Miami Today: Week of Thursday, February 26, 2015

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00

TRANSPORTATION

Some shed private cars, take new roads to savings, pg. 11 RISING RENTS: Annual effective rent growth in South Florida apartment markets continued to strengthen in January, according to Axiometrics, a company that supplies apartment market research and analysis. The average Miami rent of $1,545 was $93 more than the January 2014 average of $1,452. Miami’s January 2015 occupancy of 96.2% was relatively stable compared with that of January 2015.

Miami International ranks ninth globally in timely flights, pg. 12

THE ACHIEVER

BY LIDIA DINKOVA

WATCHFUL TECH: Miami city commissioners have authorized purchasing from Argent hardware/software network monitoring tools for the Department of Information Technology on a three-year contract with two one-year renewal options. The cost is about $98,240 for five years. The city now doesn’t have tools to monitor hardware/software and networks to circumvent potential disasters. Argent software is to enable IT to monitor the city’s more than 300 servers, databases, software applications and network appliances. Staff said key IT personnel will be able to manage their applications and make adjustments to reduce downtime. The commission confirmed the city manager’s finding of a sole source, waiving requirements for competitive sealed bidding. OUT OF THE ORDINARY: Miami commissioners have approved 22 covenants with property owners in the Design District to construct and maintain non-standard improvements within the right-of-way abutting their properties. In July 2012 the city commission adopted a Special Area Plan for the Design District that includes non-standard improvements in the right-of-way. Design District property owners have agreed to enter into covenants to run with the land that cover their properties, so applications for master permits may be submitted from time to time that contain the proposed location and design of the improvements. Improvements include pedestrian crosswalks and signals, way-finding signs, streetlights and façade lighting, streetscape, drainage wells, private infrastructure crossings, street furniture, public art and utilities. CIRCLE UPKEEP: The maintenance of traffic circles in Miami will be handled by SFM Services Inc., a Hialeah company. City commissioners approved a one-year contract, agreeing to pay $318,688 for the work, which includes landscaping work for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 118 traffic circles citywide, Butterfly Garden, 11 triangle medians and the Northwest 62nd Street embankments of I-95. SFM submitted the lower of two bids. The contract provides up to four additional one-year options to renew, subject to the availability of funds and the contractor’s performance. Commissioners must approve of any renewal of the agreement.

Dolores Sukhdeo

Guiding WPBT 2 to meet South Florida’s needs The profile is on Page 4

Five-year downtown ePrix deal powers ahead BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

As days wind down to the inaugural Miami ePrix downtown March 14, city commissioners will consider cementing a deal to host the Formula E races for the next five years. Mayor Tomás Regalado is today (2/26) to bring to the commission a resolution to authorize an agreement with Formula E to run the FIA Formula E Championship – the world’s first fully-electric racing series – yearly for five years. A draft agreement says it would cover five Formula E championships downtown, including this year’s inaugural and running through 2019. The cars have a maximum speed of 140 mph, and can accelerate from zero to 62 mph in three seconds. In the agreement, Formula E would apply for permits, street closures and other plans with the city and finance all approvals and permits. Formula E must also pay for police, fire, and emergency personnel on site before, during and after races, the draft agreement says. “They pay for everything,” Mayor

AGENDA

For transit, studies out, revenues in

Regalado told Miami Today on Tuesday. The mayor said everything is done for this year’s race. “They already have the permit for this year… The resolution enters into an agreement for the next five years,” he said. “This year is already done. DOT [the Florida Department of Transportation] is on board, and all the stakeholders, AmericanAirlines Arena… they are going to be using the bayfront,” the mayor said. He said race organizers have an agreement with Miami-Dade County to use Parcel B, a stretch of open waterfront east of the arena. The race route shows much of Parcel B being used as Pit Lane. There’s no rush to approve the extended contract with race organizers, said the mayor, but it will be nice to get the commitment. “The race is on, no matter what happens Thursday,” he said of the March 14 event. Last October, city officials met with organizers to announce the race date and route. The track in the heart of downtown makes its way under the MacArthur Causeway and around the arena. Last fall, the mayor said, “This event will help to make Miami more of a sports city. In addition, we will show the younger genera-

tions that you may have motor racing without noise or pollution.” The Miami ePrix is set along Biscayne Bay incorporating the backdrop of the city skyline. At 2.17 km and featuring eight corners, the temporary street circuit has been produced by track design company Ayesa. The track boasts a number of long straight legs and 90-degree corners on Biscayne Boulevard, with a pit mid-way around the lap at turn six. Mayor Regalado said he’s excited about having car races downtown again, as the city had decades ago, “although they won’t be noisy” this time. The electric cars don’t have the traditional roaring engine of traditional Formula 1 cars. Of the race organizers he said, “They’ve done their homework. They made presentations to all the stakeholders.” And the people who live downtown know what to expect, he said. “This is not going to be an Ultra,” he said, referring to the annual electronic music festival in Bayfront Park that draws complaints about noise and disruptions. Details: miami.fiaformulae.com/

The head of the Miami-Dade County committee that targets transportation says he wants transit projects to become more than just ideas on paper. The county has commissioned studies on new transit but committee members say little has come to fruition. “We have seen over the last couple of years every study possible done on corridors and what needs to be done. I don’t propose that this committee should launch any more studies or investigations or thinktanks,” said Esteban Bovo Jr., who chairs the Transit and Mobility Services Committee. “What I do believe has to be our mission is to identify sources of funding that could… get these projects done.” Projects on the table include light rail to link downtown and Miami Beach and a streetcar line in Miami’s urban core. Both ideas pre-date the past recession but construction has started on neither. “I’m not here today to commit to one corridor or another,” Commissioner Bovo told the meeting. “But I will tell you this: We need to pick a corridor and we need to get it done.” He went as far as to say that if there’s no dedicated funding by the end of his two years as committee chairman, he’d consider his tenure “a failure.” Mr. Bovo added that he will approach congressional and state legislature leaders about Miami-Dade’s traffic woes. “I don’t expect the federal government to fund 80% of our projects,” he said. “What I do expect is for us to come up with a plan that is funded 80% and ask them to top it off.” The county collects a half-cent sales surtax that was meant to expand Metrorail. But revenue was diverted and just one of eight promised projects was built. Among revenue sources that Mr. Bovo mentioned at the first committee meeting Feb. 11 are a bed tax and public-private partnerships.

MIAMI GIVES ITS LITTLE HAVANA STARS A CARETAKER ...

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NEW INITIATIVE SEEKING TO TIE STUDENTS TO BUSINESS ... 10

VIEWPOINT: LET VOTERS ENGINEER METROMOVER FARE ...

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MIAMI AIR LINK WITH ISTANBUL COULD ARRIVE BY 2016 ... 13

DOWNTOWN LOOKING TO LURE PERSECUTED JEWS HERE ...

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MISSION AIMS TO UNCOVER DENVER’S TRANSIT SECRETS ... 15

ARTS SCENE A MAGNET AS MUSEUMS RECRUIT LEADERS ... 10

CHARTER REVIEW SEEKING TO EASE VOTER INITIATIVES ...

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