Miami Today: Week of Thursday, November 3, 2016

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

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MIDTOWN/WYNWOOD

Thousands more apartments headed for Midtown, pg. 13 MORE ROOMS PRESSURE HOTELS: As Miami-Dade’s hotel room supply rose 4.1% to 52,951 through the first nine months of this year, the number of rooms sold rose 2.6% to 11,206,895, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau reported this week. For the nine months, revenue per available room fell 3.3% to average $148.29, the average daily room rate fell 1.9% to average $191.36 and the average daily occupancy percentage fell 1.5% to 77.5%.

Business Improvement District in Wynwood may grow, pg. 15

THE ACHIEVER

BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

ZONING DOCUMENTS ON VIEW: County commissioners Tuesday approved legislation to establish a program for electronic distribution of zoning hearing agendas and recommendation kits. The resolution, sponsored by Daniella Levine Cava, will create an email subscription service so the public can receive notice. Such a service is already available for other board meetings. “This is a common sense measure to improve the public’s access to government,” she said. “The more transparent we are, the better the community is able to participate, and the better decisions we will make.”

PHARMA COLLABORATIVE: Miami International Airport and Brussels Airport have created a new organization focused on improving the handling of pharmaceuticals in air cargo worldwide. Recently “we became the first… designated pharma hub airport in the US,” said MiamiDade Aviation Director Emilio González, and now the airport shifts “our efforts towards collaborating with other pharma stakeholders from around the world through Pharma Aero.”

CHARTER REVIEW EXTENSION: An appointed committee created to review and reform the City of Miami’s charter earned a life extension from city commissioners. Commissioner Francis Suarez, who chairs the committee, asked for the extra time. The committee is to continue to review and recommend charter proposals and amendments, with commission approval and the OK of city voters. The vote Oct. 27 extends the life of the committee to May 5, 2017. A proposal to switch to a strong mayor form of government is expected to receive additional debate.

HURRICANE AFTERMATH: A resolution approved by Miami city commissioners Oct. 27 urges President Barack Obama and Congress to grant Temporary Protective Status to Haitians in the US. Haiti was ravaged by Hurricane Matthew, resulting in a great number of deaths and an economic toll affecting more than 2 million people, the resolution says.

Temporary Protective Status suspends the deportation of undocumented Haitians already in the US and allows the granting of work permits, effective for up to 18 months, allowing Haitian workers in the US to support relatives in Haiti with remittances.

Ramona Messore

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

Develops a very different Saks for Brickell City Centre The profile is on Page 4

Tractor-trailer stop near park-and-ride stopped

BY CATHERINE LACKNER

A massive facility for tractor-trailer trucks has no business being positioned near Dolphin Station, members of Miami-Dade County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted last week.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz led the charge at an Oct. 26 meeting of the MPO’s Governing Board. He sponsored a resolution to have the Florida Department of Transportation study the highest and best use when developing a piece of land near Dolphin Station, a park-and-ride facility in the planning stages on 15 acres of public land just west of the Florida Turnpike and north of State Road 836.

A joint project of the county, the state transportation department and the MiamiDade Expressway Authority, the park-andride terminal facility will be a hub for the State Road 836/Dolphin Expressway express bus service and eventually for commuter rail if the right to use existing tracks can be acquired from CSX Transportation.

“I found out that, in the area where we’re

AGENDA

Red Cross CEO shifts to chamber

building Dolphin Station, they’re trying to put a truck center,” Mr. Diaz said. “In the same area where people will drop off their cars to try to get to work, you’re going to have trucks. We’ve tried to put trucks in one place and cars in another place to avoid that mix.

“We’ve got commerce in that area, and Telemundo is coming in with a huge facility. Now you’re trying to put a truck center there; it’s not going to work,” he said. “I know this board is about countywide issues, but this is within my district, and we all know our districts. It kind of upsets me.

We’re throwing a wrench into the system.”

There are plenty of other areas that would be appropriate for a truck stop, he said.

“I support my colleague’s position in this matter,” said Dennis Moss, county commissioner, MPO member and chair of its Transit Solutions Committee. “We want a facility that can be grown. I would urge the state to not pursue that.”

“The department is not the one that created this project,” said Harold Desdunes, director of transportation development for the state transportation department. The

county commission directed the MPO in 2010 to study locations for truck facilities, he said. “Miami-Dade County does not have sufficient facilities for these vehicles.”

In 2010, the MPO conducted a study that found that 12,000 spaces for trucks were needed and only 293 existed, he said. A 2012 MPO study identified 14 possible sites; the list was eventually whittled down to five, including the property near Dolphin Station.

“The MPO asked us to do a project development and environmental study to evaluate the possibility of moving forward with the truck facility,” Mr. Desdunes said. “At the end of the day, it’s an issue of us moving forward with [the study], or, if the MPO decides you do not want us to proceed with this specific project, to kill it. It’s really not a department directive.”

“If you want me to make a resolution killing the truck stop at this particular site, I’ll do it right now,” Mr. Diaz said. The board voted unanimously to eliminate the site from consideration for the truck facility.

After a national search, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce directors voted unanimously Tuesday to install Alfred Sanchez as president and CEO on Dec. 5 and began informing community organizations within hours.

Mr. Sanchez, now CEO of the American Red Cross South Florida, told Miami Today he’s been a chamber member 21 years, since arriving in Alfred Sanchez Miami.

“I’m extremely honored to carry on the legacy of one of the stalwart organizations in our community,” he said. “It’s an incredible experience to be coming in as the new head of the chamber and continue being the voice of South Florida’s business community, continue growing it.”

A chamber search committee chose Mr. Sanchez, who replaces retiring Barry Johnson, from a pool of 185 national and 132 local candidates brought forth by Diversified Search. He has a trifecta of leader, change agent and marketing savvy, said Christine Barney, past chair. “Alfred has been successful in driving change, and worked with thousands of volunteers in our community.”

As for talk of a merger with the Beacon Council, whose CEO just left, Ms. Barney said the decision was solely by the chamber board.

“It’s too premature to say what change in our relationship may be in the future,” she said.

Ms. Barney said chamber Chair Mark Rosenberg reached out to the Beacon Council to announce the CEO choice soon after the vote. She herself was getting ready to speak with other community organizations.

At the outset, Mr. Sanchez said he will do a lot of listening to current and non-members. “I’ll be asking what attracts people to the chamber and what they’d like to see us do so we can look at ways to continue the history of relevance the... chamber... has been to this community.”

HOMESTEAD TO START DOWNTOWN TRANSIT CENTER ...

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COUNTY OKS AFFORDABLE HOUSING LOAN FUNDING ...

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TWO MAJOR ROADWAYS COULD BYPASS EXPRESSWAY ...

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MIAMI MOVES TO ADD AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOOSTS ...

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INVENTORY OF UNDER-$400,000 HOMES HITS NEW LOW ...

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A CONSTRUCTION FIRM FITS RIGHT INTO ALLAPATTAH ...

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VIEWPOINT: BATTLE OF THE FAIRGROUNDS TOO UGLY ...

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PLANNERS GEARING UP FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ...

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MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

THE INSIDER REGIONAL RESILENCE: Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso has appointed Jane Gilbert chief resilience officer for the city in partnership with 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC). Ms. Gilbert will work with the resilience officers from City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County, Susanne M. Torriente and James F. Murley, to develop the region’s first comprehensive Resilience Strategy Plan.

The plan aims to help greater Miami prepare for, withstand, and bounce back from ‘shocks’ – catastrophic events like hurricanes, fires and floods – and Jane Gilbert ‘stresses’ – like affordable housing, homelessness and unemployment, which are increasingly part of 21st century life.

Funding for the position comes from a grant from 100RC for at least two years. “Jane joins a network of peers from cities across the globe that will share best practices and surface innovative thinking,” said Michael Berkowitz, president of 100RC.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

Rerouted $7 million to Homestead to spark Downtown Transit Center

BY CAMILA CEPERO

The City of Homestead has lined up the final funding needed to begin a major project that is central to the city’s ongoing downtown revitalization.

Joined by US Rep. Carlos Curbelo, city officials announced last week that more than $7 million in unused Florida Department of Transportation earmarks will be repurposed for a Downtown Transit Center that is to include a ALL THAT IS ALLOWED: The Miami City Commission has directed 1,000-space garage, a multi-screen movie theater, bowling alley, resCity Manager Daniel Alfonso to study the maximum density potential of the city by calculating the maxitaurant and retail component. mum number of residential units that could result if The repurposing of the earevery buildable lot in the city was developed to its marks is thanks to efforts by maximum allowable density or intensity. The measure the city and Rep. Curbelo folwas brought by Commissioner Francis Suarez, and lowing the US Consolidated Apapproved Oct. 27. The city manager is to report propriations Act 2016, the city findings within 30 days. The legislation says the

said in a statement.

The federal legislation gives states the option of repurposing certain earmarked funds to improve infrastructure, foster innovation and create access to opportunity.

Downtown Homestead is currently undergoing a multi-milliondollar revitalization aimed at economically developing the city.

The efforts include the brand new $25.56 million, 83,841square-foot, 75-foot-tall city hall that features a 225-seat council chamber, is built to withstand a category five hurricane and will function as an Emergency Operations Center during a crisis.

The structure at 100 NE Civic Court, besides being designed to last at least 100 years, is also

designed to be a community centerpiece that aligns with the vision for the new downtown.

In December 2015, the city reopened the restored historic 100year-old Seminole Theatre, which had been forlorn for 40 years.

The 418-seat performing arts center can accommodate up to 460 people.

A new police station is under construction and slated to be completed by early 2017.

“The city is sandwiched right here – between the [Everglades and Biscayne National Parks], and right before people go off to the keys,” Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter previously told Miami Today. “Our goal is to give them something to stop, to do, and to see.”

Airport foreign trade zone takes off

Miami 21 zoning code and the Miami Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan specify particular maximum den- Francis Suarez sities depending upon the underlying land use designation. The city commission “wishes to know” the number of dwelling units, as defined in Miami 21, that could result if every buildable lot were BY SUSAN DANSEYAR developed to its maximum density, the resolution says.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved an application to the US Department of Commerce that would designate Miami International Airport as a Foreign Trade Zone magnet site. If approved by the Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) board, the new magnet site would allow manufacturers to lease available airport property and have their tariffs deferred, reduced or eliminated.

The application, which requests NEW SISTER CITY: Antalya, Turkey, a resort city that is the gateway an expansion of Miami-Dade exto the southern Mediterranean, is to become a sister isting FTZ 281 to include the aircity of Miami, Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado anport, would allow companies to nounced last week at the Four Seasons Hotel on receive and process materials and Brickell Avenue during a celebration of the 93rd anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. He said he merchandise as soon as they enter would sign the proclamation at Miami City Hall on the country at MIA, all with reDec. 13 along with the mayor of Antalya and then duced or eliminated customs duwould visit Antalya next year. He’ll have no trouble ties. doing that – in a drawing at the event, Mr. Regalado’s According to the application name was picket for a Turkish Airlines free round-trip Özgür Kivanç Altan submitted by the county’s Aviaflight in business class. Turkish consul General Özgür SPAIN CHAMBER HONORS: At its 36th anniversary dinner at the Coral Gables Country Club on Friday, the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce honored BBVA Compass bank as its Company of the Year and José Luis Bonet of Barcelona, president of the National Chamber of Commerce, Spain, and president of Freixenet Group, as its Leader of the Year. Accepting the honors for the Spanish-based bank were Manolo Sánchez, Houston-based chairman and CEO of BBVA Compass for the United States, and Roberto Muñoz, president, South Florida market, which has now grown to 50 Roberto Muñoz staffers in its Brickell Avenue headquarters since Mr. Muñoz opened it as a one-man operation.

Kivanç Altan thanked the mayor for creating the formal link.

site on airport property will turn vacant real estate into a significant revenue stream.

FTZ 281 encompasses an area from Southwest Eighth Street to Emilio Gonzalez the Broward County line and from Miami Beach in the east to the Urban Development line in the west.

Within this area, designated locations with active FTZs are considered to be outside of the commerce and customs territory of the US. Companies within an FTZ are able to operate without being subjected to federal entry procedures or federal excise taxes, while minimizing involvement from other regulatory compliance agencies.

Plans would send two major routes zipping over or under expressways

MORE AIR FREIGHT SERVICE : Two more freighter airlines launch service at Miami International Airport this month. This week, Northern Air Cargo launches four weekly cargo charter flights, include two weekly on a triangular route linking Miami, San Juan and Saint Martin, one weekly flight between Miami and Santo Domingo and a weekly flight linking Miami, Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo. Later in the month, Canadian airline KF Cargo is to begin eight weekly roundtrip freighter BY CATHERINE LACKNER flights, six between Miami and Bogotá and two linking Miami, Panama City and Guatemala City.

To free up traffic in the boomSTEM CAREERS FOR GIRLS: County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” ing Doral area, the Governing Diaz wants to encourage more girls and young women Board of Miami-Dade County’s to pursue careers in science. To that end, the commisMetropolitan Planning Organizasion Tuesday adopted a resolution he sponsored to tion (MPO) voted unanimously partner with public, private and charter schools to last week to move projects forcreate a program to educate girls, young women and ward on Northwest 82nd Avenue families on the importance and contributions of women and Northwest Seventh Street. in science, technology, engineering and mathematics When completed, both projects (STEM) and encourage them to pursue careers in would allow traffic to cross major these fields. The resolution also calls for a partnership highways. Instead of stopping at with the Miami-Dade County Youth Commission. Jose “Pepe” Diaz Although women make up nearly half the US workforce, they make up State Road 836 (the Dolphin Exonly 29% of the science and engineering workforce, according to the pressway), Northwest 82nd AvNational Girls Collaborative Project. enue would flow under or over it;

in a similar way, Northwest Seventh Street would cross State Road 826 (the Palmetto Expressway).

The group voted to move the Northwest 82nd Avenue project to Priority 1 of the 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan and to partner with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority to develop solutions for both streets, which are often gridlocked.

“This is happening in my district,” said Rebeca Sosa, who is CORRECTION: A written proposal for a long-range strategic plan for a county commissioner and MPO Miami-Dade County was discussed and accepted by the county’s member.

“We have understood Strategic Planning and Government Operations Committee in October for years that opening this avbut there was no vote to adopt the document.

WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS: Miami city commissioners have approved buying 25 PVP Communications wireless motorcycle helmet communication kits and related equipment from Shannon Dieringer, d/ b/a Blue Line Communications, for police for $38,639.25. The helmets will let motorcycle officers communicate wirelessly through their police radio or public address system while driving with both hands on the handlebars, a staff report said. The kits will also allow automatic switching from the trunk mount radio to the officer’s portable radio, using technology patented by the president of sole manufacturer PVP. The sole distributor for Florida is Blue Line. The commission’s action confirmed the city manager’s finding of a sole source for the helmet kits, waiving requirement for competitive sealed bids and approving the purchase.

tion Department, this will save time and money from the supply chain process. Site users would be companies working in industries such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, textiles, footwear, auto parts, aircraft parts, avionics, machinery equipment, consumer goods and perishables.

Mayor Carlos Giménez commended the Aviation Department for developing the concept to generate more economic impact and jobs in Miami-Dade. “MIA’s extensive air service network has made it our leading economic engine and the FTZ expansion would further diversify the airport’s revenue streams to create additional non-aeronautical revenue,” he said in a written statement.

Aviation Director Emilio T. González said with more than 400,000 square feet available for lease, activating an FTZ magnet

enue and this street will make it easier for transit to flow in Miami-Dade County. Keeping them closed will create a bigger problem somewhere else, so someone is paying the price.”

Some neighbors opposed the project, but Ms. Sosa, along with representatives of the Florida Department of Transportation and the Rebeca Sosa expressway authority, spoke with them and explained the benefits.

“The approach we have to take is to analyze what is best for Miami-Dade County as a whole and allow the professionals at the transportation department and MDX to work together,” she said.

“This is what we need to do: allow connectivity in our county.”

“This is a great piece of good news,” said Javier Souto, who is a county commissioner and MPO member. “The heavy traffic that exists in that part of town is due to

progress, really. In my view, 82nd Avenue deserves to be a flowthrough avenue all the way from Doral on the north to Miller Drive on the south. Free flow is the name of the game.”

We want to hear from YOU! Phone: (305) 358-2663 Staff Writers: Camila Cepero ccepero@miamitodaynews.com Susan Danseyar sdanseyar@miamitodaynews.com John Charles Robbins jrobbins@miamitodaynews.com Letters to Editor editor@miamitodaynews.com People Column people@miamitodaynews.com Michael Lewis mlewis@miamitodaynews.com

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TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

MIAMI TODAY

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County inventory of under-$400,000 homes hits new low

BY MARILYN BOWDEN

Recent sales figures show the county’s inventory of single-family homes priced under $400,000 has shrunk to a new low – and most of the new homes under construction are in South Dade, a location some say doesn’t makes sense for many prospective buyers.

Between the end of September 2014 and the same time in 2016, says Mike Pappas, president and CEO of The Keyes Co., single-family Mike Pappas homes for sale for less than $400,000 in Miami-Dade dropped almost 57%, from 5,744 to 2,491. New listings in that period also dropped from 1,376 in September 2014 to 1,081 this September.

“What’s interesting,” Mr. Pappas says, “is that contrary to what you might expect, the average number of days on the market increased from 77 days in September 2014 to 104 days two years later.”

That anomaly, he says, points to a significant difference in the local housing market two years ago and today.

“In 2014, 49% of under $400,000 homes were distressed properties sold under market,” Mr. Pappas says. “Today, only 16% are distressed.

Instead of banks selling to investors we have real sellers and real buyers, and there is more emotion involved. Also, since prices have increased, buyers are taking more time to understand the market and be sure the price is right.”

Rendering of part of Century’s Midtown Doral Phase 1, where single-family residences start at $360,000.

Inventory of Single-Family Homes Under $400,000 Time Period

For Sale Last Day of Month

Under Contract

Sold

Months Supply

Sept. 2014 Sept. 2015 Sept. 2016

5,744 4,214 2,491

904 847 977

922 887 776

6.4 5 2.5

Source: The Keyes Co.

The story these statistics tell is that countywide the supply of existing single-family homes for sale for under $400,000 has dropped from 6.4 months to 2.5 months in just two years.

“We need more inventory,” Mr. Pappas says.

In Homestead and points south, Lennar and Texas-based D.R. Horton, both large national builders, are putting up new

communities, says Tony Garcia, Keyes district manager for the area. He quoted average sale prices at $325,000 to $380,900 for a home averaging 2,200 square feet.

“Lennar and D.R. Horton bought a lot of the land smaller developers that went out of business had left,” he says, “and now new land is being purchased, too.”

New development, Mr. Garcia says, will be from 280th Street to 328th, “where there are thousands of acres available.”

Lennar, whose representative declined to be interviewed for this article, claims 32 communities in Miami-Dade on its website, where a total of 86 available single-family homes for under $400,000 are listed.

Sixty-seven are in Vineyards, Lennar’s sprawling Homestead community. Most of its available inventory in that price range is in multifamily properties such as townhouses and villas.

In an email, D.R. Horton reports it currently offers homes in three communities in the Homestead/South Miami-Dade area, where prices start in the mid-$200s.

“Because demand is high across the county for homes under FHA loan limits,” a company representative writes,

“D.R. Horton strives to offer homes at those price points.

“We continue to focus on the few large tracts of land within the Urban Development Boundary that remain, while supplementing our lot supply with smaller acreage sites in close proximity to each other and in infill locations.”

D.R. Horton reports its primary customers in the Miami area are typically young professionals or young families, “often first-time buyers priced out of west Miami-Dade County.”

“Out west, we cannot afford to sell homes for less than $460,000,” says Sergio Pino, president and founder of Miami-based Century Homebuilders Group. “There are no large tracts available anymore unless you go to South Dade – and there is no employment base to support the people who live there.”

But if local people want to be in Miami-Dade County, he says, many cannot afford a singlefamily home anywhere else.

“I am constantly scouting small deals in locations where there is an employment base,” Mr. Pino says, citing townhouses near Sweetwater and others in the Westchester area.

Century is nearly finished with the first phase at Midtown Doral, where single-family homes start at $360,000, he says, but phase 2 is temporarily on hold due to the situation in Venezuela. “If you want to take your money out it will cost you 1,567 bolivars to $1,” Mr. Pino says. “The official rate is 659 to 1. We are looking into the Colombian market for that, because Doral used to be a strong Colombian market.”

Residential construction costs plateau, but at a high level

BY CAMILA CEPERO

Industry experts agree that residential construction costs have hit a plateau, but unfortunately for developers that have to bear the costs, the numbers remain high.

“In general, the climate is one of stabilization,” said Brian Belt, a partner with Gunster’s real estate group.

As the residential construction cycle “quiets down” and sees some price reductions, Mr. Belt said, “we have to remember that there’s other segments of the construction industry that aren’t seeing the downturn cycle.”

The industrial construction market remains strong with low vacancy rates, he said, and retail construction is reasonably strong.

One year ago, when Mr. Belt told Miami Today that general contractors were charging fees between 4.5% and 5.5% of the project, he predicted that construction expenses would stay at a plateau.

Now, it seems he was correct in his assumptions.

“I’ve spoken to our developer and construction company cli-

“Some real big players in the market are starting to see some minor decreases in construction costs,” said attorney Brian Belt of Gunster.

ents and they’re telling us that construction costs have sort of leveled off,” Mr. Belt said. “They haven’t gone down yet, but they’ve leveled off.”

Industry insiders expect that construction prices will begin to

fall within six months to a year, he said. Nonetheless, construction cost factors such as the prices of concrete or steel vary unpredictably.

“Some real big players in the market are starting to see some

minor decreases in construction costs,” Mr. Belt said, “but in general, commercial and residential builders and developers are all saying that the costs are kind of flat, but they leveled off at a very high number, particularly in Miami-Dade County where there’s more activity.”

James Werbelow, senior vice president of construction for Related Group, has seen the same trend in high-rise residential construction costs.

“I would say they’ve stabilized over the last six months,” Mr. Werbelow said. “However, I don’t see significant drops – not as much as we would like, anyway. But probably through the next year it will be trending down.”

So what may the future hold?

Well, the “natural evolution of the construction cycle” will bring the market back to normal, as it always does, Mr. Belt said.

“We’re starting to see – for example in the residential market – a lot of big condo buildings starting to get finished. Big projects will be done in six months to a year, so when those projects are finished... contractors, subcontractors and laborers will have less work out there so [la-

bor] prices will drop. When there’s a ton of work out there, [labor] prices go up.”

“There is definitely not an issue getting more subcontractors to bid work, which should help,” Mr. Werbelow said. “But most subcontractors and suppliers have a heavy backlog of work through 2017 and into 2018.”

There is evidence of developers trying to lower their costs in the current market by cutting unit sizes and building into previously uncharted territory, Mr. Belt said.

“There are two components to residential housing: one is land and the other is construction costs,” he said. “Obviously, the land in Brickell is expensive because people are looking to build around transportation-oriented sites, but you’re seeing downtown core construction spread into areas that weren’t in play five or ten years ago. So developers are aware of how expensive it is to build, certainly.”

“Prices will drop further, but they won’t drop quite yet,” Mr. Werbelow said. “Hopefully in six months to a year they will take a turn downwards, but they are driven by supply and demand.”

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MIAMI TODAY

VIEWPOINT

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

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

Battle of the Fairgrounds already ugly enough; stop it now Florida International University’s sixyear power play to force the MiamiDade County Fair & Exposition off land beside its main campus so that the 44-year-old school can expand to be- Michael Lewis come the nation’s largest public university is getting even uglier.

The university last month implied that if the fair won’t vacate county parkland it has under lease and move to far south Miami-Dade, the university might sue the county to break the fair’s contract.

Fair officials responded with legalities of their own, writing that FIU is not a party to the fair-county contract and must stop improperly interfering with that agreement. Contract interference could be the basis for a legal case against FIU. That leaves three pillars of our community – our county government, our public university and our county fair – rattling sabers in a war over land.

The fair’s home is under a very favorable, perfectly legal lease that the county granted through 2085. The fair started using the land in 1971, and the university opened the next year.

But next door, the university is itching to expand. It says it can go nowhere except the fair site, which is questionable because it holds classes elsewhere and has added more sites. But it finds the fairgrounds appealing because it hopes to get them free.

FIU got a referendum passed in 2014 to make it legal to operate on the fair-

grounds – if FIU can cut a deal to move the fair out. But the vote said the county can’t pay any costs of moving or finding the fair a new site with proper buildings.

That leaves FIU to pay.

But the fair is hanging tough. Its lease says it can only be forced out if it gets an equal or better site and someone else pays to replace or upgrade its structures.

The contract, however, doesn’t spell out what an adequate replacement must be.

FIU, the fair and the county have been debating this for years. The fair has long agreed to move if it’s left in equal position. The battle has been that FIU wants to be sole judge of what is best for the fair – and the fair isn’t buying what FIU is selling.

The fair, the university and the county jointly funded a study that rated sites and found that the fair would lose massive attendance and money in a move to Homestead, yet FIU is saying that Homestead is the ideal and only site for the fair – because FIU must pay for the move and the Homestead site is all it can afford.

Naturally, the fair doesn’t want to sign its own death warrant in that move. It has offered to share its present site with FIU, and the fair and the university have met to work on that. But FIU President Mark Rosenberg says that’s too expensive – he just wants the fair out of his hair and in Homestead, as he told the fair by letter.

Some people argue that the university serves more people and is more important to Miami-Dade than the fair, which hosted more than 600,000 people this year and has year-round events on site besides.

If importance to the community were the criterion, we’d agree that a large public university would rank ahead of a fair – but that definitely is not the issue.

The fact is that the fair has a legitimate

property right in a lease it signed with county government. FIU has no right of eminent domain that supersedes the county or the fair and is in fact no part of that contract.

Property rights do not depend on who is bigger or more worthy or more important. They’re based on who has the right to the property. It’s a basic tenet of our form of government.

As for expansion, FIU certainly has that right, though its aim to grow to what would be the largest US public university places size far ahead of quality. We’d wish FIU aimed to raise its rankings to befit its present size and to graduate students far better prepared for their future and for the community’s needs.

But those are not the apparent aims.

FIU wants land not to get better but to get bigger.

Well, let FIU pursue its path to massive growth. But that path cannot trample property rights – or, indeed, the right of its neighbor to maintain the fair’s present size and economic health.

Certainly, too, the university that we all hope will be a major force for better education should not put itself in the improper position of threatening to try to break a contract to which it is not a party.

No wonder fair President and CEO Robert Hohenstein raised concerns about illegal contract interference. What else could you call what the university is trying to do?

The fair has lived up to its name – playing fair. Though it’s not required to do so, it has offered to share its site.

President Rosenberg says no, just get out of your home and head for 127 countyowned acres in Homestead, where a much-diminished fair in an agriculture center can become an adjunct to FIU. Unfortunately for us all, FIU is build-

ing a good case for the fair to sue our public university for substantial damages that the university can’t afford to pay.

To prove intentional contract interference, the fair must show that it has a valid contract with the county, which it does; that FIU knows about the contract, which is does; that the university acted intentionally, which it certainly is doing, and improperly, which the court would decide; and that the fair was injured, which it assuredly will be if FIU tries to break its contract.

We had hoped that a cooperative agreement would see a sharing of the fairgrounds. The university says no, it wants them all so get out.

The next best hope is that FIU trustees recalibrate their aims to say that 65,000 students in the next few years may not be as important as having the present 55,000 get better educations – gains measured not in added acreage and number of new buildings but in educational attainment.

We’d like higher national educational rankings for FIU, not higher enrollment totals.

But if it must expand, FIU should start looking at its north campus on Biscayne Bay or other vacant land, or make better use of its current campus. Maybe it should emulate the University of Miami with offcampus football, because Miami has plenty of stadiums. FIU should get as creative with land it already has as it is with county land that’s leased to the fair.

But whatever course FIU chooses, it should not deem that the fair is somehow less worthy of existence and so must be sent by whatever means to wither and die to let FIU expand. That course can only end up in court and in the end diminish the county, the fair and the university.

Hasn’t this battle gotten ugly enough already?

Time to analyze Miami-Dade charter, recommend changes This summer, when the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) considered a citizens’ petition to change Miami-Dade’s campaign finance laws, the effort tested the process and raised a number of questions about the County D. Levine Cava Charter.

Advocates wondered why they had not been advised by the County Attorney’s Office that there were legal concerns over the proposed changes until after they had collected and delivered over 125,000 petition signatures. County attorneys explained that under the charter their role is to advise county officials and not petitioners.

Commissioners debated whether we could prevent a proposal from being placed on the ballot because of legal concerns over the petition language, despite the fact that the signature threshold required to place proposals on the ballot had been met. Ultimately, this question took us to the courtroom for the final decision.

At least once in a five-year period, the BCC is required to review the charter, and the events of this summer show that the time is ripe for such a review. I believe that all parties involved in the

The Writer Daniella Levine Cava is a MiamiDade County commissioner representing District 8. citizens’ petition process, from the County Attorney’s Office to my colleagues on the board, were acting in good faith within the parameters they believe the law sets out for them.

However, there is widespread perception that the system is not transparent, that it is too hard for citizens to make their voices heard, and ultimately that the rules are stacked against the public.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. So if there is anything we can do to get people off the sidelines, to welcome and facilitate their engagement, we must do it.

The County Charter is the constitution for Miami-Dade County. As such, it should not be amended lightly, which is why I am proposing that a task force of community representatives meet for a period of one year to analyze the charter and make recommendations. The process by which citizens may petition for changes to the law is only one of the many areas the task force could consider.

In the past, similar task forces have taken up term limits for commissioners, the “strong mayor” form of government, conflict-of-interest rules and the process

by which changes to the Urban Development Boundary are made.

Over the years, many recommendations made by charter review task forces have made it onto the ballot. Some (like term limits) voters approved and others (like increasing commissioners’ salaries) they did not. This is all part of the democratic process that will make our government stronger.

When I ran for office, one of the

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

City needs iconic buildings There should be an aesthetic ordinance that demands exceptional architecture.

Apparently, the City of Miami pays little attention to what the final product looks like, so we’re ending up with buildings that resemble a milk carton with a flat top, and an air conditioner box on top.

The city should also demand that builders adhere to the renders they publicize. Variation of balcony styles and frills does not represent iconic architecture. Demand concepts such as spires, or tapering towards the top a la Chrysler Building in New York.

We have wasted so many important locations throughout the city with junk designs. There is not one iconic building in Miami.

Gerwyn Flax

common complaints I heard from the community was that they simply did not trust their government. Giving people the chance to review their governing document is the ultimate form of democracy.

Charter review is an opportunity for the public to take a look at the foundation of our county and propose changes that will make it easier for residents to participate meaningfully. Only when government is a partnership between elected officials and the public can it truly work for all.

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TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

City seeks $15 minimum wage for some contractors’ workers

BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

Following up on a promise made this spring, Ken Russell, the freshman City of Miami commissioner, is sponsoring a proposal to guarantee a living wage for workers fulfilling city service contracts.

Mr. Russell, vice chairman of the city commission, is joined in sponsorship of the proposed legislation by Chairman Keon Hardemon.

Commissioners granted preliminary approval Oct. 27 to a new ordinance to require a living wage – calling for $15 an hour minimum – on city contracts.

The final vote could come at the commission’s November meeting.

If approved, the ordinance would require at least $15 an hour be paid for service contracts entered into by the city on or after Jan. 1, 2017, in which contractors provide services exceeding $100,000 annually.

Very important, said Ken Russell.

Mr. Russell has been pushing for higher wages for months, and Mr. Hardemon has been the champion of several anti-poverty programs and activities in his nearly three years on the commission.

“This is a very important thing we can do for those who work hard in the community,” said Mr. Russell before the Oct. 27 vote.

He acknowledged there are very few places where the city commission can require a $15 an hour wage, so this is a rare opportunity.

Mr. Hardemon mentioned many ways the commissioners have fought poverty in the city in recent years.

“This is another tool” in that fight, he said.

Mr. Hardemon said the living wage ordinance will help to elevate people who live and work in the city who need a lift in order to put more food on the table and more clothes on their backs.

“This is a great thing,” said Commissioner Wifredo “Willy” Gort.

The proposed ordinance sets out to define “living wage” and provides remedies for violations.

The impacted service contracts are those awarded by the city that involve a total contract value that exceeds $100,000 a year for any of the following services: food preparation or

It’s another tool: Keon Hardemon.

distribution; security services; maintenance services such as custodial, cleaning, computers, refuse removal, repair, refinishing and recycling; clerical or other non-supervisory office work; transportation and parking services; printing and reproduction services; and landscaping, lawn and agricultural services.

Contractors who fall under

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the ordinance would be required to pay to all of their employees who provide covered services no less than $15 per hour without health benefits or a wage of no less than $13.19 an hour with health benefits, as defined in the ordinance.

Under the section Compliance and Enforcement, it reads in part: “Service contractor to cooperate. The service contractor shall permit city employees, agents or representatives to observe work being performed at, in or on the project or matter for which the service contractor has a contract. The city representatives may examine the books and records of the service contractor relating to the employment and payroll of covered employees and may survey covered employees to determine if the service contractor is in compliance with the provisions of this article.”

The proposal says for violations of the ordinance the city shall sanction a service contractor by requiring the contractor to pay wage restitution at its expense for each affected employee.

The city may also sanction the service contractor in at least one of these additional ways: The city may impose damages of $500 for each week for each covered employee found to have not been paid in accordance with the ordinance.

The city may suspend or terminate payment under the service contract or terminate the contract with the service contractor.

The city may declare the service contractor ineligible for future service contracts for three years or until all penalties and restitution have been paid in full, whichever is longer.

“In addition, any employer shall be ineligible for a service contract where principal officers of such employer were principal officers of a service contractor who has been declared ineligible under this article,” the proposal reads.

The living wage issue arose early in the year when commissioners discussed an amended contract with a restaurant in Bayside Marketplace, a retail center on cityowned land.

It came up again in April when commissioners were considering securing janitorial services for city government buildings.

Mr. Russell said then that he was working with staff on a draft living wage ordinance that he planned to bring to the commission later.

Mr. Russell has led fellow commissioners while serving on the Southwest Overtown/ Park West Community Redevelopment Agency in approving a wage of $15 an hour for part-time street-cleaning trainees.

This comes as minimum wage workers across the country have been campaigning for $15 an hour. The federal minimum is $7.25. Florida’s minimum is $8.05.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

9

County creates revolving loan fund for affordable housing

BY SUSAN D ANSEYAR

County commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved establishing a revolving loan fund from general revenues put into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund that will be administered by an outside entity, in part because private money that pledged $5 million would have withdrawn the offers had government run the program.

There was little discussion except for Commissioner Xavier Suarez’s “God, yes” answer during voting and Chairman Jean Monestime’s comment that this is an excellent measure in the housing tool box. District 7 Senior Advisor Evan Fancher told Miami Today immediately after the 13-0 vote that Mr. Suarez has made amazing progress with this initiative, along with others, as the chair of the Economic Prosperity Committee.

It was in committee last month and during several other meetings that the ordinance, sponsored by Mr. Suarez and co-sponsored by Barbara Jordan, was more thoroughly discussed. In particular, a lengthy discussion about whether the county has experience needed to run a complicated revolving loan fund for affordable housing took place during a Sunshine meeting last week that Mr. Suarez called to work out differences with Rebeca Sosa, who withdrew legislation of her own when Mr. Suarez brought forward a substi-

tute at the Oct. 13 Economic Prosperity Committee.

At the October 27 Sunshine meeting, Mr. Fancher reported Miami Homes For All Inc. pledged $1 million and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Housing Task Force pledged $4 million, but both said they would withdraw their offer if the loan program were not privately run.

Melissa Gallo, an attorney and the director of policy and programs at Miami Homes For All, told Miami Today the organization doesn’t believe private money will invest in a county-run loan program for housing, given that the administration doesn’t have a track record of successfully managing such a program.

“It’s an investment, and we need to be assured of being paid back,” she said.

“We need someone with the experience of managing loan funds.” Ms. Gallo said loan funds for housing are tremendously complex, and the administrator has to coordinate interests of multiple entities as well as underwrite all the funds. “It’s not typical county funding where each pot is overseen with its own regulations.”

The outside administrator for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund will be chosen through competitive bidding and make biannual reports on the status of the revolving loan fund to the trust’s board. The fund will contain 50% of actual carryover funds from general fund revenues in excess of the adopted

budget up to $10 million, subject to appropriation each year.

According to Deputy Mayor Russell Benford, the ordinance will help Miami-Dade and its residents as it establishes a revolving loan fund solely to make loans to developers to construct or rehabilitate or acquire land for Russell Benford housing that’s for sale or rent to those whose household annual income is under 140% of the area median income and will include mixed-income and elderly affordable housing.

For this population, Mr. Benford said, this will provide more affordable housing opportunities, including single or multi-family housing and the preservation of existing affordable housing by extending expiring restrictions.

During the Sunshine meeting with Mr. Suarez last week, Ms. Sosa said her main apprehension, which is accountability to taxpayers, comes from her experience in politics. “Every time we create an autonomous board, they become so independent that we can’t control them,” she said. “They are not elected; they do not have to worry about taxpayer concerns.”

Ms. Sosa pointed to the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority as an example of

an entity that spends taxpayers’ money without checking to see if they want to pay for particular initiatives.

At the end of the day, Ms. Sosa said, it’s “my fault if anything goes wrong, if the money is misspent.” She said the legislation is “talking about 10 million of taxpayer dollars, and the use of public funding without real control on the part of the county is a concern.” Ms. Sosa said she is a “strong believer there should be as much of this entity run by the county as possible.”

She withdrew her own legislation in deference to Mr. Suarez and said she respected his. “It’s positive for the community, so I took mine away.” All she requested by the end of the Sunshine meeting was that Mr. Suarez work with county attorneys to ensure the report by the outside administrator comes to the commission table and “we can eliminate the party” should it become necessary.

Mr. Suarez agreed that whatever would be structured would not allow a self-perpetuating board.

At some point, Ms. Sosa said, she would like to look into legislation that creates transition. “I want to make sure people who use this kind of affordable housing do not stay without trying to better themselves. You can live here, but I want you in workforce housing very soon, so we need to work on something as a supplement to this to create a transition or no one will move on in life.”

Miami heads toward more incentives for affordable housing

BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

To face head-on the serious lack of affordable housing in the City of Miami, city commissioners are preparing to offer further incentives to developers in order to encourage construction of housing that everyone can afford.

Last week, commissioners unanimously gave preliminary approval to a zoning amendment that defines various types of affordable housing and offers added incentives to companies for the development of projects providing hous- Frank Carollo ing for mixedincome populations.

This latest proposal is sponsored by Commissioner Frank Carollo, and could receive its final vote this month.

The proposal focuses on affordable housing categories, and Commissioner Carollo said the city “desperately needs” projects that deliver in each category.

He said the amendment also adds incentives for projects that mix all categories.

“Thank you for bringing this,” said Commissioner Ken Russell.

“I love the idea.”

Commissioner Francis Suarez, who has advanced several measures to encourage more affordable housing, said “I’m very much in favor.” He said it’s very good when commissioners “can find non-economic ways to expand our abilities.”

Mr. Suarez said affordable housing is “the number one need in the city.”

Commissioner Wifredo “Willy” Gort agreed, saying workforce housing is very important to a city and is being “left behind” in the dust of residential towers offering market rate and high-priced units.

Workforce housing is considered affordable homes for middle-income service workers – such as police officers, firefighters, teachers and nurses – near their workplaces.

Albert Milo Jr., senior vice president of Related Urban Development, praised commissioners and thanked the city’s administrative staff for its work on the proposal.

While Miami has been growing via plenty of high-end residential buildings, little to no workforce housing has been developed, he said.

This proposed legislation will allow developers to use existing financing programs to fund housing that is more affordable, Mr. Milo said.

It is “very forward thinking” on the city’s part, he concluded.

The latest proposal adds incentives for affordable housing projects fully comprised of workforce housing units and affordable housing units, and an additional density bonus for such projects with an extremely low income component.

The legislation notes that the National Low Income Housing Coalition has found a full-time minimum wage worker cannot afford a one-bedroom rental unit at fair market rent in any state within the US. Miami’s zoning code includes incentives for some affordable housing projects but only serves residents at or below 60% of Area Median Income (AMI).

Those projects tend not to serve

Photo by Maxine Usdan

Brickell View Terrace was the city’s first mixed-income development.

residents substantially below 60% of AMI, or residents between 60% and 140% of AMI, the proposal says.

Defined by categories: Affordable Housing shall mean a dwelling unit, owneroccupied and/or rental housing with a purchase cost, value, or monthly rental, equal to or less

than the amounts established by the applicable standards for those individuals whose income is at or below 60% of AMI, as published by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and certified by the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Attainable Mixed-Income

Housing shall mean a development completely comprised of Extremely Low Income Housing, Affordable Housing, and Workforce Housing; and may be subject to density bonuses.

Extremely Low Income Housing shall mean a dwelling unit, owner-occupied and/or rental housing with a purchase cost, value, or monthly rental, equal to or less than the amounts established by the applicable standards for those individuals whose income is at or below 30% of AMI. Workforce housing shall mean a dwelling unit, owneroccupied and/or rental housing with a purchase cost, value, or monthly rental equal to or less than the amounts established by the applicable standards for those individuals whose income is between 60% to 140% of AMI. Parking requirements for those units that qualify as affordable or attainable mixed-income housing may be reduced under certain conditions under the proposal.

Brickell View Terrace, developed by Pinnacle Housing Group at 940 SW First Ave., is the first mixed-income development in the city.

The $59 million development features 176 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, 100 of which are affordable to households at 60% AMI or below.

The project’s leasing office received 7,500 applications in 12 days for the affordable units, a dramatic reminder of the demand for affordable housing in Miami.

Funding for Brickell View Terrace was provided by the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, the State of Florida and Citibank.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

MIAMI TODAY

13

Midtown/Wynwood State study of placing I-95 exit in Wynwood rolls ahead

BY CATHERINE LACKNER

The effort to create an I-95 exit into their neighborhood continues to move forward, say representatives of the Wynwood Business Improvement District. The Wynwood exit is part of a long-range study of I-95 by the Florida Department of Transportation.

The department has scheduled a project advisory team meeting Nov. 10 from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Arthur E. Teele Jr. Community Center in the Little Haiti Soccer Park at 6301 NE Second

Ave., said Ivette Ruiz-Paz, transportation department spokesperson.

The state road department’s study takes into account traffic needs for the interchange of North Miami Avenue and I-195, which is just north of Wynwood.

That busy interchange, which lies north of Northwest 36th Street, west of Biscayne Boulevard and squarely between Midtown and the Design District, is the scene of frequent back-ups, people who travel through the neighborhood say.

“The scope of the study includes performing a traffic analysis, travel demand

modeling, and traffic forecasting for the no-build and proposed alternative for the I-195 ramps,” Ms. Ruiz-Paz said last spring.

If the transportation study indicates that an exit is the preferred choice, it will be up to the transportation department and Miami-Dade County to decide where to put the exit ramp, Tom Curitore, executive director of the Wynwood Business Improvement District, has said.

The idea of creating an exit from I-95 into Wynwood surfaced about two years

ago. The old ramp was closed when the interchange of I-95 and I-195 was built in the 1960s, Mr. Curitore said when the idea was first discussed.

Under current conditions, motorists going north on I-95 have to drive past Wynwood – all the way to the interchange at North Miami Avenue and I-195 – to get into the popular district, which runs from Northwest 20th through 29th streets. The current restricted access could also pose problems for drivers of emergency vehicles trying to enter the area, Mr. Curitore has said.

906 apartments rising in Midtown, 978 done, 1,925 planned

BY CAMILA CEPERO

As a steady stream of completed rental units trickles into the Midtown residential market just as construction begins on others and still others are proposed, the emerging market seems to have nothing but smooth sailing ahead.

Midtown is bordered by Interstate 195 in the north, Northwest 29th Street in the south, a rail line in the east and Interstate 95 to the west.

Currently, three Midtown rental projects are under construction – District 36, Midtown 5 and Pearl Midtown 29.

Magellan Development Group’s Midtown 5 is a 24-story mixed-use tower set to introduce 400 apartments, 22,271 square feet of retail, 2,728 square feet of offices and a 450-space parking garage. District 36 is set to introduce 197 units.

Both are likely to be open by the first quarter of 2017.

Pearl Midtown 29 is set to introduce 309 units by the end of the first half of 2018.

In July, Miami’s Urban Development Review Board recommended approval of Midtown 8, planned for 2901 and 2951 NE First Ave., north of Northeast 29th Street. The project includes a 28-story tower, 387 residential units, about 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail uses and an adjacent garage for about 520 vehicles.

Midtown East has been proposed with 700 units.

As of the second quarter of the year, there were 978 completed units in Midtown, according to an Integra Realty Resources market study.

Current asking leasing prices in Midtown average $2,672, with an average achieved price of $2,580 and an average of 11 leases per month.

“From a rental perspective, for a young professional, Midtown continues to be a really desirable place to live,” said Jonathan Mann, a broker with the Jon Mann Group at Coldwell Banker.

Photo by Maxine Usdan

24-story Midtown 5 is to introduce 400 apartments, 22,271 square feet of retail and 450 parking spaces.

“Renters have everything they could possibly desire within a short stroll from their condo – grocery stores, big box retail, local produce, local dining, entertainment, etc. As more shops and dining options match up with demand and tastes from the local neighborhood, you are really seeing a vibrant community take shape, with a personality all its own in Miami.”

Mr. Mann expects occupancy to stay stable so long as rents remain in the area of where they are now and “millennial incomes remain strong.”

Hyde Midtown, with 410 units at 3401 NE First Ave., is seeing an average price of $632,500 per unit at $575 per square foot and an average square footage of 1,100.

“Inventory has accumulated, and asking prices have contin-

ued to drop in the existing towers – Midtown 2 and Midtown 4 – and sales in Hyde Midtown and other pre-construction towers were pretty much nonexistent during the third quarter, including the cancellation of Boulevard 57,” Mr. Mann said.

“Overall, our summer months and early fall were pretty brutal in terms of activity and sales,” he said. “Normally, things are pretty dead during the summer,

Midtown 6 is to introduce 447 apartments and Midtown 7 is to have 391. They are in the approval process.

as local residents travel abroad and our tourists beat the heat here somewhere else. Still, over the past five years or so, the visiting wealthy Brazilians have softened the blow during the summer, as they look to get away from their winter, but with their economy in the tank and their currency, the Real, still significantly off its peak, they were simple just not coming this summer.”

On Oct. 5, the Urban Development Review Board recommended approval of Midtown 6 and Midtown 7, to be situated side by side at 3101 and 3001 NE First Ave. Midtown 6 is to introduce 447 units, 40,000 square feet of retail and parking for 600 cars, and Midtown 7 is to introduce 391 apartments, 30,709 square feet of retail and 505 parking spots, Magellan Development Group is also behind the two projects.

“Like all markets, residential real estate is cyclical, and as we enter the first half of the high season, I expect buyer demand to pick up briskly,” Mr. Mann said. “Miami and Midtown are still desirable destinations and attract an affluent crowd.”

Midtown’s desirability can perhaps be partly attributed to its location, he said. Buyers and renters who are priced out of Miami or South Beach have the option of moving to Midtown, where they are only a short drive away from the city or the beaches. However, whereas Miami Beach is considered gold in real estate, Midtown remains an outlier or emerging area, and when things start to stagnate, these areas tend to be hit harder than the beach areas.

“Still, I am optimistic that once the uncertainty of the election ends in November and we get the big crowds for Art Basel, that people will see the real value in Midtown moving forward,” Mr. Mann said.

“Where else in the US can you live in such a walkable location that is still affordable, for renters and buyers alike?”

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MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

With new liner, more passengers, El Al eyes Miami link

BY CAMILA CEPERO

Following an investment in a top-of-the-line jet airliner and bump in passenger numbers, Israel’s El Al Airlines is eyeing Miami as a possible new service point.

“Discussions with El Al Airlines are ongoing and there has been growth in the Israel-Miami market,” said Suzy Trutie, Miami-Dade Aviation Department spokeswoman.

The latest available data show that during year ending September 2015, just over 95,000 passengers traveled between the two points via connections – a 4.5% increase from the same period a year before.

El Al Airlines could not be reached for comment.

El Al Israel Airlines Ltd., trading as El Al, is the flag carrier of Israel. Its hub is Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s main international airport and the busiest airport in the coun-

El Al has an order placed for Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners, which could serve a route linking to Miami.

try, 12 miles southeast of Tel Aviv.

According to Miami International Airport, many foreign carriers are in the process of fleet

revitalization and fleet expansion, as both Boeing and Airbus are making available new, efficient, long-range aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and 787 and Airbus

A330 and A350.

The Boeing 777 is a family of the world’s largest twinjets and has a typical capacity of 314 to 451 passengers, with a range of

5,235 to 9,500 nautical miles.

The Airbus A330 and A350 models are positioned to compete with Boeing’s in terms of passenger capacity, fuselage, features and engines.

“It is a very typical process for air carriers to look ‘down the road’ for expansion opportunities once new aircraft come into the fleet to replace older planes, and to consider what new service points fit into the range of these new planes,” Ms. Trutie said.

“This of course is viable if market conditions warrant launching a new route. El Al has ordered the Boeing 787 and is examining its options for possible new service points.”

The Boeing 787 is a longhaul, twin-engine jet airliner that can seat 242 to 335 passengers and is the company’s most fuelefficient airliner. As of 2015, an airliner from the 787 family can cost anywhere from $224.6 million to $306.1 million.

Suarez starts two-day academy for potential grant recipients

BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

County Commissioner Xavier Suarez and the staff of District 7 say they believe in teaching a man to fish rather than just giving him the catch of the day and are following that philosophy in an academy any non-profits seeking county grant money must attend as a pre-requisite to applying.

In 2015, the county commission gave each of the 13 districts permission to say where nonprofit money should go, said Senior Advisor Evan Fancher on Saturday, when the first session of the two-day District 7 Nonprofit Academy began at the Gibson Education Center on Grand Avenue.

“We won’t want to just give out money without making sure non-profits know how to make it grown,” he said.

Years ago, a charitable organization could not be sued, but today there’s no immunity for non-profits, so those running one must have documents in order and remain in compliance, said Mr. Suarez For 41 years, Mr. Suarez, who is an attorney, has been litigating in the county and has represented non-profits that he’s advised to try to get grants rather than loans, never sign anything personally and always have corporate documents up to speed.

His first summer in law school, Mr. Suarez worked as an intern for a firm in Washington, DC, and said he was assigned to write a book on 501(3)(c) non-profits, and advised reading “The Wealth of a Nation,” written by Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book details what Mr. Smith said builds nations’ wealth, discussing the division of labor, productivity and free markets.

“The total scope of non-profits is 2% of our entire economy,” Mr. Suarez told the academy participants at the start of the eighthour academy. The non-profit

representatives will also attend the second one Nov. 19 for eight hours and receive grant applications at the end for a portion of the $100,000 allocated to each of the 13 commission districts to disburse among non-profits.

That 2%, the commissioner pointed out, translates to $360 billion, which he said is equivalent to the entire economy of South Africa.

“You’re in a very big industry,” Mr. Suarez said to the nonprofit organizations representing a wide variety of fields including social services, domestic violence, churches, older adults and those with Alzheimer’s, education and youth programs.

“There’s a proliferation of entities you have to deal with, with 35 cities in Miami-Dade at last count,” Mr. Suarez said.

“At each jurisdiction, you need to have contact: state, federal and local,” he said. “Don’t hesitate to contact me, aide Carmen Morris at (305) 694-3550 or the desk next to my office at (305) 3755680.”

Participants from Mr. Suarez’s district – which includes Coconut Grove, the Village of Key Biscayne, Pinecrest, South Miami and Coral Gables – spent the day learning from local experts about nonprofit accounting, with a focus on internal controls and legal issues, as well as the art of fundraising.

On Nov. 19, the academy is to offer seminars on media relations for nonprofit professionals and volunteer board management and capacity building.

Miami-Dade College hosted the academy at the Gibson Education Center.

Earlier in the week, Mr. Fancher told Miami Today the nonprofit academy’s goals are to strengthen the organizations and give them a true foundation from which to operate.

“We want to take their skills and move them up,” Mr. Fancher said. At the end of the academy, a selection committee consisting

Photos by Cristina Sullivan

Kathy Coppola from NAMI Miami-Dade County Inc. raises a question Saturday at the nonprofit academy.

of District 7 staff, subject matter experts and community members will evaluate the applications and award up to $10,000 per grant.

Ms. Morris said at the beginning of the week the academy parallels one Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava set up in her District 8. “Ours is smaller and a bit quainter in terms of the time frame,” Ms. Morris said in reference to Ms. Levine Cava’s South Dade Business Academy, which launched Oct. 1, 2015. The month-long free program featured workshops taught by leading business development agencies in South Florida. Participants received links to a network of private and public resources.

Ms. Levine Cava told Miami Today this week she is extremely happy with the result of scaling this idea of capacity building for nonprofits outside of District 8.

“Nonprofits are vital to our communities, and we can accomplish a lot when government works with them.”

Commissioner Xavier Suarez leads class at the nonprofit academy.

24

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