20160511 AM1MIAMIBEACH
City Commission Meeting
ADDENDUM MATERIAL 1
City Hall, Commission Chambers, 3rd Floor, 1700 Convention Center Drive
May 11,2016
Mayor Philip Levine
Commissioner John Elizabeth Alem6n
Commissioner Ricky Arriola
Com m issioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez
Commissioner Michael Grieco
Commissioner Joy Malakoff
Commissioner Micky Steinberg
City Manager Jimmy L. Morales
City Attorney Raul J. Aguila
City Clerk Rafael E. Granado
Visrt us at www.miamibeachfl.gov for agendas and video "streaming" of City Commission Meetings.
ATTENTION ALL LOBBYISTS
Chapter 2, Article Vll, Division 3 of the City Code of Miami Beach entitled "Lobbyists" requires the
registration of all lobbyists with the City Clerk prior to engaging in any lobbying activity with the City
Commission, any City Board or Committee, or any personnel as defined in the subject Code
sections. Gopies of the Gity Gode sections on lobbyists Iaws are available in the City Clerk's office.
Questions regarding the provisions of the Ordinance should be directed to the Office of the City
Attorney.
ADDENDUM AGENDA
G4 - Commission Gommittee Assiqnments
C4P Referral To The Sustainability And Resiliency Committee - Discuss Charging A 5l Fee On
Plastic Bags Similar To That Approved By The New York City Council.
(Sponsored by Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez)
1 The sponsor of the addendum agenda item deems that such item either constitutes a public emergency affecting life, health,
property, or public safety and should be considered immediately; or does not constitute a public emergency, but should be
considered immediately. See Miami Beach Code Sec.2-12 (c)(3).
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Granado, Rafael
From:
Sent:
lo:
Subject:
Rosen Gonzalez, Kristen
Friday, May 06, 20167:24 AM
Granado, Rafael
NYTimes: 54 Fee on Plastic Bags Is Approved by New York City Council
Can you please place this item as a referralto the sustainability committee? lthink Miami Beach should follow NYC and
charge for plastic bag usage.
http://www. nvtimes.com/2016/05/06/nvresion/new-vork-citv-cou ncil-backs-5-cent-fee-on-plastic-
baes. htm l?sm prod=nvtcore-ipad&smid=nvtcore-ipad-share
The measure, which also covers paper bags, is intended to reduce their use; Mayor Bill de Blasio has expressed his
support for it.
Sent from my iPad
Agenda ltem CV P
Date S-ll-lb3
5p Fee on Plastic Bags Is Approved by New York City Council - The New York Times
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N.Y. / REGION
50 Fee on Plastic Bags Is Approved by
NewYork City Council
By J. DAVID GOODMAN MAY5, zo16
The ubiquitous, easily torn, often doubled-up plastic bags from the grocery store -
hoarded by dog owners, despised by the environmentally concerned and occasionally
caught in trees - will soon cost at least a nickel in NewYork City.
The City Council voted zB to 20 on Thursday to require certain retailers to
collect a fee on each carryout bag, paper or plastic, with some exceptions. Mayor Bill
de Blasio has expressed support for the measure.
Passage of the bill came after two years of debate and at least one other attempt
by the city's elected officials to charge a fee or tax on disposable bags. The legislation,
modeled on similar laws in California and Washington, D.C., encountered an
unusual amount of resistance and resulted in what council members said was one of
the closest votes in years, on par with the extension of term limits passed during the
tenure of Mr. de Blasio's predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg.
The vehemence of the opposition could perhaps be traced to plastic bags'daily
presence in the lives of NewYorkers, who often shop for groceries spontaneously
and then lug the crinkly bags home to be reused as trash-can liners or to pick up
after pets. As with previous measures adopted by the 5r-member Council to prohibit
smoking in bars and to include calorie information on restaurant menus, the impact
of the bag bill, which would take effect in October, is likely to be immediate for
millions of people.
Page 1 of4
http://www.nytimes.coml20I6l05l06lnyregion/new-york-city-council-backs-5-cent-fee-on-plastic-b... 516120164
5p Fee on Plastic Bags Is Approved by New York City Council - The New York Times Page2 of 4
That many will be unhappy about payrng for bags that have always been free is
the point.
"The fee is irritating, which is precisely why it works," said Councilman Brad
Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat and, with Councilwoman Margaret Chin, a Manhattan
Democrat, a main sponsor of the legislation. "We don't want to pay it so we'll bring
bags instead. So the fact that it's irritating irritates a lot of people."
The debate that preceded the bill's approval on Thursday provided a rare sight
in the Council Chambers, where most bills pass by large margins. At least one
member called the bill "stupid," prompting another to object. Mr. Lander, in his
remarks, promised to show a colleague opposed to the measure where he could buy
plastic bags in bulk online. There was also a fair amount of canine scatological
humor.
To the bill's proponents, the goal is not to collect the fee but to nudge New
Yorkers into bringing their own reusable bags when they shop. Other cities that have
introduced similar fees have seen a sharp drop in the use of plastic bags, petroleum
products that can linger in landfills for centuries.
In NewYork City, the Sanitation Department has said it collects roughly ro
billion single-use plastic bags a year.
The Council settled on a S-cent minimum fee after an earlierversion of the bill
called for ro cents; stores, which will collect and keep the fees, can charge more if
they choose.
Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, said during a radio interview last week that people
"must stop using plastic bags, for the good of our environment."
"I think it'll change the behavior quickly and not hit people's pocketbooks in any
meaningful wty," he continued.
Under the legislation, restaurants, including those that deliver and serve
takeout, and street vendors of prepared food will not have to charge for the plastic
bags they give to customers. Among the other exemptions: plastic bags used for
produce, small paper medicine bags at pharmacies, bags used at state-regulated
http://www.nytimes.coml20l6l05l06/nyregion/new-york-city-council-backs-5-cent-fee-on-plastic-b... 516120165
5p Fee on Plastic Bags Is Approved by New York City Council - The New York Times Page 3 of4
liquor stores and bags used by soup kitchens. Those buying groceries with food
stamps are also exempt from paylng the fee.
Paper bags were also included in the bill, sponsors said, because they have an
environmental impact; if paper bags were not included, shoppers would simply
switch from plastic to paper, resulting in no change in overall waste.
NewYork is hardly in the forefront in regulating plastic bags, though not for
lack of trying. Mr. Bloomberg offered a proposal in zoo8 for a 6-cent bag fee - 5
cents for stores; a penny for the city - before dropping it several months later amid
strong opposition. At the time, one of the opponents on the Council was Simcha
Felder, a BrooHyn Democrat who is now a state senator. Last month, Senator Felder
introduced a bill that would prohibit the levying of local fees on bags; it passed a
committee this week.
In discussing his opposition this week, Mr. Felder traced the zoo-year history of
how people have carried their groceries home, progressing from cloth bags to boxes
to paper to plastic, and said that reusing bags presented a health hazard. He said he
would hold a hearing on his bill in the city next month.
"That's nothing less than a tax on the poor and the middle class - the most
disadvantaged people," he said.
Opposition to the measure has also come from the plastic bag industry - via its
lobbying arm, the American Progressive Bag Alliance - as well as from those who,
like Mr. Felder, said the fee amounted to a regressive tax, disproportionately
affecting low-income and minority NewYorkers while failing to positive benefits for
residents.
"I was in washington, D.c., when the bag fee happened, and you know what? It
was to clean up the river," said Bertha Lewis, a social justice activist and longtime
ally of Mr. de Blasio's. "These funds are being dedicated to the pockets of the
retailers."
Ms. Lewis's group, the Black Institute, collected thousands of signatures in
opposition to the bill and received support from the American Progressive Bag
http://www.nytimes.com/20l6l05l06lnyregiorVnew-york-city-council-backs-5-cent-fee-on-plastic-b... 5l6l2Ol66
5p Fee on Plastic Bags Is Approved by New York City Council - The New York Times Page 4 of 4
Alliance - which, according to its chairman, changed its name in recent years from
the Plastic Bag Alliance.
Some who had expressed early support for the bill were said to be wavering
amid what council members described as a torrent of robocalls and fliers in certain
districts in opposition to the measure, which would cover retail stores, grocers,
bodegas and many street vendors.
The Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, who voted in favor of the bill, was
asked at a news conference before the vote was taken if she used reusable bags when
she went shopping. "Right now I don't," she said, adding that the bill would push her
to do so. "And I'm more than happy to do that."
A version of this article appears in print on May 6, 2016, on page A18 of the New York edition with the
headline: Council Approves a Fee on Checkout Bags.
O 2016 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/20l6l05l06lnyrcgiorVnew-york-city-council-backs-5-cent-fee-on-plastic-b.. . 516120167
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