City Commission Meeting

[Laughter] How are you doing? We're going to kick this morning's meeting off our SEPTEMBER 1st meeting in SEPTEMBER, um, with a proclamation. Oh, it is a little easier to do this. Let me turn the double. Um, we're going to honor a couple of people this morning um and groups rather than individuals today who really make a significant difference in our community and and one of those um is the florida redevelopment association and it is fitting that um commissioner king and commissioner pardo both who work um in leadership roles at some of our redevelopment agencies have put together this presentation and this honor because this is actually florida redevelopment week. So commissioner king, let me turn it over to you. Good morning. Good morning everybody. Happy thursday. It's been so long since I've been standing in this space. Can't say that I missed it but we are back to do the work of the city and I'm so happy to be a public servant in the fine city of miami. Today joined with commissioner pardo and I we are celebrating florida redevelopment week. I am the chair of the southeast overtown park west cra and commissioner pardo is the chair of the omni cra. But also my colleagues sit on the board to make sure that we are good stewards of this money. Also joined here are the executive directors who really do the work. Um carla suarez for the omni cra and james d mcqueen from the southeast overtown park west cra who also grew up in overtown which makes his job a calling and it is his love of community that he serves the overtown community with such passion. So I'm going to read a little bit of this proclamation .Whereas the city of miami recognizes community redevelopment as an important tool for revitalizing neighborhoods, strengthening local economies and commercial corridors and improving quality of life through investments in infrastructure, public spaces, small businesses, housing opportunities and community development blah blah and blah blah blah blah blah. Whereas the city of miami remains committed to the thoughtful, transparent and community centered redevelopment that strengthens neighborhoods identity, expands opportunity and builds a more vibrant and resilient city for the present and future generations. Now therefore I our mayor eileen t higgins of the city of miami together with commissioner christine king that would be me and my colleagues do hereby proclaim florida development redevelopment week. And one thing that this proclamation doesn't include is the work that we do with organizations in the community. We use non tif dollars to support programs like the overtown, optimist earth inc. Girl power which we can't do with tif dollars but we find a way and I'm going to turn it over to commissioner pardo because he's also doing amazing things in the community and we uplift small businesses as well. There you go. Thank you. I'll be very brief. I think what I want to emphasize is the public servant aspect of this and the love of community. I think in all of our offices and the people that do this work, there's nothing better than to see a community start being lifted up and to see whether it's programs or affordable housing units or outreach and meeting with organizations to be able to feel that growth and that gratitude in an area and to be able to walk a block that looks different and that feels different because people are excited to be there. People are not worried in the same way or concerned as they were maybe a year ago. That's all the reward there is for this. It's really an amazing and amazing position to hold. So thank you for that. I want to turn it over [Laughter] Carlos to you and MR. Mcqueen. Oh come on you guys you're in the you have to say something. You're in. >> the I just want to say thank you for the opportunity of being the executive director of the omni cra like our CHAIRMAN, commissioner pardo said it is very, very fruitful when you see the labor of everything that you're doing in the community to build community. We're very active in the omni area and we have lots to do. We just passed our bond and um you know, we're uh we're committed to the community and we're building it one step at a time. Uh, I don't know really what to say other than none of this would be possible without the support of our commission. Uh, and when I say our commission, I mean all of the commissioners, uh, but particularly, uh, the lady that serves as my my boss, uh, commissioner christine king you do not know you know, everybody [Laughter] Looks at her and say, oh, she's so sweet [Laughter] And you know, she's so that's out here but behind closed doors when she wants something done she doesn't want it done later. She wants it done yesterday. So we couldn't do anything or get anything accomplished without her contribution to us and I and [Laughter] Commissioner king I'm talking about you. Thank you so much for your service. Thank you. All right. So uh. I would like to add that our colleague that just joined us is hopeful. He has [Laughter] Fought tirelessly to get in, [Applause] Not turn around. I'm talking about you. He he has fought tirelessly and is he is rolling a boulder up a hill to get a cra for allapattah he really is rolling a boulder [Applause] Up a hill so this also includes commissioner gabella because he is trying with all of his might to get an allapattah cra for his community who is in desperate need of such an agency to help redevelop redevelop allapattah so I wanted to include him and allow him to have a word or two about what he's doing to try to improve his his community through the cra. Commissioner gabella. Yes ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, MADAM Chair. But yeah thank you CHAIRWOMAN. Um yes uh we have been trying to establish the allapattah for about two years now. Uh we are almost there. Uh, we have this meeting and one more meeting and then we're finally established. Uh, and so we hope to bring a lot of the good things that happen in your cra and southeast overtown park west and what happened in damien cra and the omni. Um, a lot of you guys don't know if you remember it. I was a kid when the omni in 198788 and uh completely day and night of what it is today and in your area too. So we hope to make a lot of progress to do infrastructure affordable the the affordable crisis that we have now with uh, the rents and uh, and helping the, the infrastructure. So it really is it's been an uphill battle, but we're almost there and I want to thank you and all the commissioners ralph, uh, commissioner escalona, uh, commissioner prado and um you know all of you who helped me, you know, accomplish this without you I couldn't have done it. So thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you mayor. Amen. >> and next year we'll have you sign in on this proclamation because the allapattah cra will be the real deal. All right in the picture. But you gentlemen [Laughter] Need to get in the middle because you know you [Laughter] Two carlos and yeah, because you're being honored. Yeah. All right. Yeah. You don't get in here. [Laughter] Okay. There we go. Very, very. I got one. [Laughter] Everybody happy? Okay. Congratulations. All right. Okay. >> now back to redeveloping gentlemen. Meanwhile, um OCTOBER we celebrate a lot of things in OCTOBER. But one of the things we do also recognize is national respiratory care uh week and that happens to be this week, um, a very, very important piece of work particularly for our team from the center at jackson. And so let me turn this over to commissioner rosado who brought this um item in this recognition to us commissioner. Gootkin. Hi, how are you? Thank you, MADAM Mayor. Um yes, this month we are celebrating national respiratory care week .Uh, this is something that's actually very personal to me as I have a number of folks in my family that have respiratory issues. But what's really come to the forefront is the work that they did particularly during covid when they were on the front lines really more so than anybody else and they were in an incredibly vulnerable position for doing so trying to save the lives of everybody from young children to the elderly and everybody in between. This is something that is essential to each one of us at every stage of our life the fact that we can breathe clearly. And so I want to recognize in particular my friend rick morgan who is the lead respiratory therapist at holtz children's hospital but really all of you are heroes in on a daily basis in your own right. Thank you for helping us to breathe, which means thank you for helping us to live. Thank you. Would you like to say a few words? I think they want to. Okay go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Um we really love to serve our community and this is what we do with passion. Um we are a group that we have many years of experience and that's what we do. We do community work and we work for our community and we're very grateful for the community of miami. Thank you. >> yeah. >> um to reiterate what she said, we are definitely grateful. It's a labor of love um to work at jackson to give back to our community that I myself was born at jackson memorial. So being able to give back to my community in that capacity is an honor and to be recognized here as is a great honor as well. Thank you. I'm going to thank commissioner rosado for doing this and bringing awareness to respiratory issues. I myself uh have uh have asthma and I know what it's like not to be able to breathe freely and the work that you do to bring the awareness to the community and also what jackson is doing. If any of you have ever had a moment where you couldn't breathe it is so scary. It's it's beyond uh, explaining when you're trying to catch your breath and you cannot. So thank you for the work that you are doing. And I was reflecting back on my niece who visited me this weekend and told me she was having a baby. So anyway I'll get another another member of the family one of these days. But when she got covid she was quite young. She was 26 and she was one of the people that got long covid and had to go through months and months of respiratory therapy therapy in order to be able to breathe as she does today. So um, your work is not only life saving it is life changing and we're very grateful that you're here today. Thank you so much. Anyone else? No. All right then we'll take a photo. Where do you need us to be? We have to. >> have the proclamation. Who's taking you? Okay. Good. In the middle. Yeah. By ralph. There we go. Perfect. [Applause] All right, friends, we're just about to get started. Um, we are returning from our summer break. Today is going to be a long day. We not just have commission. We don't just have commission. We also have our budget hearing uh, this evening so it's a perfect time uh for reflection. Thank you pastor kennard for coming here today. Um and sharing some words of hope and prayer with us today. Please rise if you are able. Good morning everyone. Let us pray. Eternal and gracious father, we thank you for the opportunity with gratitude to serve the people of the city of miami. MAY this meeting. Be given to those who serve the community community. MAY every decision be made with grace, patient compassion for every resident. MAY you watch over our mayor, the commissioners, city administrators, staff members and everyone who take part in this meeting today. Most of all father, I ask you to look upon those individuals who voices have been lost whose voices have not been heard. Father, let us give special care and attention to our children, to our senior citizens, to those who work in our community. The great work that we heard before the prayer that's already been done in our hospitals and our communities we ask that that work and those who can influence that work continue with equity, justice, compassion for every resident. Father, MAY you look on this nation and give us the compassion and the wisdom that we need to be successful. And as we continue with the wisdom, the compassion for this great city of miami that you continue to look on the mayor and those involved in decision making. Now father, we ask that this prayer be sealed today with your glory, with your presence one faith, one hope, one baptism. Jesus name. Amen. Thank you. Um, before we do the pledge, maybe we also just want to take a quick moment of silence to recognize the lives that were lost in the terrible aircraft accident over the weekend. Those were members of our community that worked at the airport. Um and it is right and proper that we express our grief for them. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner rosado, would you lead us in the pledge? [Laughter] Of which stands one nation under GOD, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Alrighty. >> good morning everybody or good morning again. Welcome to the city of miami commission meeting for SEPTEMBER 10th in our historic chambers uh, where we have lived and worked for so long. Um procedures for public comment will be explained by the city attorney as well as the procedures for swearing in parties for planning and zoning or quasi judicial items will be explained by the city clerk um to the clerk um show that all members of the city commission are present also appearing city manager james reyes, city attorney george weiss on the third and city clerk todd hannon. Um, MR. City attorney, I think it's time for you to read the procedures. Thank you, MADAM Mayor george weiss, uh, city attorney, city of miami detailed information about the processes order of business rules of procedure and scheduling or rescheduling of city commission meetings can be found in chapter two article two of the city code, a copy of which is online at www.Municode.Com. Any person who is a lobbyist pursuant to chapter two, article six of the city code must register with the city clerk and comply with related city requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the city commission. A person MAY not lobby a city official, board member or staff member until registering a copy of the code section about lobbyists is available in the city clerk's office or online at www.Municode.Com. Any person making a presentation, formal request or petition to the city commission concerning real property must make the disclosures required by the city code in writing a copy of the city code sections available at the office of the city clerk or online at www.Municode.Com. The city of miami requires that anyone requesting action by the city commission must disclose before the hearing any consideration provided or permitted to anyone for agreement to support or withhold objection to the requested action pursuant to city code section 2-8 any documents offered to the city commission that have not been provided seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda, materials will be entered into the record at the city commission's discretion in accordance with section 2-33, f and g of the city code. The agenda and the material for each item on the agenda is available during business hours at the city clerk's office and online 24 hours a day at www.Miami.Com. The meeting of the miami city commission is a limited public forum. Any person MAY be heard by the city commission through the chair for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the city commission unless modified by the chair. Public comment will begin at approximately 9:30 A.M. And remain open until public comment is closed by the chair. Any person making offensive remarks or who becomes unruly in the commission chambers will be barred from further attending city commission meetings and MAY be subject to arrest. No clapping, applauding, heckling or verbal outbursts in support or opposition to a speaker or his or her remarks shall be permitted. No signs or placards shall be allowed in the commission chambers. Persons exiting the commission chambers shall do so quietly. Members of the public wishing to address the body MAY do so by submitting written comments through the online comment form. Please visit www.Miami.Com/meeting instructions for detailed instructions on how to provide public comments using the online public comment form. The comments submitted through the comment form have been or will be distributed to the elected officials, their staff and city administration throughout the day so that the elected officials MAY consider the comments prior to taking any action. Additionally, the online comment form will remain open and during the meeting to accept comments and distribute to elected officials, their staff and city administration up until the chair closes public comment public comment MAY also be provided here live at city hall located at 3500 pan american drive, miami, florida subject to any and all city rules as they MAY be amended if the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to be heard MAY be at a later date before the city commission takes action on such proposition. When addressing the city commission, the members of the public must first state their name, their address and what item to be spoken about. Any person with a disability requiring assistance ,auxiliary aids and services for this meeting MAY notify the city clerk. The city has provided different public comment methods to indicate, among other things, the public support opposition or neutrality on the topics and items to be discussed at the city commission meeting in compliance with section 286.01144 c florida statutes the public has been given the opportunity to provide public comment during the meeting and within reasonable proximity in time before the meeting. Please note commissioners have generally been briefed by city staff and the city attorney's office on items on the agenda today anyone wishing a verbatim item of an excuse me anyone wishing a verbatim record of an item considered at this meeting MAY request it at the office of communications or view it online at www.Miami.Com for planning and zoning items. Items shall accord shall proceed according to section 7.14 of the miami 21 zoning ordinance parties for any items including any applicant, appellant, appellee, city staff and any person recognized by the decision making body as a qualified intervenor as well as the applicants, representatives and any experts testifying on behalf of the applicant. Appellant or appellee MAY be physically present here at city hall to be sworn in by oath or affirmation by the city clerk. The members of the city commission shall disclose any ex parte communications to remove the presumption of prejudice pursuant to florida statute section 286.0115 and section 7.1.4.5 of the miami 21 zoning ordinance, the order of presentation shall be as set forth in miami 21 and the city code staff will briefly present each item to be heard. The applicant will present its application or request to the city commission. If the applicant agrees with the staff recommendation, the city commission MAY proceed to its deliberation and decision. The applicant MAY also waive the right to an evidentiary hearing on the record for appeals. The appellant will present its appeal to the city commission followed by the appellee. Staff will be allowed to make any recommendation they MAY have. Please silence all cell phones and other noise making devices access to the meeting this meeting can be viewed live on miami tv, the city's facebook page, the city's twitter page, the city's youtube channel and comcast channel 77. The broadcast will also have closed captioning. Thank you, MADAM Chair. Thank you. Um to the clerk. Thank you chair the procedures for individuals who are providing testimony to be sworn in for planning and zoning items and any quasi judicial items on today's city commission agenda will be as follows. The members of city staff or any other individuals are required to be sworn in who are currently present at city hall will be sworn in by me, the city clerk immediately after I finished explaining these procedures. Those individuals who are appearing remotely MAY be sworn in now or at any time prior to the individual providing testimony for planning and zoning items and or quasi judicial items. Commissioners, are you comfortable with all the notice provisions set forth in these uniform rules and procedures we have established for this meeting? Chair MAY administer the oath. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. If you will be speaking on any of today's planning and zoning items. Those are the items. MAY I please have you stand and raise your right hand? Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give at today's hearing is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? And your response is thank you chair. All right. Um I think MR. City manager, the time is for you to let us know if there's any changes deferrals withdrawals. All right. >> good morning, MADAM Mayor. Commissioners. MR. City attorney, city clerk at this time the administration would like to defer or withdraw the following items ca1 to be deferred to the OCTOBER 8th meeting. Ca1 to be deferred to the OCTOBER 8th meeting re13 to be deferred to the SEPTEMBER 24th meeting re13 to be deferred to the SEPTEMBER 24th meeting re 19 to be indefinitely deferred re 19 to be indefinitely deferred fr four to be withdrawn fr four to be withdrawn di2 to be indefinitely deferred di2 to be indefinitely deferred di3 to be indefinitely deferred and finally pz2 to be withdrawn pz2 to be withdrawn. All right colleagues, um are there any other changes that you have to the agenda. Oh okay. Um seeing MR. Clark. And thank you chair briefly for the record I do have some cosponsor requests. Um commissioner gabel will be co-sponsoring fr6. Commissioner pardo will be co-sponsoring fr6. Commissioner escalona will be co-sponsoring re9 and fr6 commissioner rosado will be co-sponsoring r three and re9 commissioner kang will be co-sponsoring r e ten and fr6 thank you chair. All right. Um with commissioner rosado I see you. Yes. >> I was going to say uh MR. Manager r 19 um I didn't ask for an indefinite deferral would be to the first meeting in OCTOBER. All right so show that to the first meeting in OCTOBER on ra 19. All right I think we are now ready for public comment if we could form two lines. >> my apologies. Clerk I missed the motion in a second for for the deferral. Okay. >> so is there a motion second? All in favor say aye. Okay. So there's an agenda set all right. If you all would line up on both sides. Everyone has two minutes. Thank you very much. So all right we'll start with you first. Good morning. Good morning good morning commissioners. My name is hans lagerwall. I'm a hospitality and destination management consultant and I'm here to share a concept proposal here for miami city hall. Um it's not just because of my hospitality expertise. I'm also a history buff so to speak and despite being a dutchman from origin, my first flight in my life was with pan am and that has stayed with me all my life. This is not just a municipal building it's a historic gateway to the americas. So the concept that I would like to share with the commission is a self-sustaining path to restore this, to restore this to the treasure that and its old legacy. The coalition behind this proposal is first of all great carter who is the owner of the pan am brand at the moment. Um it's also linda ferreira who is in charge of the pan am museum foundation and for the hospitality and restaurant expert jerry burke and myself this afternoon by the way, we are aligning with ed weigel who's the in charge of the airline who has also expressed some ideas for this beautiful building in very short the concept has four pillars. Um the first one is conservation and preservation so a full restoration um and uh protection of this historic miami landmark and we try to do that at uh at zero taxpayer risk. Secondly is to develop from this a cultural and tourist touristic landmark, a world class museum, not just a pan am museum, but you know, miami airline history is broader than just pan am. Um and it will consist of authentic artifacts a 22ft um, historic um timeline and a rare 1 to 400 scale dinner key diorama which has already been created and developed. Um, the third pillar is continued civic access. So our proposal is that the city keeps 100% ownership of this building uh, keeps flex offices for use. Sir sorry your two minutes are up but thank you very much. Okay. >> where can I leave the. Um, please with the clerk's office you can leave your remarks. We appreciate it and they'll distribute it to us. Thank you. good morning. >> good morning mayor. Good morning commissioners kristen browdy 888 biscayne boulevard. I welcome back um you know I appreciate that each of you is trying to help us build a better city, a better miami. And when you see me it's always somebody saying it's me saying what are you doing to our neighborhood? So here I am. What are you doing to our neighborhood? Fr two the one thing downtown neighbors have consistently said is that the advertising that is springing up these are the cold sores on an otherwise healthy neighborhood. And here is a proposal for a no bid contract to put in more advertising downtown. It sort of plays into another thing that sort of is an irritant and commissioner rosado is probably really tired of hearing me complain to him about it. That's the tax we pay for the dda the downtown residents pay now we're about to if you go prove fr two you're going to be bringing revenue from downtown exclusively. These signs are only going to go downtown. But is that going to offset the revenue that we pay to the dda? No it's going to go into the city coffers. [Laughter] Our contention is that fr two really shouldn't happen, but if it does that money should offset the money that we pay because as commissioner rosado rightly says ours is a neighborhood that has unique needs in miami it is also the economic engine for miami. It is where the jobs are. It is where increasingly the population is. We ask you first not to add to the eyesores that we already have, but if you're going to do it at least offset what we pay an extra taxes with this revenue. Thank you. Go ahead. Good morning albert gomes district two resident uh good morning mayor commissioners. There are several important decisions here today. Keep city hall at pan am american american terminal. This is our civic home and rt ten appropriately keeps it here so thank you reject advertising on construction fencing our neighborhoods should not become billboards simply because someone pulled a construction permit f2 would open that door and please start publicly tracking the city's liability settlements. This is something I bring up regularly today alone. The consent agenda has $97,500 in negligence settlements. We approve these claims meeting after meeting but where is the running total? Where's the analysis of what is causing them? This is a budget issue. Which brings me to flora and chapter 17. Advance flora. But while we improve the system enforce the law we already have stop approving tree removals that conflict with approved construction plans. Stop treating mature trees as disposable obstacles and city government must follow the same rules itself. At a pocket park next to my home, the city replaced the walkway to eliminate a trip hazard to reduce liability and the process, the workers used a forklift to rip through the roots of a mature gumbo limbo tree. When I objected I was mocked and laughed at. Then this week a repeat offender at a construction site at the corner of my house was documented an illegal discharge heavily salted water de-watered no dewatering permit durham city code concurred they all were there. The resource officer didn't have the knowledge to put the stop work order but he wanted to learn and he followed the durham officer. Train your staff please. This is where we can use flora to resolve liabilities but we can train the staff, enforce the code, track liabilities, protect trees and hold the city to the same standard it demands its residents. Regarding nine over 11 my wife doctor allison thompson is flying up to new york. Thank you. Please remember that day. Thank you. Good morning. Uh good morning. My name is deborah stander. I live at 830 northeast 74th street. Um my father humphrey toomey, uh, had a lifelong career with pan am. He was a pioneer aviator and in the 1930s he worked in this building as division engineer when pan am's famous flying boats were carrying passengers and bringing passengers from the caribbean, the west indies, central america, south america to miami through this very building. And I am also a miami native. So for me this building has tremendous significance. I feel like it's a part of my dna but not just mine. It's a part of the dna of all of miami residents because for the past 70 years it's been our city hall and I think the fact that it stands here today and still pays such tribute and such honor to pan am the way it was beautifully renovated uh, around I think it was 2000 early 2011 something like that .It it everywhere you look you see pan am's history, you see it on the walls in the photographs. It's like it's like a gallery right now and the public is able to access it and appreciate it. And I can't think of of a greater honor for pan am than that this building should continue to be miami city hall. And it also gives me a lot of confidence that generations of as as long as this is city hall, uh, children of of today's residents, their grandchildren, generations of children will be able to to appreciate its history and its significance for our city and our identity. Thank you. Good morning. Debbie dolson 4205 lennox drive, coconut grove. Um, first of all I'd like to talk about keeping city hall in this current location. This building has served generations of miami residents. 46 years ago my father stood in this room and accepted a commendation from the mayor. And it's hanging at our house on the wall still, when our son turned 18, he cast his first vote right here on election day. He also went to melreese but not to vote not to see a commissioner. He went there to golf and honestly I'm not sure if he had to go to melreese he would have he would have turned in his vote that day our grandson stood in this room to offer public comment. So from my father to his great grandson including me, four generations of just my family have been served by this city hall. So for these reasons and all of the reasons stated in the agenda packet, please preserve the legacy for generations to come. Rt 11 please allocate these funds for repairs and modernization modernization projects for the city of miami department of fire and rescue if we have the funds this is an urgently needed uh, project. Mayor higgins has spoken about it and shown this to us and I. If we can do it, let's do it now. Pc four and five of course. Please support our tree canopy. You hear this over and over and over again. It's one of our city's most valuable assets so please protect it before it's gone. Thank you. Hello. >> my name is john elliott, uh, from commissioner king district. Uh, I just want to give this time I know I can't go through some of this but I want to go through but at another time of day, um, I worked with commissioner, uh, arthur tears. Yeah, just. Audrey. Would you mind giving us your name and address for the record, please? 6475 northwest sixth avenue. Thank you. Okay. Uh, I work with arthur hills. I work with commissioner audrey also, I'm working with commissioner king. I'm a community advisor. I make sure I go through my community, make sure whatever the complaints, whatever's been going on, you're doing a marvelous job. We love you. Um ,it was on her behalf of the people in my community which I had to get out there in my community to vote for you to be the mayor. Okay. Uh, I brought in over 40 some odd people, uh, commissioner king a second term 80%. Uh, she wanted her district. We put you in office, man. I have nothing personal against you. Uh, but we're not seeing the things that commissioner king have been doing in our community. The proposals, the things that she have set up. Uh, we don't feel that you follow that you're not you're taking a lot of things for what she's trying to do for our community and what we look for in our community and what she's been doing, you know all praises to [Laughter] Her. Yes .Cuz they sent me here. We ask of you to let her continue on doing what she's doing for our community because nobody else is doing nothing for us and she's been doing a lot. This is why she ended up getting a second term. She finished 87%. Nobody was able to [Laughter] Beat her, you know. So she had been doing a lot for her community. I didn't want to come here today but my community people in my community asked me to come here. We have watch everything that you had online. We in a way we appreciate it. Thank you. I'm saying but yes you want to cut me off because you know what I'm saying. Your two minutes is up. Thank you very much for coming. Continue doing your job. We love you. She does a wonderful job. Thank you for being here. Good morning. Good morning. John dolson 4205 lennox drive, coconut grove. My wife is more eloquent on this than I am so I'm going to say I've heard today that there's widespread support with you guys for keeping city hall here. If that's true thumbs up .This is a very cool place to come have public meetings. It's unique anywhere in the united states. I don't know a better spot. Mel reese is going to be getting to for anybody in miami this is a lot easier and there's always plenty of parking and it's fun to come here. Um, on the subject of uh ,repairs for the uh, fire and police departments let's do it. Take the money you got now and get busy with it. Pc four and five those are tree permit things. Whatever you do today when you hear that side with the trees, they can't speak. But there's something that we value in here and we are way short of in coconut grove across miami and we're losing our canopy daily. So support the trees today and thanks for keeping it here if you do in city hall thanks. I do know my name. Good morning. My name is metro spatz. I'm the executive director of the overtown business association. My work address is 1490 northwest third avenue. I want to speak specifically to ras 14, the establishment of the neighborhood revitalization fund for calle ocho corridor. I support this item because it recognizes something very important historic commercial corridors need intentional targeted investments. The historic overtown certainly has investments through the southeast overtown park west cra and the omni cra and we appreciate the work that they're both doing. But as I look at the item, I begin thinking about a dedicated corridor revitalization strategy and what it could mean in the historic overtown neighborhood, particularly our main street corridor which is northwest third avenue overtown became a florida main street in 2025. It supports economic vitality design promotion organization this month and this is for all the commissioners. Miami will be hosting the florida main street fall quarterly workshop. It's an opportunity to showcase allapattah coconut grove and overtown. It's an amazing opportunity and I'm sure all of you have received something in your mail if not already this week. Thank you. Good morning. I am sandy moise 5910 northeast sixth court. I ask you to support pc five sierra club miami group's appeal which raises two fundamental questions will the city follow its own tree protection ordinance and will it apply that ordinance as it is written at 645 north east 64th street 41 trees were approved for removal including specimen live oaks and a state protected mahogany as well as specimen trees on public property. This appeal is not about stopping development it is about requiring the applicant and the city to follow chapter 17 and genuinely consider preservation before approving removals, a developer should not be able to design a project over protected trees and then point to that design as evidence that the trees must go. The trees should inform the design, not become casualties of it. The applicant's own arborist shows that development and preservation can coexist and there is and also there is a serious issue with standing. Chapter 17 recognizes an environmental nonprofit or a homeowners association which has one member who owns property within 500ft. The critical word here is which grammatically which modifies the homeowners association immediately preceding it. It does not reach backward and impose a 500 foot requirement on the separately identified environmental nonprofit yet the board was advised by city attorney otherwise and standing was denied to other environmental nonprofits without a refund of their expensive fees based on a requirement that does not appear in the environmental nonprofit position. Also, one correction is necessary on today's agenda the board voted five zero against the initial appeal with a modification to preserve tree number 25, which is a specimen live oak on the corner which is probably public right of way. But the commission agenda incorrectly identifies this as tree number 23 which is a small pigeon plum. We are not asking you to stop development. We are asking you to apply chapter 17 as written buildings can be redesigned, site plans can change but once a mature specimen tree is cut down it's gone. Please support sierra club miami group's appeal uphold chapter 17 and preserve our trees. Thank you. Good morning, MADAM Mayor. City commissioners, my name is gloria romero. Rosa's address is 808 brickell key drive. I wanted to speak with you today on agenda item d I for the live local act. Thank you commissioner pardo for continuing this conversation. I've been on the campaign trail now for ten months walking the neighborhoods that are most impacted by this law and I wanted to share some insights because I think it's important for us to have a pulse check. I've heard the frustrations of so many voters in this district about the supercharged development that is stressing out our neighborhoods the pace of change, the type of change and most importantly how this change is actually going to help or hurt our hard working families. As you dialog about the actions that are going to be taken on live local act on what I hope will be a pushback from the preemption that la has undermined how you can achieve a more balanced approach to what I would call is on one extreme greedy development and on the other extreme perhaps developers that want to do the right thing but unfortunately get undermined by other forces. I want to share a few things. Number one, it's very evident to me from walking these neighborhoods that la is supercharging the very development that is pricing out and pushing out hardworking miamians. Number two, it's supercharging the very development that's causing young professionals and families to reconsider whether they can make miami their home in the long term. And then finally la is a structural problem that is going to need a structural solution. I aim to be an ally with you when I earn the votes of the house district 113 voters and be a ally in problem solving how we fix la for the future. Thank you. Hello. >> good morning. Uh, my name is kyle lockridge. I'm a resident here in coconut grove at 3000 724 loquat avenue. Uh first I fully support the idea of keeping city hall here. I really don't understand the concept of putting it effectively in doral by the airport, which I travel to quite often and is a bit of a logistical catastrophe. Um beyond that really what I'm here to speak about is planning and zoning specifically prs four and five. I've received this in the mail because I'm within 500ft of the address at irvington avenue. I've been to prior meetings where this subject has been discussed. Uh and I'm a big supporter of the tree canopy. The reason in my family and I and many of our friends live in coconut grove is because of the beautiful old growth trees and the shade that they provide and the beauty to the community. There's documented statistics that large trees benefit the property value of homes beyond drainage and storms, flooding issues, wind mitigation and hurricanes driving dropping down temperatures in in our terrible hot weather here we have especially this time of year. Uh and I find it very disappointing to think that people would buy homes here with the idea of taking them down or expanding them to build something where there is already a tree in the way. So it's incomprehensible to me that we could approve and support the idea of removing a tree as as a few other people here have said for the convenience of a homeowner to add a second story balcony or something we have to build around the trees. I've done that at my house and planted countless others so please protect our trees. They have no voice and they are incredibly important to us. Thank you. Uh good morning. My name is suzanne howland. I'm a native born and raised coconut grove. Um, my grandfather built this building fred howland of howland construction company when it was pan american and uh, this is an iconic building and should be preserved. I think we all agree to that. Our history is being erased. Another iconic building that he built was the miami public library, the destruction of which was protested and ignored. It's now a patch of grass this building second life serving as city hall has allowed the citizenry of this city to gather and speak in a building worthy of that task in a location that is entirely accessible. Moving this process of engagement to a place that requires cars to access a traffic commute to get to or a place that doesn't represent our history so succinctly is not in the best interest of the public in my opinion. Thank you. Good morning, mayor higgins. Members of the commission I am natalia crusaders, ceo of the museum of miami, formerly history miami art museum, a smithsonian affiliate has documented the people, places and events that have shaped this city for 86 years, making us miami's longest standing cultural institution. As the city prepares to relocate, we would like to help shape what comes next in this historic site ensuring the market remains a public asset. We support commissioner pardo's legislation to keep commission meetings here but important questions remain who will preserve our care for the historic terminal in the long term? How will it be activated for the community and what will become of the public space around us? Our museum is interested in exploring a public private partnership with the city built on three commitments restoring and preserving this historic building developing a new home for the museum adjacent to the pan am terminal and creating a city owned, publicly accessible civic campus using private funds with no pledge to the city's credit, we see a museum and a terminal as anchors for a vibrant campus that welcomes the public every day a place where you can come visit an exhibition about our city's history, attend a commission meeting or a community event or walk alongside the bay in one of the most beautiful places in our city. Our museum preserves and shares our community stories and is one of them. We actually hold the region's foremost collection of pan am artifacts from photos to flight attendant uniforms to model airplanes to china and menus so we would not simply be bringing the museum of miami to dinner key. We would be bringing a piece of miami's history home. Thank you. Good morning. My name is yvonne grassi. We originally moved to miami so that my father could occupy that seat right there [Laughter] As city manager of miami. Yeah, that got your attention from 76 to 81 I bought my house on irvington 3916 irvington avenue in 2000. I've been there for 26 years and as many people excuse me have said here before. The reason we're in coconut grove is our tree canopy. That's why we're here. And unfortunately many of the developers who have come in want to take advantage of coconut grove and the beauty we offer make profit from it, put some big cement block white sugar cube house in there after tearing down the trees and then leave with their profit. This is not what coconut grove is all about. In fact specifically pz4 which is the item that I'm speaking to. Sorry I'm losing my voice. Um the developer purchased that property knowing that there were four specimen trees on that property. They could have made the plan for the house building around the trees and all the trees in fact are either at the front of the property or there's one at the very back of the property there were two buildings, two houses previously on that property built within the space which is quite large that the trees allowed. But unfortunately because the city of miami has historically until this year sort of routinely granted the developer's request to cut down the trees. Developers have now the mindset that they don't have to think about the trees they know the city of miami is going to say yeah, go ahead and cut the trees down so they don't even try to plan a house that works with the existing trees. This is the wrong attitude. I understand business I was an attorney for 31 years including a shareholder at greenberg traurig and I did corporate m&a. I get it I get the whole idea of profit. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Appreciate it. So just. One thing please. Support your board unanimous decision. Thank you thank you appreciate it. Go ahead. Good morning. Good morning, mayor higgins. Members of the commission my name is tom gibson 1581 brickell avenue and I'm a proud trustee of the museum of miami. Natalia has shared our vision for restoring and preserving the pan am terminal, relocating the museum of miami to dinner key and creating a beautiful civic campus at the site. I'm here to speak about why our board believes this is an opportunity worth pursuing. Miami is fortunate to have an extraordinary public asset at dinner key historic landmark surrounded by open space right on biscayne bay. The question before us is not simply what happens to this building when the city moves it's what kind of place we want dinner key to be for the next generation of miamians. We believe the pan am terminal in dinner key should remain public assets that celebrates the history, the culture and the people of miami. That's why the museum of miami is raising its hand to be a part of dinner key's future. We envision a partnership in which the city continues to own this property while the museum brings the private investment, philanthropic support and institutional stewardship needed to restore the pan am terminal, create a new home for the museum and help make dinner key an extraordinary civic destination. Importantly, we are not proposing to privatize this waterfront quite the opposite. This partnership would establish dinner key as a place where miami tells its story, brings the community together and conducts civic life, sending a message that our city takes pride in its history and is committed to chronicling the future. Great cities preserve the places that tell their stories, but preservation is about more than saving buildings it's about giving those buildings purpose and ensuring they will be relevant for generations to come. We believe the museum of miami can help provide that purpose here at dinner key. Thank you. Great. Hey, good morning everybody. Uh, my name is luis hernandez. I live at 3790 irvington avenue. I'm the unofficial mayor of irvington. So I want to ask each of you if you've ever been called ugly. I'm sure some people have. Other people say you look real pretty but this issue at irvington avenue with the tree is really about esthetics one where the the tree has been called ugly. It does not fit the plan as envisioned by the developers and I just want to, you know, cry out for that tree and any of us who have ever been considered ugly because as we know this is something about being creative. The board asked the developers and the architect to think outside the box and obviously they're still stuck on a box. Uh the only person that should not be inside a box is a cat. They should do everything inside a box. But I think humans we should be able to really be creative in terms of the esthetics of anything we build. As someone who's a frustrated architect and I study some architecture, the first rule of course is always the esthetics and the beauty of the design. That's the ultimate goal. But certainly you want to have a balance with the environment. You want to have a be able to solve problems with any particular structures and you want to be creative and that's really sort of the keys of architecture. So when we think of the architecture to think that a tree is in the way of being ugly, I think that's really unfair to the tree and anyone else. Again consider all those things and really be creative. Thank you so much. Hi good morning everybody. Desiree de souza lasrado board member of the dna. I'm sure everybody knows us here. Uh, I'm here to oppose fr two. Please no more advertising. Downtown is tired of being the victims of every everything that is negative. So on behalf of all the residents I request the commission hear our voices act on behalf of us. Maybe for one thing. And that's all I have to say. Sweet and short. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thank you. Hi, I'm christine enriquez, first time participant in local government so I'm nervous. >> well welcome. Don't be nervous. Please inspire my generation with this because I'm from 338 irvington avenue pz4 is what I'm speaking on behalf of. I moved in 2023. When you enter irvington it's magic. It's trees, it's community. I call it [Laughter] A blue zone because it's like neighbors from 1950s. This is a special community. We have halloween every year for the whole community. Um and the community has banded together to save this tree. We want this tree. Um and I know the board voted in unison to save this tree. Our neighborhood rejoiced. We screamed. We were so happy. Um I hope this inspires me to do more civic duties but just think about the tree. They knew the tree was there before it [Laughter] Was before they bought it. I don't know how to speak in public. I'm sorry. You did just you did just fine. That was a great first appearance. Come back more frequently. All right. Go ahead, MR. Cleveland. I know cleveland 5990 south west 50th street miami. Good morning. I'm here to address a critical issue regarding standing specifically a fundamental legal error that occurred at the JULY 21st hearing. The question before us is simple is chapter 17 require an environmental nonprofit corporation to have a member who owns property within 500ft of the subject property plain language of the law is no. Chapter 17 explicitly separates establishes two separate and distinct categories for eligible applicants a recognizes a nonprofit corporation dedicated to conservation and protection of the natural and physical environment or homeowner's association as defined by chapter 720 which has one member who owns property within 500ft of the subject property grammatically and legally. The 500 foot qualifying phrase modifies the homeowner's association, not the environmental nonprofit. The city must apply this ordinance exactly as written and I offer these points to support this position. First of all, the text of the ordinance the qualifying phrase which has a one member who owns property within 500ft immediately follows a homeowner's association. It does not retroactively jump back to the modified. The separately identified environmental nonprofit category. Secondly, the prior version of the chapter 17 recognized nonprofit environmental organizations cleanly without ever imposing a 500 foot membership rule and third, the city's appeal of intended decisions for trees web page clearly distinguishes these categories use the word or for environmental group or homeowners association so the issue is flawed as from the legal advice that was given to the board on JULY 21st, board members appeared prepared to recognize the environmental nonprofit standing. However, they were advised by the city's attorney and that's the end of my time. Good morning, MADAM Mayor. Commissioners, my name is carl anthony. I'm a coconut grove resident. I am here to support the resolution proposed by commissioner partly to keep city hall where it belongs at 3500 pan american drive in coconut grove, the first and oldest community in miami. I'm aware the case for freedom park leans on a brand new 380 300 zero square foot eight story building with nearly 900 parking spots replacing the 34 year old ten story 370 500 zero square foot riverside center. But nobody is including the building of a massive private mixed use waterfront residential complex in its place that will serve only a very small fraction of miami residents. So on paper it sounds like progress. But look at the actual numbers the new plan is two stories shorter and adds only 8000ft2. The city changed its own no net loss parkland rules to make this deal work, so there's no replacement for the green space. Modernization does not translate to efficiency. Then there's distance placing government next to a private soccer stadium and the airport pulls it away from the neighborhoods that need it most. Anyone that has ever done business by the airport knows how crazy traffic is within the industrial, manufacturing and logistic rings of an aeropolis the city government needs to stay where it is. Understand this is a resolution does not reject modernization. It says fix this building, preserve miami's history and don't abandon it for an airport or stadiums backyard. Combining city services under one roof doesn't make it more efficient. It just moves existing inefficiencies to a new address that looks all shiny and bright. Thank you. I urge you to support this resolution. Thank you. Thank you so much. Hello. >> steven lindner 1131 second street bay harbor islands. Please support miami sierra club's appeal of z five um we see no indication the developer this this appeal is based on not adhering to chapter 17. We see no indication that the developer tried to accommodate the existing specimen trees when they plan their development we see no indication that they've made any attempt to to to keep alive to move to preserve the specimen trees on the property which is which is stipulated in in chapter 17. So again please please support the appeal of pc five. Good morning commissioner MADAM Mayor my name is amina mcneal. I'm here on behalf of pf nine. I'm the executive director of the martin luther king economic development corporation and I'm here today to ask for your continued support of our wills to work program. First and foremost, I would have to thank this commission for supporting this program for the last ten years. Our initial class was in 2016 and should this item be approved we would be on our 11th class. What this program does is that it helps the economics of members or citizens of the city of miami on an individual level. While we appreciate the efforts that the elected officials continue to do to improve the ability of people to move around. The fact of the matter is that in the city of miami and in this metro area, to be able to effectively seek work and get to school, take care of your children, you really need a vehicle. And what we've seen in this program over the past ten years is that the people that are able to participate in this program, they've been able to get better jobs. They're not taking the bus two hours each way to get back and forth to work. They're able they're able to put their children in schools to choice not just the schools that are limited on their bus route. They're able to start businesses and more importantly and most importantly, not only do they keep these benefits for themselves but they pay it forward in our program, our participants they do several hundred hours of community service. Um they tell other people about this program. We've had participants that have used their car as a carpool to help other people at their jobs who do not have reliable transportation to get to and from work. So we ask for your support in this program. With that we will be able to purchase cars for city of miami citizens that either live or work in district five of city of miami. So thank you for your time. Good morning mayor commissioners billy corbin here in support enthusiastic support of our e ten many of us in this room will live to see a time as miami changes so fast to see no haitians living in little haiti to see no bahamians living in the little bahamas of the west grove to see no dominicans living in little santo domingo of allapattah and to see no cubans living in little havana. I never thought we'd see a day that city hall wouldn't be at city hall there. In fact the address this address is in the city code section 2-1352a [Laughter] And you're already moving the city of miami government out of the city of miami. You're moving the mrc, the administration building. You're moving the public safety buildings, [Laughter] The headquarters for fire and police. You're moving them out of the urban core out of district two to melreese they'll be closer to doral than to downtown. There's a reason why everything is centered here in district two. In no small part it's because this district participates. You walk, you ride your bikes, you take the trolley to come to these meetings unless you don't want the public to come to meetings and participate because that's what will happen if you move it to to melreese perhaps that's the the intent but there's a reason why these folks turn out it's because they're the greatest stakeholders. District two contributes 70% of the city's revenue. It's the sole donor district and that money gets spread around to support all the other districts which means that you should participate more. You have a greater stake. Commissioner bartow, thank you for bringing this item. At the risk of getting the warm and fuzzies, I was heartened to see three of your colleagues standing beside you outside the meeting. It's a rare day that I'm here asking you guys to do the right thing and you actually do the right thing. So today uh, today might be a special day, a different day and I hope that you keep city hall at city hall. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning commissioner, can you is this on, uh, MADAM Mayor, uh, by the way, I've sat up there twice. Once as a chair of the board many years ago more recently as the vice chair of the sab and thank the commissioner. I hope to be sitting up there very soon as part of your tree ordinance revision committee. So needless to say, I hope city hall stays here. Um as far as pd for the irvington tree, I lived in that house for 4 or 5 years with my wife. I was thankful for all the trees on there, particularly the one that the developer wants to remove. For five years I lived there and blessed that tree every day I got up. It was a wonderful house I lived in and a wonderful tree and now the house is gone but the tree remains. Finally as regarding the tree revision committee 11 people are supposed to be on that committee. Only eight have been appointed so far thanks to commissioner gabel. I'm on that revision committee that's important that we have all very [Laughter] Soon appointed because if we don't the quorum then becomes eight. Sometimes we don't have people show up. I guarantee you people are going to show up for the tree revision committee and if they're there and we don't have a quorum, it's embarrassing for the committee. It's embarrassing for you guys. It's just a total embarrassment. Please make your appointments if you haven't and support this