144-2001 LTC CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No.
To: Honorable Mayor Neisen O. Kasdin and Date: June 22, 2001
Members of the City Commission
Subject: NEIGHBORHO SERVICES DEPARTMENT
As you know, I have consolidated Community DevelopmentJCDBG, Housing, Homeless Coordination, EIder
Affairs, Children's Affairs/Neighborhoods First, Civicall, Community Resources & Outreach, Code Compliance,
and Media Relations to form the Neighborhood Services Department. The overriding goal of the Depadment
is to develop the Commission's desire to focus on our neighborhoods and their needs.
The draft mission and goals of the Neighborhood Services Department are as follows:
Building Neighborhood Capacity
When people organize and become more knowledgeable about how government works, they can
help meet their community's needs. Their energy and creativity combined with other public and
private resources will create a diverse group working together in each neighborhood to mobilize new
assets and generate positive change.
Redesign Public Services
The people who live and work in a neighborhood are excellent judges of their neighborhood's
priorities, opportunities and needs. The Neighborhood Services Department gives residents a forum
where unique neighborhood needs can be voiced to public officials and government staff. This dialog
will lead to the reexamination of budget priorities and new methods of public service delivery.
Create a Sense of Community
Neighborhood revitalization ultimately depends on a sense of neighborhood identity and a
commitment by all residents to make their neighborhood a better place to live, work, learn and play.
In order to reach these goals, the Neighborhood Services Department will conduct regular meetings with
neighborhoods. The first of these meetings has been scheduled with the Middle Beach Neighborhood for
Tuesday, June 26, 2001 at 6:30 p.m. at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. The Commission will be kept
informed of future meetings to allow you the opportunity to attend.
This is just the start of the department's efforts. As the Neighborhood Services Department is further
developed additional meetings will be held throughout the community. We are in the process of interviewing
candidates for the Director of the Neighborhood Services Department and hope to have the best qualified
person on board very soon.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact Assistant City Manager Bob Middaugh.
JM.'~MSG~TemM~ Beach Mtg LTC.dOC
c: Robert C, Middaugh, Assistant City Manager