WEEK OF THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
A Singular Voice in an Evolving City
WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00
SPOTLIGHT ON EXCELLENCE
Convention bureau aims to lure next generation meetings, pg. 13 MORE HEADS IN BEDS: Miami-Dade hotels sold slightly more room nights in January and February than the year before, rising a tenth of percent from 2,516,966 rooms sold in the period in 2015 to 2,520,639 in 2016, even though average daily occupancy dropped 3.3% to 82.4%. The reason for the drop: The monthly room supply rose 3.5% during the period to 51,886 as more hotels opened in the county. Average daily rates, which dropped 1.8% in the period from the same period of 2015, were still top in the nation at $243.66 per room, and revenue per available room, which dropped 5%, still topped the nation at $200.71, according to figures provided by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. Average daily occupancy also scored high, second in the nation.
City of Miami organizes teen dialogues with police, pg. 18
THE ACHIEVER
BY CATHERINE LACKNER
TRANSIT RIDERSHIP TUMBLES: Miami-Dade public transit ridership fell 7% in December from December 2014, according to the latest report from Miami-Dade Transit. Metrobus ridership fell 10.4% in the oneyear period to more than 5.6 million, while Metrorail ridership edged up a tenth of a percent to over 1.8 million. Ridership on the free Metromover rose 1.8% in the one-year period to 875,701. In all, the transit system logged more than 8.4 million rides during December despite the large decline. DOWN AGAIN, UP AGAIN: Gasoline prices in Miami rose on average 1.5 cents a gallon in the week ended Sunday, GasBuddy price tracking service reported, averaging $2.14 a gallon. That compares with a national average of $2.06 per gallon. In reviewing the rollercoaster pricing of gasoline in Miami, prices now are 26.4 cents a gallon higher than a month ago but 39.8 cents a gallon lower than a year ago, GasBuddy said. Prices here are now the highest since November. ON THE MOVE: Swire Properties Inc. has received a temporary certificate of occupancy for Brickell City Centre’s REACH, which allows buyers of the luxury condos to begin their move-in process. REACH is the first of two condominium towers within the master-planned, 5.4-millionsquare-foot mixed-use development. REACH is now over 86% sold. “With this news, the City of Miami has allowed us to reveal our first condominium tower, REACH, and bring to life the largest single mixedused development Miami has ever seen,” said Maile Aguila, senior vice president of residential sales. The second condo tower, RISE, is expected to open later this year.
Teri Williams
Photo by Marlene Quaroni
Harvard MBA is COO of largest black-owned bank The profile is on Page 4
Vows doubted in latest cultural institution rescue BY SUSAN D ANSEYAR
It’s unthinkable to leave as a skeleton a world-class museum promised to MiamiDade, said several commissioners who Tuesday found no choice but to rescue yet another cultural institution. “We cannot go back on this; we can only go forward,” said Audrey Edmonson before voting to grant up to $48 million to complete a 1075 Biscayne Blvd. home for the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science. However, Ms. Edmonson told new museum board Chairman Cesar Alvarez, it was a hard decision. She referred to a review of the grant agreement by the Inspector General April 4 and said while the report states the arrangement can work, she’s concerned with how museum leaders can possibly keep a vow never to ask the county for aid again. The upfront payment to finish the museum so it can open this year will come via sale of bonds secured by 3% convention development taxes and secondarily by sales taxes. This plan by Mayor Carlos Gimenez would
AGENDA
Miami pays $15 an hour for trainees
convert the county’s previously pledged $4 million for annual operations into $48 million for construction. In exchange, the museum must raise operating funds on a balanced budget without county support and add to its board five county and three City of Miami appointees to build oversight. The commission Tuesday also added five recommendations by the Inspector General, including requiring status reports and specific cash balances. Commissioner Bruno Barreiro said the plan is the right path to finish the museum. “I truly believe when it’s up and running, though, this board – even after the mayor and we are gone – will have to step up to the plate and support its operation in some manner,” he said. “We should demand these cultural entities use their dollars appropriately and allocate a percentage of every dollar of their donations into an endowment fund.” Juan Zapata agreed that the museum will be back for help with operations. “This may not be coming from taxpayers, but it’s taxpayers’ inconvenience that’s paying for it.” Mr. Zapata said he has been arguing against using convention development taxes
to help run cultural institutions. “I look at this and it doesn’t make sense to me. We’re basically taking over this museum. We have bad options right now because we made bad decisions. You can’t go after a very ambitious project and expect the public sector to back you up.” Having a museum on the way to Miami Beach in mothballs would be catastrophic, said Esteban Bovo Jr., so he supported the agreement “painfully.” He said he’d be remiss if he didn’t ask how promises can be made that aren’t kept. “The PAMM goes on and on and on,” Mr. Bovo said. “We can’t have things hanging around in skeleton condition reflecting poorly on the community, but some of these institutions may be looking at the county as suckers.” A few commissioners had no reservations about finishing construction. “We are not asking for extra money, and it’s not going to cost the taxpayer another cent,” said Sally Heyman. “This is a restructured financial agreement for money that was already targeted for the science museum, so it’s an easy decision for me to support.”
Part-time street-cleaning trainees got a 67% raise from $9 to $15 an hour last week from a Miami community redevelopment agency, with a city commissioner saying he’d seek similar raises in another agency he heads. New laws will soon make $15 the minimum wage in New York and California. The Miami program prepares trainees for careers or schooling. Team workers keep Overtown clean. In 2015-16, it trained 30 in maintenance and placed 21 in college, vocational school or hospitality training. It also taught time management, communication, decision-making and job readiness. The program requested a hike from $220,000 to $235,000 so as to hire two more employees at $9 per hour, which includes benefits. Each works about 25 hours a week. “What would it take to get them to $15?” City Commissioner and Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency board member Ken Russell asked. “That’s a little more than we anticipated,” replied Clarence E. Woods III, the executive director. “This is a trainee program,” pointed out Keon Hardemon, Miami commissioner and agency chair. The money is meant more as a stipend than a permanent wage, he added. “This is a unique opportunity, if we can offer whatever we want,” Mr. Russell said. “I’m prepared to do it,” said Francis Suarez, Miami commissioner and CRA director. “These are public funds.” Several program graduates in the audience said they’d since joined the Miami Downtown Development Authority’s street enhancement team at $8.05, the minimum wage for Florida. “I’m going to do something at the DDA” to raise pay there too, said Mr. Russell, the authority’s chair. “Earning $8 or $9, you’re a member of the working poor, and if you’re working, you shouldn’t be poor. This one is pretty easy.”
DOWNTOWN AGENCY TRIES MIND GAMES ON DRIVERS ...
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COUNTY PREPARES TO SEEK BIDS TO REBUILD BEACHES ...
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COUNTY TALKS OF SETTING UP OWN FILM INCENTIVES ...
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TWO-FRONT WAR WAGED ON DESIGN DISTRICT MUSEUM ... 10
APP IN WORKS TO SHARE IMMIGRATION EXPERIENCES ...
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RELATED HANDS CITY PRIME WATERFRONT FOR A PARK ...
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VIEWPOINT: LEVEL THE FIELD ON COUNTY CONTRACTS ...
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REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS WIN A BROAD THUMB’S UP ...
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