Remarks by Tanya K. Bhatt
109 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 5
- Play at 1:21:13
“I love this idea. I think it's always exciting to see what's coming down the pike. I do know that, I mean, there is a vacant lot on the corner of my street that has had so many code violations because their mesh that is disgraceful. It really devalues the neighborhood and it looks terrible. So I'm really happy to see this. I would suggest a friendly amendment which would be that for those properties they comply with or enroll in the police program to ensure that before such a solid fence is put on that they have the no trespassing agreement in place with the police department because I do…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 2:08:03
“Yeah, so I would I'd like to make a motion to defer, but I also want to talk about some ideas. First of all, I'm very concerned. I'm very supportive of getting homeless off the street into situations where they will succeed. I'm very concerned that taking folks off the street without wraparound service, without any kind of support, without knowing that they're homeless, Miami Beach-based homeless, I think that's a disservice to our community. Primarily the wraparound service. And I know money is tight for everyone, and I know we're all trying to do more with less, and we're all struggling.…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 2:11:49
“Okay, but still, that is an organization that is based in Miami Beach, and they can come to the table and say, you know what, we do think this is a better use, and let's bring them into the conversation. I don't know how to do this. This is all new to all of us on the table, on the days, rather, and so I think you're hearing, I think we're all hearing clearly that there's an opportunity and a desire to do something better that serves people better with the best possible outcome. And I don't think anybody here knows how to get from where we are today to where we potentially want to be. So…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 2:17:06
“I'm sorry. I don't know. September will be enough time. I know a lot of people are gone in August, and this seems like it's going to be a pretty thorny issue. Do we want to defer it? And I want to get it right. I don't want to have this mess again. Do we want to defer to October?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 2:24:10
“Yeah, I share those concerns and you know just just because a dog runs outside of the existing parameters doesn't mean that they that that owner is going to be cited I think as the police do with other matters of law enforcement that are not major there are there's there's a matter of judgment and discretion and so I don't think that expanding this is going to make anything better. In fact, I think it's going to make it worse. It's going to be harder to enforce, more complicated, and I have seen, long before even this was an item on the agenda, I've gotten residents reaching out to me about…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 2:29:42
“Just for the record, I want to make clear that my comments were made as a longtime dog lover. I've rescued dogs. I've got two rescue dogs at home at the moment. And the little dog is affectionately known as the 10-pound terrorist. He never goes off leash. Neither of my dogs, none of my dogs ever have because it's, you know, at the end of the day, dogs are animals who react to things the same way that people do on a bad day. And there's no telling when a dog, no matter how well trained, might have an adverse reaction or get provoked and there be unfortunate consequences. So this is not…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 2:59:12
“John, can you clarify if we are proposing to borrow everything now or just authorize the borrowing as we need it?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:01:40
“So, John, I also, and Jason, in just a second, I'll, but John, I also want to talk about the other part of that proposal, having half the projects. I how long has it taken us as a city to get to the point where we are which is if we are going to do a hybrid option it has to happen today otherwise we missed the window to get it on the ballot in November and then we are back to being another year out if we're going to pursue the hybrid option so how long has it taken us to get here and can you give some backstory on on why we're at this critical juncture. I mean, we haven't had CPI increases…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:25:09
“That's not correct because I'm wrong, but I think the hybrid proposal bifurcates the type of project. And what you're saying is that we'll take Regardless of whether it's water, sewer, stormwater, it could get funded with the immediate funding, and it's not bifurcated by type of project. So I don't think that's a correct analysis.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:35:54
“So just in the last year, I think, maybe two, we've had And one of them last week, we had a sewer line break in North Beach.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:36:07
“Sorry, a water main. Forgive me. We had faulty pipes under the school playground. We had a sinkhole last year or the year before. I know I'm forgetting some. We have North Beach NIP scheduled. I'm not comfortable deferring this to even a month down the road without a list in front of me of saying what are the projects that won't get funded if we go with $400,000. We don't even know without analysis if there will actually be savings. You know, it's great to suggest that future commissions will do the right thing. I would hope that would be the case. But previous commissions haven't, so why are…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:42:44
“Vice Mayor? MS. John, so I'm looking at this list of projects, which I'm sorry my colleagues don't have, and we're not prepared to discuss this, so this is not great. But I'm looking at the NIP projects, which would be the ones cut, and North Shore D Phase 1A, Normandy Isles Phase 1, and North Shore Phase 1B and 2 would all go by the wayside. Is that correct?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:43:43
“to get rid of the neighborhood impact projects.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:43:49
“I understand that, but that's what we're talking about. If we're trying to get to that number, yes. But what we're saying by doing this, which I think is absolutely beyond irresponsible, we literally did not have an infrastructure map of North Beach until it's actually still being worked on until I brought to the Commission and fought kicking and screaming to get my colleagues to approve it and we've already replaced two pipe structures with much larger pipes than we thought we needed to because of what we found through that we have leaks and sewer breaks and water main breaks in North Beach…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:45:20
“I think we're just deciding how... We are saying we are going to cut the budget in half and deprioritize the neighborhood impact projects. The three biggest neighborhood impact projects are these in North Beach.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 3:45:45
“So which neighborhood are you going to tell your project doesn't matter? We're not even going to talk about funding it for the next 10 years. Have fun with that conversation.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 4:07:39
“So, you know, just to put this all in context, I mean, not to be an idiot, but water flows, right? I mean, Parkview Island is six years into a no-contact water advisory. And it didn't happen because something happened at Parkview Island. It happened because a sewer line broke because a contractor damaged it on a project near Lincoln Road. Water was, sewage was diverted into two smaller pipes. They couldn't handle it because they were 80 years old, and they ruptured. We had all our neighboring communities helping to try to pump things out. We had our residents trying to reduce the use of the…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 4:08:34
“Yes, it is. I beg to differ. I beg to differ. We have photographs of the before and after. We had sea life before and after. I lived there before and after. It's not the only thing but it was the tipping point. It's one example. It's one example that whatever we decide affects the entire city. It's not just one pipe in one neighborhood. I'm so not in favor of picking winners and losers on who gets to get projects that will potentially keep their living rooms from flooding.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 4:10:26
“That's right. And I just want to say I'm not suggesting this is the entirety of the cause. I think there was a real issue before it was uncovered. It predates it because the engineering, the shape of the canal there, but it was exacerbated significantly. I mean, just look at the before and after photos. Look, I don't want to litigate what did or did not cause Parkview Island. My point in making that example was that that was a rupture caused by contractor on Lincoln Road that has affected North Beach six years later, right? So we're a seven mile stretch of sand in the middle of the Atlantic…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 5:41:52
“I just want one point of clarification. just to make sure everyone gets that. Like, those rates that you saw include CPI increases, which we have already mandated by law. So, it is a small differential going above the already mandated CPI, which let me remind everybody the reason why we're here is because CPI was not mandated years ago and was undervalued for the small increases that were Built in so there's CPI which is happening no matter what there will be a rate increase no matter what because that is how Inflation works in the real world and then the small differential of the incremental…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 5:43:19
“So hypothetically speaking, if the stormwater geo bond didn't pass, would you still be able to move forward with NIP projects?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 5:43:56
“And would you have to come back with another rate evaluation, go through this whole process again?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 5:46:57
“Because there was a moratorium. We need to remove the moratorium.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 5:48:43
“If I can ask for some clarification, how are you going to determine what gets included and what doesn't? Because somebody is calling strikes and balls on this. So is it purely based on timeframe? Anything outside of a six-year window is punted? Or is it based on who gets most emails? Or is it based on where people have property? I mean, what's it gonna be based on?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 5:49:25
“But we're being asked to vote on that without knowing what that includes. I'm sorry, I sound like I'm challenging you. I'm not challenging you. I'm very frustrated with this process. We are being asked to vote on that without knowing what would fall off and what would stay in.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026