Ticket Appeal - Regular Meeting

be placed under oath, including the code enforcement inspector. The code enforcement inspector and each alleged violator will be placed under oath. But first, please rise and join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and then remain standing in order to be placed under oath. Please remain standing so that you can be sworn in.

Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. You may have a seat.

I have a few opening remarks before we actually start. Oh, okay. Okay. I'm okay if you call this one first, okay? 31? So then we'll do that one first, and then we'll do this one. As I was saying, I have a few opening remarks before we actually start the official hearing. Please pay attention to these remarks. These hearings are conducted by the City of Miami Hearing Officer, which I've been appointed to hear today, the purpose of which are to give the alleged violators the opportunity to appeal the decision of the code enforcement inspector, which resulted in the issuance of a civil violation notice. These hearings are conducted in a quasi-judicial manner, and I am the hearing officer assigned to hear today's cases. My responsibility is to act much like a judge in court, that is, to hear the evidence in cases presented by the code enforcement inspectors and then hear the evidence presented by the alleged violators. These hearings are open to the public. These hearings will not be conducted in accordance with the formal rules relating to evidence and witnesses. Any relevant evidence will be admitted if I find it to be competent and reliable, regardless of the existence of any common law statutory law to the contrary. All documentary evidence must be submitted for placement in the hearing file. No documentary evidence will be considered unless the alleged violator or the code enforcement inspector submits a copy for the hearing file. Each party shall have the right to call and examine witnesses, to introduce exhibits, to cross-examine opposing witnesses on any matter relevant to the issues even though that matter was not considered in the direct examination. You will have a right to impeach any witness regardless of which party first called the witness to testify and to rebuke the evidence against any witness. It is my responsibility to make findings of fact based on the evidence of record. fact-finding determinations of the hearing officer are limited to two. First, whether the violation did occur, and secondly, if so, whether the person named in the civil violation can be held responsible for that violation. In order to make a finding upholding the code enforcement's decision, I must find that a preponderance of the evidence indicates that that the alleged name violator was responsible for the violation of the relevant section of the code as charged. If I affirm the decision of the code enforcement inspector, my order will specify the amount of the civil penalty and the amount of administrative costs of the hearing. The alleged violator or the city of Miami may seek to overturn the order of the hearing officer by appealing the order to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court Appellate Division within 30 days of the issuance of the order by the hearing officer. After the code enforcement inspector has presented his or her case, and you have presented your case, I will consider the evidence and render a decision. This concludes my opening remarks. We will now commence with the proceedings. The clerk will now introduce the first item on the agenda.

Page 31, property address 774 Northwest 32nd Street.

Right up to the podium. And if you need to lower the microphone, you can do that too.

I'm talking on behalf of my mother because she doesn't speak English. It's her property.

Do you want to give her a mic? Do we have a mic or no? Okay. Okay. She doesn't have to sit up. She doesn't have to stand up.

Can you ask? Ask her if she wants you to speak for her. And her name?

Rosaura.

Whole name. Rosaura Ortiz. Okay, Miss Ortiz. Okay. Sir, can you state your name, please?

Jose Santos.

Okay. And your relationship to Ms. Ortiz? My mother. Okay. And what's your mother's address?

774 Northwest 32nd Street.

Okay. Mr. Santos, it appears that your mother's property located... Whoever made this packet, it's backwards again. Yeah, but I'm trying to, where is... Your mother's property at 774 Northwest 32nd Street was cited by the city of Miami for dumping littering on right-of-way alley sidewalks or on private property. It appears that the violation was complied back on December 22nd, 2025, but the amount of the citation remained unpaid. You had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning and your mother wishes to settle this matter with the city, is that correct? Yes. And after speaking to the city, your mother has agreed to settle this matter for $150, is that right?

Yes.

And did she freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement with the city? Yes. Then based on your statement today, I will sign an order settling this matter for $150. Thank you. And if you come forward, you can get a copy of the order and maybe she, can she sign that? Mr. Lee. Is it okay if he signs? Yes. Yeah, that's fine.

Page 51, property address 50 Southwest 17th Road, case number 00149283. Property address 50 Southwest 17th Road, page 51. Sir, can you step to the other side?

Good morning, sir.

Good morning.

Could you please state your name and address for the record?

Yes, I am Lipsker, 50 Southwest 17th Road, Miami, Florida, 33129. I'm the president of Shul Downtown Inc. President? Yes.

Okay, thank you. It appears that the property located at 50 Southwest 17th Road, which has a business occupying that location, the Shul of Downtown Inc., was cited by the city of Miami for tree removal and Trimming root pruning without a permit. You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding this matter, and you wish to settle it, is that correct?

It is correct, but for the record, I had a permit.

You have a permit?

I had a demo permit, and my demo permit plan is the tree removal, number three, is specifically right over here, and it says- If he wants to have his hearing, he can.

I don't want to have my- That's not what it says. I've tried to explain that to him, but I'm more than happy to have his hearing. He had a demolition permit, but he did not have a tree removal permit as part of that. That's part of his later mitigation. And in their new construction permit, they actually have the tree mitigation that they will be removing trees. They just removed this one early.

And that is true, everything that you said. But in the demo permit, it was placed there. It was a mistake that was made by the city of Miami.

It is not a mistake that the city made. There is no mistake here.

So if we'd like his trial... Sir, it's up to you. You have a right to go to trial.

I just want it for the record. For the record. Is there no mistake on this? It doesn't say number three to be removed?

There is no mistake on it. By it saying number three to be removed does not mean that you get to remove it in the demolition permit. In fact, in all of the language I showed you, it stated specifically as part of your demolition permit, no trees were to be removed. Your own arborist report says the tree shall remain. You have to have a separate tree permit to remove a tree during demolition, which you were not aware of.

Did you get it? I understand that you pulled a permit for demolition.

Correct.

And you're claiming that it shows it on the plan. And as a result, you believe that it was covered within that.

Not only that, it shows all the other trees and all the other trees to be moved or mitigated. But this specific tree, it shows to be removed. And this specific tree has its own box that says existing trees to be removed. Number three. But I'm not going to argue with the attorney because, like you said, I didn't have a tree permit with my demo permit, but it was.

That's what I was going to ask you. You didn't have the permit for the tree removal?

I had the demo permit, and the tree removal is part of the demo permit.

It is not part of it. Okay. I just don't know what else to say.

I'm not arguing with her, but it's a mistake for the city of Miami here.

Well, I understand you're saying that. I can hear all the facts if you want. This is your opportunity. Not right now, though, because I'm going through the settlements. If you don't want to settle this and you want to tell me all the facts, but it appears that you need a permit, a tree removal permit. And so you're going to have to get a tree removal permit. Do you understand that? All right. All right. But I need to ask you these questions. So if you don't want to settle, it's fine. You don't have to. I don't want you to feel as though you're being strong-armed here. If you want to have a trial, I'm more than happy at the end, which shouldn't be too long because there aren't that many people here.

I'd like to have a trial.

You'd like to have a trial? There is one before him. Okay.

Page 49, property address 729 Northwest 55th Terrace, case number 00151226, property address 729 Northwest 55th Terrace, page 49.

Good morning, ma'am. Good morning. Could you please state your name and address for the record?

I'm sorry, your record, my name? Your name? Nigat Naseer.

Okay, and what is your relationship to North 729 LLC?

I'm the manager and the owner of the property. We verified that, Ms. Dooley? Owner.

Yes, she is.

Thank you. And your address? The property address is 729 Northwest 55 Terrace, Miami.

Okay. It appears that your property located at 729 Northwest 55th Terrace was cited by the city of Miami for tree removal, trimming, root pruning without a required permit. You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding this matter, and you wish to settle it with the city?

Thank you for giving me opportunity. I'd like to settle, but I need to explain a few words to let you know what was the reason. Okay. And it was an honest mistake, but there was two trees. One was umbrella, which is prohibited species. Okay. And the second one is a sapadilla, and the roots were going under the building, but still we didn't know we were the first-time owner. And we are replacing six more trees because we are working on that building in city department, the other building in 2nd Avenue, and we are pulling permit for everything. And the lady explained to us, you must plant six more trees. And she gave us all the pacification, and we are working on it. So I think this fine should be forgiven because of me not knowing and then obeying the law by planting six more trees.

Okay. As was explained earlier, there's a saying in the law that ignorance of the law is no excuse. So basically, even though you didn't know, that doesn't mean that you get out of jail free card. Okay? The violation... occurred. And do you want to settle this or you want to go to trial? You want to settle it?

No, no, I want to settle it.

Okay. No reason. And you've had an opportunity to speak with the city today. And after talking to the city, you agreed to pay $1,000. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement? I'm sorry? Did you... Did anybody make you settle this or you're doing this because you want to?

No, me and my son, we decided to settle it so we can go forward. Okay.

All right. Then based on your statements today, I'm going to sign an order settling this matter for $1,000. Okay. Thank you. And if you come forward, you can get a copy of the signed order. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Page 63, property address 580 Northwest 42nd Street, case number 00150571, property address 580 Northwest 42nd Street, page 63. Good morning.

Could you state your name and address for the record, please? Victoria Silagi, 580 Northwest 42nd Street.

And what is your relationship to YOLO Miami Ventures LLC? She's one of the owners. Okay.

Okay.

It appears that your property located at 580 Northwest 42nd Street was cited by the city of Miami for failure to obtain a permit to trim, remove, or plant vegetation in the public right of way. The city cited you for that violation. You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning, and you wish to settle the matter. Is that correct?

Yes, I would like to settle it. It was just like the lady in front of me. It was an honest mistake. For some reason, I thought if it's under 25% that we're pruning, we don't need any permits, but lesson learned. It won't happen again. Honest mistake. I would like to settle it and move forward.

Okay. And did you freely and voluntarily enter into a settlement with the city to settle it for $100? Yes. Okay, then based on your statements this morning, I'm going to sign an order settling this matter for $100. Thank you very much. Thank you. Come forward, you can get a copy of the signed order.

Page 15, property address 2980 West Trade Avenue, case number 00150231, property address 29080 West Trade Avenue, page 15.

Good morning, sir.

Good morning.

Could you state your name and address for the record, please?

Louis Stelbarello, 2980 West Trade Avenue, Coconut Grove, Florida, 33133.

It appears that your property located at 2980 West Trade Avenue was cited by the city of Miami for dumping littering on right-of-way alleys, sidewalks, or on private property. That violation was complied back on December 18th of 2025, but the civil citation remained unpaid. You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding the payment of the citation. And after talking to the city, you wish to settle this matter. Is that correct?

That's correct. But I'd like to make a quick statement if I could.

Sure.

Okay. I know ignorance of the law is no excuse to break it. I've lived there over 30 years. I put two broken down Amazon boxes on the corner to be removed in the trash area. It costs $525 for that mistake. I'm a senior citizen. I find that that's very excessive for what I'm being charged for. And I just want to make that clear. I just, I've lived here over 30 years. I've never, never.

I understand, but this may also teach you a lesson. And I'm going to tell you what that lesson is. You should remove any identifying marks on the boxes. I will tell you, I've heard cases numerous times, and you don't know how many times garbage or debris ends up at somebody else's property, blocks away, but could have your address on it.

I have four photographs over the last four weeks of boxes and trash in the same spot that I was cited for. And I'm sure those other people weren't cited. And the labels are clearly on the box.

You know what? You can call code. They can let you know. No, seriously. If you have the photos, because... And part of the problem also is that once the neighborhood sees debris in a certain location... they think that it's okay to keep putting the debris there. And that's the problem. It's almost like making a mountain out of a molehill. And the more it grows, the more problem it becomes. But I understand you've spoken to the city today regarding settling this matter. And after speaking to the city, you've agreed to settle it for $250, not the 525. Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay. Did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement?

Yes.

Okay. And based on your statement today, I'm going to sign an order settling this matter for $250. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. And if you come forward, you can get a copy of the signed order. Is this $750 or $250?

Page 10, property address 1055 Northwest 61st Street, case number 00149349. Page 10, property address 1055 Northwest 61st Street.

Good morning, sir. Good morning. Could you please state your name and address for the record? Thank you, Mr. Howard. It appears that your property located at 1055 Northwest 61st Street was cited by the city of Miami for dumping littering on right-of-way alleys, sidewalks, or on private property. The area was cleaned up back on January 30th of 2026, but the civil citation remained unpaid. You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding this matter and And you wish to settle it with the city, is that correct? And after speaking to the city, you've agreed to pay $250 to settle this matter? Yes. Did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement with the city? And based on your statements this morning, I'm going to sign an order settling this matter for $250. Thank you, and if you come forward, you can get a copy of the signed order.

Page 8, property address 724 Northwest 47th Terrace, case number 00149247, property address 749 Northwest 47th Terrace, page 8.

Good morning, sir. Good morning. Could you please state your name and address for the record?

Yes, my name is Carlos Hicher, 724 Northwest 47th Terrace.

Okay, and what is your relationship to HM Development Group LLC?

I'm the owner of the company.

Okay. It appears that your property located at 724 Northwest 47th Terrace was cited by the city of Miami for tree removal, trimming, root pruning without a required permit.

Yes.

You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding settlement. Is that correct?

That's right.

And after speaking to the city, you've agreed to pay $500 to settle this matter. Is that right?

Yes.

And did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement with the city? Yes. Then based on your statements this morning, I'm going to sign an order settling this matter for $550. Thank you. And if you come forward, you can get a copy of the signed order.

Page 46, property address 1327 Northwest 33rd Street. Case number 00090821. Page 46, property address 1327 Northwest 33rd Street.

Good morning, sir. Good morning. Could you please state your name and address for the record?

Sure. Jesus Rivero, 1327 Northwest 33rd Street, Miami, Florida, 33142. I'm here for my father.

Okay, do you have a proper power of attorney?

Yeah, we cleared that.

Okay, let me just, Mr. Lee, he has, okay. It appears that your father's address at 1327 Northwest 33rd Street was cited by the city of Miami for dumping littering on right-of-way alley sidewalks on private property. The area was cleaned up back in August of 2024. That's correct. But the civil citation remained unpaid. You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding settling this matter. Is that correct?

Yes. I'm sorry. You're going.

Okay. And after speaking to the city, you've agreed to settle it for $250. Is that right?

Yes.

And did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement with the city?

Yes.

Okay. Is there something that you would like to say?

Yeah. The dumping was there, but that's a tenant house where people live. But, you know, people work in construction, and somebody dumped, I guess, one of those paint buckets, and that's probably what occurred on that situation. But it's no problem.

Okay.

Just like you said, we have to be the law, but sometimes it's out of our control, you know.

No, I understand that. But, you know, it may help to put cameras up. I don't know. I mean, you own the property, so ultimately you're responsible. But cameras have come down. The costs of cameras have come down in the last few years. And if there is illegal dumping there, if it's, you know, obviously if it's one of your tenants, then you need to talk to your tenant and tell them.

Well, we got rid of that one.

Okay. And I understand that it was a while ago. It was like a year and a half ago.

Correct, correct, correct.

I understand. But for some reason, it took this long for it to get calendar for today.

Right, right.

Okay. But based on your statements today, I'm going to sign an order settling this matter for $250. Thank you.

I think there was another one. I don't know if you took care of both of them. There's another one, too, there.

I see that there's a second one. No, this was the first one. There is a second one on page 46. Is it that one also you spoke to the city? Yeah, the same thing. Okay.

Let me just want to read that into the record. Page 46.

That was 43.

There's a 46 as well.

Was that 46?

No, we're going to read 46. I think we just read, I'm sorry, we read 46 and then 43 is the next one.

Page 43, property address 1327 Northwest 33rd Street, case number 0093846. Okay. Again, name and address?

Jesus Rivera, 1327 Northwest 33rd Street.

Okay, it appears that your father's property at 1327 Northwest 33rd Street was cited for also dumping littering on right-of-ways, alleys, sidewalks, or on private property. That area was cleaned up back in June 21st of 2024. Correct. But the civil citation remained unpaid. You had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding settling this matter. Is that correct?

Yes, ma'am.

And after speaking to the city, You've agreed to settle it for $250. Is that right? That's correct. And did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement with the city?

Yes.

Okay, then based on your testimony this morning, I'm going to settle this matter for $250. Thank you. Thank you. And if you come forward, you can get a copy of both orders.

Page 17, property address 5116 Northwest 3rd Avenue, case number 00150394, property address 5116 Northwest 3rd Avenue, page 17.

Good morning, ma'am. Good morning. Could you state your name and address for the record, please? I'm sorry? Your name and address for the record. Evie Fuentes, 5116 Northwest 3rd Avenue.

She has a proper power of attorney.

Okay, very good. It appears that the property located at 5116 Northwest 3rd Avenue was cited by the city of Miami for tree removal, trimming, root pruning without a required permit.

Correct.

You've had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding settling this matter, is that correct? Yes. And after speaking to the city, you've agreed to settle it for $750, is that right? That's correct. And- Did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement with the city? Yes. Then based on your testimony this morning, I will enter an order settling this matter for $750. Okay, thank you. And if you come forward, you can get a copy of the signed order.

Okay, thank you.

Page 60, property address 2200 Tigertail Avenue, case number 00151562, property address 2200 Tigertail Avenue, page 60.

Good morning, sir. Good morning. Could you please state your name and address for the record?

Yes, Ernesto Rangel, 2200 Tigertail Avenue.

You're Ernesto Rangel? Mr. Rangel, it appears that your property that you own at 2200 Tigertail Avenue was sited by the city of Miami. for dumping littering on right-of-way alley sidewalks on private property. The area was cleaned up back on January 8th of 2026, but the civil citation remained unpaid. You had an opportunity to speak with the city this morning regarding settling this matter. Is that correct?

Yes.

And after speaking with the city, you've agreed to settle it for $250. Is that right?

Yes.

And did you freely and voluntarily enter into that agreement with the city?

Yes.

Okay, then based on your statements this morning, I'm going to sign an order settling this matter for $250, okay? Yes. Thank you. If you come forward, you can get a copy of the signed order. I don't know if they're talking there or what. There you are.

Thank you.

Sorry, we just have to fix the file uploaded.

That's all, but she has the authority, so I guess we can call page 51, case number 149283, address 50 Southwest 17th Road.

I'm going to give you one last chance. Do you want to settle this or do you want to go to trial? It's your call. I just want to make sure that you understand you do not have to settle this case. You have a right to go to trial if you want.

I want to settle because I don't want to fight. But what the city attorney is showing is incorrect. I want to be on the record that I did nothing wrong. And the arborist report that she's showing is an old arborist report. It's not the newest arborist report. The tree was considered dead. The city came out there and they said, get an arborist report that shows the city is dead. It's in the file. My architect just sent it to me.

And so this is all after the fact.

This is not after the fact. It is not after the fact. This arborist report is from June, July 24th, 2024. Right, but you still... And I am paying the city because they then came, because the park across the street came screaming, I'm paying the city a $6,000 donation to their tree fund, and I'm replacing this tree with two additional trees, all because they said they would have never done it, but they made a mistake on our plan. And it's in our mitigation plan. I already agreed to make this payment, and so this is an unfair payment, and what she's saying is incorrect. It was never told to us not to be removed. It's in our plan to be removed in our arborist report, which is the updated one that she's not showing, shows to be removed.

I don't have an updated report. Then you need to get the updated one because it's in the plan. If you would like to provide that, and I can go back and we can reset this, and if that's true...

I don't have time to reset this.

Wait, wait, wait. Let's take a five-minute recess. Go show her what you have here.

Excuse me. So the Irish report he has hasn't been submitted to the city.

We're on a recess, five-minute recess.

Can. So it's up to you. I'll even use yours. From the day before.

What day before?

This was from October 24th. Yours says October 25th.

Mine says July 24th. No, no, no.

When it's approved. The approved, not submissions.

I don't know when it was. Again, I'm not an architect. I don't know when it was submitted. I know that the city came out. They looked at the tree. They said this one is dead. It had this dead stuff inside of it. It says get your arborist to update the report. The arborist updated the report. The city approved the arborist report. and the city put in our demo permit the one tree to be removed. Now, there is language on the demo permit that would agree with you, and there is language that would agree with me. So therefore, the city said, you made a mistake, not us. You're going to pay $6,000 and replace it with two trees. I think that's enough of a punishment than not to get a fine for the city's mistake on our permit.

You needed to pull an extra tree permit, but I don't know. How much is the citation? It's $500.

By the way, I was happy to pay $250. I just wanted to go on record that that arborist report is an old report. They never told us not to remove it because I don't do things that shouldn't be done. I removed it when the city told us to remove it in the arborist report and on the demo permit. And that's what my architect told me to do. It's the one thing that's on the demo permit that shows to be removed. Okay.

Have you pulled a permit for the tree?

We're in mitigation.

Yes, he is doing his after-the-fact mitigation already for this issue. Okay.

No, no, no. This issue was in the mitigation of the entire permit.

On the new construction permit.

It's a new construction permit. This is a house that we demoed, and we're building two new homes. And these two new homes have a mitigation plan. And in that mitigation plan, it included this plan. Now I'm getting penalized because I removed the tree without a permit. $6,000.

What's the plan number on that permit that you have?

On the Arbor's report?

Yeah, yeah. The top corner.

DD what? 23009100001.

Okay.

So that is the same as the demo permit?

Yes.

So the arborist report matches the demo permit? Yeah. But there's a park across the street from us, and they call screaming, and when I showed this at the time to co-compliance, he says, you're right, but maybe you're not right, but there's a mistake, so go to the appeal.

So here I am.

But I'm paying $6,000, I'm replacing two trees, there's a mistake by the city of Miami, and I'm putting that on record. However you want to find me, it's fine.

Okay. But the question is, did you want to settle it, or don't you want to settle it?

Well, we're here.

I understand we're here.

Okay, I spent the time this morning standing here. I'll go to trial. I don't want to settle it. I think a $6,000 donation to the city tree fund with two new additional trees as they're penalizing me for removing this tree even after it was in the demo permit with their mistake and my mistake.

But the bottom line is you had no permit to remove this tree, correct?

I had a demo permit. It's included on here.

Wow. That's like people pulling a master permit and thinking that they don't need anything else because they have a master. I'm just saying that they don't need mechanical, they don't need engineering, they don't need plumbing because they have a master permit.

Well, I agree with you and it's true, but you'll see it says all mitigation will be done later on besides one tree. So it says mitigation tree scheduled to be replaced, but there's one tree that's singled out on this permit. There's one tree that's singled out on this permit to be removed.

Why don't we pass this? I'm going to have Mr. Jimenez, Inspector Jimenez, review this plan to see what it says.

Okay.

Because I think that's only fair.

Okay. All right. We're going to call. We have one more other case.

Move away.

There's a mistake both ways?

Sir, we're going to call something else up. Stephen, please. Elsewhere.

Elsewhere. Okay, this one's going to trial.

Okay. Did you, were you sworn in? Okay, you can pull the mic down a little bit. Huh? Right here.

Oh, okay. Inspector Perkins, come on up. Wait a minute. What page? All right, this is going to be page 39, address 7714 Northeast First Court.

Appearances, could you just state your name and address, please?

I need Pierre Louis, 1021 Northwest 23rd Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33311.

Okay, and your relationship?

He's my father, George Pierre Louis.

Okay, and you have a proper power of attorney? Yes.

She has a durable power of attorney, yes. All right, Inspector, can you please state your name for the record?

Inspector Zastrow Perkins.

Did you cite the aforementioned property on December 3rd of 2025, and sorry for the mix-up earlier on the other case, for a violation of 22-6 of the city code for having dumping or littering outside on the public rights of way and swale area. Is that correct?

Yes.

All right. And you issued this ticket, which actually shows the file was created today, February 19th. So this ticket was issued and mailed, certified, and posted at the door of the owner. Is that correct?

Yes.

All right. And then we have a proof of your affidavit of posting. And then we had the summons for today's hearing. That was also posted and sent certified mail. Is that correct?

Yes.

And here's your affidavit. Here we have the appeal. Do you need me to make that bigger? Is that better? On page nine, we have the appeal.

Okay, I'll just read into the records. But the appeal is, the appeal is, while decluttering, the code enforcement officer came by and cited for dumping on public right-of-way, which is several feet from the property line. The officer said that he would give three days to remove the items. They were removed immediately, but he still gave a citation. All right. Okay. And then... Wait, was there a little more there?

No, I don't think so. Yeah, no, just her name. Got it. Okay. Sorry. And then, Inspector, the next following are the photographs that you took, is that correct? Yes. I know they're in black and white. This is how they got uploaded. On page 11, is this what is outside the property line?

Yes. Okay.

And this is on the sidewalk area, swell area?

Sidewalk, swell area.

Okay. That abuts the house? That's the house. Is this the house behind it?

That is like the dead end. The house is to the west. It's directly right in front of the house. Outside of it. Right outside the gate.

This is the house gate?

Correct.

That's the front door. This is the garbage. Is that correct?

Correct.

The photos accurately and fairly depict what you saw when you were there on the...

December 3rd, right?

I guess that was December 3rd of 2025? Yes.

Okay.

And these are copies of all your postings, yes?

Yes.

And then we go back to the citation on page one. To avoid further action, meaning before the Code Enforcement Board, you provided the business days of... Three days, is that correct?

Correct.

So that ends up being 12-8 of 2025, so that no further action would be taken, is that correct?

That is correct. All right.

But as of 12-3, there was the junk in front of the property. That's a violation of the city code, is that correct?

That's correct.

All right.

At this time, the city seeks to admit pages 1 through 18 into evidence. Okay. Have you had an opportunity, ma'am, to look at all these documents? Yes.

Can you? Yeah, I can make them as big as you want. You need to go closer?

A little bit more, please. Okay.

What else would you like? The whole thing? You want me to do all of it? No, no.

I just wanted to look at the deadline for compliance to avoid further action. Right. The date.

Okay. Okay.

So the city would seek to admit the one through 18. Do you have any objection to me considering these documents?

Um, the, when I reached out to the inspector about the citation, I didn't know that there was a citation until I got it in the mail. And I just happened to be in the area three days after. So on the sixth and I took pictures of the area, not great ones, but I just took pictures and the, trash was gone so I asked him you know what the tenant told me was he saw him decluttering and told him he had three days to remove the debris and he removed it immediately and when I told him what the tenant told me I asked him would I still have to appeal because before I even knew there was a citation the stuff was gone when I came by so he said that I would have to I asked if I had to pay the fine He said I had an option to appeal, which is why I'm here. Okay.

But it appears that on December 3rd of 2025, the stuff was put out there. It's almost like, I don't know if you were here at the beginning when Ms. Dooley was talking about speeding. You know, if you go over the speed limit, you violated the law, even though you've slowed down.

Okay.

Okay. it appears that these items were there on December 3rd. So it was illegal dumping in the public right-of-way.

So I guess my question is, why was he given the option to remove it if he's still going to get cited for it?

Because there could be further repercussions from having the items there. So for instance, What it says is if he doesn't remove it within three days, there could be more penalties and more fines. But the citation is a citation. The citation was for $525. Okay. Okay. So it appears that these items were there that day. Mm-hmm. Okay. Did you have an opportunity to speak with the inspector at all? Via email. No. Okay. The traffic was bad.

She came in a little bit later today. I think you made it just, you were sworn in, yes? Right. Yeah, she came in right then.

Okay.

She missed the first part. Okay.

You had an opportunity to resolve this with the city. You didn't want to do this?

I was under the impression that if I came to appeal that the fine would be dropped, which was why I chose to appeal. I had no idea that if I appealed that I would be appealing for a lesser fine. So me settling was kind of me admitting that, okay, the trash was removed in the timeframe that it was removed, but not understanding that there was still a fine associated with it. Okay. If possible, I would like to settle.

Okay. All right. Because you came in a few minutes late, and... maybe because you did not understand that the violation is the violation. I'm going to find that the violation did occur because the pictures clearly show that it occurred. And by your own testimony, your tenant said that they put the stuff out there. And that the violation is affirmed and the amount of the penalty, I'm gonna put that settled for $250. And no administrative costs and no prosecution costs, okay? Thank you. All right, and please, when you own the property, you have to make sure that your tenants understand that if anything goes wrong at that property, code wise, you are ultimately responsible, even if they've done it. So you need to let them know that they can't. And I'm gonna tell you, this gentleman over here could be one of your new best friends. Make sure that you stay in contact with him, okay? He will explain things to you. And I think that I wasn't there, but I'm sure what he was telling you was, Two things. Number one, if you come to appeal it, you had an opportunity to resolve it with the city. That's number one. And number two, that if you hadn't removed it within the three business days, there would have been further fines because the properties remained in that condition. So he was trying to help you to say, you got the ticket for this amount, but if you leave it here longer than three business days, you're going to have more fines. Okay? Okay. All right. If you come forward, I'll give you a copy of the signed order. Thank you.

Thank you.

maybe she can read the cases of the new shows or do you do that or she You need this? This is just a copy, right? Page what, four? Okay. Do you want to just read that into the file, into the record, please? And then we just have that other one to go. Oh, and the voids you have to read, too. Yeah, there are two voids. Yeah, I have two voids. I have page 12.

Page 4. Property address 340 Northeast 61st Street. Case number 00141095. It's a no-show. We had... Page 4. That was after... Then on page 12, we had a void. Property address, 1146 Southwest 22nd Terrace. Case number 00134879. And page 58 was another void. Property address, 811 Northeast 74th Street. Case number 00151082. Page 58, avoid.

Okay.

And that's all I had.

All right, that was a new one? Okay.

And then we have page 51, the School of Downtown, Inc.

So I think it's that he just wants to do the 250 and respectfully agree to disagree? Is that what it is?

Well, it was agreed that we both agree.

From my end, never going to happen. But we can agree to disagree. You're not going to agree that the evidence that you had was... No, I'm going to tell you I respectfully disagree with you. Okay. We can agree to disagree.

Okay, we can agree to disagree. Okay. I agree to disagree. Okay. So does the code officer. He also brought you the wrong evidence because it's possible whoever did the review didn't remove the old Arborist report. In the old arbors report, it says not to be removed. But in the new arbors report, it says to be removed. It's in the demo permit. The demo permit did not require public works. It was part of the environmental

And that is again, that is not correct. You would be required. This is a tree that's in the public right of way. A demo permit alone doesn't cause I agree to respectfully disagree with you. So if you just want to close it out, we can, but if you keep bringing stuff up, I am literally going to have to keep saying why I don't agree with you, but I do respectfully disagree with you.

Okay. All right. You do agree that when I walked in here, you told me that you were told not to remove the, and you went and removed it anyways. That you will agree that.

I was agreed what? No.

All right, sir.

Yes. I'll pay the $250.

What's the original amount of the fine?

It was $500. I'm paying $6,000 to the city for a mistake that they made on our plans because they're saying that I didn't have a tree permit during the demo permit process, even though it's on my demo permit plans, and replacing it with two trees. So they penalized me twice. But nevertheless... This is what they caused. And you're going to... And they have an environmental report that's outdated that they brought as evidence instead of the new updated environmental report that says a tree was sick to be removed. Approved by the city of Miami.

Okay.

Is that correct?

There are three different arborist reports that you have submitted.

Yes. And the latest one would be the one that would be the most approved.

I'm not really... Going back with the snarkiness. It's not going to happen. Okay.

Are you going to agree to disagree?

I agree to disagree.

Okay. This case involves removal of a tree where a permit was required. Okay. And it sounds like you're doing the right thing now. You're going to get it after the fact permit. Because you're going to get the after the fact permit. You understand that. And you've replaced it, I guess, with a total of eight trees altogether on the property. You've paid a mitigation fine, but that still doesn't remove the fact that you needed originally a permit to remove this tree. I understand that you were mistaken and the city may have not clearly stated that you needed a permit, but it appears that you did. But you've spoken with the city. You had a $525 citation. ticket. You spoke to the city and the city has offered to settle this matter with you this morning for $250. Is that correct?

Yes.

All right. This is the main question that I need to get an answer to. Did you freely and voluntarily agree to settle this matter for $250? Yes. All right. And based on that, I will enter an order settling this matter for $250. Thank you. Thank you. This concludes the hearing of February 19th, 2026.

The most important thing for my two actions that I do is to pollute in Miami and to act against people there. The Move Over Law was originally enacted to protect first responders and service workers that were providing critical services on our roadways.