LTC 132-2011 City Awarded Outstanding Achievement City Livability Award m MIAMIBEACH
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # 132 -2011 LETTEAITt°[A`�C b1�► % ON
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TO: Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Members of the City Commiss dLEF
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FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
DATE: May 31, 2011
SUBJECT: City Awarded the Outstanding Achievement City Livability Award by The United
States Conference of Mayors for DecoBike Program
I have the great pleasure of informing you that the City has been awarded the Outstanding
Achievement City Livability Award in the 2011 City Livability Awards program sponsored by
The U.S. Conference of Mayors. For the past 32 years, the City Livability Awards Program
has been one of the most competitive programs sponsored by The U.S. Conference of
Mayors. This program, which is also supported by Waste Management, Inc., selects
communities that have developed innovative and successful programs that improve the
quality of life for city residents.
This year hundreds of Mayors and their city governments submitted applications with a wide
range of programs, to compete for the honor of calling themselves a City Livability Award
Winner. Ten winners were selected from the Large Cities category and ten winners were
selected from the Small Cities category. Miami Beach was selected for an award in the
Small Cities Program (includes cities smaller than 100,000 in population). The 20 award -
winning cities were determined by an independent panel of judges selected by The U.S.
Conference of Mayors. The awards will be announced at the United States Conference of
Mayors Annual Meeting in Baltimore on Saturday, June 18, 2011.
The City Livability Awards Program was brought to the attention of the Administration by
Commissioner Libbin, who, along with the Mayor encouraged the Administration to submit
an application. Because of its success and innovativeness, the DecoBike Program was
selected as the City's project.
The DecoBike program, which addresses the goal of enhancing mobility throughout the City,
is revolutionizing the way residents and tourists commute and has become a valuable mode
of alternative public transportation. When complete, this program will be the most
comprehensive, year -round bike - sharing program in the United States with 115 solar -
powered bicycle stations and approximately 1,000 bicycles conveniently situated citywide.
This innovative program allows commuters to check out a bike from any station and return to
any station 24/7. All locations are at or near major commercial and retail centers, parks,
visitor destinations and major roads, and are coordinated with parking facilities. In the first
two (2) weeks of operation DecoBike reported around 20,000 rentals and received much
praise and publicity from local and national news and media stations. This successful
program makes Green and Sustainable transportation part of our everyday life.
I am confident that DecoBike will continue to be a successful and valuable program in the
City of Miami Beach.
JMG /KGB /JMH