Remarks by Alex J. Fernandez
292 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 8 of 12
- Play at 1:41:43
“Yes, absolutely Commissioner Mattel Salinas Thank You mr.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:45:45
“And I completely agree with you, Commissioner Bond. In fact, one of the recent recommendations was the expansion of the commercial lease subsidy program that we have in South Beach to cover also areas in North Beach within the CRA. And we have an item coming. to next week's city commission meeting regarding that. And in addition to that, there's still gonna be a board of directors for the North Beach CRA, so all that we're going to be doing is we're going to be, if we sunset them, we're gonna be silencing the voice of the stakeholders But the board of directors, which is the city commission,…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:47:32
“So perhaps identify those that it might be prudent to have some members instead of 14. The one thing I would also say, you know, and this is staff's recommendation, I don't think it came from the sponsor of the item, transferring the Committee on Homeless to the Police Citizens Relations Committee as a subcommittee. I want to be careful on that because oftentimes, you know, homeless individuals are perceived as being criminals. homeless individuals are not criminals oftentimes some may be criminals but i think if we now you know take a committee that is here to look at you know how do we…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:49:51
“I think we just have to find the right balance for it. I don't know that putting it directly under the Police-Citizens Relations Committee is the right solution. You know, so I don't know, it's food for thought. I would say it's food for thought. Maria, let me ask you, since you've done a lot of work into this, how many committees do we have?”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:50:18
“48, okay. If you were to tell me which are the committees that take the bulk of staff's time, the percentage of staff time supporting committees, which, you know, because we have the land use boards and we have, um, yes.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:51:23
“Okay, so 44% of staff's time, that's the bulk. is spent on only on three committees.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:51:32
“On three committees, okay. And three committees, my staff was doing the numbers and Stephanie, I think you were looking at the numbers. So we have in general, I think between all the committees open out there about 150 referrals floating around between all the committees. Is that about right, Stephanie? Between the three, okay. So between the three committees, we in essence have the same amount of agenda items as a city commission meeting divided between three different committees. the staff has to attempt, and that that is the one, that is the group that actually takes up the most amount of…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:52:25
“If we are looking, if the goal is to be efficient, if the goal is to be efficient, and we're saying, okay, we are now you know, taking residents from meeting on a monthly basis and getting their feedback and their opportunity to participate in their local government from being on a monthly basis to a quarterly basis, I feel like we can't impose that on our residents, and then us, that we are generating the bulk of that work and not see how we can further streamline ourselves as well. And so I'm open to whether we just eliminate the committee structure, and we go to just two commission…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:54:52
“So you're suggesting that we, that our committees only meet quarterly or listen, I, if it were me, I would say, you know, let's just have two commission meetings a month. Let's just have two commission meetings a month because right now, YOU KNOW, THREE MEETINGS, THREE MEETINGS A MONTH, IN ADDITION TO THE CITY COMMISSIONING, YOU HAVE TO HAVE ASSISTANT CITY MANAGERS, YOU HAVE DIRECTORS HERE. HOW MANY DIRECTORS DO WE HAVE IN THE ROOM? IF THE DIRECTORS COULD RAISE THEIR HANDS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 12 directors in the room and two assistant city managers, the city clerk. Oh,…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:55:58
“AND NOW THIS IS NEIGHBORHOODS. THIS IS NEIGHBORHOODS. THE SAME THING FOR LAND USE. THE SAME THING FOR FINANCE. AND I THINK WE HAVE TO SEE, AND BY THE WAY, THAT'S NOT COUNTING THE ONES, THE DIRECTORS THAT WE HAVE PARTICIPATING ON ZOOM ALSO. And so I feel that if we're gonna be pushing for efficiency and we're asking our residents to be efficient with staff's time, well, I think we need to lead. We need to lead the way on that. And so I would love for us to pass along to our colleagues two options. Let's just do away with the committees and have two commission meetings month as the city of…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:57:04
“Did they have committees? I know committees existed, but they did not exist the way that they exist today. they would discuss issues high level. And you'll remember, Maria, when you started in the city back in 2010, when 2010? Yes. That's a good memory, you see. Back in 2010 when you started, how many items would we have in a commission committee agenda? Like maybe 10, 11?”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 1:58:44
“From my perspective, I'd much rather see us as individual commissioners work with staff closely on an item place that item on the agenda as an action item that then gets discussed at the Commission agenda, then continuing to put these referrals on the agenda. Because what I've learned with these referrals is that oftentimes we put referrals on the agenda to have a discussion about something, but we have a discussion that oftentimes might give us an update. It's the same, we can solve the same thing by reaching out to staff and having a meeting with staff, having a conversation. with Sam and I…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:00:53
“And I'm fine with that. I would love feedback from my colleague, Commissioner Bott, on that.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:04:20
“And thank you for those comments, Commissioner Bond. In addition to that, unlike in the past, now we're also going to have a regularly scheduled, I guess, what's it called, the new thing that we approved?”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:04:36
“Workshop. A regularly scheduled workshop where we all get together with the administration, with the city attorney's office to discuss issues. the issues of importance. And so I think now that we're introducing that workshop, you know, perhaps it is a good time to pass along this item that it also proposes. I would say if you're open to amending your motion, Commissioner Matos-Salinas, you know, let's propose the elimination of the committees. It seems like Commissioner Vaughn was in favor of it. I didn't, it seems like Commissioner Dominguez.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:05:15
“Okay. So are you happy to amend your item to propose that?”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:05:27
“Okay. All right. So with that, we're going to keep Geobonds. Not Geobonds. We're going to keep the 41st Street committee. We're not going to sunset that. We're going to keep the North Beach CRA committee. we're going to keep the Convention Center Advisory Committee We're not going to sunset those. They'll meet quarterly instead. And they're still thought to be given on the Committee of Homeless, but I'm going to be deferential to the item sponsor. We're going to merge the Ad Hoc Advisory Nightlife Committee into the Small Business Advisory Committee, cancel the meetings in August, and have a…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:06:59
“Yeah, so you have one agenda per month is how the county, for example, the county, they have a county commission meeting. And when they don't reach all the items on the agenda, then they have their carryover meeting. And that way we have sufficient time to discuss the items at length without having to rush them. But we're giving ourselves two days to get through that agenda.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:07:33
“Well, but we are eliminating what we're going to be eliminating.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:09:08
“But what I would like to see, though, is one overarching policy that applies to all the committees, because otherwise, you know, if we're going to say one policy applies to one committee, then we're going to be getting phone calls from the other committees, because to them, that's important.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:09:25
“For example, unfortunately, we have a change in state law with DEI issues, but the LGBTQ Advisory Committee, they have multiple events throughout the year as well. So I think we just have to make sure that if we say that this is the policy, it is a policy that applies fairly across all the committees.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:09:55
“All right. I'm going to open up the floor to public comment. Anyone wishing to speak on this item, feel free to approach the podium. Members attending via Zoom, feel free to raise your hand. I see Johan Moore with his hand raised. Good morning, Johan. You have two minutes to speak.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:12:03
“Thank you. Mitch Novick. Good morning. You have two minutes to speak.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:13:04
“Thank you, Mitch. Any other members of the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing none in Zoom and none in person, we can show this item adopted unanimously. Thank you, Maria, and thank you, Ralph, and to all the staff liaisons. I do want to highlight, and I would be remiss if I did not thank each and every one of the employees of the City of Miami Beach who take on the extra responsibility, because not all the employees have assigned a committee that they are there to assist, but a select few volunteer to take on that extra responsibility. And Maria, how much extra money do they get…”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026
- Play at 2:14:30
“Okay. Welcome back, David. Good morning, Mr. Chair. So why don't we proceed with the presentation on the master plan and the concepts that we have before us.”
City Commission · Jul 15, 2026