Remarks by Ivan Chavez Jr.
71 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 7:09
“All right. Good evening, everyone. Today's date is Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. The time is 6 0 6 PM. This is our regular city commission meeting for the city of West Miami. The meeting is now called to order. Madam clerk. First item.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 8:34
“Madam Clerk, before the roll call, the mayor is en route. He'll be here shortly.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 9:51
“Do we have a motion for those items as amended? Do we have a second?”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 9:57
“Motion is second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any against? Seeing none. Motion carries. Next item. And the mayor is here. He'll take over.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 12:01
“Anyone for committee reports, just a quick reminder, Saturday, the charrette at Cooper park is at 9 0 AM.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 12:07
“Vice mayor for anyone that would like to attend. Beautiful.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 17:02
“Just a comment. One, the oak tree is still there. You didn't use it to make these, right? No, not yet. But more importantly, and jokes aside, you and your wife are an incredible family. The fact that you moved here and this was supposed to be a starter home for you and you found a home here in our city, we really appreciate the work that you guys do for the community, yourself obviously in your private life, and then your wife is involved in our schools. She's at our rec center. Much more to my wife. Right. So we see your kids everywhere, and if we can help to make your kids and your family…”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 25:55
“It's a great benefit. I commend you for bringing it forward. Motion.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:05:44
“I'll say all great points that you're making, but ultimately the homeowner, what we're giving them is the freedom to determine if they want to take that risk, say if it is a risk, and in order to have more privacy in their home. A lot of homes are on crawl spaces, so I think that's why this was brought forth to begin with. Six foot fence, your home is elevated, you're looking right into your neighbor's yard. So as the mayor mentioned with the hedges, all the points that you're making, I mean, ultimately the residents are going to have more flexibility to have privacy for their families. And…”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:07:21
“I'd be supportive of that as well. I know we're only talking about fences now, but hedges are in the first reading of the ordinance. I think now there's a moratorium that goes back a while, right, for the hedges, if I understand correctly.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:07:41
“It was lifted. Okay. But regardless the intent, I think for hedges specifically would be if it's maintained and it looks nice, the height isn't so much the concern as it is. Cause somebody got a four foot hedge. That's the show. It looks terrible. So I think in the past this was an issue because people were getting violations because their hedges were, were tall. And then you drive by and look at it. They're beautifully maintained. We see in other cities around us. So I'm in favor of looking at hedges separately.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:12:28
“If we left the hedges in here, can we add something in there where it's not so much the height but the way that it's maintained?”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:16:08
“Just for everyone listening, it's in Veterans Park, which is Sylvania Boulevard and 11th Street, roughly.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:20:48
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:21:00
“No worries. So it's a brand new food truck. They're over at Freedom Park right now where the soccer team is playing. Very highly recommended. And this is something that, as a park board, we had been discussing bringing over an amenity like this to our city. It was probably going to come later in the future when you saw the pickleball facilities and such completed. So we'd have more foot traffic. These folks want to come in as a 90-day pilot program, essentially as a free amenity to our residents. The risk is all on them. They understand that. I've explained to them that we don't have a lot of…”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:23:24
“I gave a shout-out to Lucho, though. I have to give a shout-out to Chopping Block as well. Can't forget about them. Haven't tried the Smash Burgers yet. I don't know if anybody here has, but looking forward to seeing folks on our staff. Some residents, they've tried it, so...”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:24:23
“Just one thing to mention. We have a proclamation that we're going to sign, all of us, when we can, for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. And then I'm waiting for a date from Sylvia that she's with the Mystic Force Foundation. They just had their parade Saturday. We're always in attendance. Our PD was there.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:24:48
“It's incredible, and sorry I missed it this year, but our cops are always there, of course, supportive. So I'm waiting for a date and a time to go to their facility. It's a house that they have set up for the kids, and we can go and present a proclamation and get a tour. So I'll give you that info when I get it. Sounds great.”
City Commission · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 14:51
“Since 2015. 2015. I looked up your address just out of curiosity to see where the house was. A beautiful house. You guys obviously take care of it. Your hedges look nice. I mean, not that that goes into my thought process of mitigating a lien, but you guys have been here for over 10 years. I've never seen you guys before up here with any issues. It's a vehicle that was parked in front of your house. I understand that what we try to accomplish with violations is anything has to do with safety, with nuisances for your neighbors, things like that. I never got a single call about your car being…”
City Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 15:51
“For me, there are times that we have to be hard on residents, unfortunately. For me, at least right now, I don't think this is one of those times. You guys have lived here for a long time. Things happen. I mean there was maybe those miscommunication. I know our staff is very diligent. They do a great job Code enforcement they volunteer their time to come out here as well and they ran you through that process and it was it seems to be a little bit of a Miscommunication there as well. I sat on that board before there's times that we can only mitigate down to I think 15% there's times that we…”
City Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 22:11
“What was the construction that was taking place? Was it electrical? What were you guys doing in there exactly?”
City Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 22:24
“I think that's important information. Cause as I mentioned to the last guest, when we talk about code enforcement has to do with life safety, the fire department, that's what they're interested in as well. And considering that there was work being done without a permit, if it was electrical, for example, we have families living near this facility. If it would have caught fire overnight. I mean, Any number of things could have happened and there's a reason we have this process to make sure that our staff fire Department's aware of the work being done to make sure it's being done correctly This…”
City Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 24:06
“We have a violation for construction with no permit as well.”
City Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 24:15
“And then we gave them a violation retroactively, I'm assuming, after we got notice.”
City Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 25:24
“And that info is not being given to us today either.”
City Commission · Aug 12, 2026