LTC 407-2018 Rue Vendome ActivationMIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO . LTC #
407-2018
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members of
FROM : Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: July 23 , 2018
SUBJECT: Rue Vendome Activation
LETTER TO COMMISSION
The purpose of this Letter to Commission is to provide you with an update on the community
activations on the Rue Vendome Plaza in the North Beach neighborhood.
Over the past several weeks , staff has been exploring different ways to activate and enhance
the Rue Vendome experience , working closely with local businesses , stakeholders and
community residents. Further, pursuant to specific direction given at the June 29 , 2018 meeting
of the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee, staff has taken immediate steps to temporarily
plan activities on Rue Vendome .
A key component of the North Beach Master Plan was the recommendation to transform
Normandy Isle into a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented public plaza . The short-term recommendation
was to close off Rue Vendome and transform it into a temporary plaza. In partnership with
Street Plans, an urban design firm, Administration closed off the street on April 7, 2018 and
repainted the surface lot with an art deco sunburst mural.
Thereafter, at the direction of the City Commission , the Tourism , Culture and Economic
Development team together with neighborhood businesses and residents have developed
temporary programed activities and initiatives to activate the street , including yoga , meditation ,
music , a pop-up library , all in addition to the current First Friday night music and Saturday
Farmer 's Market. The additional activities will be introduced over the next few weeks in order to
take a temperature read on community interest and participation .
Further, staff has created a temporary pop-up park on Rue Vendome , put in place as of this
past Friday , July 20 , 2018. In the spirit of creative placemaking as an urban tactic for community
building and streetscape activation, Staff has curated various types of casual and inexpensive
seating, umbrellas and life-sized games. Pop-up parks serve as a quick way to activate a space
by testing out different ideas to determine the best use of the space and to encourage
pedestrian activity . This concept has been tested and performed in cities all across the country,
and has served as a way to better inform long term design plans of public spaces . The materials
used are designed to be durable , flexible, and low-cost, and can be transported to other
locations around Miami Beach to activate underused public spaces in the future . It is important
to note that pop-up activations differ from permanent installations in that they are designed to be
low cost approaches to test the impact on place making and social interactions.
Within minutes of placing the life-sized games on the plaza, young children were playing and
enjoying the space. During the course of the weekend, multiple local businesses and community
members reached out to express surprise and delight with the new pop-up activation,
experiencing the space in a new way .
In coordination with the Communications Department, Staff has created a digital campaign to
market this pop-up using the hashtag "KnowNoBe," a copy of that flyer is attached to this L TC .
By branding and marketing this space, we hope to drive residents to Rue Vendome allowing
them to reimagine the future of this critical commercial corridor -encouraging the community to
come, play, and stay . The increase in pedestrian activity associated with pop-up activations
helps to build community ownership of the space and also generally dissuades loitering and
theft. Staff has also been in discussion with the North Beach assigned police team regarding the
new space and coordinated an informal monitoring of the activities occurring in the area.
Further, the Tourism, Culture and Economic Development team will support the tidiness of the
area with periodic checks on the pop-up items.
We will evaluate the success of this plaza by tracking the hashtag use as well as from direct
feedback provided by residents and the surrounding businesses . We will also request
participation counts from our partners who will be activating the space through various classes,
performances, and fairs. If we have found that this site is of benefit to the neighborhood, we can
then evaluate how to consider making this activation a permanent component to the Rue
Vendome experience.
C: Kathie Brooks, Assistant City Manager
Eva Silverstein, Director, Tourism , Culture and Economic Development
Heather Shaw, Assistant Director, Tourism, Culture and Economic Development
Michelle Huttenhoff, Economic Development Manager