Miami Today: Week of Thursday, February 8, 2018

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00

COMMISSIONERS OVERRULE MAYOR, VOTE TO UPSIZE HIS BUDGET FOR A NEW COURTHOUSE, PG. 8 COMPENSATION COSTS LAG: Compensation costs for private industry workers rose less in Miami than the national average in December and far more slowly than the Miami increase in December 2016, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week. The cost of compensation for private workers here rose 2.2%, compared with 2.6% nationally and 3.4% in Miami in 2016, the bureau’s figures show. Nationally, the largest growth in a major metropolitan area was 6.9% in Seattle, home of Amazon, which is seeking a second corporate headquarters elsewhere in the nation. The lowest increases in the nation were 1.4% in both Atlanta and Minneapolis. In terms of wages and salaries alone – which make up the largest share of compensation costs – Miami saw a 2.3% year-over-year increase, below the 2.8% national average gain. The largest national increase in wages and salaries was San Jose, CA, up 3.6%, the bureau reported.

The Achiever

By Gabi Maspons

MIAMI CIRCLE REPLICA: Plans to construct an above-ground replica of the Miami Circle for public viewing are frozen in time. The Miami Circle, at the mouth of the Miami River in Brickell, is where the Tequesta Indians are believed to have built the circle that measures 38 feet and consists of 24 holes, surrounded by other smaller holes. The 2,000-year-old structure was discovered in 1998, was then re-buried for its preservation from the elements, and in 2016 state officials entertained the possibility of creating a 3-D life-size replica artifact. “This is not in any of the official plans. It’s not off the table, but we’re not actively pursuing this,” Mark Ards, the Department of the State’s marketing director, told Miami Today last week. HISTORIC MACY’S ON FLAGLER: Plans for what will happen to the downtown Macy’s at 22 E Flagler St. are still being drawn. On Jan. 4, Macy’s announced the store will close. The store was previously considered historic and a landmark in the downtown area. Elliot Zeitune, director of leasing at Aetna Realty, which is handling the building, said the owners of the property and the land are still discussing what they plan to do with the property but will make a decision in the next few weeks. BUSINESS MISSION TO CHINA, JAPAN: To promote global business, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez and Commissioner José “Pepe” Diaz are traveling to the People’s Republic of China and Japan on a mission to help to push the county as a global gateway. Mr. Gimenez and Mr. Diaz will go on the trip from March 16-28 and hope to have mission participants come as well, a county release said. Mission participants will have the opportunity to meet with high-level business officials, businesses and much more. Details: Manny Gonzalez, oedit@miamidade.gov or (305) 375-1879.

Carolina Herrera

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

President of the Builders Association of South Florida The profile is on Page 4

Free county Wi-Fi bonanza signs off; to try again By Sara Marino

A year-old Miami-Dade initiative that had promised free transit Wi-Fi, hundreds of Wi-Fi-enabled kiosks and security cameras throughout the county has fallen apart. The contract with CIVIQ Smartscapes LLC has terminated because the county couldn’t provide enough locations in which the company would install Wi-Fi kiosks. “They sent me on Jan. 10 a notice of termination letter, on the fact that... we were supposed to be at the first 150 locations, and we were unable to do that,” said Angel Petisco, director of Miami-Dade’s Information Technology Department. “Subsequent to that, I sent them a letter acknowledging their termination request and the contract has fallen through at this point.” The contract spelled out minimum and maximum numbers of devices to be produced, set timelines for when devices were to be released, and said that after a specific period if the parties couldn’t agree on locations, either could terminate the contract. Under this clause, CIVIQ Smartscapes was able to terminate without penalties.

Tax district will collect transit fund

Previously, the county had struck a deal for the company to install 150 to 300 touch-screen kiosks at no cost to the county. The company had also agreed to provide Wi-Fi on every Metrobus, Metrorail and Metromover, which totaled 1,099 devices, as well as install 51 kiosk-like devices that would keep riders up to date on arrivals and departures at certain stations. CIVIQ Smartscapes didn’t respond to multiple phone calls. The county is now considering requesting proposals to see if other companies are interested in a deal similar to the original plan with CIVIQ Smartscapes. “We’re evaluating that and seeing when we can put together a plan,” Mr. Petisco said. “At the moment, what we’re doing is we’re evaluating the original agreement and we’re putting together a shell of a request for a proposal,” looking for something as close to the original deal as possible. “We do want to make sure that we have the Wi-Fi connectivity, that we have the kiosks and that we have everything we intended to do with this first go-around,” he said. “We want to try and keep everything as whole as possible.”

The county hopes to have a proposal finished by the end of March, he said. “At that point we would start looking to put it on the county agenda,” he said. “If things go the way they should time-wise, I would say somewhere around June we should have something in front of the board [of county commissioners] requesting solicitation for companies to respond to this.” Mr. Petisco said the county still believes free transit Wi-Fi and the kiosks are important. “I think the original idea was it’s an excellent information source, not only for residents but also for visitors. It was also going to continue on the digital divide, so more folks would have access to the internet.” Along with the kiosks as a source of day-today information, Mr. Petisco said the county had planned to use the network to update the public during hurricanes and to help the public through the use of security cameras in the kiosks. “For example, if we had an Amber Alert or a Silver Alert, through those cameras we could help analytics find those people,” he said. “It still remains as a really good thing to do and we’ll give it another try.”

Miami-Dade commissioners Tuesday created a tax increment district to raise revenue for a new trust fund for the SMART plan to add transit. The district will align with the plan’s six corridors and include all properties within a half mile of each but the East-West, where it will cover all within a mile. In a memo, Mayor Carlos Giménez said he is concerned about including funds from the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area (UMSA) General Fund. If UMSA revenues are allocated to the trust fund, “residents of UMSA would be contributing more to the public transit – through both their countywide and municipal taxes – than municipal residents,” he said. Joe Martinez said he couldn’t support the tax if it doesn’t equally hit all transportation district residents. “We’re short money now and we will be again, and when the board hits UMSA for the money they’ll be taxed twice,” he said. Sponsor Esteban Bovo Jr. said he’d work to make sure “there is no trapdoor that anyone falls into.” Jose “Pepe” Diaz also said the legislation was unfair, as the EastWest Corridor extends a full mile where others extend only half. “It has to do with the 836,” Mr. Bovo said. Bruno Barreiro said he’d support the tax and municipal residents will ultimately pay the same when cities have to “pony up” to help with the plan. Dennis Moss expressed support and said the commission had to unite in its decision. “We always find ourselves sidetracked when we discuss these issues and we won’t get anything done until we learn to stick together,” he said after Mr. Bovo and Mr. Diaz heatedly discussed the corridor. After Barbara Jordan said she’d support the measure if it were amended to protect UMSA residents, Mr. Bovo agreed. “We could remove the UMSA portion and bring it back later,” he said. Commissioners supported Mr. Bovo’s item 10 to 1. Xavier Suarez dissented.

MIAMI PUSHED TO REOPEN HISTORIC FORT DALLAS PARK ...

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BOAT SHOW ALTERS WAYS GUESTS CAN GET TO EVENTS ...

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VIEWPOINT: STUDY SHOWS COUNTY OFFICIALS UNDERPAID...

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RESTAURANTS-MARINA PLAN TO REMAKE WATERFRONT ...

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CHARTER TASK FORCE WOULD END COUNTY TERM LIMITS ...

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GROVE HOME RE-SALES BRINGING SIX-FIGURE INCREASES ...

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COUNTY OFFICIALS DEBATE ROAD LANDSCAPING, LOOKS ...

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DINNER KEY MARINA IS STILL REELING AFTER HURRICANE ...

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