LTC 301-2003 CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission NO. ,~/'
To:
From:
Subject:
Mayor David Dermer and Date: December 22, 2003
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez ~~
City Manager (y
RESPONSE TO'MR. R. PORGES REGARDING 62ND STREET
Please find attached my response to Mr. Robert Porges' e-mail regarding the exclusion of
62nd Street from the planned improvements for the La Gorce Neighborhood. Since it is
likely that we will receive more of these types of questions, it is important that we convey to
our residents that funds are being allocated through an aggressive consensus building
process designed to optimize residential satisfaction with the ClP Program. At the same
time, we must be realistic and acknowledge that we cannot address every street city wide
with the current funding sources.
Attachment
CC: Robert C. Middaugh, Assistant City Manager
Tim Hemstreet, ClP Director
F:\Ca pi'~d~dl~Ronnie~PorgesLTC
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
Telephone 305 673-70t 0
Facsimile 305 673-7782
December 22, 2003
Robert Porges
5656 Pine Tree Dr.
Miami Beach, FL 33140
Dear Mr. Porges:
Thank you for your recent correspondence to our Capital Improvement Projects Office
regarding proposed improvements for 62nd Street.
The issues that you have expressed are understandable, and one that many of our
residents have expressed upon learning that although many improvements were planned
for their neighborhood, their neighborhood project did not have improvements planned for
their specific street. While I can assure you that the City does everything possible to
stretch available project dollars to effect as many improvements as possible, the funding
voted upon by our residents is not sufficient to cover every street in every neighborhood.
To determine how best to utilize dollars equitably throughout the City, a lengthy consensus
building public process was used in each of the City's 13 neighborhoods. In the La Gorce
Neighborhood in particular, a series of advertised and well attended public meetings were
held prior to the televised presentations to the General Obligation (GO) Bond Oversight
Committee, and ultimately to the City Commission for formal adoption of conceptual plans
from which construction plans are now being prepared and permitted. Please be aware
that the 1999 General Obligation Neighborhoods Bond allocated only $200,000 for the
entire La Gorce Neighborhood, hardly sufficient to address every need on every street in
La Gorce. This amount is the total amount available from this funding source for this
neighborhood and must fund all costs for the project, i.e., design fees, planning fees,
administration fees, permitting, contingencies, and construction.
Based on the fact that the GO Bond amount was limited, the community consensus
process recommended to the City Commission that the GO Bond dollars be combined with
improvements planned from other funding sources within the La Gorce Neighborhood. As
an example, there are Stormwater Bonds and Water and Sewer Bonds that allocated funds
for improvements in the Lakeview area in south La Gorce and the La Gorce Park area in
north La Gorce. Since those areas were scheduled to have below-ground improvements
as noted above, the decision was to have the GO Bond allocation spent in those same
areas to complement the below-ground improvements. This is consistent with the general
goals of the City Commission to coordinate above-ground and below-ground
improvements.
Mr. Robert Porges
December 19, 2003
Page 2 of 2
From a Neighborhood perspective, please be aware that in addition to the GO Bond
improvements, both Alton Road to the west, and La Gorce and Pine Tree Drives to the
east, are being improved through separate projects now being implemented.
Please do not hesitate to contact me, or Ronnie Singer, the Community Information
Manager for the Capital Improvement Projects Office, if you would like further information
on any element of the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP)"Planned Progress" Program.
Sincerely,
Jorge M. Gonzalez
City Manager
cc: Robert C. Middaugh, Assistant City Manager
Tim Hemstreet, CIP Office Director
Ronnie Singer, Community Information Manager
F:\CAPI~$ali~GABRIEL\RONNI~LE I i t:RS~vlr Porges 12-19-03.doc