LTC 183-2024 Email from SOBESafe Board of Directors - Agenda for Commission Meeting May 15, 2024MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
LTC#
LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Mayor Steven Meiner and Members of the City Commission
Rickelle Williams, Interim City Manager
Ricardo J. Dopico, City Attorney
Joseph M. Centorino, Inspector Geno%
Rafael E. Granado, city clerk7 XI
May 13, 2024
E-mail from SOBESafe Board of Directors - Agenda for Commission Meeting
May 15, 2024
I am sharing with you an Email from the SOBESafe Board of Directors regarding the May 15, 2024,
Commission Agenda.
F:\CLER\$ALL\LTC FROM ASSOCIATIONS\SOBESAFE 05132024.docx
183-2024
Granado, Rafael
Subject: FW: Important Safety Items on This Wednesday's Commission Agenda
Memorandum for the Mayor and Commissioners
Re: Agenda for Commission Meeting May 15
May 13, 2024
Among the themes for which SOBESAFE has consistently advocated are:
• improved public safety, in large part through enhanced police and judicial
enforcement and through better planning for Spring Break;
• improved quality of life, through more effective and proactive code enforcement;
• the importance of incentivizing more permanent (i.e. "non-transient") residents in
the ADCD. Many benefits to safety and quality of life would accrue if more voting
and tax-paying residents at all income levels lived in the ADCD; the potential for
additional housing, especially on Washington Avenue is attractive. It is a complex
issue, but it is important to start somewhere.
A recurrent sub-theme has been the importance of collecting and analyzing data as the
basis for informed decision-making.
We are pleased to support the many items on the Commission agenda that support
these themes:
I. Public Safety
• Judicial Enforcement: Item C7 AD, to appoint a municipal prosecutor as a
special assistant US attorney; and Item R7 D, requesting information from the
11th Judicial Circuit concerning their proposed bail and bond reforms. Note that
these two items, as well as certain others, have been passed over for several
months - we hope that the Commission will now address them.
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• Planning for Spring Break 2025: Items C4 N, C4 0, and C4 Q. Item R9 AR
requests approval for a sailing event during Spring Break 2025, which is the type
of family-friendly, low enforcement-impact event that we support.
• Crime Dashboard: Item C4 K discusses the expansion of the Crime Dashboard.
We have long supported the Crime Dashboard as an essential tool in support of
public safety, but we must admit that we are not aware of significant progress on
previously approved Dashboard elements. We therefore recommend not only
support for this item but expansion of the referral to include a request for a status
report and an update on current plans for implementing the Dashboard.
II. Code Compliance
• Item C? AO Is exactly the kind of Code Enforcement for which we have long
advocated - proactive, including enhanced monitoring systems, and with an
emphasis on noise. Not only do we strongly support this resolution; we hope that
it will be further strengthened to include due dates, deliverables, and metrics for
success (as we think all programmatic resolutions should include).
Ill. More Residents in the ADCD
• Although this is a complex issue, there seems to be broad agreement that
incentives for permanent residency will be necessary. We support Item C4 AA,
which appears to offer a strong start in this direction.
IV. Better Data
• Homelessness is a very complex issue, one that we believe is important but for
which we claim no specific expertise. But one thing we are sure of is that more
comprehensive, higher quality data are a prerequisite to finding solutions. We
therefore endorse Item C? AL.
• We have already discussed our support of Item C4 K, the Crime Dashboard, in
the paragraph on Public Safety. Suffice it to say that this is an essential data
issue.
The SOBESAFE Board
To Participate:
DR. STANLEY SUTNICK CITIZEN'S FORUM. (8:35 A.M./1 :00 P.M.)
In Person: Miami Beach City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive,
3rd Floor, Commission Chamber
Via Zoom: https://miamibeachfl-gov.zoom.us/i/81392857671
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