Remarks by George Burch
186 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 4 of 8
- Play at 59:44
“Okay. To the Chair, one more question. Are we going to put back in, you said how many pilings did we take out?”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:00:28
“Well, I'm only thinking of the future. I mean, if unfortunately this doesn't work and the same thing happens as happened the first time, which is when it did fail due to dirt loss, then if we had that system in there, it would give us something to attach to. So it seems like a great – we spent hundreds of thousands to put those pilings in when they were first put in. And now we're basically abandoning them, but I don't see why throwing them away makes any sense. I mean, I don't, they're buried. I doubt there's anything wrong with them. They're steel and concrete.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:02:35
“Well, wait a minute now. We don't want to leave it at that. The best possible combination would be to rebuild a bridge there. That's going to last another 40 years. But I mean, that's not in our budget. That's what the problem is with that.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:08:33
“But it went into the chair, but in fact, it did fail before 1985, which is why we ended up building the bridge in the first place, trying to prevent this from happening again.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:09:24
“So, I mean... Yeah, but the sidewalk right now is still basically level. And it didn't last that long initially, which is why they put the pilings and the railing in in the first place. They didn't do it because they didn't have anything else to do with the money. They did it to try and prevent it happening again a second time.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:09:46
“They gunited the coral, they put in the pilings, and they put in the railing. That was in 1980. But that was the second time that this had happened. But you're right, it was coral, and the first thing they tried was to gunite it. That didn't work.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:14:09
“To the Chair, and you've made your point, and I agree with you, and you're correct. I want to ask you one question. If you went 100 yards from this seawall and you dug a hole in the ground, when it was high tide and low tide, would you be able to see a change in the water level in that hole? And the answer according to a Nobel Prize winner from the University of Miami is yes, if you haven't read any of those. I listened to him down in South Miami. And the thing that creates the suction is not rain or storm water, it's the movement of the tide. And if you don't think that water is going to…”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:16:13
“There is, but especially when you're close to the bay and close to a seawall. That water...”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:16:36
“It won't match the tide. It won't match the tide. You're welcome to comment.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:16:47
“You're right. You're right. We don't, we don't have no more time.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:17:35
“Okay. Esmond, did you want to vote on this? I don't have a vote, sir. I ask you if you want one. If I want to vote on this? You want the council to vote on this?”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:45:35
“And the problem with that is that the fast chargers are 440 volts. And if you look at what FPNL's got in the sidewalk saying going to our street lights or et cetera, in other words, where there would be close electrical connection at road level. Mm-hmm. And that's why it's costing the money to put it in. But I wonder in hindsight, look at Biscayne Park and El Pertel. Where is the closest fast charging station to us here in the shores?”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:46:22
“Oh, it's not in our municipality. No, I know. And that's the thing. I mean, what you're saying is true. This is kind of like with our bridge. We have old technology here that, you know, you can charge a car on a wall outlet, but it takes 24 hours. And so, you know, you can halfway charge that. car in 15 minutes if you've got a 440 volt right system so I'm wondering if and the other thing is what wet are we on any websites in other words as you're driving those cars and you hit the button I want charging it gives you a list of where the places are and you know how far away they are and how you…”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:48:44
“to charge, it's just not enough of a difference. These facilities make money. It's not a question of, you know, do they make money? They make a lot of money. And that's the reason that, like, individual businesses, barbecue houses and, you know, et cetera, build those in their parking lots because they're, you know, They're making them, but I mean, I don't know the village needs three of them. It would probably be fine with one. I just don't know if we ought to do it as a village because it's a business. Do it as a village or whether we ought to look for a private individual that's already…”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:53:19
“far parking lot there at the Country Club on Biscayne Boulevard next to 96th Street, and you've got all those cars coming. If you want to count Teslas one afternoon or any electric car, there are a lot. Now, is that a place where you could make money? You know, it's a business. It's a question of whether the village wants to get into that business. And the other way you're looking at it as a service to the residents that live here, that live in a condo and don't have a garage to pull the car into and have the electric available to charge it. And so, you know, that's your first question is…”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 1:54:36
“The one I have ended up using the most just because of the length of the trip is you go down to the Keys and then you turn around to come home again. And depending on which car it is, you don't have the range, which is what everybody's afraid of. Well, again, there's a barbecue stand there and it's got eight spots. And I'll tell you what, there's usually a line. I mean, you don't just get into one of them. You've got to. And I've been there at 1 in the afternoon, 5 in the afternoon. This guy is making money. But, again, I don't know what the next closest one is. And, you know, it's a whole…”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:10:07
“And did you mention that there's some 2,000 Miami Shores Village residents, is that not what you?”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:10:17
“So certainly that's helping the community. And then these five students, are these going to be Miami Shores residents or these are?”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:14:14
“I'd like to say, I mean, we're all going to vote, but Neil, I think you're right on the money. What was just said, you know, the money for this type of program is drying up and disappearing. And I mean, is this something that we want to get rid of as a village? Is this something that the residents here don't want? If 2,000 of them came, I think certainly we've only got 11 in the village. It's a pretty decent percentage of people that want to... watch this and support this. So I don't know. We'll see how everybody else feels, but I think it's... Well, tonight is a discussion.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:16:45
“Well, then I'd like to add that I'd like to add two things. One, I'd like these five students to be Miami Shores residents, period. If we're going to pay for it as a village, then that's who we need to be supporting. And unfortunately, as we had to do at the last meeting, I'd cut it in half because we've had to take care of other people that are going to come. I don't know how you all feel about that.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:22:17
“Any more discussion? I had a motion and a second. I made a motion, and I think you seconded it.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:23:01
“First of all, with one vote of the council, we can change that amount, and I agree with what Jerome just said, and that is the whole purpose in doing this was to have the people come here and explain to us what they're doing and how it helps this village. It's fantastic to me what we've heard here since the people have started coming. So, you know, I think it's a great program. And if we're not going to support our charities here in this community, I mean, you know, I know Jesse said this the last time. A nonprofit and a charity are two different things.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:23:43
“You know, whatever, that's just me. But you need a vote.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:24:37
“Thank you. We could give you more. Thank you.”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026
- Play at 2:49:30
“Well in your opinion will this be received by the employees of the village here as far as raising this death benefit as opposed to changing the pension is that something that would be desirable and that it provided immediate income or do you do you see that as a negative?”
Village Council · Jun 16, 2026