In a busy meeting, Miami Beach’s Finance Committee recommended an appropriation of $37,784.75 to Michael Comras’s Lincoln Road Marketing, Inc. for the purpose of marketing Lincoln Road as a destination. The $37,784.75 is generated from concession revenue collected from Lincoln Road special events. Along with the recommendation, the committee asked Comras to start collecting membership dues from the businesses on Lincoln that benefit from the marketing in order to have a true partnership with the city. Lincoln Road Marketing, Inc. is located in Comras’ office in the 407 Lincoln Road Building. Along with Michael Comras, other principals in the corporation are Sherna Brody of 1014 Lincoln Road and Robert Warren of 777 41^st Street.

The committee deferred the Minimum Pension Benefit Resolution for the police and fire personnel until the next meeting in March. The committee felt it needed additional time to better understand the positions of both police and fire and the administration. The police and fire unions would like to see the minimum pension benefit provision placed before the voters as a referendum on November’s ballot. The city administration would like to see the issue hacked out in collective bargaining.  

The committee also deferred until the March meeting a status report on the Byron Carlyle Theater. The report states that total funding obtained to date for renovation is $1,726,096.

The committee also heard a discussion and watched a slide show on a proposed refinancing transaction through the Miami Beach Health Facilities Authority for Mt. Sinai Medical Center. About twenty members of the Mt. Sinai staff attended the meeting. 

“The presentation was for informational purposes only,” said Commissioner Jose Smith who chairs the committee. “No action was required nor taken,” he said.

Mega South Beach nightclub Level is for sale. Asking price: About five million bucks. Five million has been the lucky number for this Art Deco gem of a property for more than six decades. Back in 1938 it cost five million to build it as the delightfully decedent supper club called the French Casino. Then it cost another five million to reopen in 1984 as the hottest nightspot in South Beach called Z.    

While other cities are holding peace rallies, those wild ‘n wacky Key Westers have been gathering on Duval Street to figure out what do with its growing population of homeless. With nearly a thousand homeless now camping inside the Last Resort, one out of every thirty Key Westers now lives on the street.

One idea that actually came out of city hall was a plan to transport several hundred homeless across the county line to Miami-Dade, where services are believed to be more plentiful and available. The ACLU, however, believes the homeless in Key West should be allowed to camp in the city of their choice.  

Bay Harbor Election Time 

The qualifying period for those interested in running for two open seats on the Bay Harbor Islands Town Council began February 20.  Robert Yaffe (who was elected mayor by his colleagues on the council) and Isaac Salver have already filed to retain their seats.  Also filing for his shot is resident Jed Frankel.  How it works is this:  the top two candidates who receive the most votes win the seats.  There’s still time for more candidates to file as the qualifying period doesn’t end until March 11. 

The City of Miami Beach is inviting everyone to attend a dedication ceremony for Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Ocean Beach Park located on Ocean Drive between 2^nd and 3^rd streets on Friday February 28, 2003 at 4:00 p.m.