The TV series Burn Notice shot on location in Miami. Photo courtesy of city of Miami Beach Tourism and Cultural Development Department

By Tiffany Glick

After receiving news of the proposed budget made by Mayor Carlos Alvarez’s office for the 2007-08 fiscal year, the FilMiami advisory board and the Miami-Dade Office of Film and Entertainment held a Town Hall meeting at the Miami Science Museum with members of the Miami film industry, last Wednesday afternoon to discuss the advisory board recommendations to the mayor’s office. However, changes in the film office’s methods of operating to compensate for the proposed budget inspired heated discussion from meeting attendees.

The proposed county budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year called for about $240 million in reductions as a result of the property tax relief measures enacted by the Florida legislature. All of the county offices, excluding the offices of public safety, were financially compressed.

In the proposed budget, the Film and Entertainment office will lose three out of its six staff members, 40 percent of its $800,000 per year budget, and 60 percent of its marketing budget. The office also is to be moved from the mayor’s office to the Office of Cultural Affairs, becoming a division of the already large department.

The film and entertainment board announced three points Wednesday that it thought were reasonable amendments to the mayor’s proposed budget: being allowed to charge for permits (which currently are free), remaining a separate entity from the department of cultural affairs and receiving a less severe budget cut.

The price of permits would range between $100 and $300. The film board’s office pulled around 1,800 permits in 2006.

“It’s the last thing we’re really excited about,” said Jeff Peel, the director of the Office of Film and Entertainment, regarding charging for permits.

Attendees expressed frustration with the possible new system, many arguing that the marketing budget for the Office of Film and Entertainment does not need to be as large as it is and that a reduction of it could help keep the price of permits at zero. However, a show of hands from the audience gave evidence that members of the film industry would not be completely opposed to paying the $100 to $300 for permits as long as the money went to securing the personnel positions in the film board office.

“Staffing is the No. 1 concern,” said FilMiami board chairman Will Edwards, who assured the 100 or so attendees that the proposed permit fees would go toward avoiding staff cuts.

Peel expressed early on in the meeting that with the new cutbacks to the office’s budget, the loss of service the office provides would be the greatest blow to Miami’s film industry. Peel says his office makes it as easy as possible for people to shoot in Miami, providing white-glove service to producers using Miami as their backdrop for movies, television programs and commercials.

Michelle Marx has been a member of Miami’s film industry for more than 50 years. “I am amazed at what they [the office film and entertainment] do,” she said. Marx remarked at the meeting that the film board’s high level of service allows her to “sit home with my poodle and eat bon bons” while the film board’s efficient staff answers any questions and is available for assistance on whatever project she may be working on.

The film and entertainment advisory board’s next meeting is on Sept. 6, but, at the request of attendees, it was agreed that another Town Hall type of meeting would be held within the next three weeks. Attendees also asked to see a thorough list of the film office’s current budgeting, with special regards to marketing and staff salaries.

“This is not a done deal; it’s far from a done deal,” said Peel. “We, thankfully, do have an ear at the Board [of County Commissioners],” Edwards said.

The purpose of the Miami-Dade Film and Entertainment advisory board is to advise and make recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners and the mayor on all matters pertaining to the film and entertainment related industries and to support and advance the interests and resources of the film and entertainment industry in Miami-Dade County. The members of the Film and Entertainment advisory board are appointed by the board of County Commissioners.

The proposed county budget was distributed just a couple of weeks ago. The board of Miami-Dade County Commissioners will hold public hearings on Sept. 6 and 20 to discuss the renegotiated budget.

The new county budget will go into effect on Oct. 1.

 çhome

 

Miami Beach

Residents to County Mayor: Don’t Cut Beach Cleaning Services

Beach Activists Urge Residents to Attend Budget Hearing

 By Ben Torter

County Mayor Carlos Alvarez says the state has forced officials to find ways to cut $240 million from the budget. Residents don’t want the beach to suffer because of that.

Residents, activists, politicians and political hopefuls filled the back room at David’s Café II, Tuesday morning, to hear Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez talk about proposed budget cuts, and to give him a message: Don’t reduce our beach cleaning services.

Alvarez, who wore a white guayabera to the Cuban café at 1654 Meridian Ave., where the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club meets each week, explained to the 60 or so people in attendance that state of Florida residents demanded property tax reform and leaders complied. That translates into county officials being forced to cut about $240 million from its $7 billion budget.

“It’s not a matter of doom and gloom, but there will be effects,” Alvarez said.

The Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the sandy portion of Miami Beach. As part of their budget-cutting process they want to eliminate the 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. cleaning crew between the South Point jetty and 21st Street. Doing so would get rid of five full-time and nearly three part-time jobs for a savings of $280,000. It also would mean no afternoon debris and litter pick-up services, according to the county’s Fiscal Year 2007-08 Proposed Resource Allocation and Multi-Year Capital Plan.

If the proposed budget cut is approved, there will still be a beach maintenance crew working daily from 6:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. though there will be a significant impact, according to Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation Public Information Officer Edith Torres.

The shift proposed to be eliminated is “a swing shift that, all they do is get rid of cans and debris,” Torres told the SunPost.

On July 27 Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer sent Alvarez, County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro and County Manager George Burgess a letter expressing what he and others believe would be the dire consequences of reducing beach cleaning services.

“This stretch of Miami Beach welcomes millions of beachgoers every year and is critical to the health of both the City and County economies,” wrote Dermer. “More importantly, it is one of the most beautiful — and best maintained — open spaces that our community has to offer to residents and visitors. The potential $280,000 budget savings that maintenance cuts would provide pale in comparison to the negative impact that a dirty, unkempt beach would have on our community.”

Miami Beach City officials also alerted activist groups like the Environmental Coalition of Miami Beach and the newly formed, and already influential, South of Fifth Neighborhood Association. Gerald Posner, SOFNA’s president told Alvarez, to great applause from the breakfast crowd, that he received more than 120 telephone calls and e-mails about the beach cleaning issue. The beach is one of the primary tourist and local draws for the entire county, he said, and the cut would be a terrible mistake, negatively impacting revenue coming into the city and county budgets.

Alvarez reiterated that the cut was only a proposal, and still had to be approved by the County Commission.

“I can’t argue with you,” Alvarez said. “I urge you and your organization to go and state your case.”

Alvarez suggested people attend the county budget hearings in September, but lightheartedly warned those meetings have been known to last until 5 a.m.

Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin, along with other Beach residents, also spoke against the cut. People had so much to say that moderator David Kelsey, who is president of the South Beach Hotel and Restaurant Association, was compelled to tell them to change the subject to avoid overwhelming the guest speaker.

“I understand, I understand! You don’t have to ask another question about that,” a cornered Alvarez jokingly pleaded.

After the meeting, Posner told the SunPost he would be encouraging SOFNA members to contact county commissioners and attend the September budget hearings.

“This issue hit a core with a lot of residents,” Posner said, and grinned. “We will not be dissuaded by the possibility of an all-nighter.”

The budget hearings will take place in the Miami-Dade County Commission Chambers, 111 NW First Street, 2nd Floor, Miami. The first is slated for Sept. 6 at 5 p.m., and the second, Sept. 20 at 5 p.m.

Contact information for the 13 Miami-Dade County commissioners can be viewed at www.miamidade.gov/commiss/contact.asp.

 çhome

Shorter Shrubbery

Dispute Between Country Club and Neighbors Nearly Solved

By Ben Torter

It appears that a dispute over the height of boundary bushes between the La Gorce Country Club and owners of the properties that surround the golf course has been solved, though at least one more progress report is due.

A proposed ordinance residents drafted to protect their view of the golf course, as well as an ad from the Miami Beach Citizens Alliance that ran in the Miami Herald on July 22 alleging that La Gorce doesn’t pay its fair share of property taxes, were two issues discussed at last Wednesday’s Neighborhoods/Community Affairs Committee meeting.

“This proposed ordinance, legally we cannot recommend it,” said Miami Beach Deputy City Attorney Jean Olin. That’s because a 2003 settlement agreement between the club and the city already defines “view” for residents.

Residents had pushed the view protection ordinance at the July 11 commission meeting, and were told then by City Attorney Jose Smith that it violated the already established settlement agreement. The commission directed La Gorce and its neighbors to come to an agreement on the trimming of shrubs and bushes. Commissioner Jerry Libbin met La Gorce Board President Scott Copeland the next morning to drive around the course and figure out where clipping was needed. They met again before the July 25 meeting, at which Libbin gave the committee a progress report.

“I’d say there’s 90-plus percent compliance with the four-foot shrubbery as I saw it,” Libbin said.

The maintenance schedule for the club includes foliage trimming four times per year, explained Copeland, defending suggestions that the club rushed to get things in order to impress Libbin and the city. He said the club wants to be a good neighbor.

“Everything should be four feet and we’ll look into that ourselves,” Copeland said.

Not everyone agrees that the club has been a good neighbor.

“We have been very badly treated by the golf course,” said Jeffrey Gibbs, whose La Gorce Drive property abuts one of the fairways.

Rumors of an unwritten rule that members who complain or speak out against the club can be shunned by their friends, or even be kicked out of the club, have circulated, and were first questioned by city commissioners at their July 11 meeting. It was suggested that this innuendo made it necessary for the city to adopt an ordinance that would protect people’s view. Copeland denied that any such rule exists.

On the tax issue, La Gorce’s attorney Joseph Serota explained that the allegations are false.

“The tax assessor is giving us no break,” Serota said. “We are paying our fair share of taxes based on use, golf course.” He joked that if the government wanted to change the course’s land use to the higher tax bracket of residential, the massive increase in property value would make the club extremely rich.

In the end, Commissioners Richard Steinberg and Libbin directed La Gorce representatives to go back, hammer out exact maintenance directives for trimming boundary foliage and come back to the next Neighborhoods/Community Affairs Committee meeting, Sept. 19, to give a progress report.

 çhome

Another Sexy Circus Comes to Town

Spiegelworld Commits to Months-Long Collins Park Run

By Charlotte Libov

Olaf Triebel and his teddy bear are part of the Spiegelworld experience. Photo by Angie Hargot

If you’ve still got a hankering to see Cirque du Soleil on the Beach, promoters of the forthcoming Spiegelworld hope to banish it by bringing their mind-blowing production Absinthe — billed as a sexy, aero-burlesque variety show — to Collins Park. In fact, they hope it will be such a success that producer Ross Mollison hears the words “encore, encore!” ring out.

“We’d like it to become an annual event,” said Mollison of the show, which, along with co-production La Vie, is causing a sensation at New York’s South Street Seaport, where it is currently running, and which the New York Times called possibly “the dirtiest” circus ever.

But the event is more than just a circus, says Mollison. He is talking to musicians and cultural groups here, such the Miami Light Project, about being involved. There will also be daytime circus performances suitable for children.

Mollison is an Aussie who worked with the Australian version of Cirque for five years, before hooking up with Vallejo Gantner, his producing partner and director. Cirque, of course, was considered the front-runner to create a permanent show in the Jackie Gleason Theater, withdrawing before the city granted the management contract to Live Nation.

At a recent press conference hailing the arrival of Spiegelworld, city officials predicted it would become the hit of the crowded winter cultural season.

 “We can’t express how happy we are that something brand new is coming to Miami Beach. Everyone who has seen it says it is perfect for us — it involves historical preservation, it’s cultural, it’s nightlife and it is sometimes a little bit naughty, like we are here in Miami Beach,” city commissioner and mayoral candidate Matti Bower said with a giggle.

The show is housed in a Spiegeltent, an opulent, vintage one-ring circus venue with glass windows, which gives it a feeling of almost being inside a carousel, says Mollison. It also brings the intimacy and decadence reminiscent of the Moulin Rouge, the famous French cabaret. The Spiegeltent will have an adjacent Green Room Restaurant operated by the Raleigh Hotel, which is supporting the event.

At the press conference, which was held at the Raleigh, two appropriately sexy performers, Raphaelle Boitel and Olaf Triebel, captivated their audience. Boitel, clad in a skin-tight green leotard, slinked the room with cat-like contortions. Her performance was followed by the perfectly sculpted Triebel, who, wearing only pajama bottoms and an angelic expression, entered the room holding a teddy bear, which he presented to audience member WLRN’s Meredith Porte to hold on her lap for the duration of his acrobatic performance on a set of bars.

Also among the appreciative onlookers were two of Miami’s top tourism gurus: George Neary, who coincidentally happened to see the show in New York a few nights before and found himself “breathless,” and Michael Aller, who termed the day’s performances “the appetizers to what promises to be a wonderful event.”

 Absinthe previews Dec. 20-24, opening Dec. 26 for a run through Feb. 13. Visit www.spiegelworld.com.

 çhome

Miami

All That Jazz

Development Group Wins Bid to Build on Overtown Lot — With CRA Help

By Erik Bojnansky

During a meeting Monday, three Miami city commissioners sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency approved a resolution to join forces with Alberto Milo Jr.’s Urban Development Group and its partners to build a $22 million eight-story, mixed-use project on top of P-3, a city-owned parking lot at 345 NW 10th St.

In exchange for building in a depressed area of Overtown, the CRA will give Milo and his development team a 99-year lease for the land for only a dollar per year and pay for the construction of a $6 million, 300-space parking garage. The project also will be funded from a $2.1 million county surtax loan and a $2.1 community development block grant from the city of Miami.

Last year Milo made an unsolicited bid to build retail space and residential units for low-income individuals on top of the lot. In spite of a recommendation by a committee of residents to leave the lot as parking, city commissioners backed Milo’s proposal. But Milo’s plans didn’t quite match his original application so the lot was put back out to bid this past May.

This time around the Urban Development Group faced three other bidders: Carlos Molinari’s Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment, Lloyd Boggio’s Carlisle Development Group and the Pinnacle Housing Group. The competing teams also asked for subsidies in exchange for building on the lot, said Clarence Woods, assistant director of the CRA. A three-member selection committee consisting of officials from the county, city and CRA gave high marks to the Jazz Village proposal.

Jazz Village will consist of 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail, 36,000 square feet of office space on two floors above it (inhabited by a medical training school) and 70 low-income rental units on the remaining five floors. “First priority will be given to current Overtown residents for these rental units,” the proposal states. On land currently owned by the nonprofit corporation South Florida Smart Growth Land Trust and its subsidiary, the Collins Center, which is a partner in the project, a six-story condominium building comprising 41 affordable and workforce condominium units is to be constructed.

“The Jazz Village development will be a signature project in revitalizing the Third Avenue business district,” the Jazz Village proposal promises. “The urban professionals who previously left the area will see the advantages of returning to the neighborhood.”

Besides Milo and the Collins Center, other partners of the project include the Mt. Zion Community Development Corporation, former county urban planner Bryan Finnie (who helped put together the “Midtown Miami initiative” and G. Alex Fraser of the Fraser Financial Group.

Taxes from the residents of Overtown, Parkwest and Omni redevelopment districts fund the CRA, which is tasked with eliminating blight and slum and creating economic revitalization in those areas.

Essentially an autonomous entity from the city of Miami, the CRA still does not have a cone of silence ordinance in place banning bidders from talking to commissioners, though the practice is discouraged, said Woods. However, CRA Chair Michelle Spence-Jones said she received numerous calls from bidders, something that annoyed her. “When you are going after a proposal, please … don’t call us. … Do not do it,” she advised during the CRA meeting.

 çhome

Squeeze Play

Zoning Board Denies Appeal For Rehearing of Shopping Center Project

By Joshua Malina

The Miami Zoning Board unanimously denied an appeal seeking a rehearing of a multi-level shopping center at 1700 NE Second Ave., during a meeting Monday.

Attorney Tucker Gibbs, who represented a printing business adjacent to the proposed site, disagreed with Zoning Director Lourdes Slazyk’s view that changes made to previously approved plans of the Bayview Market are “nonsubstantial” and said the application should go back to the Miami City Commission for a rehearing. He argued that an atrium included in the plans increased the height and size of the project, which is large enough to accommodate big-box retailers such as Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores. Gibbs also said Bayview Market was originally proposed as a residential project.          

Currently plans call for a project that can accommodate at least three giant retailers and 27,000 square feet of office space, according to Jeff Weil, a partner of BDB, LLC and a developer of the Bayview Market. Gibbs’ client, Jerin, Inc., operates a business located between two properties owned by BDB. The owner of Jerin, Inc. feels squeezed, Gibbs said.

Although all members of the zoning board voted to deny Gibbs’ appeal, one member, Miguel Gabela, felt the criteria used to establish whether a substantial modification had taken place was not clear, and more could be used to further outline what constituted a serious change.

Gibbs plans to appeal the board’s decision.

 çhome

Increasing Logik

Against Advice of Planning Department, Office Project Awarded More Density

Towering Logik

By Joshua Malina 

In a 5-2 vote Monday night, the Miami Zoning Board approved a request by Urbana Holdings, LLP to increase the size of a yet-to-be-constructed office tower in Overtown, Logik 2, by 18,000 square feet.

Joining its soon-to-be-built, sold-out sister building, Logik 1, at 525 and 533 NW Second Ave., the hip new office condo would exceed the maximum floor area ratio (FAR) for the zone by .6, allowing developers to build roughly two more floors and increase building size from 122,000 to 140,000 square feet, according to Lucia Dougherty, attorney for Urbana Holdings.

The approval came against the advice of staffers affiliated with Miami’s Planning Department, which recommended against the zoning increase, citing the possibility of creating a negative precedent in the city that would encourage a “domino effect” of future zone change requests.

This is not the first time Urbana has been granted an exception to the city’s zoning code. The zoning board approved Urbana’s request for the same FAR expansion for Logik 1 last year, said Dougherty, increasing the size of that building from 109,000 to 130,000 square feet, according to a May 2006 Miami Today article.

Under city code, the Southeast Overtown-Parkwest Commercial-Residential district, which is home to Logik, has a maximum FAR of 4.0. In other words, if a developer owned a one-acre piece of land in this district, he or she would be allowed to build a property with total floor space no bigger than four times the size of his acre, or four acres. In the cases of Logik 1 and 2, they were given permission to build structures with FARs of 4.6.

The approval enables Logik 2, which is to be erected on less than a half-acre of land, more space for conference rooms, gyms, hallways and lobbies, said Dougherty.

In arguing before the board, Dougherty noted the existence of Miami 21 on the legislative horizon, a potential new growth plan for the city that would allow Logik 2 its expansion without exception from the zoning board. Yet board members like Juvenal Piña, who voted against the rezoning, weren’t impressed.

“Wait for Miami 21,” Piña told Dougherty at the meeting.

 çhome

Miami Shores

Number Crunching

State-Mandated Tax Cuts Mean Elimination of Several Positions in Village Government

By Evan Berkowitz

The Miami Shores Village Council unanimously passed a resolution at a special meeting on July 25 to set its tentative operating and debt service millage tax rates for the coming fiscal year.

The operating millage tax rate for Miami Shores was set at 7.14 or $7.14 for every $1,000 of assessed property values. The tax rates for debt service, used to pay for bonds that funded the construction of the Village Aquatic Center and Miami Shores Charter School, was set at .6764 mills.

The commission also set two mandated public hearings for final approval of the tax rates for Sept. 4 and Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 10050 NE Second Ave.

The proposed budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year, set to begin on Oct. 1, is more than $21.7 million — a $460,185 (or 2.2 percent) increase over the current budget.

“This has been a particularly difficult budget season for management and our staff, due to the fact that the state of Florida has placed restrictions on our ability to raise revenues to meet the budgetary demands of our community and keep the appearance of our Village, as well as our service levels at an acceptable standard,” wrote Village Manager Thomas J. Benton in a July 20 letter to the mayor and council.

In mid-June, the state Legislature, in a special session, passed legislation requiring local governments to lower their millage to their “roll back” rates of the previous year. In addition, the state mandated that municipalities reduces those rates by another nine percent after that.

“While preparing the budget, it became apparent that deeper cuts and employee layoffs would occur if we were to go to the full roll back rate and include the additional 9 percent reduction,” Benton wrote.

Benton explained that the Florida Legislature provided a “relief mechanism” so that local governments like his, by a super majority, could vote to eliminate the additional 9 percent reduction.

The roll back-only option, which the village is proposing, will take the current millage rate of 8.25 back to 7.14 mills. This will still generate an additional $212,530 more in funds from last year’s budget because of new construction in the municipality. The average property taxpayer should see no increase on their bill. Should the village decide in favor of full-rate roll back and the additional 9 percent decrease, property owners will save $134 on the village portion of their annual tax bill, according to Benton.

The village is faced with contract negotiations with two employee unions, including the Police Benevolent Association., Benton said. Also, Miami Shores’ insurance costs have continued to rise for employee health care and other risk management coverage policies. With costs escalating, in some cases at a double-digit rate of inflation, Benton said the village is forced to make cuts. To this end, Miami Shores plans to leave several vacant personnel spots unfilled and eliminate some positions. The vacant positions of assistant finance director, assistant public works director, plans examiner, code enforcement director and two police officer positions were eliminated from the proposed budget.

“Our staff is just working harder and doing more things….We have been working and able to rearrange duties so that we were able to manage without the positions,” Mayor Herta Holly told the SunPost.

The village is, however, still looking for new finance department director. “We will be filling that as soon as we are possibly able to,” said Holly.

 çhome

Surfside

Setting Mills

Town Officials Set Property Tax Rates

By Evan Berkowitz

At a special meeting held on July 31, the Surfside Town Commission set its tentative millage tax rates and briefly discussed their proposed new budget for the coming fiscal year.

By a vote of 4-1, the millage rate was set at 4.25 which means $4.25 per of $1,000 of assessed property value will be charged to property owners.

Commissioner Steve Levine voted against the tax rate because he thought it did not leave enough money for a contingency fund in case the town’s needs exceed what it was budgeted for.

The 4.25 mill rate will allow between $400,000 and $500,000 in contingency money “based on preliminary documents presented last night,” Town Manager W.D. Higginbotham said.

The state Legislature decreed that most local government lower their millage rates for tax relief. Last year’s millage rate was 4.3884.

Higginbotham said the official budget should be finalized by Sept. 25. Labor negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police for a new employee contract with Surfside’s law enforcement personnel will significantly affect budget figures, the town manager predicted.

Surfside’s tax on real estate was 5.603 mills for more than a decade, which allowed the municipality to “accumulate funds in reserve accounts in the town,” explained the town manager. The town currently has undesignated reserve money close to $9 million, he said. Surfside’s millage was reduced by .003 last year.

Commissioner Marc Imberman told the SunPost that property values in his town have been on the rise for 12 years and county real estate value assessments were up 14 percent from last year.

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com.