Remarks by Robert H. Yaffe
52 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 6:38
“I mean, I don't mind the deferral, but you know, we keep pushing these things back. I mean, if we're talking about, I mean, I know November, forget it's too crazy. I don't, you know, and I don't know what December plans there are, but. We've been without a permanent town hall for an extended period of time now. If we want to do it the right way, I get it.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 8:24
“But I think, can I just, I just, I don't disagree with what Eric said or the Vice Mayor said. If we do have a retreat in January, I don't want to rush anybody into decisions, but I think we need to come to a general concept at that time, at least for the majority of us, so that we can move on. Because if we have a retreat in January, and we talk about it, and we come back in February, these things just go on and on and on.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 9:04
“We don't have a meeting in December or November between Thanksgiving and National League of Cities and other things like that. It's just it's not going to work out to do it in November.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 19:22
“What were the options? Let's go back from the options that we were talking about.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 21:53
“OK. Not to pull. Not to pull. Not to pull.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 29:17
“Bob? Good evening, everyone. Good to see you all. So I had the opportunity to walk through the park on Monday morning, the tot lot in West Broadview Drive. And I want to congratulate Adrian, our manager, and all of the staff who were involved in refurbishing the park. I think it's excellent. The equipment is really great because it's age appropriate for the little kids. But we've retained the equipment in the front of the park for the older kids, the landscaping, the new water fountain, the canopies overhead, which provide shelter, so to speak, from the sun. And I will say it's excellent. And…”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 34:54
“Thanks. I think I forgot one important event. I wanted to thank the chief of police and the police officers who attended or put on the Coffee with a Cop one the other morning over at the coffee break. It was extremely well attended. And if our police department does that again, which I hope that they will, all of you here, attend it. Because it's a great event. Besides the fact that there's coffee and food and so forth, you had the opportunity to talk to our police officers and get to meet them, and for them to get to meet you as well. So it was an excellent event. And I thank you very much…”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 53:20
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 59:03
“And also understand, I mean, I walked away for a moment. But I mean, the cost of replacing that bridge, which we're working on, is hundreds of millions of dollars. So we have a financial responsibility to make sure that we're putting away money so that when this new bridge replacement project commences in a couple of years or several years from now, we're able to fund that. I mean, we're looking for all types of financing from the state and federal government and county and so forth. As the mayor said, I mean, we've had discussions and we're probably going to continue discussions about the…”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:13:39
“You're welcome. Just for informational purposes, not too long ago, I received a postcard or something in the mail from the United States Postal Service stating the fact that the Surfside post office had closed. And they're looking to relocate a post office to Bay Harbor Islands. They're going through whatever process the federal government goes through, seeking comment and whatever. So I know they're looking to be here somewhere in Bay Harbor Islands, but it's the federal government. And so they've got a process.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:30:34
“But when do we anticipate that that might occur?”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:32:31
“Yes, sir. So I had asked for quite this comprehensive, but I appreciate it. And I know that the town planner doesn't appear to be here this evening. But the reason that I asked for this ordinance was because Every time it rains, like even a light rain, a little palm frond hits a wire and the power goes on and it goes off. Sometimes like a dozen times and fries your utilities and everything else. So my concern was royal palms and other large trees growing up into our power lines and the ability, one, to restrict in the future where trees can be planted, the proximity to the power lines. But…”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:35:07
“No, I agree with that. I just want to make sure there are enforcement procedures in there so that we could, if necessary, compel property owners to remove trees if they are growing into the power lines.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:35:25
“I just want to make sure there's something in there. That's all.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:36:13
“I think I remember it was, I don't know whether it was FPL inspecting or somebody else inspecting. I remember there were door hangers on your doors letting you know that somebody was coming to inspect. And I think at that time, they did You know, trim. Talk about memory. I mean, when I first moved to Bay Harbor, there were all these like palm trees growing in my backyard. They weren't like royal palms, but they were smaller palms which grew high. And one day we came home and they were all gone. And I was a little annoyed about it, but then I realized why they were gone was because they were…”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:39:03
“And just for informational purposes, I mean, the grids in this town are really strange. You know, I'm on a grid with like, I don't know, 30 homes. So my power will go out, and the people across the street, they've got power. It just depends on your grids. And if this ordinance has enforcement mechanisms in it so that if trees were affecting power lines, we can cite the property owner. you know, necessarily the property owner will then have to either get the tree removed or .”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:40:51
“OK. Because a lot of people don't realize you're doing landscaping, you plant this nice tree, and it's a reasonable height. And then five years later, it's like, you know, it's brushing against the power lines. It's touching the power lines.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:41:12
“Right. And that's what we've experienced because of the power going on and on and on and off.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:42:02
“I think if it's too close to the power line, because they grow so quickly, some of these trees, that it becomes a constant maintenance issue. So in the future, we need to be really careful about where trees are permitted to be planted.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:52:27
“Yeah. I haven't met with them individually.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:53:30
“We thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. OK.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 1:54:44
“I think all of you know by now that this resident reached out to us. Your microphone. Sorry.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 2:03:23
“Well, in other words, what I'm saying is most condominiums these days assign parking spaces, and they are appurtenances to the unit. They go with the unit. So when you sell your unit, that parking space goes with the unit. So if you're doing construction work and you say to me, you can no longer use your pertinent parking space, then the association has got to make some type of accommodation. I mean, there's limited room. If there are no common element parking spaces where they can move me on a temporary basis, I think this ordinance addresses that you have to provide some type of substitute…”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 2:06:35
“I have a question. This is for multifamily and single family? This applies to single family residents as well? I mean, I talked to the manager about that. I had some concerns about that. I mean, it's one thing in a building, but I mean, I understand. Listen, this is for public safety. If there's some type of incident in fire rescue or police need to approach from the waterfront, they need to know where they're going. So I understand the purpose of it. I wasn't sure that it should apply to single family homes, but you know, whatever the consensus is.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026
- Play at 2:09:02
“That was my concern about the single-family homes as opposed to the multi-family, the apartment buildings and condos and so forth. But in terms of the signage itself, I mean, if you walk the beach path in Val Harbor and Surfside, you see they have standard signs on the beach path so that you know it's the Val Harbor Tower or whatever. whatever condo it is, so that if you're coming from the beach path side as opposed to the front, you know what building it is. Yeah. That was my concern as well.”
Town Council · Oct 14, 2026