Loading...
LGBTQ Advisory Board Minutes - 3-9-2021 LGBTQ Advisory Committee Committee Chair, Paul Thomas Meeting Minutes Tuesday, March 9, 2021 Members in attendance – Cindy Brown, Craig Garmendia, Edward Kring, Gayle Durham, Michael Bath, Paul Thomas, Riki Wilchins, Robin Schwartz, Sunny Weber Others in attendance- Dan Rios, GMCVB, Officer Manny Valdes, PD Called to order at 1:08 p.m. Ongoing Business: A. Approval of the February 9, 2021 meeting minutes- February minutes have not been sent. Morgan will send them for approval at the April meeting. B. MBPD Updates – Officer Valdes provided some updates a. MBPD has been busy with spring break but it hasn’t been bad. b. Hate Summit planned for July. This is an opportunity to get together with people of the community and conduct ongoing training. Didn’t have one last year because of the pandemic. c. Eddie shared reports from friends that their overall sense of safety is a concern - people are getting jumped and beat up. He asked current efforts are in place to help reduce violence against LGBTQ people in Miami Beach, especially during periods like Spring Break when we have so many visitors who don’t share our values. MBPD doesn’t have anything specific to the LGBTQ community but they do have a lot more officers on the beat. There was a general consensus by the committee that the streets don’t feel as safe as they used to be. Manny said it’s going to be a while before it gets cleaned up. A lot has deteriorated in the past few years. In response to Eddie’s comment that he’d love to see things done sooner vs. later, Manny said that things are being done now but he’s unsure how effective they are. Lights on police cards are one from sunset to sunrise to send the message “we’re here – don’t do it.” There’s ramped up parking enforcement on Collins Avenue. MBPD is trying to come up with different ways to deter the crime and ensure that the police presence is more visible. d. Gayle asked about the April 5th end of the curfew. It seems this was just announced by Miami-Dade County, but it is unclear if Miami Beach will extend the curfew further. Manny reported that there was talk that it would not end until after Spring Break. C. GMCVB / Marketing updates – Dan Rios provided some updates a. GMCVB continues to get numbers in from Miami Land campaign that ended in January. 240,000 bookings came from this 3-month campaign and more bookings are still coming in. The campaign received 170 million impressions. of which 10% (17 million impressions) came from the LGBTQ community. Committee Members Cindy Brown Craig Garmendia Daniel Diaz Edward Kring Gayle Durham Herb Sosa Mark Wylie Michael Bath Nikolas Montolio Riki Wilchins Robin Schwartz Sunny Weber b. Trying to expand social media reach. Getting ready to promote Miami Health and Wellness program. GMCVB brought in a social media influencer who experienced the Everglades and other outdoor activities. New Business: A. Discuss Vacancies on Committee a. There are currently two vacancies, one for Commissioner Arriola and one for Commissioner Steinberg. b. When Liz left she asked Commissioner Góngora to put someone in her seat. Nikolas Montolio was appointed in November but has never shown up. Morgan had been in email communication with him, but he has been unresponsive since November 10. Liz and Robin both tried to reach out to him. This is the third meeting that he has missed. If he absent in April, he will be kicked off the committee. c. There was much discussion about the committee’s role in selecting appointees. • The Committee can show support for a candidate, but it is up to the mayor and commissioners who to appoint. • There is a list of applicants for this committee online, but right now there is an issue with the clerk’s website and the information showing is from 2019. Morgan will send the list of applicants to the committee. • It’s not our job to find the next person but it would be helpful if we as a group came up with some names and suggestions. • If we come across people who would be good additions, then we should ask them to apply. • Liz left because she wanted to make room for someone who is nonbinary to be on the committee. d. Cindy is still in limbo position. The commissioners must approve her because she doesn’t live or work on the Beach. B. Discuss Gay Beach relocation a. Discuss was held that a lot of confusion and buzz has been generated by an ad from the Palace that says the Gay Beach is moving to 10th Street. It was unclear if this is just a Palace marketing ploy or something official, but the general consensus is that this is something the Palace is doing alone and that it was irresponsible for them to make this statement. b. There is concern that the area closer to 10th street is where a lot of college partiers are and it may create uncomfortable situations. c. It was expressed that when the City painted the crosswalk at 12th Street that this was the designation of where the gay beach was. The Palace wasn’t the only business on 12th Street. There were multiple businesses there. 12th Street is also known around the world the gay beach. d. There’s an official ribbon-cutting with Commissioner Góngora doing the cutting. Paul to reach out to him to let him know the Committee is concerned about safety, marketing, and tourism. C. Discuss LTC re: rainbow flags on lifeguard stands- the LTC wording was straight forward and the Committee agreed to move forward with it. D. Pride Park was brought up- the Park across the street from the Convention Center is not about LGBTQ Pride, it’s about City Pride. There’s going to be a Veterans Memorial there and Paul heard there won’t be any kind of art put up that isn’t related to the Memorial. E. City’s Budget a. Paul asked if someone could come in and explain how it works. There’s no budget or pot of money that we aren’t tapping into. Morgan explained that every department says what they need. If commissioners want something not in the department’s budget, it’s discussed at a budget workshop in June. It’s tentatively approved but goes to commission in September. b. The LTC for $150,000 for LGBTQ initiatives is still pending. It will be brought up at the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee during the budget briefing meetings. This when be the time to advocate for money. Paul suggests we bring something to the table. Gayle suggested going privately to Commissioner Góngora or Richardson instead of sending an LTC about our wishes and ask them to present it. Paul doesn’t want to rely only on the gay commissioners; they won’t be there forever. The committee will bring ideas to the next meeting and we will agree on the top 3. After that each of us can talk to our respective commissioners. Subcommittees Reports and Next Actions 1) HRC Rating (Cindy, Paul, Eddie)- HRC hasn’t put out the 2021 requirements. 2) LGBTQ Visibility/Marketing/Tourism (Eddie, Gayle, Mark, Sunny, Danny, Herb, Michael)- The subcommittee needs to set its next meeting. a. Marriage Equality Month is moving forward thanks to Commissioners Góngora and Richardson. i. June 26 is now Marriage Equality Day in Miami Beach. Pride Month has been moved to June. (Note: This has nothing to do with the Miami Beach Gay Pride.) ii. They City is going to fix the website for marriage requirements. b. The LGBTQ memorial will be discussed at the next Neighborhood and Quality of Life Committee meeting on March 22 (via Zoom) i. There was some uncertainty about whether they will discuss creating a backdrop for marriage ceremonies using the LGBTQ art sculpture or a backdrop that is not marriage-specific but intended for everyone. ii. Morgan will send an email about the Neighborhood and Quality of Life Committee meeting in case we want to speak about it and will input all of our emails to sign us up for notifications about meetings. 3) Health and Wellness (Craig, Riki, Paul) a. There have been some discussions about why the City doesn’t have access to state-level data. It’s something we may need to ask the city – can they obtain that data and, if not, why? b. We would like to know how healthcare changed during COVID: What entities have had challenges and can the City do anything to help them? For public entities, who is receiving money for healthcare-related service? How can we be sure our community is being represented in health-related services? The subcommittee is trying to find out what the City can do more to help. c. Want to talk to Florida Health Justice Project of find out what is going on related to our community in this area. This group healthcare attorneys fighting for legislation in Tallahassee. Paul having breakfast with them Thursday. 4) Advocacy Subcommittee (Paul, Robin, Sunny, Eddie, Cindy)- No report. Meeting adjourned at 2:20 p.m.