That’s a long time that at the Board we are trying to get the attention of our elected officials in the City of Miami.
I personally think that as a community we are underserved and neglected by the City of Miami.
It could sounds strange knowing that we are living in Brickell which is one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Miami. What should the residents of Opa-Locka or Liberty City would say then!
So let me elaborate on that. We are organized as what I call a “Vertical Community“. We represent 1,000 condominiums in 2 towers. If we were organized on a single-family neighborhood we will be almost as big as Shenandoah (2/3 exactly).
But we pay for our lights and electricity, we pay for our security to patrol the towers, and we don’t need the Code Compliance Officers to patrol our hallways. So we save money to the City.
There is a program in Miami where a single-family homeowner can request from the City some trees and they will install for free 2 trees in front of their house. Potentially we could ask the City for 2,000 trees.
In contrast we are currently in the process of replanting our trees on our private drive at the Plaza Brickell. It is now 2 months that we are waiting for this permit. We are paying for the trees, we are just replacing some existing trees, and we had to pay for an archeologist, for a survey, and we are still waiting.
We should get a preferential treatment and assistance from the City just because we are saving them money. And we are paying the same property taxes as a single-family house will pay.
Then try to cross Brickell Bay Drive and you will notice the lack of crosswalks and the lack of trash cans. We deserve better.
Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Ken Russell are coming to see us because on Tuesday we have the elections and there is a “Strong Mayor” referendum on the ballot. I can send you some links to explain more what it is but basically it will change the way the City of Miami is managed.
Currently we have a City Manager in charge of managing the City. The Mayor has only a symbolic role and is in charge with the Commissioners to instruct the City Manager. But the Mayor is not directly responsible for what is happening in the City.
A “Strong Mayor” change will put the Mayor in charge of managing the City administration.
I hope that despite the short notice you will be able to come to this meeting on Monday November 5th at 5:30pm. We need to show to the Mayor that we are a community that deserves attention, and we should have some trash cans and some crosswalks, a better landscaping, and get our permits faster when we need them.
