Miami Today: Week of Thursday, May 24, 2018

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

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DOUBLE-DECKER VIADUCT TO BE BUILT SOON OVER 836 COULD EASE TRAFFIC CONGESTION, pg. 3 CRIME REPORTS PLUNGE: Crimes are down markedly in Miami-Dade County for the first four months of the year, according to a report from the Miami-Dade Police Department. Overall, crimes were down in that period 11.47% from the same four months of 2017 in all areas of the county that county police deal with. The decrease was greatest among violent crimes, down 18.33% versus a drop of 10.23% in non-violent crimes in areas where the county has police jurisdiction – the report doesn’t cover areas that municipal police departments oversee. Homicides were down 10.23%, forcible sex offenses down 2.26%, robberies down 25.92%, aggravated assaults down 19.1%, burglaries down 18.85%, larcenies down 8.65% and motor vehicle theft down 12.1%, county police reported.

The Achiever

By John Charles Robbins

CLIMATE COMPACT PASSES: County commissioners unanimously moved to rejoin Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties in funding services related to the South Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.

Each county will contribute $50,000 annually for three years to retain the Institute for Sustainable Communities, which will run workshops and meetings with compact stakeholders, prepare a four-county greenhouse gas emissions inventory and assessment, develop an online interactive platform, update the Regional Climate Action Plan and participate in the planning and execution of nine annual Regional Climate Leadership Summits. The new agreement renews the 2016 agreement among the four counties and includes further funding from the Kresge Foundation, a Michigan-based philanthropic organization committing $500,000 to the program over three years. $5 MILLION PIZZA BOXES: Resident Michael Rosenberg presented a crucial issue to Miami-Dade commissioners last week: pizza boxes.

More specifically, he asked the commission to better educate the public on what is and isn’t recyclable – pizza boxes being among the many products deceptively non-recyclable. “This is one example of what kills recycling,” he said, hoisting a “Hot, Fresh & Tasty” pizza box in the air. “There’s hundreds of items we’re putting in our recycling [that don’t belong there], and next year,” he said, pointing a finger at Esteban Bovo Jr., the commission chair. “You’re going to get the bill.” Mr. Rosenberg, an activist whose past efforts include establishing a PTA in an Overtown elementary school and shutting down a Northside drug den, gave the pizza box to the commission before parting from the lectern. “I’m leaving this $5 million box here as a reminder.”

Patrick Goddard

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

President sees bright future elsewhere too for Brightline The profile is on Page 4

Giménez’s ‘other side’ on 836 softens city board

By Catherine Lackner

If some directors of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority have softened their opposition to a plan to extend State Road 836 to the west and south, chalk it up to a visit by County Mayor Carlos Giménez.

“I’m somewhat disappointed that you voted against it without listening to the other side,” the mayor told the downtown group at its meeting Friday.

Last month, directors voiced opposition to the planned Kendall Parkway, which would take the toll road from Northwest 12th Street near Dolphin Mall to Southwest 136th Street on the south and to Southwest 177th Avenue (Krome Avenue) on the west. The road would be built beyond the urban development boundary (UDB), which was a key issue for the downtown authority.

Authority board member Marta Viciedo, founding partner of the Urban Impact Lab, first brought the proposed extension up several months ago. Extending the expressway, she said, would add to suburban sprawl, dilute county resources and prioritize cars over public transit. The route the extended highway would take “isn’t even in the SMART plan,”

City fires up transit zone partnership

the county’s ambitious mass-transit scenario, she said.

At that time, Ken Russell, authority chair and Miami commissioner; and Neisen Kasdin, authority vice chair and office-managing shareholder of Akerman LLP, said the group should hear what the other side has to say.

If built, the Kendall Parkway would offer some traffic relief to 600,000 West Kendall residents without taking money away from the SMART plan or other mass transit programs, Mr. Giménez told the group Friday. In fact, it would be built with dedicated lanes for bus rapid transit or some mass transit mode yet to be determined, he said.

“Bus rapid transit is something we can do right away, and do it the right way.”

“We’re trying to divert traffic by getting some people to go west in the morning,” when many area residents are driving east to pick up the Florida Turnpike, the mayor said. “It would simplify mobility for everybody.

“We’re not trying to move the UDB,” Mr. Gimenez insisted. “You can’t use the road to justify building more. You can’t use it for concurrency, or to upzone.”

Neither should the extension of the toll road signal that the county is abandoning mass transit, he said. “This takes no money away from the

SMART plan. I want to see other transit options.”

“This is more of a philosophical thing for us,” said board member Alan Ojeda, president of the Rilea Development Group and chair of the downtown authority’s Transit, Connectivity and Mobility Committee. “We see that for every $2 spent, $1 is going to cars and $1 is going to the SMART plan.”

“The bottom line is, it’s not touching the SMART plan, so let’s move to support it,” said board member Richard Lydecker, senior partner of the Lydecker-Diaz law firm. Coming back to Miami from the Florida Keys, he said, he has observed the West Kendall area to be a “parking lot” in the mornings.

Board member Nitin Motwani, managing director Miami Worldcenter Group LLC, said his company recently “lost a team member” because of a 90-minute commute.

“Please don’t forget these folks,” Mr. Giménez implored the authority’s board. “In the five years it would take to build this, we could really help them.”

“It’s about a philosophical position for us,” said board member Alicia Cervera, managing partner of Cervera Real Estate. “If we don’t really commit to mass transit, this is really just a temporary solution.”

A major public-private partnership bringing a residential tower attached to a new fire station to the heart of Brickell is advancing.

Miami commissioners are to consider a deal today (5/24) to expand the Rapid Transit Zone around the Brickell Metrorail Station to tie into the new mixeduse development from Southside Place LLC and the city.

The project replaces the city fire station at 1105 SW Second Ave. with a larger, state-of-the-art fire station.

Southside has offered to consolidate its adjacent property at 191 SW 12th St. with the city’s for no compensation, unifying the sites under city ownership.

Southside would pay to build an $8 million fire station and develop an attached residential tower with parking and first floor retail.

The fire station is less than a block west of Miami-Dade’s Brickell Metrorail Station and separate Metromover station. The county controls the land under the elevated Metrorail and Metromover tracks, regulated as the Rapid Transit Zone and a series of subzones.

City commissioners will consider authorizing the city manager to sign a city-county agreement “for expansion and development of the Rapid Transit Zone with inclusion of the Brickell Metrorail Station, its surrounding property, a new city Fire Station No. 4, public-private parking garage, and mixed-use project.”

The city wants to expedite construction under a single regulator to avoid duplicative or inconsistent processes, the resolution says.

Pending county legislation says the city wants to transfer to the county all zoning and permitting authority for the project. County code provides for city participation in the design, review, zoning and development.

The partnership with Southside calls for it to spend $2.2 million for vehicles and equipment for the new fire station, which must be in use before the old one closes.

ANOTHER DELAY OK’D IN REVAMP OF FLAGLER STREET ...

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MIAMI SET TO SEEK $34 MILLION IRMA REIMBURSEMENT ...

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FORMULA ONE VOWS LEAST INTRUSIVE RACE POSSIBLE ...

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AIRPORT INVESTING BIG TO UPGRADE CARGO FACILITIES ...

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VIEWPOINT: REAL READERS STILL REQUIRE REAL NEWS ...

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BIG COMMERCIAL INSURANCE HIKES ‘DODGED A BULLET’ ...

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TWO MT. SINAI EXPANSIONS DUE TO OPEN IN AUTUMN ...

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BEACH LOOKS AT NOVEMBER CONVENTION HOTEL VOTE ...

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MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

The Insider “DEAD SERIOUS” ABOUT SAFETY: Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava convened the “Dead Serious” Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Committee on May 18 to focus on improving and increasing pedestrian and bicycle-related education, infrastructure and law enforcement. About 40 cycling advocates, police, engineers and teachers joined state, county and municipal representatives. “We are dead serious,” said Ms. Levine Cava, whose husband, Dr. Robert Cava, was the victim of a hit-and-run accident that broke his arm. “We must do more to make our infrastructures safer for pedestrians and bicyclists D. Levine Cava and to educate all the users of our roads on their rights and responsibilities.” She announced the group’s formation during the Ghost Bike memorial held April 8 at Black Point Marina in memory of cyclist Bharath Reddy Narahari, who was killed by a truck while training for the Dolphin Cancer Challenge race.

VOTING NO: When an audience member at the Miami-Dade County Commission meeting last week said she was inspired to speak up during the hearing to urge commissioners to “vote no” on an unspecific item, Commissioner Audrey Edmonson said she would comply. “We will definitely be voting no today,” she said. “You didn’t say what you wanted us to vote no on, but we will vote no,” she said, laughing. Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz went along with the joke, saying, “We should just vote no on everything today!”

Audrey Edmonson

ROCK OF MEDICAL PROGRAM: John A. Rock, the founding dean of Florida International University’s college of medicine and FIU’s senior vice president for health affairs, who is stepping down from the deanship, will become the first recipient of the John and Mary Lou Dasburg Chair of Medicine at the university. The Dasburgs this month announced a $1.5 million gift to create the endowed chair. “Dr. Rock exemplifies the qualities of a great and caring physician,” Mr. Dasburg said.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

Another delay for Flagler revamp

By Catherine Lackner

Directors of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority have once again voted to delay the resumption of renovations on Flagler Street, this time for 30 days. But some signaled that they are getting weary of the postponements.

“How much longer are we going to drag this out?” asked board member Alicia Cervera, managing partner of Cervera Real Estate. “I’ve had it. These things are devastating to the businesses there.”

“Multi-generational businesses are leaving,” said Gary Ressler, authority board member and principal of the Tilia family of companies.

In February, the group agreed to a 90-day delay to consider suggestions

by Moishe Mana, an investor who has bought a portfolio of Flagler Street properties.

Mr. Mana has suggested raising the roadbed slightly and eliminating curbs – as has been done in Midtown Miami and Miracle Mile in Coral Gables – to create a “festival street” that would be more open. “It’s a big-

sky, tropical vision,” Dylan Finger, Mana Wynwood managing director, said then. “We looked at a broad range of designs.”

The change would take about 36 months to complete with the current contractor, and 42 months if a new request for proposals has to be issued, he said then. It would only affect the curbs and roadway; the sidewalks would remain the same, he added.

The plan would cost $7.25 million more than the $12 million already budgeted, Neisen Kasdin, authority vice chair and office-managing partner of Akerman LLP, said last week.

He co-chairs the Flagler Street Task Force along with BrianAlonso, a real estate investor and a former principal of La Epoca Department Store.

The money could come either from bond funds or from a second assessment of Flagler Street property owners, he added. (The first assessment came at the beginning of the project.) With a 30-day delay, the task force will have time to research funding options, Mr. Kasdin said.

“Thirty days eats at me,” said

Bernard Zyscovich, a prominent architect who has had offices downtown since 1986. But he urged the downtown group to support the Mana plan.

“We should do what we can to get the proper solution and see how we can pull together the money to do it properly.”

“Clearly, the revision is the better plan,” Mr. Ressler said, “but I’m not sure the property owners will be dragged along.”

The delays come when the project is between contractors. The city fired the first, F.H. Paschen; Lanzo Construction has been chosen to continue the work.

The renovation has been talked about since 2011; construction began in early 2016, but to date, only one block has been completed.

Authority members faulted Miami’s Capital Improvement Program for not supervising the contractor.

There have been multiple problems at the jobsite, including a maze of underground utilities that did not conform to site maps and other unforeseen obstacles.

HOTEL ASSOCIATION NEW LEADERSHIP: The John Rock Greater Miami & The Beaches Hotel Association announced last week a new chairman of the board and new board members for the 2018-2019 year. Alex Tonarelli, managing director of Loews Miami Beach Hotel, has been appointed chairman. The association also appointed nine new members to its current 43-person executive board and board of directors. The association serves as an industry resource and raises awareness to ensure Miami as a top destination for visitors from around the globe.

ST. THOMAS CLOSE TO NEW PRESIDENT: After St. Thomas University president of 25 years Msgr. Franklyn Casale announced in January that he would retire from heading the private Catholic school, a presidential search committee has been formed and is in final stages of selecting a successor. A confidential shortlist has been formed, and while there is no official timeline on when an announcement will be made, school officials say it is expected to be in the next few weeks. The 75-year-old Msgr.

Casale will continue to play a role in the university as the director of an honors college, aptly named after him. Franklyn Casale Photo by Alfredo Añez BUILDING THE BEACH: Ana Salgueiro was unanimously confirmed as building director of Miami Beach at the May 16 city commission meeting. A sign at the Bird Road entrance to Tropical Park already has lighting. Now it’s formally funded at night.

She had been interim director since last August. She was deputy director of the department starting in April 2017 until the then-director was fired in late 2017 for allegedly accepting gifts for favors; he is now awaiting trial.

Ms. Salgueiro brings more than 30 years of engineering and construction experience to the position. She earlier worked for Miami-Dade County in

By Jesse Scheckner affect his own district, thus cir- Information regarding daily atvarious positions starting in 2006.

Signs of bright idea for some parks

FOLLOWING CLAUDE PEPPER: United HomeCare honored community leaders last week at Jungle Island with its 24th annual Claude Pepper Awards for exemplifying the spirit of the late 60-year public servant. Elizabeth Dudek, director of health care affairs for Greenberg Traurig, received the Lifetime Achievement award. Penny Shaffer, South Florida market president for Florida Blue, received the corporate service award for health care. Eduardo Cutillas of Bacardi U.S.A. received the corporate service award. President Mark Rosenberg of Florida InternaPenny Shaffer tional University was honored for education advocacy.

Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo Jr. received the public service award. Cecil, Frank, Joseph and Ana Milton of the José Milton Foundation received the philanthropic service award. Juan and Maria Del Busto of the Del Busto Family Foundation received the Thelma Gibson Community Service award. And Miami City Commissioner Keon Hardemon was honored as a community builder.

DESIGNING FOR FAME: The Wynwood Business Improvement District and the Street Plans Collaborative are seeking design proposals from artists to transform a four-block stretch of Northwest Third Avenue in Wynwood into a street mural, with the chosen artist’s medium applied directly to the roadway and crosswalks. There’s no cash prize, so the organizers are hoping artists will compete just for exposure in the most art-centric of all neighborhoods.

Once the winning design is selected, the collaborative will convert the design into a stencil and will work with members of the community to transform the street. Submissions are due May 31. Details: wynwoodmiami.com.

IN THE RUNNING: Miami Dade College is one of three Florida schools vying for the top national achievement award for community colleges. Broward College and Indian River State College are also among the 10 schools competing for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The Aspen Institute oversees the prize and a $1 million award pool. The winner will be announced next spring after an Aspen Institute in-depth review of each school that looks at issues such as graduation rates, job placement and “equitable outcomes” for all students. The competition is open to the more than 1,000 US community colleges. The prize is awarded every two years.

Parks in Miami-Dade County’s 10th district with large daily attendances will have their signs lighted at night, as county commissioners last week narrowed a resolution to illuminate signage in all popular parks to just the one district.

The sign-lighting initiative, sponsored by District 10 Commissioner Javier Souto, was originally intended to affect the main signage of all county parks with average daily attendances of 500 or more people, with funds coming from this year’s budget.

But as Commissioner Sally Heyman was quick to suggest – and as Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Space Assistant Director Jorge Mora soon after confirmed – no funding is available for the project in the county’s parks budget.

“I don’t want to see staff be reduced if it’s going to stay in the parks budget to make it happen,” Ms. Heyman said during the county commission meeting last week.

Mr. Souto asked that the resolution be amended to solely

cumventing the county’s budget tendance was unavailable.

“I thought we’d bring some new restrictions.

“We’re talking maybe five or 10 ideas,” Mr. Souto said, joking, signs, that maybe we need to put “We’re going to start a revolution.” some bulbs there, and that’s it,” he said. “So that you understand, this applies only maybe to five or six parks, and it comes [from] A Singular Voice in an Evolving City the funding of the district. It’s a local thing.”

Phone: (305) 358-2663 Ms. Heyman said Mr. Souto unStaff Writers: derestimated the scope of such a Gabi Maspons project, adding that she’d spoken gmaspons@miamitodaynews.com with Parks Director Maria Nardi about possible hikes in parking John Charles Robbins fees, where applicable, because of jrobbins@miamitodaynews.com the need to generate more funds Katya Maruri for the department. kmaruri@miamitodaynews.com “It’s not just ‘put a couple of bulbs out,’ in all sincerity,” she Jesse Scheckner said, adding that installing lights jscheckner@miamitodaynews.com would require underground wirPeople Column ing, among other investments. people@miamitodaynews.com “I appreciate the change [to restricting the signage lighting to Michael Lewis District 10], and if it stays within mlewis@miamitodaynews.com your own district budget, I don’t have an issue,” she said.

According to county records, Like us: Miami Today District 10 has 30 parks, the two largest of which are Tropical Park, Follow us: at 283 acres, and Kendall Indian @MiamiTodayNews Hammocks Park, at 128 acres.

TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

MIAMI TODAY

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Formula One pledges to make race ‘least intrusive possible’

By Catherine Lackner

Miami’s Downtown Development Authority was the latest stop last week on a pitching tour by Formula One representatives. The company is interested in bringing the race to Miami, and representatives have met with city and county officials, among others.

“It’s an extraordinary property,” said Sean R.H. Bratches, Formula One managing director of commercial operations, in that has more than 500 million fans ‘This has become a big itworldwide.

“It’s one of only three thing in Austin. I was in really global sports events,” the other two being the World Cup Bahrain after the race the Olympic Games, which there, and it was the talk and aren’t held every year. of the Gulf. This gets us “It’s a very unique event at its great views from the right core and there is no better event city than Miami,” he continued, audience.’ adding that the only other US city Nitin Motwani to host the race is Austin, TX, where it generated $1.8 billion in economic impact in 2017.

Formula One would ask only for the city and county to pick up permitting fees and foot the bill for police, fire, security and sanitation, Mr. Bratches said, and would make the race “the least intrusive possible” for downtown businesses and residents.

No permanent changes would be made to the race course, most of which lies along Biscayne Boulevard and through the Port of Miami. The race was also to include Parcel B behind the American Airlines Arena, but Audrey Edmonson, county commissioner whose district includes the property, nixed that idea.

Though the race and qualifying events would only last from Friday through Sunday (a weekend in the latter part of October 2019 is being contemplated, Mr. Bratches said), set-up and break-down would take about three weeks in total.

The worldwide exposure Miami would receive would offset any

inconvenience, he added.

“This has become a big thing in Austin,” said authority board member Nitin Motwani, managing director of Miami Worldcenter Group. “I was Bahrain after the race there, and it was the talk of the Gulf. This gets us great views from the right audience.”

“There are a lot of enticements,” said Neisen Kasdin, authority vice chair and office-managing partner of Akerman LLP. “There are also a lot of issues that impact downtown. We’ve got to drill down on this and develop a series of recommendations.”

He suggested several of the authority’s committees meet to formulate a strategy for the race and possibly for future events.

“They might provide recommendations for any number of events downtown.” And, while the city encourages the right kinds of events, “There can’t be a free-for-all.”

‘There are a lot of enticements. There are also a lot of issues that impact downtown. We’ve got to drill down on this and develop a series of recommendations.’

Neisen Kasdin

Double-decker Viaduct due over 836 could ease traffic woes

By Jesse Scheckner

A new project on the Dolphin Expressway – State Road 836 – could improve access and alleviate congestion by creating a doubledecker elevated bridge over the existing highway, tentatively named the Viaduct, along one of Miami’s most crowded thoroughfares.

The project, funded by $186 million in toll revenue from the Miami Expressway Authority (MDX), is intended to modernize the 836 corridor between Northwest 17thAvenue and the Midtown Interchange.

It will feature two lanes in each direction positioned over the median gap between eastbound and westbound lanes on the 836. Ramps to and from 836 and I-95 will allow drivers to enter and exit from below, “[reducing] the existing weaving movements resulting in enhanced safety and better traffic operations on SR-836,” a Florida Department of Transportation project document states.

Designs show the Viaduct beginning just east of the Northwest 17th Avenue toll area, bypassing the I-95 interchange and connecting to I-395.

“You’re going to have the option to stay on the existing bridge that’s there today or get on this new viaduct,” MDX Director of Engineering Juan Toledo said Tuesday. “If you want to go down toward the beach or take I-95 north or south, basically what it’s going to do is separate those movements so it kind of distributes

The Viaduct project, funded by $186 million in toll revenue from the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, will create a double-decker highway.

traffic flow more efficiently and eliminates those bottlenecks you have there with people trying to go to I-95 north at the last minute or I-95 south. You’re eliminating a lot of those operational deficiencies by separating those traffic movements.”

The design and construction is part of an $802 million privatepublic partnership between the Florida Department of Transportation and MDX that encompasses three components: the Viaduct, I-95 pavement reconstruction, and I-395 improvements including a signature bridge spanning 1,025 feet over Northeast Second Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard that will “[redefine] the Miami skyline with its six sweeping arches,” according to a technical proposal from Archer

Western-de Moya Joint Venture, the construction group on the project.

In addition to reducing impact to the Miami-Dade Courthouse parking area, the proposal states that construction plans cut down on right-of-way acquisition by building over an existing property, 836, thus mitigating its effects on the nearby Grove Park historic neighborhood.

“The original concept was to widen the bridge to four lanes in each section,” Mr. Toledo said.

“What [the Viaduct] does is keep the envelope the way it is, so we can minimize the areas we would have been impacting.”

The construction also affords MDX a long-term solution to rebuilding the existing 836 expressway, whose major structures were

erected in 1968 and are nearing their design service life, according to the proposal.

The Archer Western-de Moya team is comprised of Archer Western Contractors, an Atlanta-based construction company that is part of The Walsh Group, the 11th largest contractor in the nation, according to

its website; and The de Moya Group, a Miami-based highway and bridge construction company specializing complex infrastructure projects in Florida.

Engineering companies involved include HDR Inc., RS&H Inc., Metric Engineering Inc. and Corven Engineering Inc.

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MIAMI TODAY

VIEWPOINT

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

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

Real readers still need real news, not flash, fluff and blood Miami Today this week concludes 35 eventful years of providing vital news that you seldom, if ever, find elsewhere.

Back in 1983 we competed with three countywide newspapers with a combined daily circulation of well over 600,000, so finding those unique but impactful reports that made a real difference to thoughtful, well-placed readers was difficult.

Today, with the sole remaining daily newspaper’s print circulation about a tenth of that 600,000 of 35 years ago, the difficulty isn’t finding the important exclusives but prioritizing them to fit into limited space. Our challenge becomes increasing our revenue and our scope in order to grow the news we can bring you.

When we started Miami Today, the healthy news industry still paid heed to the excellent motto of the New York Times, “All The News That’s Fit To Print.” But in most places as revenues decline and staffs are slashed that aim seemingly has been replaced by “Only The News That’s

Going To Shock You.” And let me be clear, I don’t mean only news that’s coming out of Washington.

Reporters at the remaining daily newspaper whisper that they aren’t asked to write significant news. The gauge now is whether stories will attain a large digital following, significance be damned. The yardstick for all local media is moving perilously close to the apocryphal television motto, “If It Bleeds, It Leads.”

The modern news industry counts clicks, not impact. Years ago it was only supermarket tabloids creating and inflating, pulling together a few disparate facts that involved the rich and famous and spinning them into creations about The Donald and other tabloid stars. Now the mainstream media are doing the same and peddling it as the news.

Well, if that’s modern journalism then Miami Today is so old-fashioned that we’re cutting edge, continuing to focus on that vital point where government, business and civic affairs intersect and on people who are not flash and dash but who are building one of the world’s great communities. We look for significant articles that will have an impact on Miami’s future.

A year from today, you should be able to look back at this issue of Miami Today and see that our reports set the stage for what was coming down the road.

We’re far more likely to catch people

doing the right things for the right reasons than doing wrong – after all, isn’t that what Miami (and every community) is really all about? Do the people depicted in other media really resemble your community’s leaders in business, government and civic affairs, or is your idea of reality in Miami far closer to people and organizations you find featured in Miami Today?

We make no bones about it: we like this community and want it to be the best it can possibly be. And we’re trying to spotlight those who are helping do that. Yes, we know there are cranks and crooks, but other media will tell you all about them in excruciating detail. Our news targets are the other 99% of Miamians.

We don’t find any lack of need for you to know what local government is doing, yet at meeting after meeting only Miami Today will be reporting anything that isn’t particularly controversial but is important to some of our readers.

In fact, in this day and age our reports on transportation and housing gaps, government spending and civic striving and so on are more necessary than ever.

We know that no single Miami Today reader is interested in everything we write and that no single story is of interest to every one of our readers. But we are confident that everything that appears in our news columns is of use to some readers, and that we are the only medium

Miami U.S.A.: an Inter-American community Being born in Puerto Rico with a Cuban grandfather and three Puerto Rican grandparents, married to a Venezuelan, whose six children were respectively married to two Nicaraguans, a Peruvian, and a Colombian, Maurice Ferré and with four grandchildren married to Cuban Americans and a Spaniard, makes me as InterAmerican as you can get.

The Ferrés have been wandering the Caribbean for many generations, the latest branch going from Puerto Rico to Miami.

Having lived in Miami for 65 years, 12 as mayor, has given me a holistic perspective of the community.

My service as mayor resulted in three distinct accomplishments .

One was changing a medium-sized municipal area, dependent on residential single-family ad valorem tax income, to financing most of the yearly budget from commercial taxes. The blossoming of downtown Miami and Brickell Avenue was a phenomenon that was going to happen, but my public service participation advanced the time schedule.

The second mark of my tenure as mayor was the Latinization of Miami as a city but, as important, the Americanization of the Hispanics who came to reside in Miami.

I was the first mayor in the history of the US Department of Justice that, on the record, blew the whistle on the disparity of the race and ethnic distribution in the police department. When I became mayor of Miami in 1973, the overwhelming number of sworn police officers in the city were white Anglo-Saxon, mostly Southerners. Today, not only the police

The Writer

Maurice A. Ferré, former state legislator, Miami and Miami-Dade commissioner, and mayor of Miami was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the InterAmerican Institute For Democracy on May 11. department but the fire department and all of the employees of Miami reflect the make-up of the community they serve.

This month, the national newspapers covered the charging of assault by a Miami police officer who may have kicked a suspect already on the ground and handcuffed. This is a similar incident to what led me to go to the 1974 Justice Department and blow the whistle on our own police department. That resulted in the 1981 consent decree, still active, that is the longest-running consent decree in our national history. The democratization in personnel configurations is still an ongoing serious problem in America.

Lastly, my contribution locally was toward the recognition of a North-South view of the world. For centuries the world has looked only at international East-West problems. In the last hundred years, we have increasingly recognized global problems as also being North-South issues, although East-West relations still dominate.

When I first came to Miami in 1939, Miami was a small southern town. When I visited my cousins in the ’40s, Miami was transforming into a post-World War II outpost. By the time I finished my studies at the University of Miami, Fidel Castro was on the scene and Miami was again morphing.

The Cubanization of Miami has had indelible marks on what Miami has become.

This is apparent from the moment over

half of Miamians awaken to drink their cafecito Cubano, to watching the nightly news on one of the five Spanish-language television stations. It is now possible to go from birth to death speaking Spanish in Miami, U.S.A. I emphasize the U.S.A. because, contrary to English Only and other xenophobic movements that culminated in the election of Donald J. Trump, immigrants integrate into the American Way with amazing rapidity. Perhaps not in one generation but certainly by the second generation, most immigrants are fully integrated into society.

The phenomenon of Greater Miami becoming Latinized not only has had consequences in commerce, culture, education and medicine, but also in electoral results.

Since my apprenticeship as a politician 50 years ago, the Latin presence in South Florida is visible in every election cycle.

The culmination of my efforts to wake up the Greater Miami community to the importance of the North-South view was visible when Juan Carlos, King of Spain, paid an official visit to Miami and remarked, “I am amazed that Miami has become the virtual capital of Latin America, without having any of its institutions.” That was a recognition that Miami had arrived.

But just because we have Hispanic American mayors and people of color in our government does not mean that we have achieved a Kumbaya society. I ask you to join me and others in Miami’s faith-based, civic and governmental organizations to help our city, and our nation as a whole, realize that dream.

I humbly accept your recognition on behalf of Mercedes and myself, and all of the Ferré family – and indeed all of us who live in the United States of America and who dream the American Dream in Spanish.

that is going to tell them about it.

To us, that’s real news.

So, What about claims of fake news?

We think the fake news is not the news of government, civic affairs and business but the celebrity-oriented fluff and media-created controversies and, yes, the mountain of random crime coverage that is important to the victims but totally meaningless to the rest of a global metropolis.

That doesn’t mean it’s not true – it’s just not real news.

As one of Miami’s few locally owned and operated news media, Miami Today is a part of the fabric of its home town.

Maybe that’s why it’s one of few media that aren’t cutting back as far as possible.

We expect to be here – and be here in print as well as our digital edition and our miamitodaynews.com web site, because we don’t join the others in thinking print is dying. Serious persons read, and we will keep giving them their choice of formats.

Those who aren’t serious about information will accept tweets as “All The News That’s Fit To Print,” and they’ll get exactly what they’re paying for it – nothing.

In a news industry otherwise in turmoil, we appreciate your continued support in reading, subscribing, advertising – and in insuring that impartial, serious and informed reporting can continue to make a positive difference in Miami.

Stay with us. Stay informed.

L etters to the E ditor

Charge for Metromover, create a pass for tourists

Yes, start to charge for the Metromover.

I’m sure you can get the money to pay and run the equipment. I use it every day. A lot of tourists also use it to visit different points of the city.

What I think you need to create is some kind of pass for international visitors. They will need to present their passport to buy the pass for all the systems – minimum three days, seven days up to 10-day pass.

Christine Garciaconcheso

Test rules deter teachers

With all the time demanded by the Legislature for testing students and the convoluted teacher evaluation process, it is a wonder anyone would want to teach in Florida.

Jack W. Simonson

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

Heard around town Without

Miami Today, how

The surgical tower and emergency department are due in November.

Autumn openings due for two Mt. Sinai expansions

By Katherine Lewin

A new surgical tower and emergency department at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach are on track to be completed by the end of November.

Construction on a free-standing emergency department in Hialeah, also owned by Mount Sinai, is expected to be completed by the end of October, a delay by several months from the original expected opening period of this summer.

Except for a 750-space garage at the Miami Beach location, completed in 2016, none of the planned upgrades in an expansion project that began in late 2016 on a $275 million plan – up from the $205 million initially proposed in 2014 – is yet in use.

According to Chief Executive Officer Steven Sonenreich, both the Miami Beach and Hialeah projects will be able to withstand any threats during the hurricane season and have not exceeded budget expectations.

“The planning of these facilities began during the hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. Recognizing the threat of those storms was the first impetus for construction of both of the facilities,” Mr. Sonenreich said. “We’re very

proud of what’s been accomplished over a number of years for a safe environment for our patients, visitors and employees.”

The emergency department in Hialeah, located at 6050 W 20th Ave. on a four-acre lot, will have 63,000 square feet. It will be able to serve about 30,000 annual patient visits and is projected to hire 100 employees and 15 physicians.

The addition to the Miami Beach campus includes 12 operating rooms and 155 private rooms in the surgical tower. The updated emergency department will have 50 more treatment rooms to serve patients.

This will be a welcome expansion since the current emergency department, opened in 1972, was built to accommodate 25,000 visits per year but has actually been handling more than 50,000 visits annually. The number of surgeries performed at the facility will double from 13,000 per year to about 26,000.

Mount Sinai Medical Center wants to expand further on its existing locations and also construct new facilities in the coming years to accommodate an increase in patient loads, Mr. Sonenreich said. No concrete plans for those expansions are being released yet.

The Hialeah free-standing emergency department is due in October.

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

TODAY’S NEWS

Miami set to seek $34 million Hurricane Irma repayment

By John Charles Robbins

Most people agree that Hurricane Irma walloped the City of Miami last September, but it could have been so much worse.

City officials and elected leaders have used words like “wakeup call” to characterize Hurricane Irma, as they praised city workers and volunteers for helping with emergency needs in the hours and days without electric power, and in the days and weeks that followed to rid streets of storm debris.

The city government had emergency funds to ease the immediate pain, while noting from the start how important it would be to itemize the damages in order to earn eligibility of all-important reimbursement dollars from the federal government.

In the early days after the storm, Christopher Rose, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the city would be seeking FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) reimbursement according to the Federal Stafford Act for most storm-related costs.

About eight months or so since Irma’s wrath and city officials have filled in all of the necessary forms, with “i”s dotted and “t”s crossed, the reams of bureaucratic paperwork have been readied for submission in order to secure vital reimbursement funds.

City commissioners are to consider a vote on a request for reimbursements today (5/24).

The commission is asked, by a four-fifths vote, to approve the necessary submissions by the city manager, finance director, budget director, departments and

Photo by John Charles Robbins

Debris from Hurricane Irma remained piled in Miami streets long after the storm went through the area.

officials of requests for Hurricane Irma cost reimbursements from US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The resolution would establish a special revenue project entitled “Hurricane Irma Federally Funded Sub Awards and Grants Fiscal Year 2017-2018,” appropriating funds for the reimbursements of city funds expended in connection with the hurricane, currently estimated at $34,193,228.

Reimbursements from insurance proceeds based on claimed locations are estimated to total $9,429,373.

As Hurricane Irma approached

the state, the governor declared a state of emergency on Sept. 4, and on Sept. 8 the city’s mayor declared a state of emergency.

The resolution says that before, during and after Irma, the city manager, finance director, budget director, procurement director and others undertook steps necessary under emergency circumstances to submit Hurricane Irma costs and expenses for reimbursement to FEMA and for insurance proceed awards.

The US Department of Homeland Security through FEMA is authorized to provide funds to local governments directly through grants, and to states for subsequent distribution to local governments through sub-

awards, to address the eligible reimbursable costs and expenses of natural disasters in emergencies, and to mitigate against future natural disasters.

The federal government is expected to reimburse up to 90% of debris removal costs, while other costs are reimbursed at 75%.

A few weeks ago, commissioners confirmed the city manager’s emergency finding that Irma caused a valid public emergency to city facilities, making it advantageous for the city to waive competitive sealed procurement procedures and authorizing the manager to use architectural, engineering and landscape consultants currently under contract in order to complete repairs

“due to exigency or emergency circumstances.”

An exhibit listed these cityowned properties damaged by Irma: 1. Alice Wainwright Park, 2845 Brickell Ave. 2. Armbrister Park, 4000 Grand Ave. 3. Bayfront Park and Museum Park, 301 N Biscayne Blvd.

4. Charles Hadley Park, 1350 NW 50th St. 5. City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive 6. Curtis Park and Boat Ramp, 1901 NW 24th Ave. 7. David T. Kennedy Park, 2400 S Bayshore Drive 8. Douglas Park, 2755 SW 37th Ave. 9. Fire Training College, 3425 Jefferson St. 10. Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, 4020 Virginia Beach Road 11. Jose Marti Park, 351 SW Fourth Ave. 12. Little Haiti Cultural Center, 212 NE 59th Terr.

13. Miami Rowing Center, 3601 Rickenbacker Causeway 14. Moore Park and Tennis Center, 765 NW 36th St. 15. Morningside Park, 750 NE 55th Terr.

16. Museum Park, 1075 Biscayne Blvd.

17. Peacock Park, 2820 McFarlane Road 18. Regatta Park, 2699 SW 27th Ave. 19. Shenandoah Park, 1800 SW 21st Ave. 20. Spoil Island E (Clarington Island), Biscayne Bay 21. Virginia Key Beach, 1820 Arthur Lamb Road Drive.

Irma-ravaged beaches to get $70-million-plus restoration

By Jesse Scheckner

Miami-Dade County and Miami Beach will each spend $9 million over six years to replenish and restore the city’s sandy coastline, together paying about 25% of the cost they share with the state and federal government. But completing such projects is becoming more difficult and costly.

Office of Management and Budget Director Jennifer Moon told county commissioners last week she’d bring an item forward in June, sponsored by Commissioner Sally Heyman, to amend rules governing the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency to release funds to repair the Miami Beach Convention Center and renourish eroded beach areas.

Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 hurricane that struck Miami in September 2017, damaged the center and exacerbated thinning areas of beach from 23rd to 26th streets near 1 Hotel South Beach on Collins Avenue.

Ms. Moon said the city and county will spend $9 million each through 2024 to pay their share of the project.

The rest of the funds, about 75% of the total, come from the state and federal governments through the US Army Corps of Engineers, said Lee Hefty, assistant director of the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, who added that the county has a 50-

Hurricane Irma tore up the shoreline, doing its heaviest damage to sand just south of this famous strip.

year agreement with the corps that is less than a decade from completion.

But that agreement, Mr. Hefty said, stipulates that all sand used must be domestically derived. In recent years, the cost of fulfilling that condition has become close to prohibitive.

“Fortunately for us, for many decades we were able to dredge the sand offshore of Dade County,” he said. “However, most of the easily found sources for sand have been

depleted from those areas.”

In 2007, former District 5 Commissioner Bruno Barreiro unsuccessfully lobbied Washington for permission to use foreign sand for beach renourishment. Sand has since been brought from the Bahamas and hauled from Central Florida and St. Lucie County – a method Mr. Hefty said is inefficient, inconsistent and a source of contention among residents of those areas.

“Some of the samples we’ve

seen don’t exactly match the quality of the sand we have down here, plus those communities up there perceive that sand as belonging to them,” he said.

Commissioner Dennis Moss asked Mr. Hefty whether local trucking companies were given priority for the hauling. Mr. Hefty said it would depend on what open contracts the county currently has.

Miami-Dade manages about 13 miles of public beaches from Government Cut to just south of

Golden Beach in the northeast corner of the county.

In 1966, Congress authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to develop the Dade County Beach Erosion Control and Hurricane Protection Project after county officials requested federal assistance with shore erosion.

According to the county’s 2006 Beach Erosion Control Master Plan – the most recent plan available from the county, Regulator and Economic Resources Public Records Custodian Tere Florin said – about 18 million cubic yards of sand had been excavated and transplanted from state-sourced and offshore sites since the project began in 1975.

Depleted sources led the county to seek sand from the Bahamas, but federal limitations rerouted much of the efforts to local areas.

In 2015, Deputy Mayor Jack Osterholt estimated about $30 million would need to be spent locally for beach renourishment through 2025.

Between August 2016 and March 2017, some 233,000 cubic yards of sand was laid along more than 3,000 feet of critically eroded shoreline in Miami Beach – an $11.9 million contract secured

by Eastman Aggregate Enterprise LLC of Lake Worth.

In August 2017, the company obtained an $8.6 million contract to haul sand to two Sunny Isles locations.

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Banking & Finance Commercial insurance hikes of 5% to 10% ‘dodged bullet’

By Marcus Lim

South Florida’s commercial insurance rates have “dodged a bullet” after weathering a series of natural disasters. It was expected for rates to spike from 10% to 25% in 2018, but after the first quarter, the increases weren’t what was assumed during a busy storm season. Instead, Miami is seeing 5% to 10% increases.

Over the past five years there have been “bargain prices” where South Florida has seen reduction in rates. The rise in rates came at a time when three hurricanes hit the nation last year. But experts in the industry said it could have been a lot worse.

“We were impacted by Hurricane Irma and with the huge hurricane warning and what the storm looked like before it made landfall, everyone who now looks back has a big sigh of relief,” said Hugo Alvarez, a shareholder with Becker & Poliakoff. “Insurance companies were very ready and we dodged a bullet with Irma in that we didn’t see anything like we saw after Hurricane Andrew, where rates went as high as 30% and insurance companies went out of business.”

Mr. Alvarez credits the lesser increase in rates to better preparation. Since Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, the State of Florida has done a lot of things to stabilize the market such as implementing building codes to be hurricaneresistant. Mr. Alvarez also credited Miami as being a destination choice for most people and having a strong real estate market. Those factors, he said, ensured that rates didn’t burgeon as high as they

might have.

“We are in a better place than we were. We had clients expecting an entirely different landscape related to insurance. They were surprised the market wasn’t dramatically altered,” he said. “One of the good things about Irma is that the stricter building codes worked and there were certain discounts built into insurance rates. Insurance companies are rewarding individuals that have taken it upon themselves to essentially hurricane-proof their properties.”

Doug Jones, managing partner of JAG Insurance Group, said the 5% to 10% increase wasn’t expected, and while it was better than what experts estimated, it was still considered a spike.

“When clients are used to having a decrease in their pricing every single year, getting a 5% to 10% is a big spike,” Mr. Jones said. “The continuous price drops will not continue and we tell our clients they should be ready when the market changes.”

Steven Wolf, partner with Cherry Bekaert, said that insurance companies have recognized that premiums are borderline sufficient. To make up for the payouts over the next 12 months, he said, they have to increase premiums to more than adequately cover future or existing claims. That is why rates have inched up, but it shows that insurers were prepared.

“A 5% to 10% to me suggests that the insurance company believes their existing reserve

requirements are pretty good,” Mr. Wolf said. “If they felt that they were grossly underfunded, the premium would be in double digits and beyond.”

Mr. Jones noted some changes in the industry. Insurance carriers now require more information and do a majority of their underwriting at the time of the claim.

“There is much more underwriting going on at the time of purchase so they aren’t so quick to throw out quotes for commercial properties. They require agents like myself to give detailed characteristics about the building and its history,” Mr. Jones said. “It’s not that pricing has increased, but the ability to get a policy is not as easy as it was in the past.”

Karen Kess of the Florida’s Of-

fice of Insurance Regulation said that hurricane rates are based on models by the Florida Insurance Commission on hurricane loss projection methodology. Actual losses would not be used in ratemaking by the insurers. While South Florida was more susceptible to hurricanes, she said, it is not an indication that commercial insurance rates would rise due to any particular natural disaster.

“South Florida generally has a higher catastrophe risk than most other areas of the state, so the property premiums would reflect this higher risk,” she said.

Mr. Wolf, like others, expected 2018 to be in the 15% to 20% increase range for rates. He assists claimants and knows that an enormous number of claims from last fall have not yet been resolved.

The fact that the increase was lower than anticipated is good for the business community, he said. If the rates were higher than what companies anticipated, they would have to pass the cost to consumers, driving inflation.

“My estimation of what premiums might or should be was at the double digits because I don’t believe the insurance companies have necessarily anticipated that they are on notice of losses continuing beyond a few weeks after the storm,” Mr. Wolf said.

“I am pleased for the business community that it is only a 5% to 10% [rate increase] and insurance companies have not raised them. It’s good for business that business owners as well as large companies that are publicly held, they haven’t risen [beyond costs] business can bear so it’s not so detrimental.”

Small Business Administration sees South Florida lending levels in flux

By Katherine Lewin

South Florida is on its way to beating 2017 fiscal year’s small business lending volume, according to data provided by the South Florida District of the US Small Business Administration. This district includes 24 counties south of Orlando.

So far for this fiscal year, the district has backed 1,753 loans totaling $777.4 million.

In fiscal 2017, the Small Business Administration backed over 2,000 loans totaling $1.4 billion.

For the third year in a row in 2017, the Small Business Administration backed over $1 billion.

Compared to this time last year, there has been a 5% increase in loans backed by the Small Business Administration. However, loan volume isn’t as high as it was in May 2017.

Jonel Hein, acting district director for the South Florida District, said two factors could be contributing to a smaller loan volume this year.

“Small businesses are using creative ways to obtain financing, such as personal savings, partnerships, crowd funding or the use of lenders not affiliated with the SBA,” Mrs. Hein said. “The other factor that could be contributing to our lending volume is timing. Our numbers are in real time and we could experience an uptick within the next month or so as most of our volume occurs during the summer months leading up to the end of our fiscal year on Sept. 30.”

The Small Business Association doesn’t make loans. It guarantees up to 90% of certain small business loans made by partnering banks and other lending institutions.

However, the biggest numbers for loans backed by the Small Business Administration are disaster loans. These cover physical and economic damage to businesses and homes for both owners and renters. Just to deal with the damage caused by Hurricane Irma, the Small Business Administration backed 36,249 loans totaling $1.38 billion.

Jim Larkin, vice president of marketing and communications at OnDeck, an online lender, said Florida is one of its biggest markets. OnDeck has lent more in Florida than any other online lender, Mr. Larkin said. Since 2007, OnDeck has lent $155,236,149 in Miami-Dade alone, he said.

However, the volume of loans in Miami-Dade decreased from 2016 to 2017. In 2016, OnDeck lent $39,488,645. In 2017, that Jonel Hein sees small businesses getting creative to obtain financing. decreased to $33,120,275.

24

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

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