Remarks by Ralph "Rafael" Rosado
50 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 16:34
“This has to be one of the toughest policing assignments anybody could take on. So you have, from the bottom of my heart, our tremendous gratitude.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 22:54
“We are indeed a tough little bunch. This has been a really wonderful year, though, where I think we've gotten a lot of good work done. And much of it is because of your leadership up here keeping the conversation and the debate going in a way that is productive and that ultimately benefits the city. I'm very proud to get to serve with you. Thank you, Commissioner.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 2:44:50
“Do I have a second? Commissioner Pardo, I'd like to second it. I'd also like to be added as a co-sponsor. The Miami Foundation is an organization that's been very special to me, and I'm happy to support you on this.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 2:45:27
“Could I take a moment of personal privilege as well? I would love to address the Silver Court residents that are here.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 2:49:51
“Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think the folks in Silver Court know that it is a place that is important to me essentially my entire life. My grandmother and my step-grandfather lived in Silver Court throughout the 70s and the 1980s. I had several relatives that lived there, in fact. I grew up playing hide-and-go-seek there. When we learned some months back that the developer was going to sell the property, we told him immediately two things. Number one, you need to give the folks that live there more time than you are required to, and you need to give them more money. Our state standards for…”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 3:27:33
“How long is the pilot program for? Is it a year?”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 3:27:48
“And I would rather, given that we're in the summer and it's so incredibly hot, I'd love for us to be able to provide free water sooner rather than later. But I hope we keep this sentiment in mind when we get to another pilot program later in the agenda. because what we're basically saying is that this isn't a permanent yes, this is a let's test the waters yes, literally, test the waters, and we could come back and amend the terms. So I'll support moving this forward at this time.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 3:28:41
“I move to move the item with the understanding that additional negotiations will take place and that the manager will speak to each of us about placements in our districts.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 3:58:08
“There's a lot of sensitivity around this, and I can appreciate both perspectives. Would we consider doing this as a pilot, perhaps, and bring it back in a few months and gauge where we are on this? I mean, the devil's in the details with regards to implementation.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:14:56
“So you guys tell me what, I was going to say, Madam Mayor, the city manager looks like he's been chomping at the bit to chime in.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:21:58
“I, for one, would like to have further discussion because there are a number of options that I don't think I had foreseen. Could we defer this to the next meeting and flesh out the discussion further at that point? Second. I'll go along with it.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:22:36
“Sure. Somebody else had pulled it. No, I actually pulled the item.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:23:35
“So I can appreciate your perspective, Commissioner, but I think this is good policy regardless of how folks vote on the bond itself. So I was surprised to learn, I know we have a finance committee, but we typically also have a citizens committee, but I was surprised to learn that it's not embedded in our charter. It was actually adopted by ordinance. This should absolutely be part of our city constitution for how we operate, right? So that we're never stuck asking if the public is aware or not aware of the way we're spending our dollars. It's also concerning to me that we don't have naturally…”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:26:11
“I don't have an issue with removal of the word audit. I understand that has sort of additional sort of legal consequences to it. The rest of it stands perfectly fine without it. I find it. Kind of embarrassing that right now if somebody were sitting in the audience and they said, well, how much have you spent on X, Y, and Z? It would take us a while to sort that out. I'm not suggesting that money has been misspent. I'm suggesting that we are not as transparent as we should be for our taxpayers and our residents. Somebody should be able to go on our website right now and figure out for every…”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:35:48
“Commissioner Pardo and Madam Mayor, if I could. If I could clarify a couple things. I'm happy to drop the word audit. I understand the sort of additional legal consequences there. I am not to create like a super audit structure. I know that we are already legally required to audit our finances. So I'm happy to drop the word. What I'm getting at more globally is a future commission could remove the requirement that we have a citizen body overseeing our bond expenditures. I don't think they should have that right. I think that should absolutely be part of our city constitution. Our finance…”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:37:25
“But I'm fine with dropping the audit word. I understand. I had one thing to clarify.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:38:03
“I'm saying for all our bonds, our capital bonds should absolutely have committees. We could, in the same way that we've dissolved a series of boards in the past, the finance committee could just be dissolved right now at the next meeting if we felt like it. That is problematic. We should have built in citizen oversight over hundreds of millions of dollars of expenditure and the information should be updated on a very regular basis. We need to operate transparently. I don't understand why we would try to undo something like this or why we don't think that this is somehow good practice that…”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:39:17
“And again, it's what the body wants. I'm comfortable with the way this stands. I think this should be part of what we vote on in November. I think voters who are supportive will say this is an additional safeguard. I think voters who are opposed to the bond referendum will say this is a safeguard we should have already had. So I think it's something that everybody should agree upon. I'm very comfortable moving as it is, again, dropping just the word audit and ensuring if we need to modify the language to make it clear that it's the administration that needs to create the dashboard. It's not…”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:39:57
“Which is... And I worked with the deputy city attorney on this. If he's got a revised version that we could read... Let me just ask a question.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:41:02
“I don't think this needs to be deferred. I think it is very much in line with the question we've already put forth that's going to be on the November ballot, and it is letting voters know that were the item to pass, we have their backs.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:41:23
“As amended with removing the word audit, and if we need... Javier, do we need to clarify? I'm not trying to suggest that citizens create a dashboard. That's the administrative responsibility. I didn't find it confusing, but if there's any doubt, I'm happy to see the language massaged.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:48:12
“George, colleagues, could we meet at 3 instead of 3.30? Is that possible? I'm okay with that.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 4:48:24
“It could be earlier than 3.30. Okay. Sorry, I'm sorry. Could it be earlier than 3.30? Could we do closer to 3? 3.15.”
City Commission · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 8:33
“So I had the opportunity, the good fortune to participate at FanFest on five different occasions and everything went so incredibly beautifully. There was one evening when we were at capacity as we were on many many days at 30,000 capacity people all over the world and Chief Evia took me on a tour and the level of complexity and coordination that was involved was so impressive and the reality is you all have made us proud not only on a local level but given the range of folks that were there and the kudos that we received from so many participants you made us proud on a global level so I mean…”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 31:18
“Ladies and gentlemen of the fire family, I want to thank you for your compassion. I want to thank you for your courage. And I think most importantly, I want to thank you for reflecting the best of the best of who we are as the city of Miami.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026