to do it, but... You know, I want to do it in District 1. I don't even know it's feasible for them just to do it in one district, right? You know? But anyway, I'm for it. In my district, I will accept, you know, that you guys, the amendment that you guys are excluded out of their district. Now, the only thing I'm concerned about is the lineal feet on the amendment that you spoke about. Well, read it. George, say that one again. Okay. If we can't secure the whole area, then for me it doesn't work.

It says limit size of advertising no larger than 250 square feet per property or one square foot for every linear foot of frontage, whichever is smaller.

Okay, so you're again trying to curtail the... Commissioner Escalona, do you want to explain what you're visually imagining in that restriction?

I'm pretty much on the same page as Commissioner Gavella. I hate the mesh with all the graffiti. I see it all throughout my district. I would like this to happen as well. as amended, but if we have to do it in the whole property, because I understand your point, if we do it on one part, then we're going to have the mesh with graffiti on the other side. I'm okay to do it throughout the whole property. I'm okay with that.

Okay, so if he's okay with that, I'm okay with it. Now it's just the situation with the exclusivity thing, the lawsuit, and why yes them and why not anybody else? Do you have any thoughts on that? Well, I just...

As you said, exactly. You're completely right. So that's why I want it open for everybody. If it's a pilot program, everybody should be able to apply for it.

I agree.

All right. So I believe the amendments are.

Yes, go ahead. So you don't support the pilot program being exclusive for one year?

I don't because that's going to get us into a bind.

I see.

Nothing toward them and against them, but it's going to get us into a bind.

Okay.

Could we, George, could we run through each of the conditions again? The amendments? And like kind of, you know, just discuss them one by one.

So first and foremost, it will not, so the current boundaries of the Miami-Dade County's City of Miami Urban Core is the map. Excluded from that will be District 2 and District 5. So right off the top. Then the next changes are a property may obtain a construction advertising license only once. The license shall expire one year after the date the first construction permit is issued for the property and may not be renewed or reissued for that property. The second one is must be active construction site that is permitted and under construction for more than 50% of the property. The current legislation already talks about an active construction site, but what's new is for more than 50% of the property. The third one I struck out, which was the limit size to advertising being no larger than 250 square feet per property or one square foot for every linear foot of frontage. So we're removing that one for this discussion. Number four, let any private property owner select whomever they want. So that removes the exclusivity, but the city should issue a license and take 40% of the revenue. And then five, all permits should be posted in person at site and have a database where permits and dates are posted. And then six said violation of above causes you to lose license and property fine and media operator at 1,000 per day. I would recommend changing that to enforcement pursuant to Chapter 2, Article 10 of the City Code, which is our code enforcement mechanism, which, you know, talks about different penalties for tickets and different penalties for code enforcement violations.

I would do one more. I'd put one more in there if we can, and if you're in agreement with Escarona and Rosado, that, you know, since they were, and they spun their wheels at this, okay, maybe In the first year, they don't give us the 40%. Maybe they get a break of, let's say, 25%, 20%, you know, whatever you guys think is fair for their, you know.

I would like to keep it at 40 because I know they are going to make their money from that. You'd like to keep it at 40? I think that makes sense.

Okay, all right.

It's 40-60. All right.

All right. Okay, so I think we're ready.

Yeah, I just wanted to add here. On its face, when you read it, the way you guys have described it, feeling about it, I can also relate to that. But as I heard from more and more residents, and I think about the district, this is a district that is just going through an incredibly aggressive development cycle. If it's not noise, it's dust, it's... events happening at all hours that aren't being controlled or announced. They feel very much not thought of and not protected. And on top of the giant billboard and the other LED billboards and things that they have not weighed in on at all, I think people have made it very, very clear that they just do not want this in the neighborhood. That doesn't mean that if these work out in other districts in the pilot, And they see it and they're like, you know what? It's not as bad as I thought. But definitely District 2 isn't going to embrace this until the residents do.

I don't have a problem with it.

Okay, so shall I recap? Or George, do you want to recap? No District 2. It's one amendment. No District 5. Permitting only once. Everything in charge of active construction, 50% of the site. Any vendor can be used. City gets 40%. And you agree that you will change to the language that it just refers back to our code enforcement section.

All right. One question. So the exclusivity is out? That's out. That's out?

Yes.

Okay. Because it's a pilot program. I don't know that. You want 50 advertisers trying to buy for...

But that's why I wanted to give them less, you know, because they said to us... Sorry to interrupt you. They said to us, you know, we've been spinning our wheels. It was my dad's idea, their dad's idea, this and that. You know, and I think there's some legitimacy to that. However, they don't hold a patent on that, right? You know, it's a little bit different. But... You know, that's why I said, you know, instead of charging the 40, let them have 20 to 25% in the first year so this, what you're talking about is still worthwhile to them. And then thereafter, everybody, you know, it's open to everybody.

So as a pilot program, I don't think it's, I don't think it would be awful to have the exclusivity arm of it because it's a pilot program. We don't know if it's going to, We don't know if it's going to fail.

Yeah, I agree with that.

Again, you know, not in District 5. I'm clear about that. But when you have a pilot program, the startup, the doing what is proposed, it's a year. And then after that year, we see how the program work, doesn't work, and then maybe we say, yep, now we put it out because this is successful. or we put it in the can because it didn't work. But I think if you add the component of everyone being able to jump on this bandwagon, it gets even more confusing. So whatever my colleagues want, but...

Listen, if you guys are open to the risk, okay, or maybe, you know what, maybe you take out a bond, and if there is a lawsuit, you guys are going to have to defend the lawsuit in Denmark. Indemnify us the city. I don't know. I'm willing you know, I got to be fair in this in the exclusivity deal I kind of have a hard problem with that, but I understand the other side view at the point that you're making I Mean, I'm okay taking the exclusivity deal out and let them do it for a year Okay, but somebody has to indemnify us kind of you know, we have to be intended if there is a loss Yeah, Commissioner Escalona you have I would like to move it as amended So so for you in order to be yes, you need it to be a non-exclusive.

Okay, so I And quite frankly, there's not very many companies that can do this, right? You're probably talking about two or three. And you all have a head start because you've already been talking to people. So I have a pretty good feeling that .

OK. Any more discussion?

OK. So we have a motion as amended, as amended, as amended. Commissioner Gabella, would you like to move your item?

I'd like to move it. I still think he's correct. I still think Commissioner King is correct.

George, what's the likelihood if we pass and make it a pilot program and they have exclusive rights to operate the pilot program? We live in a litigious society, and every lawsuit brought before us doesn't mean that you're suing us doesn't mean that you're going to prevail. It's a pilot program.

Our concern is that just the fact that it's a pilot program doesn't change the procurement method. I would personally like to disabuse the commission of the notion that you can award exclusively to somebody for a year or two just because it's a pilot program. I think you've got competing issues with the procurement code and the state laws on procurement. I think that's a rabbit hole I don't want to jump down. I'm not saying that they will sue and they will win, but I'm just saying there's a potential, especially in this advertising environment where everybody is watching everybody do something and they're ready to jump in and sue.

All right, so I'm ready. I'm going with this one.

Okay. Okay. So, Commissioner Gabelli, you're moving your item with the amendment.

I'm moving my item with the exclusivity clause in there.

Okay, fantastic. And the exclusion of D2 and D5 and the others. All right, is there a second? Second. All right, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? So that item passed. Thank you. All right.

We'll show it as unanimous.

As amended. Thank you, sir. FR5.

I pulled FR5, and I pulled FR5 to share with my colleagues, because I know you don't know, that I had some concerns about, and I always say this wrong, Vice City? Did I get it right, Mr. Manager? Vice City. So the manager and I had some concerns about that, and I want to congratulate the operator for listening to our concerns, and taking Vice City away from the city of Miami and therefore I can support this item. But I just wanted to thank the manager and his team because we make a good team. And then our concerns were heard on that because this is happening, this is happening. a lot of education on this, this is a hugely popular video game, and Miami Beach is on board, Miami-Dade County is on board, and we are going to be able, through the advocacy of Commissioner Pardo, get proceeds from this GTA Grand Theft Auto for the Reverend Edward T. Graham Heritage Trail. So, and we were able to pull Vice City from Miami's collaterals. So that's a win for us, because there was a concern about the negative advertising of Grand Theft Auto. And it's all, but it is all over, and there are private owners, organizations, companies that can just supersede the city of Miami. So I think we came to a good compromise with this, and I will be supporting it.

Commissioner Pardo, you want to explain the change so everybody's very clear that I think we don't like being referred to as Vice City, and so there, you fixed this for us. Thank you.

Yeah, these banners, none of them, I think one of them or more might have said Vice City on them. That was taken away, but they're also... There aren't any revving cars. There aren't any guns. I mean, none of that appears in anything. I think it's really important that people know that these potentially five banners on buildings would have to be approved by the homeowners associations of the buildings. So we're not putting ourselves in the place of, so we don't know that we'll get five. If we do, I think it's 208,000 each. So it would be over a million dollars for the Edward T. Graham Heritage Trail. I think we ended up in a good place. Thank you. All right.

So would you like to move your item?

If I could just add something quickly as well. I appreciate the efforts also to remove Vice City. That was a cause of concern for me as well. And I appreciate the operator's willingness to work with the city. And I absolutely want to support the Graham Heritage Trail. So I'll be supporting this item as well.

Okay, Mr. Clerk, is there any need to change anything or read anything on this?

No, ma'am. All right. By the way, this will need to be a second reading for the next agenda. Okay.

So, Commissioner Pardo moves the item.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Fantastic. Show that up. All right. So, colleagues, it's 20 after 12. We could do boards and committees, and if you'd like to do the planning and zoning items... We might be able to get done by 1. What are your thoughts?

I'm OK with that. Mm-hmm.

OK. All right. So boards and committees, Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Chair. BC1, Accessibility Advisory Board. Commissioner Pardo would like to appoint Ashley Castillo.

Do we have a motion?

Motion.

Motion. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. So passed. Whoops.

If possible, we have some 5-5 term waivers, so if Commissioner Escalona is available before we proceed.

All right. Can someone run back? Okay. Thank you. Well, move us to things that don't need 5-5s, Todd. How about that?

Yes, ma'am. BC-2, Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. Commissioner King would like to be reappointed to the ex officio seat. and the following individuals were recommended for appointment by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Armando Caso, representing a for-profit provider of affordable housing, Pierre Rutledge, representing a person who works in essential services, Anthony Brandon Cook, representing a person actively engaged in banking, Ben Fernandez, representing employers within the city, and Annie Lord, representing an advocate for low-income persons in connection with affordable housing. And I'll take a motion.

Motion.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. So that item passed.

Just a moment. BC4, Bayfront Park Management Trust. Commissioner Pardo would like to reappoint Stephen Smith. Motion. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

So that item passed.

BC8, Education Advisory Board. Commissioner Pardo would like to appoint Margo Bartlett Orridge. Motion. Second.

All in favor? Yes, that's my cue. Aye. So that item passed.

BC-12, Historic and Environmental Preservation Board. Commissioner Rosado would like to reappoint John Perez to the architect seat designation and appoint Emilio Bustillo to the alternate seat designation. Commissioner King would like to appoint Alyssa Cepeda to the citizen seat designation.

Motion.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Motion passes.

BC 15, LGBTQ Advisory Board. Commissioner Rosado would like to appoint Lunas Ona.

Motion.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Show it passed.

Aye. BC 18, Off-Street Parking Board. The Off-Street Parking Board has selected Jamie Reyes and is requesting the commission's confirmations. I will also be submitting into the record a signed copy of the off-street parking board's resolution of Wendy Ms. Reyes for the record. Motion.

Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. So it passed.

DC 21, Virginia Key Advisory Board. Dade Heritage Trust is requesting confirmation of Larry Gautier, and Tropical Audubon Society is requesting confirmation of Lauren Janitis.

So moved.

Second. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Show it passed.

BC 23, Moonwood NRD1 Public Benefits Trust Fund Committee. Commissioner King would like to reappoint David Lerner to the District 5 seat and Albert Garcia to the at-large seat. Motion.

Second.

All in favor? Aye.

BC 5, Civil Service Board. Commissioner Rosado would like to reappoint Rafael Cabrera, who requires a 5-5 term waiver, to one of the at-large seats. Motion.

All in favor? Aye. Item passes.

BC 13, Housing and Commercial Loan Committee. City Manager Reyes would like to appoint Munera Daniel to represent a member from the city's administration. The Department of Housing and Community Development is recommending the following individuals for appointment. Armando Cazo, representing a for-profit provider of affordable housing. Anthony Brandon Cook, representing a not-for-profit provider of affordable housing. Kevin Deeb, with a 5-5 term waiver, representing a person engaged as a real estate professional. Ben Fernandez with a 5-5 term waiver representing employers within the city. Pierre Rutledge with a 5-5 term waiver representing a person who works in essential services. Gregory Gay with a 5-5 term waiver and a 4-5 employment waiver representing a person who resides within the city.

So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Item passes.

B.C. 14, Interfaith Advisory Council. Mayor Higgins would like to appoint Reverend Dr. Robert Jackson III as a voting member and Pastor Suzetta Anderson as a non-voting alternate member. Commissioner Rosado would like to appoint Father Elvis Gonzalez as a voting member, and City Manager Reyes would like to appoint Pastor Carl Johnson, who requires a four-fifths residency waiver, as a voting member.

So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Joe, item passes.

BC 17, Miami Tree Ordinance Advisory Committee. Commissioner Escalona would like to appoint Lindsay Corrales with a four-fifths residency waiver. Motion. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Item passes.

That concludes the boards and committees. Thank you, Chair.

All right, thank you. So, George, you want to take us through the planning and zoning? Do you need to read these items? No, right?

No, they don't have to be read, but we should set them up as individual appeals.

All right. So we'll start with PZ1.

PZ1. PZ1, just for the folks' edification, is... An appeal filed by El Prado LLC of the Historic Environmental Preservation Board, Resolution HEPBR 26031.

Commissioner Pardo, this is your district. So I'll let you take the lead on this. Thank you.

Okay, I'll go ahead and let them present.

Let me give a brief statement. I know a lot's happened. So this case and maybe some of the others will probably ultimately end up in another court or jurisdiction. So we need to allow the... the appellee and the appellant on the ability to make a record. This is a quasi-judicial hearing, which means you're sitting as a judge in this capacity. So the first thing I need to say, if anybody's met with any of the applicants in this, we would, if you have any Jennings disclosures because you met with either party, please make that now so we can establish that for the record. Any Jennings disclosures for this item, El Pardo? Okay, seeing none, hearing none. All right, we'll move forward. I just want to, I don't know if... I don't know if, is standing an issue in this case for either part? No, sir. No, okay. It's very, very brief. All right, and... Building Director, do you want to give a brief, just a brief statement as to what this issue is about? And then we'll let the appellee, the appellant go after you. So please give a brief statement of what this appeal is about.

George, if I may. This will be very brief. I think we've reached an agreement. Do you want to wave? Yeah. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor, Commissioners, Carlos Diaz with the office of the 333 Southeast 2nd Avenue. We're very happy to report that after months of meeting with the neighbors and the original appellant to the board, we've reached an agreement that's memorializing the conditions that we've passed out and we've put into the record. So our ask to the commission is that you uphold our appeal subject to those conditions. I believe Mr. Winker is here representing the other party. to confirm that they're in support of this as well, yes?

Yes, we were able to reach agreement. Thank you so much and appreciate everyone's hard work.

So motion to uphold the appeal with the new conditions.

Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Sorry. Mr. Clark.

So the motion again by Commissioner Pardo is to- Is to uphold this appeal along with the new conditions.

Well, let me just clarify with, it's to deny the appeal.

Uphold the appeal, right, because we're the appellant, so we need the appeal. We want the head board's decision to be overturned.

Right.

Yeah, so grant the appeal subject to the conditions.

Okay. Okay, so there is a motion to uphold the appeal with the new conditions. There's a second. Are you ready for me to take the vote? No, go ahead.

So, Mr. Secretary, you're good to go? Okay, and also we'll be amending to incorporate Exhibit A.