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LGBTQ Advisory Board Minutes - 3-12-19 LGBTQ Advisory Committee Committee Chair, Robin Schwartz Meeting Minutes Tuesday, March 12, 2019 Members in attendance – Robin Schwartz, Cindy Brown, Herb Sosa, George Neary, Elizabeth Schwartz, Alexander Palenzuela, Riki Wilchins, Gayle Durham, Danny Diaz, Mark Wylie, Craig Garmendia, Jonathan Barrio, Roger Thomson Others in attendance- Dan Rios (GMCVB), Constance Collins, Mark Scharnitz, Elizabeth Regalado Called to order at 1:00 p.m. Ongoing Business: A. Approval of the February 12, 2019 minutes. Motion by: Herb Sosa, second by: Cindy Brown, All in favor. B. MBPD Updates – None C. GMCVB / social media updates – Dan Rios spoke. He read off a printout of all of the LGBTQ marketing happenings going on. List attached with minutes. New Business: A. Discussion of new shelter for LGBTQ homeless in Miami Beach (Constance Collins from Lotus House)- Robin mentioned that it is actually not a shelter. That was a mistake and they will hear all about the project shortly. Constance Collins handed out a one page sheet that goes into detail about the new Lotus House project, permanent housing on Miami Beach and leveraging the charitable dollars with the 1 penny tax. She spoke about what the Lotus House is and does for people; she also provided some background on how it began. She spoke about what she called the 1 penny tax. She explained that it was brought in front of the Commission and it did not pass. She explained what the 1 penny tax is; it is one penny on the dollar, which equals 1%. This is paid by the consumer at a restaurant it only applies to food and beverages at restaurants that have a liquor license and those who have revenue of over $400,000 a year and are not in hotels. She said this tax has been in effect across Miami-Dade County except in Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and Surfside for the last 2 decades. Those funds have been funding the homeless continuum of services across the County. They are seeking for the City of Miami Beach to pass a resolution to opt into the 1 penny tax and they will be asking Bal Harbour and Surfside as well. She said this is scheduled for a public hearing at tomorrow’s Commission meeting at 5 p.m. She explained this is a gap in the continuum; the building that would be built in Miami Beach would be able to accommodate men and not just women and children. Committee Members Alexander Palenzuela Cindy Brown Craig Garmendia Daniel Diaz Elizabeth Schwartz Gayle Durham George Neary Jamie Guirola Jonathan Barrio Mark Wylie Riki Wilchins Roger Thomson Stephen Fox, Jr. Committee members asked questions and gave their opinions. One of the things that were mentioned were that the Miami Beach taxes would be at 10% if this were to be adopted, making the City of Miami Beach’s taxes the highest in Miami-Dade County. Committee members discussed how this could fill a void the LGBTQ community has been wanting for year, because this would help men receive help. Discussion was held about the housing first model. Ms. Collins expressed what they are proposing is a first on so many levels and she gave examples. Discussion continued about the tax and homelessness. Committee members continued to provide their opinions. Ms. Collins mentioned that she believes the Homeless Trust will give back to Miami Beach the $1.5 million or however much money they are spending on homeless services, so that it will improve the general fund of Miami Beach. Members said that they don’t think it is fair to tax some businesses and not hotels. Discussion was held. Many Committee members think this is a great idea. Some members believe that since Miami Beach has benefited from other communities contributing money for many years, now it is Miami Beach’s turn to contribute their share. Other members said it is not accurate to say Miami Beach has not been contributing, because Miami Beach has just in other ways, this would be money that would be controlled by someone else, not the City. Motion: Alexander made a motion that the Committee recommends for the City Commission pass a resolution supporting the 1 penny tax for the Lotus House project as proposed by the Lotus House. Second: Riki seconded the motion. Discussion was held on the motion. Elizabeth Regalado, Executive Director, Domestic Violence Oversight Board from Miami-Dade County was present. She explained where the money goes and what the money will go towards from the 1% homeless tax. Discussion was held. Those in favor of the motion were as follows: Alexander Palenzuela, Riki W ilchins, Robin Schwartz, Craig Garmendia, Cindy Brown, George Neary, Mark Wylie, and Elizabeth Schwartz. Members who were not in favor of the motion were as follows: Gayle Durham, Heriberto Sosa, Jonathan Barrio, Daniel Diaz, and Roger Thomson. The motion passed. B. Discuss ideas to bring more LGBTQ folks to Miami Beach- postponed to the April 9th meeting. C. Discuss verbiage and possible locations for rainbow plaque placement at 12 th Street and Ocean Drive- There was a printout given of the proposed language from the Visibility/Marketing/Tourism subcommittee. Discussion was held. Members gave their suggestions. Language was updated and provided to the Parks and Recreation Department for implementation of the plaque. D. Discussion regarding the role of Miami Beach City liaisons and their scope of work when it comes to various beach committees (print of motion by the Hispanic Affairs Committee was given)- postponed to the April 9th meeting. E. Jonathan Barrio brought up an issue; he said he has been working with the Hispanic Affairs Committee and the chair of the Police Citizens Relations Committee. He handed out a paper with language of a joint motion by all 3 committees regarding the incident that happened at Burger King. He read aloud the language of the proposed joint motion. Discussion was held as to what happened at Burger King. Robin explained the situation at Burger King. She said she believes this is premature because they don’t know all of the facts yet. Jonathan explained that this Burger King has had many incidents in the past that have been reported to the Police. Further discussion was held. Jonathan said the Hispanic Affairs Committee already adopted this motion and the Police Citizens Relations Committee will adopt it at their March 19 th meeting. Motion: Jonathan made the motion to adopt the joint motion language that was distributed to the Committee. Second: Riki seconded the motion. Members who were in favor of the motion were as follows: 7 were in favor. Members not in favor of the motion were as follows: 5 were not in favor. Robin said she will not be signing the paper. Jonathan said that after the other Committee meets all 3 chair’s will sign the paper and then an LTC will be issued. Subcommittees Reports and Next Actions: The following has been postponed to the April 9th meeting. 1) HRC Rating (Herb, Cindy, Liz) 2) LGBTQ Visibility/Marketing/ Tourism (Gayle, George, Mark, Jamie, Alex, Stephen) 3) Health and Wellness (Ricki, Jamie, Craig) 4) Senior Housing (Cindy, Robin, George, Roger) Meeting adjourned at 2:33 p.m.