WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
A Singular Voice in an Evolving City
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136 Metrorail cars to be made in Medley, roll by 2017, pg. 9 BOND DISCLOSURE: Before Miami-Dade voters go to the polls for a referendum on bond borrowing to build a project, they will receive an estimate of the facility’s operation and maintenance costs as well as the funding source. County commissioners voted, 9-3 Oct. 6 to disclose the information within bond summaries. Dennis Moss, Barbara Jordan and Jean Monestime voted no. Juan Zapata, prime sponsor of the ordinance, was absent when it came up. During other meetings when the legislation was debated, however, he made his views clear and said voters should know exactly what they’re committing to when they vote to borrow via general obligation bonds. Additionally, he said, voters should know that property taxes will pay the cost of maintaining the facilities.
Venetian Causeway’s future remains under study, pg. 11
THE ACHIEVER
Wells Fargo wins bid BY SUSAN DANSEYAR
BUSINESS BUILDERS: To attract new local businesses, a county committee is to consider today (10/15) asking for a report within four months that would list all county efforts to create and promote local businesses, analyze whether these efforts can be improved, uncover any county practices that impede business formation and analyze ways to overcome those barriers. The resolution by Rebeca Sosa asks that the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce and other local business organizations be involved in the study. The Economic Prosperity Committee is to vote on her measure. DRIVER EDUCATION: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez would be asked to work with county school officials to review the hours of school operation, determine their impact on road traffic and evaluate options to reduce traffic congestion under a resolution that a county commission committee was to consider this week. The resolution by Rebeca Sosa notes that the nation’s fourth largest school system, with 392 schools, 345,000 students and more than 40,000 employees, contributes to morning rush hour traffic jams. IMPACT FEES FOR TRANSIT: A Miami-Dade County committee is to vote this week on allowing road impact fees to fund mass transit projects that benefit multiple impact fee districts. Legislation coming before the Transit and Mobility Services committee, if approved by the full commission, would permit using the funds for specific transit capital projects that commissioners determine, after a hearing, would be effective as part of the county’s strategy for providing roadway capacity and benefit each of the impact fee districts contributing roadway trust funds to the transit improvement. The roadway trust funds would not be used on existing deficiencies.
Gia Arbogast
Photo by Marlene Quaroni
Building on technology at Miami-Dade Public Library The profile is on Page 4
Soccer stadium play: label ballpark area ‘slum’ Miami-Dade County is being asked to put the ball in play today (10/15) to create a redevelopment agency enveloping Marlins Park and use the agency’s tax proceeds to buy land next door for a soccer stadium that would also house University of Miami football games. The resolution by Commissioner Bruno Barreiro comes before the county’s Economic Prosperity Committee for its blessing. Final approval would come later from the full county commission. To create the agency, which Mr. Barreiro labels the Orange Sports Complex Community Redevelopment Agency, the commission would have to declare the area that includes the baseball stadium “slum and blighted,” in the words of his resolution. Marlins Park opened in 2012 to much fanfare as a revitalizing agent for its slice of Little Havana. Miami city commissioners authorized construction of four garages wrapped in more than 53,000 square feet of retail intended to focus on upscale visitors that the ballpark was expected to lure. The county and city combined invested nearly $3 billion, including interest, in the ballpark. But redevelopment of the area never began.
AGENDA
Bill paying will pay off for county
Team to pay to shrink field dimensions, pg. 8 the stadium site. A consortium headed by former British soccer star David Beckham now is seeking a stadium beside the ballpark for a Major League Soccer franchise that has been granted to him if he can get the stadium. The consortium has sought several sites and been rebuffed. It early on rejected the site beside the baseball stadium as tainted by the Miami Marlins financing deal but now has embraced it. Talks have reportedly been held with the University of Miami about moving its football games from Sun Life Stadium at the northern edge of the county to the site beside the ballpark, much nearer the Coral Gables campus. The resolution asks the commission to select a consultant to prepare a Finding of Necessity study for the redevelopment agency. The study is required by state statute to initiate a redevelopment agency. The study is to consider whether a redevelopment agency could be used to fund land for the dual-purpose stadium as well as the construction of a Metromover leg from Government Center downtown to
The study, the resolution says, would provide for the redevelopment agency to close its doors once the two projects were fully funded. It would also provide that county taxes pay in half of the redevelopment agency’s trust fund and all other taxing authorities contribute the other half. Because the site is in the City of Miami, that would require the city to contribute a large share of the other half of the redevelopment agency’s funding. The agency’s boundaries are suggested to be Flagler Street to the South, Northwest 22nd Avenue to the west, and the Miami River to the north and east, though the resolution says the study being sought could expand that area if needed. Community redevelopment agencies by statute create trust funds that retain 95% of the increase in tax revenues from their area above the taxes that were collected before the agency was born. The agency uses that money to finance or refinance any redevelopment it undertakes. In this case, it would include stadium land and Metromover construction, though it could include more.
Miami-Dade commissioners voted 11-1 last week to waive bid procedures and award Wells Fargo Bank a revenue-generating contract estimated at $3.1 million for an accounts payable system through a credit card. Under the EPay Program, the county will get cash rebates from Wells Fargo by paying its vendors through credit card technology for five years. The contract allows a three-year option to renew. Chairman Jean Monestime cast the opposing vote, saying he doesn’t support bid waivers. Memos accompanying the resolution estimated $2 million revenue to the county will be generated in the initial five years. The amount includes estimated annual revenue of $380,000 from rebates and a one-time, non-refundable $100,000 sign-on bonus presented to the county within 30 days after execution of the agreement. If the county exercises the single three-year option to renew, the cumulative revenue is projected at $3.14 million. Additionally, the first year that spending volume reaches $50 million, Wells Fargo is to pay the county a one-time $50,000 bonus. The projected revenues are based on a Wells Fargo analysis that county Finance Department staff reviewed. The analysis included a review of county vendors, the amount spent, the number of county vendors already enrolled in Wells Fargo’s program and other historical data, which resulted in a projected spending volume under the program of $26 million yearly. The county’s accounts payable module must be modified to use this payment method, at an estimated $100,000 one-time cost. Additionally, an annual recurring expense of about $50,000 is anticipated to assist vendors, process files and reconcile and issue payments to vendors. The sign-on bonus and rebates will cover these expenses.
EB-5 VISA CENTER PLANS TO FUND VETERANS VILLAGE ...
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CAR-SHARING FIRM SHIFTING 100 CARS TO MIAMI BEACH ... 10
IN BROAD EFFORTS, MIAMIANS PUSHING A CHINESE HUB ...
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HANDS REACH OUT AS EXPRESSWAY AUTHORITY PROFITS ...15
VIEWPOINT: ASSESS PORT’S NEEDS BEFORE LAND DEAL ...
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FUNDING FOR UM TECHNOLOGY PARK AN IFFY BUSINESS ... 16
AIRPORT, SEAPORT UNITING TO CREATE CRUISE CENTER ...
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668 MORE RESIDENCES ADVANCING FOR BRICKELL KEY ...
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TODAY’S NEWS
WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
MIAMI TODAY
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As businesses catch on, Miamians push local Chinese hub BY CARLA VIANNA
Johnson Ng has published a Chinese newspaper in South Florida for about 15 years. This year Mr. Ng opened an Asian community center in Miami Gardens, and in less than six months the center drew about 150 members. Born in Hong Kong, Mr. Ng arrived in Miami in 1992. The difference between South Florida and New York and California, Mr. Ng said, is New York City and Los Angeles are both saturated with centers such as his. In Miami, he said, there is room for opportunity. A membership fee of $30 a year and a daily $1 lunch fee fund the Miami Garden center’s $100,000 budget. In about four months Mr. Ng plans to launch a bus service to connect members spread about the county to his resource center. Chinese businesses are starting to catch on to Miami’s favorable geographic location. And Miami’s business community is keen on promoting the city as a Latin American hub for Chinese investors. The county and the City of Miami are pushing for nonstop flight service to China, promoting the EB-5 Visa investment program, setting up Asian outreach committees and launching trade missions abroad, all with the aim of securing stronger Miami-China ties. Some critics say Miami lacks crucial Chinese infrastructure, and that’s why it lags behind New York City or LA. They call for a Chinese consulate and a Chinese bank. However, Miami is already home to a growing Chinese community. Mr. Ng’s pursuit is on the local level. About 1.7% of Miami-Dade County’s population reported Asian as their single race, ac-
Photo by Carla Vianna
Johnson Ng, who has published a Chinese newspaper for 15 years, has opened Asian community center.
cording to the latest US Census data. That would equate to about 45,000 Asians. But there might be far more. “I believe the population of Asian Americans in this county is grossly underestimated,” said Mohammad Shakir, program officer and director for the county’s Asian-American Advisory Board. He estimated that 200,000 to 250,000 Asian-Americans in the county – Chinese Americans being one of the largest groups. “The numbers are much higher than what it used to be,” said Manny Wong, who is a Cuban Chinese board member representing the Chinese American community. “Miami is unique in the sense that there’s a fresh arrival of immigrants from mainland [China] as well as from the Latin American countries.” There’s no particular area they all live in, Mr. Wong said; they’re integrated into mainstream society.
ATTENTION DEVELOPERS
‘A Chinatown would do fine, but it would discourage the emerging communities to really come wholeheartedly and become part of it.’ Mohammad Shakir The first group of Chinese immigrants arrived in South Florida to do railroad work, Mr. Wong said. The first group that fled to Miami for political reasons were the Cuban Chinese during the late 1950s. Then came the second- and third-generation Chinese immigrants from Central and South America, or those whose families had made an earlier jump into the Western Hemisphere. In the 1970s, the Jamaican Chinese arrived. When the Taiwanese arrived, they were already looking at Miami as a hub to link China and Latin
America. Today, Mr. Wong said, a lot of Chinese individuals are migrating to Miami from China itself. “The Chinese dream is to come over here and [give] your kids a better education and a better life,” said Nina Wong, a Chinese American who was born here. But the means and desires of migrating Chinese individuals are changing, Mr. Wong said. Chinese individuals are now seeking a better life for themselves, not just their children. “Before they came with [one] suitcase to make a new life here,” he said. “People coming today have got some dollars behind them.” A common topic among business groups looking to attract more investors here is the creation of a Chinatown. But can such an attraction or business hub be created? “My parents actually were one of the ones here in beginning,”
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Ms. Wong said. “They tried doing a Chinatown down on Flagler Street, without success unfortunately. They wanted us kids to go into that.” It’s proven difficult, she said, to find volunteers to get a fullscale Asian – not just Chinese – center off the ground. “A Chinatown would do fine, but it would discourage the emerging communities to really come wholeheartedly and become part of it,” Mr. Shakir said. “We need some [type of] Asian convention center – a facility that would be the go-to point for visitors and the businesses.” Miami could serve as a showroom for both Chinese and South American businesses, he said. It’d be the central hub – a midpoint – between the two markets. Local organizations catering to South Florida’s Asian community do exist. In North Miami there’s the National Alliance to Nurture the Aged and the Youth, an Asian American community center started by a Philippine family. The Taipei Economic & Cultural Office has helped facilitate Taiwanese travel and business in Miami. There’s a Chinese language newspaper. There are several Chinese churches. “It’s big,” Ms. Wong said about Miami’s Chinese community. “It’s huge actually, but it’s so spread out.” Ms. Wong is the administrative secretary at Chinese Baptist Church of Miami, the oldest Chinese church here. Offering services in Cantonese and Mandarin, the church at 595 SW 124th Ave. has 350 active members and has branched out to Coral Springs and Orlando, she said. The church’s local attendance sheet was huge, she said, and then it shrank. It’s now growing again.
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MIAMI TODAY
VIEWPOINT
WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
MIAMITODAY Miami Today is an independent voice of the community, published weekly at 2000 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 100, Miami, Florida 33133. Telephone (305) 358-2663
Assess port’s needs before handing its lands to developers Revision of PortMiami’s plan for use of its land is getting a vital boost from a county commissioner who recognizes that the current frenzy to hand scarce acres to the highest bidder might ignore the boom- Michael Lewis ing seaport’s needs. Last week commissioners wisely barred measures to commit use of the port’s southeast corner until the county can clear up any legal barriers lingering from the acquisition of the land years ago. Today (10/15), Commissioner Rebeca Sosa seeks a resolution that the county ask current or potential port users about their needs for the next 30 years and, based on that, to update the port’s planning for commercial development. In order to stall a commission rush to competitive bidding for the port’s southeast corner, Ms. Sosa on Oct. 6 had to invoke a rule against last-minute legislation. Many developers would have bid for
all sorts of uses – but would they have met the port’s needs? That’s the vital question, and one that Ms. Sosa’s legislation seeks to answer. The seaport doesn’t need the highest revenue from any old project at all. What it needs is uses that best mesh with the interests of a growing port in which government has invested billions in tunnels, dredging and cranes to obtain far larger trade flows once an expanded Panama Canal opens next year. As we reported last week, thanks to a recently deepened channel the port just handled a freighter carrying 9,400 freight containers, far above the 5,700 maximum before dredging. The aim is 14,000-container ships when the canal opens. Already this year, freight at the port is up 14% and a major consortium of ship owners is being wooed. Those users are inquiring about port infrastructure. Meanwhile, on the cruise shipping side, Royal Caribbean and the port are cementing a deal for a new terminal for the line’s biggest ships, which aren’t here now. Will other cruise lines want to join in the upgrades? With those kinds of potential growth, it’s foolhardy to simply seek the biggestbidding developer of anything to use the
port’s land. Sites are so scarce that for two years the port has been pushing its users to consolidate space. Observers say port business growth is constrained by tight land. The port is our second-largest economic engine after the airport. Why hem it in more without finding out what port users will need? So Ms. Sosa is seeking a survey of the port’s present and future cruise lines, cargo operators and others about their needs for up to 30 years. That’s a smart call. Two weeks ago we suggested a revision of the port’s plan in order to take those future needs into account. We suggested it might take years to get around to it. Ms. Sosa’s legislation would have a full-court press by the mayor’s office get it all done in five months. Great thought. We would add to her legislation a requirement to survey two more port interests that are not specifically cited. Seaport management itself should join in the assessment, because those managers would look holistically at port and county needs while users will be viewing the future from their own business perspectives, which naturally will skew to their own industries. The big picture is vital.
Professional codes of ethics can be very trying Professional associations adhere to the strictest standards of ethics. I know because I belong to a few of them. They all have rigorous codes of ethics that professionals must abide by. I also know that bankers, lawyers, Isaac Prilleltensky teachers, accountants, firefighters, Edward Snowden and Lance Armstrong have codes of ethics. Even the county commission has a code of ethics, but unfortunately nobody can find it since the FBI left a mess in its last raid. They do have it, though, and it is in three languages: Tonkawa, Etchemin and Hialehan. This is how old it is, which explains why nobody used it. This ethics business can be very trying, especially when you work in stressful jobs like accounting, law, medicine and teaching. Codes of ethics demand respectful treatment of your clients at all times and under all circumstances. Accountants, for example, would never tell a client “you are running the biggest scheme in the history of forensic accounting.” Instead, they are going to write a report to the Board stating that “a fiduciary audit revealed a larger than expected shrinkage in the accrued income collateralized with tangible assets which has resulted in a smaller than expected WACC (weighted average costs of capital), leading to large sums of money deposited in suspense accounts which were securitized against promissory notes and future taxation used to defray costs of doing business in certain parts of South Florida. Computer models based on SWOT analyses predict that outside agencies will show interest in your business.” TRANSLATION: You should stop bribing city commissioners and start paying taxes or you will be in jail in
The Writer Isaac Prilleltensky is dean of the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami. Follow his humor blog at http:// prilleltensky.blogspot.com. three to five months. Teachers are also very respectful professionals. They prepare for months for parent-teacher interview. Some excerpts: GRADE 11 TEACHER: Jordan’s performance in the SMRT-VII has remained stable since the last time he was evaluated. TRANSLATION: He is still as dumb as he was in grade 2. GRADE 3 TEACHER: Suzie is extremely peripatetic and shows great curiosity towards people and events unrelated to the subject matter at hand. TRANSLATION: If you don’t put her on Ritalin I will. Predictably, lawyers have the strictest code of ethics. This is why they reassure you that if they sue 734 innocent people on your behalf and by random chance the judge falls asleep during the proceedings and they win three cases, they will share with you 0.0000001% of the money. After taxes, photocopying, paper clips, faxes, office parties, late night pizza parties and courier expenses, they guarantee to pay you 0.00000000000001% of the net profits. This is the only profession that guarantees 0.000000000001% of anything. No questions or medical exams required. In contrast, most other professions require you to pay them. Take doctors, for example. Before you even said what was wrong with you, a smiling assistant will invite you to a little booth, take an X-ray of all your bank accounts, conduct a physical examination of all your credit cards, insert a finger in your wallet to extract your driver’s license and your health insurance card, and review
the chart of payments on your mortgage. She will also perform a stress test on your 401 K account, and check the pressure in the tires of your car, just to be sure there is something of worth in case the insurance company denies your claim, which happens 99% of the time. By the time you see the doctor your blood pressure is so high that the insurance company is bound to reject your claim, leaving the smiling clerk with no choice but to impound your car and clean up your 401 K. Health insurance companies are very explicit in their insistence on equality: all patients will be treated the same, no matter what the ailment is, your ability to pay or the policy you have. Before the doctor sees you, everyone must sign 29 forms with very small fonts. They don’t pressure you to sign the form, however. You can take your time. At an average speed of three minutes per page, it will take you five hours to read the forms they give you. Allowing for lunch and bathroom breaks, you are lucky if you see the doctor at 5 p.m., provided you got there at 6 a.m. Doctors, however, will never pressure anybody to sign anything they don’t understand. The American Medical Association is very explicit about that. You don’t have to sign anything you don’t feel comfortable with. You will never see a doctor in your life if you choose to read all the forms, but patient autonomy must be respected at all times. Doctors do all that to prevent any harm, and more. They will do whatever it takes to prevent you from buying prescription drugs from unknown countries like Canada, or going to India to receive medical treatment. The AMA is against medical tourism. I do have to agree with them on the India thing. A friend of mine went to India to have a heart operation and returned with a sex transplant. Doctors are obliged to warn you against things like that.
Then, because of proximity and interests, downtown Miami should also get a voice via the Downtown Development Authority. It was at the most recent authority meeting that Jerome Hollo of Florida East Coast Realty suggested that the seaport’s master plan be updated before deciding on use of the scarce land. And downtown’s concerns about competition and inappropriate port uses merit a careful hearing. Port Director Juan Kuryla sees a logistics boom in the port’s future that could spread jobs throughout the entire county. While logistics uses of the port’s open space might not produce the highest direct revenue, they might lead to the highest payback to the county as a whole. Logistics could never win at competitive bidding, but it is key to what makes our seaport a strong economic engine. Ms. Sosa’s legislation is useful. We should determine the best uses for port land without either rushing to the biggest developer or freezing available land in perpetual limbo. The committee should pass her measures today and the full commission Nov. 3. The port is a vital engine. Find the needs now and don’t throttle back on its jobcreating growth.
L ETTERS
TO THE
E DITOR
Return terminal to Grove Regarding the city’s plans to swap riverfront headquarters, this will be the perfect opportunity for the City of Miami to consolidate its administration departments with the office of mayor, manager and commissioners. May they all be in the same new building together and allow the return of the historic Pan Am Terminal to the Village of Coconut Grove for that neighborhood’s best use. Harry Emilio Gottlieb
Traffic blame to politicians
Instead of implementing modern tech solutions, Miami is hiring 22 people that will be responsible (i.e. blamed) for traffic in Brickell. Not only is this fiscally irresponsible, since 22 people is a lot of overhead manpower (for such a small area), but an empty measure designed to shift blame away from the politicians. It doesn’t take nine years to upgrade hardware. This is why politicians are to blame for making many areas of Miami unfriendly to visitors and almost impossible to do business in. Rosy Palomino
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WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
MIAMI TODAY
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With commission OK, airport, seaport uniting to develop a cruise hub BY SUSAN DANSEYAR
Photo by Maxine Usdan
These Metrorail cars, now in service for 31 years, will be replaced by cars manufactured in the county.
136 Metrorail cars to be made here for $375 million, start rolling in ’16 BY CARLA VIANNA
One hundred and thirty-six new Metrorail cars are expected to start rolling in by the end of next year. Alice Bravo, director of Miami-Dade Transit, said the multi-million-dollar initiative to upgrade the transit line’s fleet is on schedule. The county anticipates the delivery of the first car by the end of 2016 and the rest to gradually roll into service by the end of 2017. The much-needed upgrade will replace the same train cars that have been transporting riders since Metrorail opened in 1984. “The train design is being finalized by the firm AnsaldoBreda,” Ms. Bravo said. “A crew is working with our team and our consultant to finalize all the specs. We’re also close to finishing the facility in Medley where the cars will be manufactured. That should be open [by the] end of this year or the beginning of next year.” The $375.7 million project includes a $313.8 million contract with Italy-based rail car manufacturer AnsaldoBreda, Miami Today previously reported, and
“We’re also close to finishing the facility in Medley where the cars will be manufactured”: Alice Bravo.
is funded through transit system sales surtax revenue bonds collected from the county’s one percent sales surtax for transit. While a new fleet will surely benefit commuters, ongoing problems with the rail line’s 30year-old infrastructure might pose additional setbacks. To address issues with the track itself, Ms. Bravo said the county plans to develop a test car – a train car with censors attached to its base with the ability to detect defects on the tracks. The test car, which is to be developed using an existing train car, will automate a pro-
cess that has historically been based on visual and manual inspection, she said. “It’ll help us stay on top of things,” Ms. Bravo said. Plans to replace a section of the tracks between the Brickell and Vizcaya stations are also in place. Funding for both the test car and track replacement will come via the People’s Transportation Plan surtax and federal funds. Ms. Bravo stressed how easy it is to take Metrorail to the airport, especially now that the Miami-Dade Transit Tracker mobile app tells a commuter exactly how to get from one location to the next. The county is also working with the City of Miami to integrate its trolley system information within the app. Another initiative to get more commuters on public transit is the county’s Corporate Discount Program, which guarantees discounted Metrorail and monthly parking passes for participating employees. “We’re hoping that when we get the new cars,” Ms. Bravo said, “we can increase the frequency of service to the airport.”
County transit use off 3.4% in year BY SUSAN D ANSEYAR
The overall Miami-Dade Transit average daily ridership for all modes of transportation was 3.4% lower in June than in June 2014. The county’s Transit and Mobility Services Committee is to receive this week the monthly ridership report for June. According to statistics provided by the Transit Department, Metromover’s average weekday boardings dipped by 0.4% from June 2014, as did Metrobus and Special Transportation Service average weekday boardings by 5.9% and 1.5%, respectively,
over the time frame. However, Metrorail average weekday boardings rose 3.3% from June 2014. The largest increases in weekday Metrorail boardings year over year were at Brickell station (an additional 570 boardings, up 10.1%); Government Center station (up 294 boardings, a 2.6% increase); and Northside station (229 more boardings, up 14.9%). The largest increases in average weekday Metrobus boardings from June 2014 to June 2015 were on four routes: Route 17 (Vizcaya to 183rd Street/Seventh Avenue visa 17th Avenue) had an additional 471
boardings, up 12%; Route 9 (Downtown to Aventura via Northeast Second Avenue) had an additional 343 boardings, up 6.1%; Route 77 (Downtown Miami to Norwood via Northwest Seventh Avenue) had an additional 270 boardings, up 2.9% increase; and Route 16 (Downtown to the 163rd Street Mall via Biscayne Boulevard/ Northeast 16th Avenue) added 213 boardings, an 8.8% rise. According to the latest posting on its website, Miami-Dade Transit records more than 353,000 daily weekday boardings on Metrobus, Metrorail, Metromover and STS combined.
The county’s Aviation Department and seaport have the goahead to plan a cruise visitor center at Miami International Airport to conveniently process passengers and their luggage directly to PortMiami. County commissioners have said the center will increase tourism, since most passengers cruising from the port initially arrive at Miami International. In the first six months of this year 2,653,978 passenger arrivals and departures were counted on cruise ships at the port, down 6.5% from 2014 but still the nation’s busiest cruise hub. In August, the county’s Trade and Tourism Committee voted unanimously to have the seaport and aviation departments join with cruise lines to craft airport processing for either individual or multiple cruise lines. “People want convenience, and any time you can provide that for them, it’s a positive situation,” Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz told Miami Today in August. “Water always finds the easiest flow.” Yet not all commissioners are equally enthusiastic about a cruise visitor center and, before the 6-2 vote last week, some expressed reservations about cost as well as the legality of asking that seaport union workers handle passengers’ luggage at thge airport. Audrey Edmonson pointed to a concern in the community whether International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) workers will be able to handle the baggage of cruise passengers when they arrive at the airport. She and Port Director Juan Kuryla spoke about the matter the day before the Oct. 6 meeting, at which time Ms. Edmonson said she learned that a legal issue surrounding specifying union workers must be considered. Florida is essentially a “right to work” state, the county attorney’s office said, referring to a federal law prohibiting work being denied or abridged on account of membership or nonmembership in a labor union. Therefore, the county can’t mandate that baggage be handled by ILA workers or members of any specific union but could address the issue by asking that the baggage be handled by port workers. Mr. Kuryla said some cruise lines already use the airport to deliver passengers to the seaport via a bus and their luggage is
Juan Kuryla: need funding method.
handled by ILA workers. He said he spoke to ILA officials regarding the agenda item and they had no objections to it. “We will be studying the issue and speaking with [cruise lines and ILA representatives] before coming back before you with a written report,” Mr. Kuryla said. “The cruise lines will either say they like the idea or would rather do it themselves.” The resolution stipulates that the team of officials pinpoint an airport space for the cruise visitor center, costs and potential funding sources, interested cruise lines, a timeline to begin operations, and other entities interested in participating such as the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association. It directs the mayor to report on the plan within 60 days. The next step, Mr. Kuryla told the commission meeting, is to create a funding mechanism. It was early evening when the matter came up for discussion and prime sponsor Mr. Diaz had left the commission chambers. Also absent were Commissioners Sally Heyman, Juan Zapata, Javier Souto and Esteban Bovo Jr. Commissioner Rebeca Sosa advised deferring a vote until a Sunshine meeting could be called “with all the sponsors and members to make sure everything is done by the book.” In addition to Ms. Sosa, the co-sponsors were Ms. Edmonson and Dennis Moss. When Ms. Edmonson said her concerns had been satisfied and she wished to move the item on behalf of Mr. Diaz, Ms. Sosa said she wanted the prime sponsor to decide whether to delay but would relent if there were no legal concerns. However, she asked that her name be removed as a co-sponsor and said she could not support “the creation of another burden” of costs until “everyone is on the same page.” She and Chairman Jean Monestime cast the opposing votes.
WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
TODAY’S NEWS
MIAMI TODAY
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Venetian Causeway still in study mode year after bus fell BY CATHERINE LACKNER
More than a year after a bus fell partially through and made a hole in the Venetian Causeway, the Florida Department of Transportation is still in the midst of a Project Development and Environment study to determine social, economic, natural and physical environmental impacts of repairing or replacing the causeway’s bridges. An additional complication: the 12-bridge causeway, built in 1926, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so any extensive changes might jeopardize that designation. “Extensive agency coordination as well as the evaluation of alternatives for addressing the needs of the project and the potential impacts of the alternatives on the environment are ongoing,” said Enrique “Rick” Crooks, of EAC Consulting Inc. “The study will culminate with a recommended alternative that will serve as the basis for a future project. Currently, only the study is funded. The scope of the future project has not yet been determined and no funds have been allocated for design or construction.”
Photo by Maxine Usdan
The historic 12-bridge Venetian Causeway, now 89 years old, might have its bridges replaced or rebuilt.
The causeway, which connects Miami and Miami Beach, wends its way through a cluster of residential islands. Meetings were held in May with area residents to determine their preference: do nothing other than rou-
tine maintenance, rehabilitate the bridges, or replace all or parts of the bridges, according to Dat Huynh, project manager for the state transportation department’s District Six. Replacement of the bridges
ranked first with 16 votes; rehabilitation of the bridge ranked second with nine votes. There were no votes for the no-build alternatives, said a newsletter circulated by the transportation department.
The causeway is Florida’s oldest, and some of its historic characteristics include the arched form of the superstructure, the railings and the light poles. According to the National Register of Historic Places, an owner of a historically designated structure may do as he wishes with the structure as long as no federal money is used. Mr. Huynh said last year that if future work is done on the causeway, federal money might be requested. In that case, the federal government says that an Advisory Council on Historic Preservation would have to comment on the work planned for the Venetian Causeway. Records indicate that any construction alternatives explored for the causeway’s rehabilitation – the milder alternative to complete reconstruction – are to be done so as to maintain the causeway’s spot in the National Register. In evaluating alternatives for the Venetian Causeway, the transportation department is trying to pinpoint those that would have minimal impact on marine life, Mr. Huynh said when fixes were first being debated.
Capital for transit requires united front, state official says BY CATHERINE LACKNER
There is capital available for transit projects, but a unified front is necessary to leverage state and federal dollars, said Harold Desdunes, director of transportation development for the Florida Department of Transportation. Mr. Desdunes gave an update of projects in progress to the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transit Solutions Committee last week. Working with a $3.6 billion budget for the next five years, the department is in some stage of completion on 100 transit projects worth $178 million. They include: Dolphin Station, a park-andride facility that comprises 1,000 parking spaces and 12 bus bays. The project is in the design phase; the transportation department is working with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority and Miami-Dade Transit on it, Mr. Desdunes said. Palmetto Station at State Road 826 and Northwest 74th Street, which at completion might comprise mixed uses, such as office, retail or light industrial space, or a hotel, along with the transit facility. The project is in the early planning stages. “We’re not the lead; Miami-Dade Transit is responsible for that,” Mr. Desdunes said. Express bus service on State Road 836, another project being done in collaboration with Miami-Dade Transit. A park-and-ride lot on Kendall Drive and Southwest 127th Avenue, which is in final design stage and for which permits will be sought soon. A Golden Glades upgraded intermodal center with a park-
ing garage and other amenities. It is a just a parking lot now, but will be advertised for a design/ build contract in late 2016; Mr. Desdunes said. Improvements to the Miami Intermodal Center just east of Miami International Airport. “We’ve spent more than $2 billion on this project,” Mr. Desdunes said. “I’m so amazed and proud of our community, of the MPO and of our department, which have all been involved with this project. Can you imagine if we could do something similar in the west, in the north, in the south?” Bus rapid transit for three corridors: Northwest 27th Avenue (a study contract is to be advertised soon and a contract awarded next April), Kendall Drive (the study is to be advertised in January with a consultant hired in June 2016) and Flagler Street (it has been advertised with a study contract to be awarded by March 2016). In these three cases, the department will pursue a quick completion of its own, required, Project Development and Environment study, Mr. Desdunes said. There is funding from the state, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration and other entities, especially for new starts, Mr. Desdunes told the group. “We evaluated all means of funding” in preparation for the meeting, he said. These include federal funds for public transit, job access, planning, and operations for all types of transit projects, including buses and bus facilities. The state transportation agency has a new starts program that Miami-Dade has not yet tapped, he added. In fiscal
2015, that program had $147 million, an amount that will grow each year. “We could look into tapping into this with the projects that we have moving forward,” Ms. Desdunes said. There is $1.9 billion in federal funding available each year for new starts, said Dennis Moss, committee chair and Miami-
Dade commissioner. “Once we decide what it is we want to do as a community, we can get in that process. It depends on the MPO getting its act together and rallying the community to position ourselves to pursue some of that money.” “You’re starting to see a shift to mass transit,” said Francis Suarez, committee vice chair
and Miami commissioner. The Federal Highway Administration has found that, in car-dependent communities, transportation can consume as much as 25% of a family’s income, he said. That number drops to 9% when viable mass transit exists. “We sometimes forget to see the effect that has on our residents.”
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TRANSPORTATION
MIAMI TODAY
WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
Commission orders action on late buses, inaccurate schedules BY SUSAN DANSEYAR
County commissioners maintain that inaccurate bus schedules provided to the public cause unnecessary waits and delays, a problem they’d like the Transit Department to research and prepare a report examining a number of metrics in an effort to create a more reliable system. Numerous residents, some of whom have no option other than taking the bus, rely on Miami-Dade Transit for transportation to work and important appointments. Yet the listed times when they can expect to board a given bus do
not realistically account for traffic, average number of stops and driver breaks, commissioners agree. To that end, they unanimously voted last week to require transit officials to report within 90 days on running times, headways, scheduling of stops, mileage and driver break schedules. Additionally, the commissioners asked that the report include a proposed action plan based on the findings. The resolution passed Oct. 6 states that schedules, routes and headways become inaccurate over time as a result of changing demographic and traffic
patterns. As a result, the commission is directing transit officials to update bus route schedules no less than every three years based on the criteria examined in this year’s report. The Transit and Mobility Services Committee voted unanimously with a favorable recommendation during the summer to forward the resolution to the full commission. At the Aug. 26 meeting, Commissioner Jose “Pete” Diaz said he received several complaints from Homestead residents regarding the scheduled bus route to the Keys because the waiting period ranged from
two to three hours. Transit Director Alice Bravo said at the meeting that her focus is to make the existing transit system a baseline in terms of reliability, cleanliness and safety. She pointed out efforts have been made, prior to this legislation, to determine how to improve the bus schedules, attract more customers with a reliable service to reach work and improve the driver morale. Ms. Bravo said staff was evaluating routes and met with union representatives to make changes in 13 routes that carry 40% of all riders.
All Aboard Florida aims to carry passengers in 15 months All Aboard Florida trains with all-reserved seats in various sitting arrangements and sizes are to be delivered here in the third quarter of next year and be ready to start carrying passengers at the outset of 2017, President and Chief Development Officer Michael Reininger says. “The minute we’re in service” the new railroad line will be looking for ways to expand and enlarge its services, Mr. Reininger told a Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce lunch last week in answer to questions about serving more points in Florida than are now planned. The new rail line is to run from the downtown Miami point where Henry Flagler planted the city’s main station on his Florida East Coast Railway more than a century ago through new All Aboard Florida station developments in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach to the northern terminus at Orlando International Airport, Mr. Reininger said. Asked by chamber members whether the railroad would go to other Florida cities some day, he said some are more likely than others. Jacksonville, he explained, was on the Flagler railway’s route that All Aboard Florida controls so it’s easier. Tampa is “important and desirable” but it’s harder to reach because the infrastructure base does not exist, though it’s among “important expansion opportunities.” Asked by a frequent traveler to the state capital about trains to Tallahassee, Mr. Reininger
Photo by John Charles Robbins
Work on Miami Central, All Aboard Florida’s southern terminus in downtown Miami, shown in September.
said quickly “that’s very challenging” and after a pause added to applause “I wonder if we can move the state capital to Miami?” The initial runs from Miami will be to Fort Lauderdale in 26 minutes and to West Palm Beach in less than an hour, Mr. Reininger said. The Miami-Orlando run is planned at about three hours, he said. That run to and from Walt Disney World’s home fits into the All Aboard Florida plan to serve about 100 million annual visitors to Florida who he said congregate along the East Coast of the state. The other groups of passengers he said the ser-
Once the line opens, it will look at expansions, said Mike Reininger.
vice targets are business travelers and Florida residents – though clearly visitors come first on the list. “We are treating this as a
hospitality service, not a transportation service,” he explained. The new Siemens trains on order have “a high degree of focus on passenger comfort,” he said. They are to be Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, with a person in a wheelchair able to traverse their full length conveniently. The train doors will open at platform level for boarding. The trains, he said, are to have “robust” WiFi, ample power for personal devices, clean and convenient bathrooms, customer convenience and hospitality, and food and beverage services.
The trains are being built in Sacramento, CA, totally manufactured in the US. All four of All Aboard Florida’s stations are under construction, he said, and all four are multi-use real estate developments. Each piece of each depot, he said, is to have multiple uses. Miami Central, the station here, is to have the train platform elevated 55 feet above street level. The depot is to link with Metrorail, Metromover and TriRail on its concourse level one story above street level. That level, he said, will have 200,000 square feet of retail and services. Then above the train platform level are to be 800 affordable residential units that he said are targeted to young users oriented to an urban environment. Other buildings to be part of the massive depot project will include office space. The company, he said, plans $3 billion in private investment and will generate $6 billion in new economic impact in its first eight years alone, with 2,000plus permanent jobs. Within a month, he told the chamber, All Aboard Florida will be rolling out at a Miami event a new brand based on the key attributes of railroad travel, which he identified as price competitive to the cost of driving to Orlando, traveler comfort, time saving in speed of service and convenience with 16 daily roundtrips. Now, he said of the first new railroad line in this nation in years, “we are on the goal line.”
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TODAY’S NEWS
MIAMI TODAY
WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
Swire moves forward with 668 residences on Brickell Key BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS
Miami city commissioners have given preliminary approval to the build-out of Brickell Key, a man-made triangular island at the foot of Southeast Eighth Street. The plan from property owner-developer Swire Properties would bring a new residential tower to the southern corner of the heavily residential island, adding about 668 units. Also called Claughton Island, the 44-acre island is connected to the mainland by a bridge. The island is home to high-rises offering office space, hotel rooms and luxury condos. Swire took over the development of Brickell Key in the 1980s. On Oct. 8, commissioners unanimously approved on first reading an amendment to the Brickell Key Development of Regional Impact or DRI order, reducing the permitted non-residential floor area and increasing residential units. “We’ve not maximized the density on this island,” Lucia Dougherty, an attorney representing Swire, told commissioners. In addition to the new residences, the developer plans a
Photo by Maxine Usdan
Swire plans a residential tower on the southern corner of Brickell Key near the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
3.5-acre linear park encircling the island, she said. It would be “a great amenity, for us and the public,” Ms. Dougherty said. The city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board and the planning and zoning department recommend the project for approval. The Brickell Key DRI Development Order was adopted Feb. 12, 1975. State policies mandated regional planning agencies to prepare impact reports for development of regional impacts in adherence with the
Environmental Land and Water Management Act of 1972. This summer, Swire received a letter from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity stating the proposed development would need local government approval for an amendment to the development order. A staff analysis said the latest request is to amend the development order “to add planned development comprised of residential, hotel, and nonresidential uses to be located on the
south area at approximately 750 Claughton Island Drive on Biscayne Bay.” The proposed amendment would reduce the permitted commercial floor area by 676,116 square feet and add 668 residential units, and would allow a 3.5-acre linear park. The analysis touched on how the development on the island impacts the city. Swire presented a traffic study showing evening peak hour outbound traffic is fewer than 600 ve-
hicular trips. The development order refers to the park area as a 3.5acre park on the island’s west shore. “The applicant’s submitted survey for this amendment illustrates the 3.5-acre park to encompass the west, north, and east baywalk areas of Brickell Key, thereby maintaining the intended 3.5-acre area requirement,” the analysis says. The staff report mentions an amendment to the development order to provide 225 units of moderate-income affordable housing on the mainland in locations other than Overtown/ Park West. Swire Properties paid $3.2 million in an escrow agreement in 1986 to satisfy the affordable housing requirement. The Oct. 8 motion of the commission approving the first reading added a bit of land to what will be considered open park space. Commissioner Marc Sarnoff made the motion, requiring 3.75-acres of park. A final reading may be scheduled for this month or November. Just west of the island across Brickell Avenue, Swire Properties is building the $1.05 billion, 5.4-million-square-foot, mixeduse Brickell City Centre.
Artists will paint Wynwood parking machines for Art Basel B Y J OHN C HARLES R OBBINS
Last December, during Art Basel, the Miami Parking Authority worked nearly around the clock to remove paint and impromptu art from its Pay & Display parking machines in the Wynwood Arts District. This year the authority is inviting artists to transform the machines into art pieces. The authority has announced a partnership with Beefree Media for the first edition of Wynwood’s Park-Your-Art contest. Seven artists will be chosen to publicly paint an artwork on the seven pay parking meters in Wynwood. This opportunity will allow artists to gain
Marlon Hill: turn machines into art.
exposure by revitalizing a seemingly over-looked street element. The 2015 Wynwood’s ParkYour-Art contest seeks either emerging or established artists to submit an original artwork
proposal that falls under this year’s theme, “IHeart305.” The theme embodies a message of love towards the community in which the artwork must answer the question: What do you love about Miami? “I think that being involved with the community is important. By including art on our equipment, artists have a new object to become a part of,” said Alejandra Argudin, the authority’s chief operations officer. “This is our chance to collaborate with artists and represent Miami in such an artsy place like Wynwood.” Artwork will be judged on originality of content, technique and creative interpretation of theme. Winners will be designated one parking meter which they will paint Nov. 19. The meter will be covered with an anti-graffiti lamination so
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These film permits were issued last week by the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory & Economic Resources’ Office of Film and Entertainment, (305) 375-3288; the Miami Mayor’s Office of Film, Arts & Entertainment, (305) 8603823; and the Miami Beach Office of Arts, Culture and Entertainment-Film and Print Division, (305) 673-7070. Flip Film and Design. Knoxville. Bealls Fashion Shoot. Crandon Park Beach. Stonehenge Circle/Warner Bros. International Television. Cologne. The Bachelor Germany. Homestead Air Reserve Park. Mak Pictures. Sherman Oaks. Darkside Miami. Maria’s House. Dos Hermanas, LLC. New York. Moonlight. Gwen Cherry Park, Miami Beach Residential. Pro One Productions, Inc. Miami Beach. BMW. Countywide, Miami Beach citywide. N House Productions. Miami. Carters. Countywide, Miami Beach citywide. N House Productions. Miami. Next. Countywide, Miami Beach citywide. Danny Cardozo & Co. LLC. Miami. Venus Swimwear. Crandon Beach Park. Six Degrees Production. Miami Beach. Fashion Catalog Summer 2016. Miami Beach citywide. N House Productions. Miami. Decathalon. Countywide, Miami Beach citywide, Hobie Beach.
Stephen Nostrand: a competition.
stickers, particularly from signs and the digital display screens on the parking machines. But the discussion led to board members considering a way to incorporate street art into – or onto – the parking authority’s equipment. Board member Marlon Hill suggested the agency “flip the script” and “turn equipment into art pieces.” Ms. Argudin had suggested perhaps plain wraps could be made for Pay & Display machines, which could be painted and altered to a point. Mr. Hill had said the board might curate the work. Street art is growing in popularity and spreading to other areas of the city, he said, and this could be a way for the agency to have an unconventional acceptance of some of that. “I agree 100% – we ought to do a competition,” board member Stephen Nostrand had said. The board was excited to hear details of the first ParkYour-Art contest at its Oct. 7 meeting. Ms. Argudin said the authority met with the Wynwood Business Improvement District on the idea, and partnered with Beefree Media. “I love this,” Mr. Nostrand said. “It’s so cool,” said Ms. Argudin, noting the unique nature of the contest and how the authority can set a standard and model for other cities to follow. “Next step: Citywide,” said Mr. Nostrand.
the design will stay fresh and unharmed. “This is a chance for artists to get involved with companies like us. We are here to support your vision and you can legally create something beautiful,” said Stuart Lujan, owner of Beefree Media. The artwork will be visible for the 2015 Miami Art Basel season, and is to remain displayed until the following Wynwood’s Park-Your-Art contest. The parking agency and Beefree Media encourage people from throughout the US to participate. Submissions close Oct. 23. The idea surfaced last December when those who run the parking authority, the OffStreet Parking Board, considered offering the equipment for artists. The parking agency staff was reporting on incidents during Art Basel when parking machines and signage in Wynwood were awash in a sometimes hard-to-distinguish wave of street art, tagging and Details on eligibility and vandalism. how to enter the contest: Authority personnel worked steadily to clean up the paint and www.wynwoodparkyourart.com
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MIAMI TODAY
WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015