Miami-Dade
Leaks
During last week’s budget process the county commission discussed its own in-house media and communication department. Several commissioners
wanted to see an improvement in the way the department spokespeople interact with the press. Recent stories, including the possible demise of county manager Steve Shiver and
others has flattened back the ears of some public officials.
We can’t have different information and statements going out to the press. We all need to be on the same page, a few commissioners stated. Although the commissioners
admitted there was little they could do about all of those “unnamed sources” inside county hall leaking stories to reporters, they did want to see a more coordinated method
of getting their own point of view out to the press.
While discussing the issue it was learned that Miami-Dade has in their public information office a total of 79 media specialists at a cost of $5.7
million, 14 photographers at $834,000 and 13 graphic artists at $719,000.
Also during the budget discussion it was learned that the county spent $200 million the past year on outside consultants. Perhaps those same county
officials who are so concerned about the occasional internal leak to the press might want to take a look at that growing flood of outside consultant fees.
Good News
The Miami-Dade commission has set a public hearing for October 10th at county hall to approve a resolution amending the Miami Beach
City Center/Historic Convention Village Redevelopment and Revitalization Area Plan (RDA) delegating to Miami Beach the power to implement community policing
initiatives. The public hearing is set for 9 a.m. at the commission chambers located at 111 N.W. First Street in downtown Miami.
If this amendment is approved, a certain percentage of property taxes generated within the City Center RDA (bounded by the ocean and the bay
from 24th Street to 14th Lane) will be used to fund police services within those areas. To finally be able to utilize those tax dollars, about
$1 million for basic services, for something other than RDA capital projects (like subsidizing developers) is really good news long overdue.
Miami Beach
Extending
The planning and legal departments are crafting a proposal aimed at extending the time frame for developers to obtain a full
building permit for their projects. As it stands now, the developers have one year to obtain the permit from the time of approval with an additional one-year extension that’s
routinely granted at the land use and zoning board level.
The planning and legal departments are shuttling around to the various boards with a work-in-progress proposal to extend the timeframe (which is actually
two years) to three or even four years. Although the majority of board members are not adamantly opposed to extending the timeframe, there are some concerns.
The Design Review Board’s Ted Baker, a renowned landscape architect, believes the DRB is already too casual with its granting of extensions, but said he would
be willing to consider a revised process if everyone is treated equally. “The smaller projects should be treated the same as the larger projects,” Baker said. Everyone
agreed.
City Attorney Gary Held told the DRB that the building permit timeframes had originally been put in place to spur on economic development. That may not be the
case anymore, said Held, who supports extending the timeframe, particularly for the larger and more complicated projects.
Cracking
Its been hardly a week since Tampa lawyer Bill McBride emerged as the “victor” of the democratic primary for governor and yet, in spite of a plea by ex-U.S.
Attorney General Janet Reno for a “united front” against Jeb Bush, it appears that front has already begun to crack with a few local dems.
At the Mandarin Hotel in Miami last week some local prominent democrats supporting the re-election of Governor Bush hosted a little
fundraiser for Jeb. Among others to welcome the governor, the host committee included Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer (who was supported by Jeb during his mayoral election), Miami
Mayor Manny Diaz, Related Group’s Jorge Perez, Royal Palm’s Don Peebles and Dacra’s Craig Robins.
