WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017
TODAY’S NEWS
MIAMI TODAY
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Wynwood requests proposals to hire ‘ambassador’ service By Catherine Lackner
In their continuing quest to make the area cleaner and more tourist-friendly, directors of the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID) have requested proposals to hire an “ambassador” service. Ambassadors would direct tourists, give out maps, answer questions, help with special events, clean as necessary, and fill in whatever service gaps exist, said Manny Gonzalez, BID executive director, at the group’s meeting last week. Preference will go to proposers that have experience with a BID or similar entity, he said. “If not, what you get is a mall cop or a mall cleaner.” Proposals are due Nov. 17. Only two large companies – ADM Cleaning Services and Block by Block – provide ambassador- type services in Miami, Mr. Gonzalez said, “bigtime companies that do business in the Northeast, where BIDs are prevalent.” Block by Block staffs both the
Wynwood’s Manny Gonzalez headed Coconut Grove’s improvement District, which was using Block By Block ambassadors in this 2014 photo of operations manager Ben Downs and team lead Eric Carithers.
ambassador programs of Miami’s “We want them to walk the zalez said. “That’s not how we Downtown Development Author- boundaries and not leave during work. We’ll provide uniforms ity and the Coconut Grove BID. inclement weather,” Mr. Gon- – we’ve got to have a brand.”
Earlier this year, when the Miami Police Department increased its rate for off-duty officers from $36 per hour at during the day and $37 at night by a $3 per hour surcharge to $40 per hour during the day and a $4.50 surcharge to $41.50 at night, BID directors decided the divert $75,000 from the police budget to the ambassador program ($35,000) and marketing ($40,000). Optimally, personnel on the street are licensed guards, “and we would get 30-page reports on things like bicycle miles covered so we could compare it to the previous month,” Mr. Gonzalez said then. “We could even have more visibility,” said board member David Polinsky, a principal of 250 Wynwood. The BID off-duty officers are in plain clothes. Bifurcating security spending to half off-duty officers and half ambassadors might be worth trying, Mr. Polinksy said then, as well as opening lines of communication with other entities that are using ambassador services.
Taxi lot taking off for a location that won’t congest airport By G abi M aspons
Miami-Dade County commissioners have approved moving the Miami International Airport taxi lot, with the Florida Department of Transportation paying $900,915 of the projected $3.2 million cost to build a new one. The new 500-car-capacity lot is to have a check-in booth for drivers, restrooms and a cafeteria facility, the legislation says. The aviation department is to request additional FDOT funds to cover up to 50% of the cost, funding the remainder through the Aviation Department’s Capital Improvement Program. Relocation of the taxi lot will “reduce traffic congestion, operational delays and vehicle accidents near the terminal,” the legislation Emilio Gonzalez says. With Lyft and Uber drivers frequenting the airport, taxi services at MIA have been under fire for congesting the airport entrance and using old software. Though the county legalized Uber and other app-based models last year, Uber still owes the county more than $4 million for operating illegally within the county, and is negotiating the number down with the mayor’s office, upsetting local taxi drivers. Mayor Carlos Giménez said last month he would bring back options to commissioners by the end of October to decide how to move forward with Uber’s bill. To make taxis more competitive, the county required drivers to offer app-based software to customers and have a credit card processing system, a light that denotes a vacant cab and a security camera. Even with these improvements, the airport says taxi cabs
are still causing unsafe delays. “[The Aviation Department] has received an increasing number of complaints reporting obstruction of the airport entrance, delays in scheduled Transportation Administration, Customs & Border Protection
and shuttle buses, congestion, and longer police response time during peak hours of airport operations,” the legislation says. The airport is to buy land to replace the lot and use the existing taxi lot for a Terminal Optimization Plan to extend
the life-cycle of airport facilities, County Aviation Director Emilio Gonzalez told Miami Today in August. Moving the taxi lot is paving the way for the full airport terminal revamp that is to cost over $1 billion. “The taxi lot is just beat-up,
old abandoned buildings, so they’ll inevitably have to come down,” Mr. Gonzalez said. The Aviation Department entered into the agreement with FDOT in May and has until 2021 to complete the project before the contract expires.