Miami Today: Week of Thursday, August 23, 2018

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2018

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

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12.6% BUS RIDERSHIP PLUNGE IN 12 MONTHS ACCELERATES MASS TRANSIT’S LOSSES, pg. 3 FIGHT OVER GAMBLING: Fontainebleau Florida Hotel LLC of Miami Beach gave $250,000 to a political committee formed in July that has raised $1.25 million to help fight a proposed constitutional amendment that could make it harder to expand gambling in Florida. Citizens for the Truth About Amendment 3, Inc., raised the money fromAug. 1 to 7. Other contributions included $500,000 from Jacksonville Greyhound Racing, Inc., according to campaign-finance reports. The committee opposes proposed constitutional amendment 3 that will appear on the November ballot. If 60% of voters approve, the proposal would change the Florida Constitution and give voters the “exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling.” It would require voter approval of casino-style games in the future and reduce the power of the Legislature and governor to decide gambling-related issues. The amendment drive has been heavily funded by Disney Worldwide Services Inc., a longtime foe of casinos, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which already operates casinos.

The Achiever

OVERTOWN STREET WORK SET:AMiami area company has been hired for a major street improvement project in Overtown. Miami city commissioners accepted the bid from R&G Engineering Inc. to provide construction services for a project known as Overtown Greenway at NW 11th Terrace - Phase 2. The resolution authorizes the city manager to execute an agreement with R&G for $1,804,667.79 for the scope of work, plus an owner’s contingency allowance of $180,466.77, for a total not to exceed $1,985,134.56. The Overtown Greenway at NW 11th Terrace project will be from Northwest Third to Sixth avenues, and the work will consist of furnishing all materials, labor and equipment for road improvements such as drainage system installations, milling and resurfacing, new sidewalks replacement, striping, signs, landscaping, hardscape, decorative street and pedestrian lighting, and ADA compliant ramps. SCHOOLS OFFER TOOLKIT: The Miami-Dade County Public Schools have developed a Back-to-School Tool Kit to transition into the school year that began this week. It includes videos and has updated information about registration, vaccination requirements, school hours, transportation, key dates and school safety. The kit is available in English, Spanish and Haitian-Creole at http://toolkit.dadeschools.net CHAMBER CHOOSES BUS: The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors on Monday voted unanimously in support of Miami-Dade County’s recommendation to apply for a US Department of Transportation Small Starts Grant to build infrastructure supporting bus rapid transit on the South Dade Transitway, with potential for future rail conversion.

Arnaud Sitbon

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

Heads charter schools, Jungle Island realty investments The profile is on Page 4

Transitway gets $100 million, but for bus or rail? By Jesse Scheckner

In one of history’s shortest government meetings, the Transportation Planning Council on Monday committed $100 million to build “premium transit infrastructure” on the South Dade Transitway along US 1 from Kendall Drive to Florida City. The council, which advises the Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), in less than a minute OK’d amendments to Miami-Dade’s 2040 transportation plan and 2018-19 Transportation Improvement Program, allowing for the $100 million infusion. The prickly decision whether those funds will be used for infrastructure supporting bus rapid transit or rail at-grade now falls to a TPO Governing Board vote Aug. 30. “[They] will select the locally preferred alternative and, based on their selection, the project cost will be defined,” TPO Executive Director Aileen Bouclé told Miami Today. The $100 million, drawn from a half-penny transportation surtax, is the only funding listed as secured for the work. In 2016, Miami-Dade and the TPO developed the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit

(SMART) Plan to advance six transit corridors. One is the South Dade Transitway. “There is money right now in the Capital Expansion Reserve fund set aside specifically to advance SMART Plan projects they can tap into,” said Executive Director Javier Betancourt of the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust, which oversees the surtax. “We already approved the SMART Plan. This is part and parcel of that.” Transit infrastructure to be advanced with the $100 million if bus rapid transit is chosen next week is estimated at $300 million, according to a memo from Transportation Director Alice Bravo. Projects include: ■Twelve weather-controlled stations with level boarding platforms. ■Terminal upgrades at Southwest 344th Street and Dadeland South Metrorail station. ■Ticket vending machines, a real-time passenger information system, closed-circuit TV, emergency push buttons, fare collection systems, communications equipment and power supplies. ■Crossing gates and traffic signal preemption at all 45 transitway intersections. If the planning organization chooses heavy

or light rail at-grade, costs will rise, Ms. Bouclé said, but most of the infrastructure listed would still be built. “In either case, this item was to place $100 million to start advancing components you’d have to do regardless,” she said. Once in place, those components could be altered to accommodate further development, said Monica Cejas, chief transportation engineer. “Whatever we propose, it’s always scalable,” she said. “If [the TPO chooses] bus rapid transit, it can be converted later. If they choose rail now, then we can continue with the environmental assessment we need to complete in order to continue with that project.” In July, Mayor Carlos Giménez supported bus rapid transit, arguing rail projects “are expensive to build and even more expensive to operate.” Metrorail at grade, in recent estimates, would cost $1.3 billion to build and $67 million a year to run. But Dennis Moss and other county commissioners argued rail was promised and should be delivered. “We already got buses,” he said. “There’s a trust factor, and we don’t pass the trust factor smell test.”

Statewide jobless dip a rise here As Florida reported an unemployment rate that dipped in July to an 11-year low of 3.7%, joblessness in Miami-Dade County inched up to 4.3% from 4.1% in June, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even at 4.3%, however, the county’s unemployment rate was well below the 4.9% reported in July 2017. While 59,984 persons were reported jobless in the county in July, a year earlier the number was 68,949. On the other hand, MiamiDade’s labor force was 1,000 persons smaller in July than in June, shrinking to 1,396,500, and was 6,100 persons smaller than in July 2017. Among Florida’s metropolitan areas, Miami-Dade had the highest annual growth in manufacturing jobs, up 7,400 in a year, CareerSource South Florida reported on Friday. That’s a 17.7% annual gain in jobs to 49,100. The county’s other big percentage employment growth continues to be in construction jobs, which as of July, according to federal figures, had risen 16.9% to 54,600 jobs from 46,700 in July 2017. The broad field of education and health services provided the next largest percentage gain of Miami-Dade jobs, up 3.6% to 186,100 jobs from 179,700 jobs in July 2017. Overall, total nonfarm jobs in Miami-Dade are up 0.6% from July 2017. For the state as a whole, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity estimated 383,000 Floridians out of work – 4,000 fewer than in June – from a workforce of 10.2 million. The mark, the lowest for Florida since April 2007, kept the state’s unemployment rate below the national figure of 3.9% for July, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Florida’s jobless rate had been 3.8% in June, with Florida one of 11 states reporting a drop in July. Over the past year, Florida ranked third among states in terms of overall job creation with 210,600 new jobs, trailing additions of 377,100 in Texas and 332,700 in California.

MIAMI PUSHES MEASURE TO CONTROL SHOPPING CARTS ...

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MAYOR SEEKING LIST OF FEE HIKES IN COUNTY BUDGET ...

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VIEWPOINT: STRONG MAYOR FACES SLIPPERY TIGHTROPE ...

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BAPTIST WINS AN OK IN BONE MARROW BATTLE VS. UM ...

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MOST OF CITY BARS DEAD-OF-NIGHT DELIVERY ACTIVITY ...

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JACKSON’S BID FOR 100 DORAL BEDS HEADS TO A JUDGE ...

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STATE FIGHTS FOR GREYHOUND RACING BAN ON BALLOT ...

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MIAMI RIVER SEAWALL, KAYAK RAMP FLOW FORWARD ...

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Miami Today: Week of Thursday, August 23, 2018 by Miami Today - Issuu