Murals are popping up on buildings all over Miami, says Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. He wants to curb the trend. File photo by Mitchell Zachs/Magicalphotos.com

The July 26 Miami City Commission meeting started on a positive enough note. Commissioners honored 20 Japanese students from Kogashima, Japan, who came to City Hall as living examples of Miami’s collaboration in a student exchange program. They rejoiced with news that 19 area public schools were showing academic progress in the eyes of FCAT. And they presented a certificate of appreciation to the Miami Senior High School basketball team for its achievement at an overseas tournament.

But when elected officials transitioned to other subjects, there was plenty of bickering among them.

Commissioner Marc Sarnoff tried to push an ordinance through on first reading that would regulate murals on the façades of buildings. An April 2007 Miami-Dade County Commission ordinance allows mural signs in Miami’s “urban core” under certain conditions, but Sarnoff said that mural displayers scoff at city and county regulations.

During a PowerPoint demonstration, Sarnoff showed 38 illegal murals in the city, most in the form of big advertisements. Sarnoff’s plan would allow only 15 murals, 600 feet apart from each other, and none near the Performing Arts Center and multifamily residences. Anyone responsible for putting up an illegal mural also would be barred from participating in the lottery. “No individual, business, building owner or affiliate of an individual, business or building owner may apply for a city mural permit if that person or entity [pleads or is found] guilty of violating the sign code of Miami-Dade County or the city of Miami within the past five years,” the legislation reads. Permit fees for a mural would cost $10,000.

In July 17 e-mails to various Miami residents, Sarnoff lamented the “eye pollution” of mural advertisements and claimed that the “industry” is lobbying Miami-Dade County for an ordinance that would allow 45 murals in Miami’s downtown area as well as the Upper Eastside. Sarnoff, who is up for re-election this November, said his ordinance is a compromise.

“If I could have my way, there would be no murals in the city of Miami,” he stated during the meeting.

Sarnoff, who said his district is infested with illegal murals, also wanted to ramp up code enforcement, which he claimed takes far too long to persecute violators.

But Commission Chairman Angel Gonzalez, whose re-election campaign received at least $12,000 from the outdoor advertisement industry, took issue with the hurriedness of the ordinance. Gonzalez also insisted he wasn’t briefed on the issue.

“The city agenda has been hijacked this morning,” Gonzalez declared. “I was appointed the chair of this committee and I am going to run the agenda and the meeting.” He then stormed out of the chambers, declaring that if he was not present during the vote, he wanted his vote to be one against the passage of the ordinance on first reading. (Ordinances must be approved by the City Commission twice before becoming law.)

Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones also questioned the reasoning behind Sarnoff’s haste to move forward on a mural ordinance and asked for more time to study the issue. So did Commissioners Tomas Regalado and Joe Sanchez.

Regalado was not sure how Sarnoff’s ordinance defined a mural. Was it a painting? A sign? But he agreed regulation was needed, adding that the city was being robbed if it was not seeing some money from the murals. (Sarnoff believes the city is owed $1 million in fines.) The result from the discussion: a near unanimous decision to defer the item to a future meeting.
Another major discussion topic was the desire to approve a $15.5 million legal settlement concerning a controversial fire fee enacted in 1998 that was charged to 80,000 property owners. Declared unconstitutional in 2004, city officials attempted to settle a class action lawsuit launched by seven individuals and attorney Hank Adorno. But instead of settling with the class, the city authorized a deal to give $7 million to the seven people initiating the suit. A court later nullified that settlement and a new class action suit was launched.

During the July 26 meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the settlement, hopefully to put the “nightmare,” as Sanchez described it, behind them. Once fully approved by the courts, refunds would be distributed to affected property owners via mail.

The suggestion that the refunds not be in full because, according to city officials, there were legal aspects of the fee was met with harsh criticism from those in the audience who believed they deserved a full refund.

The bickering continued when Regalado explained to the audience that he had always been on record as opposing the fire fee, to which Gonzalez replied that the commissioners were always campaigning. (Regalado is also running for re-election in November.) Regalado said this was not about campaigning, but about saying to the city of Miami that this issue is really going to bed.

Gonzalez then insisted that he too had a solid record of voting against the fire fee, to which Regalado responded, “and I love you for that.”

The City Commission then voted to halt for the upcoming budget year the revised, legally sound fire fee that was instituted a few years ago to replace the original unconstitutional one.

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