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046-1996 DM CITY OF MIAMI BEACH ~ r- Department Memorandum NO.46-1996 To: All Department Directors Date: November 13, 1996 From: Sergio Rodriguez Deputy City Manage /' Subject: STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS Attached for your information is a copy of the State of the City Address delivered by City Manager Jose Garcia-Pedrosa at the Goals Conference of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce on November 2, 1996. In his presentation, the Manager addresses all of the City's accomplishments for the past year, ongoing projects, and future goals. Please feel free to share with your staff. r SR:rr Attachment c: Honorable Mayor and City Commissioners Mayra Diaz-Buttacavoli, Assistant City Manager Joe Pinon, Assistant City Manager Harry Mavrogenes, Assistant City Manager Peter Liu, Executive Assistant to the City Manager Jack Lubin, Executive Assistant to the City Manager Richard Bender, Executive Assistant to the City Manager (w/attachment) \cmgr\$aJl\deptmem96\saddress r - ~ ~ State of the City Address (Delivered by Miami Beach City Manager Jose Garcia-Pedrosa at the Goals Conference of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce on November 2, 1996) It was almost one year ago to the day that we rnet here, at the Chamber's Goals Conference, and that I had the honor of delivering my first State of the City Address. At that tirne I presented a program of fiscal reform, described a series of development projects, and suggested a nurnber of operational changes which, though ambitious, I felt were achievable. Today I would like to review with you what was accomplished this past year, what was not, and what I believe our priorities ought to be for the near future. (I never plan for the long run, mindful of the admonition of John Maynard Keynes that "in the long run, we're all dead".) At the heart of our initiative was the need to stabilize and strengthen the City's finances after a substantial operating deficit in the preceding year -- the 9th such deficit in the previous 12 years, causing our reserves to drop to a dangerously low $1.8 million. We began the year by renegotiating our agreement with the Convention and Visitors Bureau, resulting in a yearly contribution from the Bureau back to the City of$900,OOO, for a 3-year total of$2.7 million. Then came the Performing Arts Center transaction with Metropolitan Dade County, which not only got us $35 million in cash this past June for Convention Center- and TOP A-related projects, but also an additional $11.5 million for a long-desired, much-needed and clearly deserved Regional Library, the siting of which has caused quite a polemic in our City. (Isn't it just marvelous that our citizens should argue about books, educational programs, and the like, with everyone wanting them in their own back yard -- in contrast to the not-so-lofty reasons that excite public discussion in other cities?) The Performing Arts Center transaction will impact the fmances of this City for the next 30 years, until 2026, and will pour literally millions of dollars into our redevelopment areas, beginning in 1999. The present-value impact of the transaction, netting out what we gave up to help the County build the proposed Performing Arts Center -- in the wrong place, I might add, since it really belongs right here in Miarni Beach, where we already have a piece of it and most of the necessary infrastructure -- the net impact of the transaction in dollars reduced to present value is $20.4 million in favor of the City of Miami Beach. At least some of that money will help to continue the remarkable renaissance of the visual and performing arts in Miami Beach. We also sold the Ojus parcel to the County and to the School Board, and we placed the purchase money in our reserve fund, rather than using it for operations. And we bought and sold a parcel of land for the new Publix supermarket, on which we will make a profit of nearly $900,000. In addition, we requested, and the City Commission agreed to enact, a rnillage-rate increase for the fiscal year just ended, which we felt was necessary in order to have a balanced budget, not just at the beginning ofa fiscal year, but also at the end of the year, when it really counts. I am pleased to report that, at the end of the last fiscal year that just ended this past September 30th, we will wind up with either a balanced budget or an actual surplus of up to $1 million, depending on the final audits now being done and on whether the Publix and two other transactions close this month. Today, our reserves stand at $12.2 million, up from just $1.8 million the previous year. And for the fiscal year that began a month ago, there was no increase in the millage rate charged to our property owners, reflective of the renewed financial strength of the City. We therefore fully expect that our bond rating will be upgraded by both Moody's and Standard & Poor's, which will in turn result in substantial savings in interest costs every tirne we issue bonds in the future. Finally, we had this past year the very best season and year in our history, measured objectively by resort-tax collections, despite the absence of an event like Pavarotti on the Beach, or the Super Bowl, or a Pow Wow. Our resort-tax gross revenues increased by 17% over the previous year, surpassing the sum of $10.5 million for the first time ever. Overnight visitors to Miami Beach increased from 2.55 million to 2.82 million, an increase of 6.3% over the same period the previous year, and more than double the average for Dade County as a whole. We can show anyone who is interested, on paper or (preferably, in our soon-to-be paperless city) on a computer screen, with the specificity of conservative estimates, that we have 2 or 3 years left, not of danger but of vigilance, before our economic base explodes to a new level with substantial additions to the tax base, particularly but not exclusively in the Redevelopment Areas. Certainly by the Year 2000, and based only on the projects that have already commenced, we will see unprecedented growth in our revenue stream, aided by the 12-year extension of the life of the South Pointe Tax Incrernent Financing District and the County's waiver of its share of the excess growth in the City Center District -- both as part of the Performing Arts Center transaction between the City and the County . Yet that growth also presents new challenges, including in the South Pointe area a marvelous Streetscape and Infrastructure plan which is now virtually complete but totally dependent for funding on the tens of rnillions of dollars in future tax revenues associated with the growth in the district. We've also continued to explode with beauty and excitement, as hundreds of new tree, shrubbery, and flower plantings take place all over our city, including the very latest: the beginning of the 41st Street beautification project that will transform the financial artery of the city into a tree-lined, pedestrian-friendly, delightful boulevard of commerce, food, and entertainment. If you haven't been to The Forge on Wednesday night, after midnight, you don't know what's going on on 41st Street at night these days. And that's just the beginning. I tell people that as vibrant, beautiful, and exciting as our city is today, the time to be on Miami Beach is 2 and 3 years from now, after the Loews and the African-American Hotels open, revitalizing that whole strip of Collins Avenue, including the soon-to-reopen National Hotel, where I stayed as a kid in the '50's; after the Sunset Harbour project is not only 2 ~ --- /'"", .-- -- r' complete but in the process of changing the whole semi-industrial pocket defined by Sunset Harbour, Alton Road, and 17th Street; after we've fmished the North Beach project, opened Ocean Terrace, built a Regional Library, and significantly beautified the medians, existing or soon to be created, on Alton Road, and Washington Avenue; after we've completed the refurbishing of our beaches and of our Boardwalk; after the completion of the $200 million renovation at the Carillon that we learned about just yesterday; and after we've begun to build the balance of our cultural and civic facilities in the middle portion of our city. By then, we also hope to have cornpleted the Lincoln Road project, an example of how the private sector -- and not just the public sector -- is capable of delay and inefficiency. We learned recently that Pow Wow will be returning in 1999, and we learned yesterday that the Super Bowl will be here that same year. Yes, as good as this city is, it's going to be even better by the end of this century, just 4 years frorn today. I'm proud that our city staff are doing things not just better than before but in some cases better than the private sector. You carmot imagine what the city's assumption of responsibility for sanitation and security in the former Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue Districts has done for the morale of our employees. After being told for 3 years that they were too incornpetent or too lazy to keep our streets, sidewalks, and parks clean and safe, our personnel are doing what even our strictest critics now admit is a better job than the oceanfront Districts were doing. Never has our Entertainment District been so clean or so safe or so much fun, as exernplified by the American Airlines reception on a beautiful night earlier this week right on Lummus Park, with 1500 travel executives, including the Chairman of Arnerican Airlines, in attendance. We've also made huge strides in parking, with the 7th Street Garage setting a new standard of excellence for parking operations in this city and probably in this County, and with the imminent arrival of new parking rneters that will take multiple coins, tokens, and even debit cards that our rnerchants can provide to their customers or sell to the public at large. Our streets, despite the influx of ever-increasing numbers of visitors, including some recently who felt that they had to break the law in order have fun -- our streets are indeed safer as the incidence of crime over-all went down from 13,376 incidents last year to 12,629 this year-- a decrease of5.58%. Auto theft declined 27.18%; rape declined 37.74%; robbery declined 11.32%; and burglary is down 8.37%. And listen to the felonies that went up, and by how little, between last year and this one: arson increased 8.33%; aggravated assault increased 1.12%; and larceny went up .96%. The only significant increase in criminality on Miami Beach in the last year was in homicides, and it's a deceptive figure; while homicides increased by 300%, the raw number of homicides was extremely small (8 or 9 homicides), and most of those were crimes of passion -- lovers' triangles, broken relationships, and so on. I like to think that, if anything, there has been an increase in passion on Miami Beach 3 over the last year, sornetimes with terrible consequences, but mostly with the kind of irnpact that makes our city today one of the most exciting places in this country in which to live and work. Finally, on the very positive side, I like to think that the goings on at City Hall have likewise improved significantly. Despite heated arguments about a number of important issues that have motivated people to attend Commission meetings and speak out, our City Commission has, I believe, set an example of civility for others to ernulate and has continued its tradition of what I like to call our Athenian democracy -- allowing everyone to be heard on any subject at almost any time, sometimes more than once, and often endlessly. It is a systern that, added to our extensive Board and Cornmittee process, places huge demands on the Administration and at times gives staff a headache, but it is also, from a civic standpoint, a dream of a system, which recognizes the enormous involvement of our citizenry in the business of government. Our staff also continues to strengthen, and our procedures continue to improve, especially in the area of computerization and attitude when dealing with the public. During this fiscal year we will be inaugurating some new software programs that should substantially impact our service levels. First, we will be installing a program called CIVlCALL, which uses a telephone number that we will be advertising, 604-CITY, for use as a central complaint line and information source. A group of specially trained operators working out of the City Clerk's office will field all calls, deal with them in a preformatted way working off of a computer screen, set the appropriate level of priority, and direct the matter to the appropriate person or department. The computer will automatically monitor the resolution of the complaint or problem, alerting the appropriate supervisor and, in due course, an Assistant City Manager, if a matter has not been resolved within the pre-specified period of time. And, of course, the computer will also be creating a new data base that will eventually tell us how many problems involve which departments, how quick our response and resolution times are, and a myriad of additional information for future planning. A second program is the computer codification of our City legislation, and much more. Basically, this software literally tracks legislation from beginning to end, allowing anyone to determine at any point in time where a particular item is along the legislative spectrum -- in or out of a committee, scheduled for hearing, and so on. Beyond that, the systern automatically checks state law and the County charter and ordinances for conflicting legislation or for examples of how other jurisdictions have dealt with the same issue. Finally, the system permits any trained user to find, in a matter of minutes or even seconds, any legislation affecting any matter of interesHo the user. For example, anyone can ask the computer for all legislation of the City of Miami Beach involving, say, automobiles. One will also be able to do proximity searches: all legislation containing the word "autornobile" within 50 words of the word "intersection". One can even use Boolean logic: computer, frod me all legislation containing the word "autornobile", not containing the word "intersection", 4 - -, --- - ,- r- . between January 1 and June 30, 1996, in which the name "John Smith" is mentioned, but not rnore than once -- or any permutation thereof. It's probably more data than you ever knew you needed, but eventually you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. One more thing: our people are also getting better and better all the time, and they're more reflective, especially at high levels of administrative responsibility, of the diversity of our population both in terms of minorities and in terms of women. Thus, since we last met we have a new City Clerk, Bob Parcher; a new Special Events Coordinator, James Quinlan; a new Labor Relations Officer, Richard Bender; a new Building Department Director, Phil Azan; a new Director of Engineering and Construction Management, Julio Grave de Peralta; a new Fire Chief, Luis Garcia; two new Assistant Police Chiefs, Manuel Diaz and James Scarberry; a new Assistant Fire Chief, Floyd Jordan; a new Deputy Planning Director, Janet Gavarrete; . a new Acting Parking Director, Jackie Gonzalez; a new Music and Entertainment Coordinator, Dennis Leyva; and a new Code Enforcement Director, Al Childress. 1 am also very pleased to announce today that next rnonth the City Manager will have a new Special Assistant in the person of Ronnie Singer, who has agreed to lend her time and talents to the betterment of all of the City of Miami Beach after giving the North Beach area a huge boost during her tenure there. And if you've been recently to City Hall, you will have noted that our offices look more professional, as we continue with a refurbishing project which will enhance both our service to the public and the security of our employees. Among other things, we will establish during this fiscal year a "one-stop" permitting process which will enable people to have a building permit processed from beginning to end by moving along a single counter, staffed by all the relevant departments, all on the same floor of the building. We will also redefine and staff the front entrance to the building, to avoid having people wander around looking for city employees or departments, and I hope during the coming year to inaugurate at City Hall a child-care center for the benefit of our employees and, space permitting, of the community at large. I don't want to leave you without making mention that we have a lot of unfinished business, including some things that we have not yet done or have not yet done well. Aside from the need to be fiscally vigilant, as I mentioned at the outset, I am concerned that we have taken only the first few steps in the crucial task of irnplementing performance-based budgeting, an accountability and efficiency tool which will redefine the way we do business and make us rnuch more respectful of the public monies with which we are entrusted. Our Miami Beach Pride team, the interdepartmental clean-up strike force, has but scratched the surface of what needs to continue to be done to improve the appearance of a number of areas in our city. We need to maintain immaculately our new beautification projects to ensure that they look, a year from now, as if they had recently been completed, mindful of Poor Richard's warning that '''It's easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel". We've gotten much better in Code Enforcement and have added six inspectors, but there is much more enforcement to 5 be done. We need to bring the electric shuttle, which will start early next year under the name "The Electric Wave", fully into use as a park-and-ride and circulator system around the Entertainment district and, eventually, as a link to Middle and even North Beach. A group of us went to Chattanooga earlier this week and saw our first 4 buses being built. I think you're going to love this project, and I am particularly pleased that this past year we succeeded in getting $1 million for it from the Federal Government, $100,000 from the State of Florida, and $50,000 from FP&L to help with its financing. The folks in Chattanooga, who started this business and who rnanufacture these vehicles for cities in several states, have made clear to us that the eyes of the nation's urban transportation industry are fixed on Miami Beach and on this project. Like most everything else in this great city today, we intend to succeed and be the showcase for the nation. We obviously also face irnportant challenges in the fight against Mother Nature in the areas of beach erosion and renourishment, bridge repair and replacement, seawall repair and replacement, and the complete fire sprinkling of all of our high-rise buildings. We have also submitted and propose to push a loan-pool plan intended to put Miami Beach in a leadership position in this State -- and rnaybe in this country -- with respect to the undergrounding of all of utilities within our municipal boundaries. It is an idea whose time has corne and whose benefits are not just aesthetic but also practical in this hurricane-barrier island. We need to work with our schools and with our school system to ensure the improvement of the education of our. children, that they, too, may validate the Platonic dictum that "A properly trained mind is the only thing that will preserve the character of its possessor intact through life." Finally, and with this I end this survey of problems and of opportunities, we need to continue to take care of our people, not just the lucky ones like us who can enjoy so many wonderful things that our city has to offer, but also our elderly, our children, our poor, our homeless, our abused, those with disabilities, and those who sornetirnes need a little help in order to be able to develop, and achieve, and contribute. I believe that the extent to which we help others in need will truly define our own worth as citizens and as a community. May I end by reiterating that this is still the best job I've ever had. It has been a privilege to serve you and this great City during the past year, and for that privilege, I thank you very rnuch. . 6 " . -- ~ --