Miami Today: Week of Thursday, December 29, 2016

WEEK OF THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016

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New Jungle Island leaseholder plans all-day adventure, pg. 13 WIDENING 107TH AVENUE: Northwest 107th Avenue from 138th to 170th streets, which is the boundary between Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens, will be rebuilt to at least five lanes wide to meet future traffic needs in a four-government deal that county commissioners approved 12-0 last week. The two cities will provide any needed right-of-way and the county will pay the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority $14 million to design and build the road improvement as part of the authority-funded improvements of Northwest 138th Street nearby. To get reimbursed for its work, the expressway authority must include in plans a connection between Northwest 170th Street and the Homestead Extension of the Florida Turnpike.

888 Brickell office tower alters its plans and wins praise, pg. 16

The Achiever

RIDES ALL NIGHT: Metrorail and Metromover will stay open all night New Year’s Eve instead of closing at 2 a.m. as they usually do on Fridays and Saturdays. Metrorail trains will run every 15 minutes from 2 a.m. to the normal 5 a.m. opening time on the Green Line between Earlington Heights and Dadeland South and will run every 30 minutes from Palmetto to Earlington Heights and on the Orange Line from Earlington Heights to Miami International Airport.

HOTEL FIGURES DIP: Average daily hotel occupancy, revenue per available room and average daily room rate all fell in Miami-Dade County in the first 11 months of 2016 even though more hotel rooms were booked. The county’s jump in hotel room supply because of new construction certainly affected those totals. The number of rooms sold rose 1.6% to more than 13.5 million room nights, according to travel research firm STR, but the supply of rooms in the county rose from 51,641 to 53,827 during the year, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau reported, a 4.1% increase. The daily room rate fell 2.1% to $187.17, the revenue per available room fell 4.6% to $142.50 and the average daily room occupancy fell 2.6% to 76.1%.

ENERGY COST SAVINGS: Miami-Dade County government could save significantly on its energy costs if it were allowed to transfer any excess energy it generates at a county-owned waste-to-energy facility or at its solar energy facilities to other county government users but it isn’t allowed to do it under Florida law, says a county commission resolution

by Daniella Levine Cava that unanimously asks the state to change the rules to let the county and other local governments save money in such energy transfers. The county is now allowed to sell the excess energy it produces to FPL or other energy companies, but those companies pay the county below the market rate, the resolution says.

Annette Klein

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

German consul general targets economic, academic ties The profile is on Page 4

22-acre multi-use swath would alter Little Haiti

By John Charles Robbins

Massive project seeks special area plan, pg. 7 preserve those trees.

A developer intends to turn 22 acres in Little Haiti into a vast mixed-use project with nearly 2,800 residences, acres of stores and offices, and the promise of a train station.

East Ridge LLC has applied to the City of Miami for a Special Area Plan to package the project in one development agreement. The city’s Urban Development Review Board reviewed the project Dec. 21 and deferred it to January.

The property is south of Northeast 54th Street, listed at 5045 NE Second Ave. A conceptual plan filed with the city shows plans for: ■2,798 residential units.

■418 hotel rooms.

■283,798 square feet of commercial/ retail area.

■97,103 square feet of offices.

■4,636 parking spaces.

■231 spaces for bicycle parking.

■295,343 square feet of open space.

The sweeping plan would transform Little Haiti and has some residents worried about its long-term impact on traffic and life in general.

Several residents spoke in opposition to the project Dec. 21, and some pleaded with the

board to defer the plan to afford more time for review, and to look again in 2017 when more board members are present and more residents can weigh in on the far-reaching proposal. Of the nine-member board, three were present.

One resident spoke in favor, noting the potential for many new area jobs, but cautioned to keep a close eye on the development as it evolves and to think beyond open green spaces or parks when determining what public benefits the developer must provide in order to get bonus density.

The proposal envisions buildings from 8 to 28 stories, after bonuses.

The site is bordered on the north by Northeast 54th Street, on the east by FEC railway tracks, on the south by Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School property and on the west by Northeast Second Avenue.

Across Northeast Second Avenue is the Miami Jewish Health Systems campus.

Attorney Edward Martos, representing the developers, said the first thing they noticed about the property is its growth of very mature trees and a major priority in their plan is to

Agenda

“That is driving all of our plans: having a lot of green,” he said.

The overall plan will emphasize the open spaces between the buildings, said Mr. Martos.

Zoning rules governing Special Area Plans require at least 10% open space; the Eastside Ridge plan boasts about 30%, he said.

Other factors driving the project are job opportunities tied to the neighboring health systems campus and the very real possibility of a train station being built as part of the Special Area Plan, Mr. Martos told the board.

Mr. Martos said Tri-Rail has studied this area for years with an eye toward creating a passenger rail stop.

Studies have shown that Tri-Rail likes the site in Little Haiti based on projected growth but doesn’t favor locating a station there now because of a lack of connectivity.

“We think this project eliminates those barriers,” Mr. Martos said.

The overall plan is to build a station inside Eastside Ridge along its eastern ridge, fed and serviced by new city trolley stops, Mr. Martos said.

The developer’s design team includes Kobi Karp Architecture and transportation engineering firm Kimley-Horn.

Ten acres by airport for grabs?

Miami-Dade would seek business proposals to develop 10 acres of the major transportation hub just east of Miami International Airport under a plan by Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

An appraiser the county hired listed a hotel and convention center as possible uses under a long-term ground lease at the site. The firm also listed medical and general offices and retail.

Residential uses were considered least likely.

The county doesn’t own the land now. It’s part of the Miami Intermodal Center, owned by the Florida Department of Transportation. But the state wants to hand the 25-plus acres of the Central Station and its surroundings to the county to own and operate.

The center costs about $2.5 million a year to run and maintain under current state contracts and in return generates $637,000 a year, Mayor Gimenez said in a memo outlining plans for the site if the county were to own it.

The mayor sees the county losing $1.87 million a year running the transportation hub, with the state pledging $1.25 million the first year only to subsidize those losses.

Thus, Mr. Gimenez wrote, if the county gets the hub it must add revenues. One revenue stream he cites is advertising, a second is concessions. The third is the lease to a private developer, with the county keeping ownership of the land.

Under the mayor’s plan, the county would seek proposals that could be separate for the three revenue streams or united.

The mayor’s plan assumes that proposals would be in hand by 2018 and that joint development would be finished no later than 2025. Operating deficits would diminish each year until a positive cash flow starts in 2025, he wrote.

If the commission agrees to take over the site from the state, the mayor wrote, he would cement the handoff early next year and then seek proposals for deals on the available 10 acres, now valued at about $21.7 million.

THREE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A HOMESTEAD TRANSIT HUB ...

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TRAFFIC SIGNALS TO BE UPGRADED IN HIGH-TECH SPEED-UP ...

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SEVEN RESHAPED COMMITTEES SET TO GOVERN COUNTY ...

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HOME OWNERSHIP A TOP COUNTY LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY ...

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TRANSIT-ORIENTED DISTRICTS TO LET HIALEAH GET TALL ...

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MORTGAGE CREDIT FIRM GETS COUNTY CASH TO ADD JOBS ...

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VIEWPOINT: LET COMMUNITIES DETERMINE OWN FUTURE ...

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SOUTH BEACH BUSINESSES CHANGING TO RESTORE LUSTER ...

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MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

The Insider TRANSIT BOND SAVING: Miami-Dade County will save $10.7 million at present value by issuing up to $200 million in bonds next year to pay off higherinterest bonds issued in 2008 to upgrade the county’s transit system. Those bonds were financed by the half percent sales surtax that voters approved in 2002. The refunding will save $16.2 million over the life of the bonds, expected to be until July 1, 2038, at the latest. That payoff is worth $10.7 million in today’s funds.

The cost of issuing the new bonds to make the saving is $1.7 million. County commissioners approved the refunding last week unanimously, without discussion. The Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust, which oversees the surtax revenues, had already approved the new bond issue. The county commission between 2005 and 2012 approved issuing $1.6 billion in bonds to be repaid by the surtax; of that, $1.537 billion in bonds have been issued.

HOME PRICE RISE ABOVE AVERAGE: Home prices in the Miami metropolitan area rose 6.5% in the 12-month period ended Oct. 31, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. The gain was above the US average gain of 5.6% in the 12-month period but in Florida trailed the 7.8% gain in Tampa and was well behind such areas as Seattle at 10.7% and Portland at 10.3%. Among the largest 20 cities, New York’s gain was by far the smallest at 1.7%.

RECALLING COLLECTIONS: With all but the holiday season counted, collections from the half-penny transportation sales tax stood at $252 million for fiscal year 2016 on Dec. 15, when Charles Scurr, Citizens Independent Transportation Trust executive director, reported the results to the trust.

“That is an increase of 3.97%, or basically 4%, over fiscal year 2015,” he said. “We had projected 5%, so we’re a bit under that, but as we have discussed, surtax collections have fluctuated over the past six months.”

TRANSPORTATION MATTERS: Mr. Scurr also an- Charles Scurr nounced that a municipal planning workshop will held at 10 a.m. Jan. 27 at History Miami. “We’ll bring in all 34 cities. The first issue will be the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit plan,” which advocates transit improvements along six corridors, he said. “Almost every city is on one of the corridors, and they need to be full partners in this, from planning and design to financing and funding.” A second topic will be potential revisions to ordinance that established the trust. “It’s been several years and there are issues we need to address, including technology-driven services like Uber. Five or six of our cities are interested in using these services as first- and last-mile solutions.” He urged trust members to attend. “These are usually very productive and spirited discussions.”

GAS PRICES RISE: Retail gasoline prices in Miami rose 1.9 cents a gallon in the past week to average $2.38, 10 cents a gallon higher than the US average.

Over the past month Miami gas prices have risen 16.4 cents a gallon, and over the past year 25.7 cents.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016

In Homestead’s large revitalization, three propose to develop transit hub

By Camila Cepero

Homestead is rolling full-speed ahead to develop a transit center that is central to the city’s ongoing multi-million dollar grand scale revitalization of its downtown.

The transit center is to be funded via a public-private partnership.

The city has received three proposals that a selection committee has already ranked.

Currently, the administration is negotiating with the top-ranked proposer. If negotiations don’t succeed the administration will then move on to negotiate with the secondranked and third-ranked proposers.

“We’re starting to see the private sector step up to the plate and be willing to invest in the downtown of the city and put skin in the game,” said Homestead City Manager George Gretsas. “The project has really gotten the interest of the private sector.”

The city expects to negotiate a contract and award the project within a few months.

The 250,000-square-foot mixeduse development is to include over 40,000 square feet of retail and dining space, a 65,000-square-foot family entertainment center with 10 movie screens and 14 lanes of bowling, a 1,000-space parking garage, a transit station and the city’s new Homestead Trolley hub.

The retail liner is to be a mix of dining and retail that will include both national brands and local businesses.

The project site is along the South Miami-Dade Busway, thus tying the city in to the county transportation system. It will also serve as a hub for Homestead’s existing free trolley service that runs two routes.

“The whole facility is adjacent to

COMMISSIONERS GET MORE TO SPEND: Each of the 13 Miami-Dade County commissioners is getting $20,000 extra in office funds to spend as the commissioner determines. Commissioners last week voted unanimously and without discussion to take unspent funds from four budget sources for the year that ended Sept. 30 that add up to exactly $260,000 and divide them equally for whatever they choose to do. Commission Chair Jean Monestime made the motion to divide the money. There was no committee review of the action and a note from County Attorney Abigail Price-Williams says more information on the funding sources is required. Jean Monestime The motion says $116,000 comes from the Office of the Commission Auditor, $132,000 from the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, $2,000 from the Protocol Division and $10,000 from the Media Division.

By Susan Danseyar EYES ON ROAD, NOT PHONE: Miami-Dade commissioners voted last County Commission Chairweek that a top priority for the 2017 Florida Legislative session is urging state lawmakers to make texting while driving a primary offense. Mark Merwitzer, elect Esteban Bovo Jr. will retain a resident of Palmetto Bay and student at the Miami Dade School of Advanced last term’s scheduled commitStudies, Wolfson Campus, has been active in ending the tragedy caused by tee meetings for January when distracted driving due to cell phones. A summer intern with Commissioner he takes over leadership of the Daniella Levine Cava’s office, he has been working on urging the Legislature commission, then transition to a to make texting while driving a primary offense, rather than secondary as it is new structure in February with now. He appeared before commissioners Dec. 20 to state that cell phone usage seven groups that stress slightly is the No. 1 cause of distraction in auto accidents.

A development being negotiated is to be the Homestead Trolley hub.

Jeff Porter: light rail is city’s goal.

the busway and the whole project would be incorporated into the rapid transit system,” Mr. Gretsas said.

Public transportation has become an increasingly important priority for Homestead.

Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter previously told Miami Today that city officials are fighting for bus rapid transit – a specialized system sometimes described as a “surface subway” wherein buses operate within a fully dedicated right-ofway to avoid traffic congestion.

“We put together a consortium [of five mayors of South Dade] to

pressure the county to give us a mass transit system,” Mayor Porter said.

“The long-term goal is to have a light rail system and have the county give us a great transportation package like what they’ve given northern Dade.”

Although more expensive than a bus system, light rail transit uses rolling stock similar to a tramway but operates at a higher capacity with the use of coupled tramcars and on an exclusive right-of-way.

“We think that all of our residents will enjoy movies and bowling and retail opportunities,” Mr. Gretsas said.

“We also think that long-term... the transit center will open opportunities for mixed-use housing at market rate and workforce and affordable housing in Homestead’s downtown.”

The transit center is expected to spur economic development in the city by boosting resident and visitor spending, as well as provide full-time construction employment and full-time permanent positions.

7 reshaped county committees set

WHAT’S IN A NAME? County Commissioner Joe Martinez reversed initiatives put in place by his predecessor, Juan C. Zapata, when the commission last week unanimously approved legislation to change names in District 11, including the previously known West Kendall Regional Library from its more recent title of West End Regional Library; The Miami-Dade Police Department’s more recent title of West District Station back to its original name of Hammocks District Station; and renaming the West End District Park the West Kendall District Park, which was Joe Martinez its previous name.

TIME FOR SCHOLARSHIP: Miami-Dade County employees will be donating some of their accrued and annual holiday leave time to the county to be used toward a donation to the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Foundation Charles Anderson Scholarship Fund. County commissioners last week unanimously approved allowing the voluntary donations up to $25,000 in total to honor the former county commission auditor. Mr. Anderson was named auditor after county voters approved the position and served from 2004 until he died June 3. Mr. Anderson held a bachelor of Charles Anderson science degree in accounting from the university.

FIXING THE FAÇADE: The Omni Community Redevelopment Agency voted to grant the Chapman Partnership up to $60,000 to improve the exterior of its building at 1550 N Miami Ave. Noting that many children make their home there, agency directors said they want the structure to look less fortress-like when school buses arrive to take the children to school and bring them home.

different subject areas.

In a memo to colleagues, Mr. Bovo said he will remain a member of the Strategic Planning and Government Operations Committee, chaired by Rebeca Sosa; and the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area Committee, chaired by Javier Souto.

Mr. Bovo will also remain chair of the Transit and Mobility Services Committee for the final Jan. 19 meeting. “This will help facilitate an efficient transition as a new committee structure will be established to commence in February 2017,” he wrote in a memo last week to commissioners.

The committees starting in February that Mr. Bovo has established for his term are: ■Economic Development and Tourism, chaired by Ms. Sosa.

■Transportation and Public Works, chaired by Bruno Barreiro.

■Government Operation, chaired by Dennis Moss.

■Infrastructure and Utilities, chaired by Jean Monestime.

■Public Safety and Health, chaired by Sally Heyman.

■Parks and Cultural Affairs, chaired by Mr. Souto.

■Housing and Social Services, chaired by Vice Chair-elect Audrey Edmonson.

These chairs will make up a policy council Mr. Bovo is launching, a plan he described when elected chair Dec. 6 for pushing the board’s policy discussions forward more efficiently. Mr. Bovo said the term limits that commissioners recently established obligate them to work fast and achieve solutions, which a working group studying policy could help advance.

Studies and lengthy discussions have gone on long enough, he said, and procrastination must end. “I propose we have a policy council to move discussion forward so this board can act,” he said when chosen commission chair.

In particular, Mr. Bovo wants the commission to move forward on the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) plan, for which he has ardently advocated for picking a corridor and securing a sustainable fund-

ing mechanism.

The new commission chairman also said the commission has serious social issues to solve as soon as possible, such as gun violence and the danger some children face while playing in their own backyards.

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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WEEK OF THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016

TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

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Transit-oriented districts to let Hialeah urbanize, go vertical

By Camila Cepero

The City of Hialeah has approved the development of two transit-oriented districts aimed at promoting compact, mixed-use projects within walking distance of high-capacity rapid transit.

The two districts are to be developed around the city’s Transfer Station, located near the intersection of East 25th Street and 11th Avenue, and Market Station, located on Southeast 10th Court near Southeast 14th Street.

After being approached by developers eager to move in on the areas, Hialeah city officials approached urban design firm Plusurbia roughly a year ago.

“We wrote the guidelines that look at the best practices, and the city adopted them – they took the guidelines and created legislation,” said Plusurbia founder and director Juan Mullerat.

“We looked at both stations and studied their existing conditions, zoning, and land uses and created a very basic master plan of how development could happen – of course, concentrating on the areas immediately around the station,” said Plusurbia’s Hialeah project manager Maria Bendfeldt.

“We studied the rights-of-way, we studied street sections, we studied heights, densities, open spaces, and we ran two workshops to include the stakeholders.

That basically created the master plan,” Ms. Bendfeldt said.

Because of the access to premium rail transit, the zoning allows for a reduction in parking spaces required per unit and an allows increased density.

“Nothing has happened in Hialeah for decades,” Mr. Mullerat said. “It’s not enough to just write a code and say, ‘Here you are, now go develop.’ You have to think of how it’s going to be used, and the open space issue is

The designers envision this boulevard view in Hialeah in the newly urbanized areas around rapid transit.

Carlos Hernandez talks of luring young people with vertical areas.

Firm wrote guidelines that look at More density will also add more the best practices: Juan Mullerat. open space, said Maria Bendfeldt.

one of the most important.”

The legislation provides height bonuses to developers that contribute to on-site or off-site improvements to civic space, defined as creating new open or public spaces or incorporating significant art work.

“When you bring in more density you will need more open space,” Ms. Bendfeldt said. “It’s an industrial area and there’s not enough, so the only way we could think of increasing open space without the city having to acquire

land is through bonuses.”

“We created regulation for both areas and provided incentives in exchange for something,” said Debora Storch of Hialeah’s planning and zoning division.

“There are limits on the height and density, but if you want a bonus, there are certain things that you can do.”

For example, she said, a developer at Transfer Station rezoned and redeveloped a dead-end adjacent to his property into a commercial space in exchange

for the green light to build an additional floor in his building.

Hialeah mayor Carlos Hernández said the transit-oriented development districts fit into his vision of urbanizing areas of Hialeah and “going vertically to attract the younger generation.”

“Our City of Hialeah has done a terrible job in the last 40 years in keeping our children and grandchildren here,” Mr. Hernández said. “The idea now is to attract young people to Hialeah, because the last three or four generations

have left to other cities and it’s a waste of the investment in the child.”

Ms. Storch believes the retail options in the districts will also attract people with extra time on their hands while waiting for layovers at Miami International Airport, which is connected directly to the stations via Tri-Rail.

The airport is also one of the largest employers in the county, so the residential component of the development could draw in airport employees.

Additionally, pilots and stewardesses will be served by the hotels in the districts, Mr. Mullerat said.

“The current uses that are there are, in our opinion, extremely underutilized, but both stations are quite central to Miami-Dade County and the proximity to the airport is extremely desirable,” he said.

Market Station and Transfer Station are both home to TriRail transit stops, while Transfer Station also houses a Metrorail stop, with an Amtrak station a few blocks away.

“It’s important for the growth of the city to urbanize,” Mr. Hernández said, “especially the undervalued and underused old warehouses in the east side of the city.”

Ms. Bendfeldt said there is already a lot of interest in the projects.

“A couple of developers are ready to go,” she said. “There are already two projects in the advanced stages that are going to come through very quickly.

The potential is there, it’s just a matter of getting people to know that the legislation happened.”

According to Ms. Storch, the main activities will extend a halfmile radius in every direction from the stations. She expects that the first developments will be well underway in two years.

Development bonding OK sparks SeeVee Boats expansion A county vote has revved up funding for a move and major expansion of sports boat manufacturer SeeVee Boats that would create 40 new jobs.

Miami-Dade commissioners last week approved issuing $9.7 million in industrial development revenue bonds for the boat company’s owners.

With the money, the company plans to buy 9.3 acres and build a manufacturing plant at 11100 Northwest North River Drive in the town of Medley. The company says with the new facility employment will grow from the present 160 persons to 200.

The 40-year-old company now operates in a 60,558-squarefoot building at 6900 NW 77th Court. Owners say sales have been growing, from $34 million in 2014 to $48 million last year and an estimated $50 million this year.

The company manufactures high-performance fishing and cruising boats branded SeeVee Boats. The brand dates back 40 years.

The company now is owned and operated by President Ariel Pared, Vice President Ralph Torres and Treasurer Moises

SeeVee, which builds custom boats ranging from 27 to 43 feet, cites an 18-month backlog of orders.

Rodriguez. The corporate name is Ram Investments of South Florida Inc. The company says that boats are built to each customer’s specifications and are marketed

directly to boat owners, with lengths ranging from 27 to 43 feet. The company says it manufactures about 108 boats a year and present orders have created a backlog booking for

orders stretching 18 months.

The move aims to provide more capacity to meet current and growing demand for SeeVee Boats.

While county government

approved the bonding for expansion, bonds will actually be issued by the Miami-Dade County Industrial Development Authority, which had already approved the bond issue at a Dec. 6 hearing at which no member of the public spoke.

The authority is also to approve financing documents for the project. Only the company is responsible for repaying the bonds with interest.

The project includes spending $5.2 million for the new site, building a 149,000-square-foot manufacturing plant for $7.64 million and equipping the plant for $900,000. Company owners say they are providing $4.04 million equity for the project, with the rest to be borrowed via the industrial development bonds.

The plan is for a single unidentified commercial bank to purchase and hold the total bond issue.

In addition to the 40 new jobs to be created, the proposal shows an increase in new capital investments in the county and impact fees to be paid to MiamiDade of more than $200,000 as among public benefits from the project.

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MIAMI TODAY

VIEWPOINT

WEEK OF THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016

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

Give communities a chance to determine their own futures Of all of Miami-Dade’s fragmentation, one inequity flies under the radar yet affects e v e r y o n e ’s wellbeing.

That division allows just over half of our county’s residents to elect city, town or vil- Michael Lewis lage leaders while the other 1-million-plus have no such local team attuned to meet their needs.

Miami Lakes is unique, with a local government geared to augment that character. So are Homestead and Hialeah, Key Biscayne and Aventura, South Miami and North Miami and West Miami and…

Well, the fact is that 34 city and village halls do their best to each serve a unique community with unique flavors. In most municipalities that strong flavor comes through. It would be hard to confuse Coral Gables with Miami or either one with Miami Springs or Miami Shores.

That’s a great attribute of MiamiDade: so many local flavors and atmospheres. We gravitate to the one that fits us best.

At least, that’s how one half lives: in a locally chosen way.

The other half of us, however, live in the massive divided region of Umsa – that’s what the county calls its Unincorporated Municipal Services Area, more than 1 million people in leftover patches that aren’t in any city or town and get a slimmed-down diet of services not from a city hall but from the county.

Umsa is one size fits all. The flavor of life is far less local, far more generic.

That’s no knock on Miami-Dade County. The county does far better than we’d expect with the patches that for years were not allowed to form cities or towns. Commissioners barred them from taking the steps that the county charter requires of an area that wants to govern itself and provide municipal services like police and fire, even libraries.

Some county commissioners were perfectly happy as de facto mayor of residents in their districts who had no city hall to turn to.

Those commissioners tried balancing that very local attention with the job for which they were really elected, which is to handle big issues of a county of 2.7 million people, more than in 105 nations.

This county’s economy is bigger than that of two-thirds of all nations and its area is larger than 65 countries.

It’s more than a fulltime job to ride herd over issues that affect us all, including transportation, sustainability, air and sea ports, housing, economic development, land use and water and sewer services, plus keep an eye on what’s heading our way in public health and other areas.

Yet some commissioners spend far more time looking at very local issues in their districts where there’s no local mayor. They get reelected if they get the potholes and sidewalk cracks taken care of.

Meanwhile, however, we ran up about $16 billion in unmet water and sewer needs that no elected officials monitored. A transportation crisis caught us unawares. We’re years behind gearing for sea level rise. We’ve done too little to push housing development for our workers. Who knows what else?

But 2013 brought a sea change.

To the credit of both, commissioners Dennis Moss and Barbara Jordan, opponents of creating more cities, reversed course and sought logical ways to do it right. Mr. Moss triggered committees in his South Dade district to study their own communities’ futures as potential cities.

Juan Zapata, meanwhile, also pushed hard to divide his West Dade district into cities where local mayors and councils could handle neighborhood interests while Mr. Zapata and the county commission could look out for crumbling infrastructure and other broader concerns.

In West Dade, more than 750,000 people live without a single city or town. That’s far more than the combined populations of Miami-Dade’s two largest cities, Miami and Hialeah.

Mr. Zapata started a process to create two cities for his area – if area residents want distinctively local flavors rather than the county’s plain vanilla local service. And residents formed committees to look into what those cities might be like.

Those steps by commissioners Moss, Zapata and others not only were logical in terms of providing local services while having the county look at the big picture but also followed the 1957 plan that those who framed the county charter envisioned. The idea was to have cities and towns everywhere while the county concentrated on the big, tough and vital issues for all of us. The moratorium on new cities had stalled a process that in 2013 got a new lease on life.

That’s why a commission vote last week was so off target. At the request of Joe Martinez, who replaced Mr. Zapata in November and doesn’t want cities in his district, commissioners voted preliminarily to scrap the West

Dade studies of cities. The other commissioners unanimously agreed to kill West Dade’s chances to have cities. They deferred to the local commissioner, the area’s de facto mayor.

But county government shouldn’t be 13 fiefdoms, with commissioners governing their own patches of MiamiDade. The commissioners should be big picture folks looking at the future, not filling potholes and patching sidewalks.

No commissioner should sit in total charge of an area. But that’s what happened. Mr. Zapata got commission approval to have West Dade look at cities. Mr. Martinez, his replacement, got virtually the same commissioners to vote to reverse a very logical course and shut down the study. What changed other than the commissioner for the area? Nothing.

West Dade comprises more than a quarter of this county’s people. No matter how well liked Mr. Martinez is, whether that area is allowed to have cities and towns should not be his call alone.

The captivity of West Dade under the county’s thumb is just another reason to hasten a review of the county charter, which Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava has been pushing and which is required in 2017 in any case. The charter should make it simple to study cities and towns with as few barriers as possible.

It’s one thing if residents who review cityhood decide against it. But the county shouldn’t block the study, particularly one as far along as the West Dade effort is.

Commissioners get a final vote on Mr. Martinez’s plan to halt the process. We trust that they will see the wisdom in allowing the current incorporation study to go on and let West Dade residents decide their own future.

The risks of de-risking for Miami’s importers and exporters The ever-increasing regulatory environment of financial institutions is adding another challenge for South Florida and could endanger the business of Miamibased importers and exporters.

By far most of Seno Bril the trade with the Caribbean and Latin America is paid in US dollars. In practical terms, this means that an importer in another country remits local currency to its local bank, which in turn exchanges that local currency in dollars and wires those dollars to the exporter’s bank in Miami.

That supposedly simple transaction requires that the foreign bank maintain an account with a bank in the US. When the foreign importer must pay an invoice in dollars, the foreign bank debits its account with the US bank, and when the importer is in the US with the exporter abroad, then the foreign bank receives a credit in its account at the US bank, for the benefit of the exporter.

That relationship between foreign banks and US banks is called foreign correspondent banking (FCB), and that system is under siege from the US financial regulators’ pressures to prevent money laundering.

The Writer

Seno Bril worked 31 years with the French BNP Paribas Group, including in France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Panama, Mexico and Miami. He currently serves on the board of directors of a local community bank and is managing partner of the Confidas Group, an international banking consultancy company.

The burden is on the US correspondent banks to have policies and procedures to verify incoming and outgoing wires.

They must verify that the receiving or paying party abroad is legitimate and that the transaction itself is legitimate.

That requires sophisticated software as well as considerable manual supervision.

Of course, most of the transactional information comes from what the foreign bank gives to the US bank, and the US regulators expect that the US bank makes itself comfortable that the foreign bank maintains solid anti-money-laundering policies and procedures.

In practice, US regulators make US banks responsible for anti-money-laundering lapses of its foreign correspondent banks.

US banks get paid for foreign correspondent banking with fees and depositary balances that the foreign banks

maintain in their accounts in the US. However, the cost of compliance has gone up significantly with the increasing regulatory expectations requiring the need for new software and additional manpower.

The risks of regulatory penalties, if anything goes wrong, has made US banks think again about the cost/benefit of foreign correspondent banking. US correspondent banks are de-risking their foreign relationships.

Some banks are getting out of FCB all together, others de-risk specific countries such as Venezuela or Paraguay, and other US banks limit relationships with foreign banks to those that can demonstrate to have appropriate anti-money-laundering policies and procedures and that give sufficient business to ensure profitability for the US correspondent bank.

More and more foreign banks are being told by their US correspondent bank that their account will be closed and they are scrambling to find ways to ensure transactions for their clients.

This means that trade is impacted. Payments are delayed or refused by banks, and foreign importers and exporters seek alternative markets, to sell to or buy from, in currencies other than the US dollar.

Because of the importance of the US market, there is no doubt that trading with the US cannot be totally circumvented

and foreign banks will need to upgrade their anti-money-laundering standards to US expectations, so that US correspondent banks can comfortably maintain or initiate relationships.

That demands that these foreign banks not only change systems and procedures but also their culture of compliance, as some still underestimate the weight and impact of US regulators. This is not an overnight process and import / export companies in South Florida will continue to feel the impact for quite some time.

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1,409 traffic signals to get upgraded to speed-up technology Traffic signals at 1,409 MiamiDade County intersections that will speed traffic on heavily traveled state roads will get an upgrade to the latest technology from a funding plan that county commissioners approved last week.

The intersections are located not only on state roads but on county roads that will help alleviate traffic along the state highway system, Deputy Mayor Alina Hudak wrote in a memo to commissioners before their 12-0 vote to proceed.

There was no Alina Hudak discussion.

What commissioners actually pushed ahead last week was upgraded communications at the intersections, video surveillance there, alternate methods of detecting traffic issues and technology to preempt congestion before it occurs.

The program is the second phase of a two-phase program.

The first phase, completed in August 2012, upgraded equipment and added new central and localized software to centralize traffic signal control at all intersections.

The phase approved last week is to be finished by July 31, 2021, Ms. Hudak’s memo said.

The formal county action was an agreement that will provide $10.5 million from the Florida Department of Transportation to pay for half of the upgrades.

The county is paying the same amount with proceeds from the half percent transportation surtax on county sales that voters approved in 2002.

The state funding comes under statutory authority “to provide grants to counties to improve a transportation facility which is located on the State Highway System or corridors which relieve traffic on the State Highway System,” Ms. Hudak’s memo says in quoting the authorization for the funding.

The county has already received $2.75 million of the state funding in reimbursements, Ms. Mayor Carlos Gimenez and transportation chief Alice Bravo visit the Traffic Control Center in August.

Hudak notes.

Northeast county mayors uniting on resiliency, connectivity

By Camila Cepero

The mayors of several Northeast Miami-Dade municipalities have huddled again to discuss common concerns – such as evacuation procedures, resiliency and connectivity – in their continued effort to streamline cooperation between them and the county at large.

At the meeting in the Surfside Community Center, Jim Murley, the county’s chief resilience officer, spoke about county-wide

sustainability initiatives and the county’s plans to work collaboratively with its municipalities.

“It was really an opportunity to hear from the county about how they’re approaching resilience,” said Surfside Mayor Daniel Dietch.

“There are various initiatives,” Mr. Dietch said, “from [Commissioner Rebeca] Sosa to [Commissioner Daniella Levine] Cava, focused on how to better engage the federal government and the state government

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and the municipalities.”

The mayors meet on an irregular basis, and the late August meeting was the first in over a year. The unnamed alliance includes the governments of Aventura, Surfside, North Miami Beach, Golden Beach, North Miami, Bay Harbor Islands, Miami Gardens, Sunny Isles Beach, North Bay Village, Bal Harbour and Miami Shores.

Miami Shores Mayor Alice Burch said that one of her major interests is “trying to cooperate together on resiliency and building resiliency for the village.”

“We are a bay front community being affected by rising tides and flooding, just like Miami Beach,” Ms. Burch said.

Miami Shores officials have taken tours of resilience structures that other communities, like Key Biscayne, have invested in “to see the progress that they’re making,” Ms. Burch said.

“The next thing for Miami Shores,” she said, “is to have a resiliency study done and see what engineers are seeing as the main issues.”

Mayors in the Northeastern part of the county had unique concerns during hurricane season, including streamlining cooperation during evacuation periods.

The mayors have been particularly interested in transportation issues, leading the county to schedule several workshops and times for elected officials to get together and brainstorm.

“The transportation director from the city of Los Angeles came to Vizcaya and talked about how difficult it is to enhance mobility, but how it’s possible even though it seems very tough,” Ms. Burch said. “It was hugely helpful to have someone who had that level of expertise come here to Miami-Dade.”

After Miami Beach contracted with Citi Bike, the bike rental

Resilience chief Jim Murley spoke. Daniel Dietch targets bike racks.

system where users can return bikes to any station, Northeast Miami-Dade took action to tap into that alternative transportation option. There are now stations in Surfside, Bay Harbor Islands, North Miami Beach and others throughout Northeast parts of the county.

Miami Shores officials, in partnership with North Miami, El Portal and Biscayne Park, are working to establish additional stations.

“We’re very interested in having bicycle-sharing stations in the Northeast, but we want it to be Citi Bike” so that connectivity will be seamless, Ms. Burch said.

The Florida Department of Transportation’s District 6, which encompasses MiamiDade, has also been responsive to the idea of adding pedestrian crosswalks as well as planning a transportation hub at 125th Street to make the transition from the south part of the county to the north more convenient.

Visions for the future of the northeast part of the county include bike racks at every street corner and surface parking lots, Mr. Dietch said.

“It’s the small things that we do in trying to give form to the picture,” he said. “It’s really a combination of a lot of initiatives.”

“We study lots of things, but sometimes we just need to move into action. You can study and study, but at some time you have to do something. We want to demonstrate to our constituents that we’re a government of action – but not senseless action.”

Surfside is also looking at a traffic mitigation program – something Mr. Dietch said is not necessarily directly related to climate change but plays a role in it.

Surfside, Bal Harbour and Bay Harbor Islands recently connected three complementary shuttle routes to enhance transportation opportunities within the three communities and to locations in neighboring communities.

The Surfside Publix serves as the intermodal spot, and residents can find shuttle guidebooks around the communities and online.

“Within the coalition there are lots of initiatives and idea sharing,” Mr. Dietch said. “Ownership of a good idea doesn’t exactly translate to value.”

Ms. Burch said she feels they “have made great strides this year.”

“We know we have a great place to live,” she said. “What’s missing is to be able to walk and bike to retail or restaurants.”

12

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Commercial Real Estate & Office Space New Jungle Island leaseholder to invest in all-day adventure

By John Charles Robbins

The company set to take over the lease of Jungle Island plans investments and improvements to turn the tropical attraction into a new and improved all-day adventure.

ESJ Capital Partners LLC plans to enhance the facility on Watson Island by adding a zipline, water features and more dining and entertainment options.

“We really want to see how we can improve the experience,” Chief Operating Officer Elie Mimoun told Miami Today this week.

“It’s going to be a nice experience and we hope the residents appreciate what we’re trying to do,” he said.

The City of Miami owns the property and leases the 18-acre site.

Formerly known as Parrot Jungle, Jungle Island officially opened its $47 million facility on Watson Island in June 2003.

The venue includes tropical gardens, exotic animals, educational exhibits and shows. The park also features the Treetop Ballroom and other meeting facilities that overlook PortMiami.

The Miami City Commission approved a deal Nov. 17 that terminates a lease and development agreement between the city and Parrot Jungle and Gardens of Watson Island Inc. and PJG Watson Island LLC and transfers the lease to ESJ J.I. Leasehold LLC. The lease transfer also requires approval by Miami-Dade County and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Attorney Alex Tachmes, representing ESJ, said the matter should come before county commissioners in January.

Mr. Mimoun said the company is hoping to have the ground lease in hand by the end of March, after which phase one of the improvement plan

Photo by Maxine Usdan

ESJ Capital Partners plans to enhance Jungle Island with a zipline and more dining and entertainment.

can begin.

Mr. Tachmes told city commissioners the Aventura-based company plans a $10 million investment initially.

Jungle Island has billed itself as an intimate attraction, enriching the lives of park visitors through immersive experiences centered on adventure, animals, discovery and play.

“We really want to see how we can improve the experience,” said Mr. Mimoun.

“First and foremost we’re going to improve the appearance of Jungle Island with new signage and a new opening experience,” he said. Changes are to include a new traffic pattern and improvements to the parking lot.

“It will be a new welcoming experience,” he said.

ESJ plans to incorporate some items the previous leaseholder had in the works, including a zipline ride. The application for a building permit for the zipline is under review by city officials.

“Once we get building permit approval we’ll break ground first thing out of the gate,” Mr.

Mimoun said.

For the younger visitors, the company plans to add splash pads for kids and an obstacle course, and revamp the Kids Club.

For adult visitors and teens, ESJ plans to work with Crystal Lagoons to build a large water park or swimming lagoon for water sports and recreational activities, offering beach chairs, umbrellas and private cabanas.

Mr. Mimoun said the company wants to emphasize an environmentally-friendly facility and it will strive for LEED certification.

Improvements are to include water conservation methods and the use of solar power, he said.

He said they plan to reopen the Beach Club and offer morning sporting activities including yoga, exercise, paddleboarding and more.

Food and beverages for the morning crowd are to include healthy drinks.

Phase one is expected to take about 18 to 24 months, he said.

Mr. Tachmes said the improvements are targeted to

increase attendance.

“The whole idea is to drive more visitors to the park,” he said. “The other objective it to make it much more interesting than now – a place where you can spend all day rather than just a few hours.”

Mr. Mimoun said the plan is to keep most of the animals, offer a better variety of experiences with the animals and make it more of a learning experience and “much more fun.”

The company will continue to maintain the banquet facility, meeting and conference rooms, along with improved food and beverage options, said Mr. Tachmes.

Phase two is to include construction of a lazy river and a water slide, Mr. Mimoun said.

ESJ also plans to add dockage and offer boat rentals, he said.

The reopened Beach Club will see even more improvements, he said, with the addition of a bar and restaurant with musical entertainment, offering an afternoon and evening beach club experience catering to adults.

Mr. Tachmes said an interesting feature of the Beach Club is that the area has a separate entrance from the general park, which will be more fully developed and made more attractive.

Much of the infrastructure is already in place, he said, it just needs improving.

“The bones are there. It just takes a company like ESJ to invest into it, turn it around and drive the revenue. The location is amazing – it just needs investment to make it peak,” Mr. Tachmes said.

“Our vision is to take Jungle Island, which is semi-dormant, and raising it to everyone’s appreciation,” said Mr. Mimoun.

He said the goal is to make Jungle Island a much desired destination for residents and visitors alike.

Mr. Tachmes said working with the city has been excellent.

Commissioner Ken Russell and Mayor Tomás Regalado have been very supportive, he said.

“Absolutely, they’ve been nothing but helpful and open and supportive,” said Mr. Mimoun of city officials.

“We’re really optimistic about moving forward,” said Mr. Tachmes.

Commissioner Russell, whose district includes the man-made island, told his colleagues in November that he was assured no hotel is currently planned.

Mr. Mimoun confirmed it. He said he told Mr. Russell that to build a hotel today makes no sense. He said his company doesn’t want to lose money.

“We’d rather invest in the park, enhancing it and raising it to the level where it should be and making it so the city is proud of it,” Mr. Mimoun said, and then perhaps return to city leaders and ask for permission to pursue a hotel.

The city attorney’s office has said that a proposed hotel would require approval from city voters, along with an OK from city commissioners.

Fight against sales tax on commercial leases quietly goes on

By Camila Cepero

The march to reduce or eliminate the sales tax on commercial lease agreements carries on slowly as opponents of the tax aim to have more direction and strategy in January.

As 2016 Chairman of the Commercial Alliance for Florida Realtors Ed Redlich puts it, one idea is to eliminate or credit the sales tax paid on property taxes.

The sales tax on commercial lease agreements, also known as the “business rent tax,” has been described as a sales tax on property taxes and is argued to be “double taxation.”

“Every business that leases commercial property in Florida must pay the state sales tax of 6%,” Mr. Redlich said in a letter to state legislators earlier this year. “Florida is the only state in the nation that charges such a tax,”

Another idea, Mr. Redlich said, is for owners who are users not to have to pay the sales tax.

“For example, if ‘ABC Company’ owns and uses the property, there is no sales tax due,” he said. “However, if ‘ABC Company’ uses the property, but ‘ABC Real Estate Holdings’ is the entity owning the property, then a lease agreement is required with rent and sales tax due. So basically you’re charged a sales tax for doing business with yourself.”

Reducing or eliminating the tax will be a joint effort among Florida Realtors, Gov. Rick Scott and Florida legislators.

One major roadblock in eliminating the tax is that the state government is not going to easily give up a flow of revenue it has become used to.

In addition to this tax, Mr. Redlich said in his letter, businesses are paying many other

taxes, permits, fees, tolls, among other costs, to national, state, county and local taxing authorities.

“I know for a fact that when other states try to recruit business to their states, they use this tax to their advantage,” Mr. Redlich previously told Miami Today.

“Tennessee and Georgia say ‘Why would you go to Florida? They’re the only place that taxes lease agreements.’ A lot of people don’t even know this tax exists.”

“If and when the entire 6% sales tax is repealed,” Mr. Redlich said in his letter, “over 185,000 new employment opportunities would occur along with an estimated $20 billion positive economic impact.”

Those in the fight against the tax remain tight-lipped as they strategize how to approach Tax gives other states advantage the legislatures this session. in luring companies: Ed Redlich.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016

TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

23

South Beach businesses funding change to restore luster

By Catherine Lackner

Big changes are coming to South Beach, and business operators there are opening their checkbooks to pay for them.

“My clients felt the changes are important,” said Alex Tachmes, a partner in the Shutts & Bowen law firm and lifelong resident of Miami Beach. He represents the Clevelander Hotel, among other Beach businesses, and helped write the guidelines, which kick in early next year. “Everybody has seen the lack of local residents coming to Ocean Drive, and they’ve seen the complaints on TripAdvisor.”

The new rules were partially driven by a city threat to cut off alcohol sales at 2 a.m. as the district became more raucous. That could have been disastrous to many bars, clubs and restaurants, Mr. Tachmes said. At one point, the city had planned to put the earlier closing hours (5 a.m. is the rule now) on a non-binding straw ballot to voters, but that threat was averted when all parties agreed to the new standards.

The new rules: ■Require restaurants and bars to clearly list menu prices, as well as whether a gratuity is included. Wait staff must also tell patrons the poli-

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

Some Ocean Drive cafes will have to eliminate some tables in order to keep the pedestrian path clear.

cies about tipping.

■Stipulate that restaurant workers must attend yearly third-party hospitality training.

■Prohibit “hawking” of patrons on the sidewalk, with fines as steep as $1,000 to $5,000 for first and subsequent offenses.

■Ban street vendors or promoters who are offering products, services, free samples, flyers or coupons.

■Establish a 5-foot unobstructed

pedestrian pathway.

■Prohibit real and artificial food and beverage displays to attract prospective patrons.

■Discourage chain restaurants on Ocean Drive, with those now existing grandfathered in.

■Create a business improvement district for Ocean Drive.

■Set standards for sidewalk dining, including which furniture and umbrellas must be used, and how

far apart tables can be.

■Ban restaurant garbage cans, bussing stations, artificial plants, televisions, speakers and overlapping umbrellas from the sidewalks.

■Mandate that trees and other obstacles that block historic building façades be removed. Trees will be replanted at Lummus Park.

“This changes the gauntlet effect, in which pedestrians had no place to walk and people were sticking

Marching on, military museum in its interior

Police visibility in Omni remains

By Catherine Lackner

By Camila Cepero

The restoration of the historic building that will house the Miami Military Museum & Memorial has ramped up speed since earlier this year when the State of Florida approved $1.5 million in funding for the project.

The project received the first of its incremental payouts in November.

Before its first payout, however, the museum was put under the microscope by the state’s Division of Historical Resources, which is responsible for preserving and promoting Florida’s historical, archaeological and folk culture resources.

The museum had to provide proof of legitimacy, site surveys and legal titles.

More importantly, however, the division needed proof of a budget and scope of work.

The museum aims to occupy the last remaining building of the Richmond Naval Air Station, which is on the grounds of Zoo Miami. The air station once served as the local US Navy headquarters during World War II and later became an Army and Marine Corps Reserve Center that was used as a training site for anti-Castro freedom fighters, according to the museum’s website.

The budget is spread thin to cover the active restoration of a historic building, completion of the build out, an entrance vestibule, the first and second floors, all exhibit galleries, a multipurpose classroom, a media room, electri-

menus in your face,” Mr. Tachmes said. “We want to bring back Ocean Drive’s original luster and its history.”

There will be costs to business owners, including printing new menus, buying new furniture for sidewalk cafes, paying for additional lighting and fees for employee training, and replacing features that don’t fit the new guidelines.

Some cafes will have to eliminate some tables to keep the pedestrian pathway clear.

Some of the provisions will be included in the city’s zoning code and can be enforced almost immediately, while others will take time to work out, including the retail strategy, he said.

It’s aimed at keeping out “formula retail,” such as fast food establishments and T-shirt shops. “That’s trickier,” Mr. Tachmes said. “How do you define it so you don’t exclude the good ones?” Some unique retailers may have several locations but might also add character, he said.

Mr. Tachmes and other stakeholders are to meet with the city’s Planning Department in January to work out some guidelines, he said, but he acknowledged that the retail strategy will be the most difficult piece of the puzzle.

Photo by Maxine Usdan

Navy veteran Anthony Atwood, who has championed the museum since 2007, is shown in front in 2010.

cal and mechanical rooms, staff areas, a third floor non-public attic and east and west wing spaces, among other upgrades.

The building’s exterior has been completely renovated from the ground up.

Work on the interior began this month, said Executive Director Anthony Atwood, a Navy veteran who has championed the museum since 2007.

The aim is to finish the project using only existing resources.

Dr. Atwood is hoping for a summer 2017 opening, hopefully on July 4 but maybe some time in August.

Last week Miami-Dade County’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board voted to nominate the building to the National Register of Historic Place.

“To be registered as a historic place – that’s important,” Dr. Atwood said. “If we’re declared a historic structure then it would be very nice and we would get to put up a plaque.”

Museum organizers already have a collection of artifacts to work with once the museum finally opens, and expect only more donations once that happens.

“Once you’re open, word of mouth or putting notices in the newspaper can be a source for people to bring you things – they have already donated amazing things,” Dr. Atwood said.

A second source is the holdings of other military museums around the country.

“There are a lot of military museums, but a lot are run by the federal government and many of

them you don’t hear about because they’re on military bases,” Dr. Atwood said. “They’re a source because at any given time only about 10% of the museum holdings in the country are on display – they have more artifacts in their warehouses.”

The museum is gearing up for a late-February unveiling of a monument being built on-site by the Cuban American Veterans Association. The unveiling will include an on-site event, meaning that even if the renovations aren’t completed, the museum would still technically be open.

“If the phone was to ring and it was the office of the governor and he wanted to come and visit,” Dr. Atwood said, “I’d already be in the car on the way over to open up.”

Directors of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) have voted unanimously to continue the district’s police visibility program, which was initiated in April 2008, and to use $500,000 to expand it.

“The visibility program, an innovative community policing plan, provides enhanced police services including increased patrols, special operations, traffic details, criminal sweeps, prostitution details, and undercover narcotics details,” said a memo by Jason Walker, CRA executive director, to the board of directors.

The program was first funded with $343,392, the memo said.

In 2010, $500,000 was added to the budget; that amount was then increased by $1.3 million in 2014, according to the memo. In October 2015, directors approved a $710,000 grant to the City of Miami to keep the program afloat.

“The City of Miami Police Department seeks additional funding to continue the Omni CRA’s police program,” Mr. Walker’s memo said. “This new grant will result in enhanced police services. The previous police visibility grants will be subsumed into this new proposed police enhancement grant.”

The neighboring Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA has had a policing program in effect for about two years, with six officers and six vehicles specifically assigned to the area. The officers and vehicles are to remain inside the Overtown/Park West neighborhood, but officers can leave the area to respond to calls for homicide, shooting, robbery, assault, battery or sexual offenses.

It’s not known if the Omni police program will follow that structure.

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