It is a good day for Miami Dade county when an elected leader takes a regional perspective on the future of our county, even when it offends the parochial interests of big campaign contributors whose land values, outside the Urban Development Boundary, are under water. Those are my words, not the Mayor's. For what Mayor Alvarez said to the Miami Herald, read more...
Posted on Wed, Dec. 05, 2007
Dade mayor vetoes development outside line
By MATTHEW I. PINZUR AND CHARLES RABIN
Fearing greater strain on traffic, emergency responders and other government services, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez vetoed plans for a dozen changes to the county's development plan, including three outside the Urban Development Boundary.
''Given the overwhelming impact and implications of moving the UDB line, it would be irresponsible for us, as public servants, to take action without first establishing a comprehensive strategy for the inevitable future expansion of the county,'' Alvarez wrote in a message attached to the vetoes, which he issued early Wednesday.
The County Commission could try to override the veto at its Dec. 18 meeting, but one of the five opponents would need to change sides in order to reach the two-thirds margin. The five no votes were Carlos Gimenez, Sally Heyman, Dennis Moss, Katy Sorenson and Rebeca Sosa.
Without a veto, the dozen applications would likely die for at least six months because changes to the county's master development plan are only considered during two brief annual windows.
``I strongly urge the board to sustain this veto and work, utilizing all available resources, to create and adopt a comprehensive and coherent vision for the future development of Miami-Dade County.''
The development boundary is an imaginary line created to limit urban sprawl and protect the environment; beyond the line, high-density development is largely forbidden.
The commission's Nov. 27 vote was only a preliminary step, sending the applications for further review to the state's Department of Community Affairs before a final vote in April. But Alvarez said even that action ``initiates a move in a dangerous direction without compelling arguments to warrant the move.''
In his message, Alvarez said he was legally unable to just strike down the projects outside the UDB because all 12 applications were part of the same resolution approved by the commission.
''I am vetoing the entire package not to disparage the merits of each one individually, but express my concern with those that could jeopardize the livelihood and sustainability of our county for future generations,'' he wrote.
23 comments:
great news! GREAT MAYOR!
Once again, Mayor Alvarez does the right thing. Kudos!!!
Maybe now you guys will finally believe in, and support, the mayor, instead of taking all of your cheap shots at him.
This is the second time he has stood up for the cause.
I know most of you were upset when he beat Jimmy, but maybe now you can support him.
Moderate, are you in the Mayor's payroll? Not only have I supported but worked very hard in his campaign because I believed in him. Notwithstanding, some of his actions have disappointed -maybe I'm a dreamer but I expected a higher standard from him.
At least with this veto I might recover part of my faith in him.
gimleteye:
I'm a newbie trying to follow Miami-Dade County politics...
So who will be hurt politically and/or financially by this veto regarding the UDB?
Any names,organizations,etc in particular?
Just trying to "follow the money"..as I remember that line from "All the President's Men".
This took about as much effort as involuntary breathing. Its high time that this Mayor step up, and begin to address the multiple issues with County Staff, especially the overpaid and underachieving County Manager. I don't even know why we have $400K a year County Manager since the County Mayor assumed all the powers and responsibilities of the County Manager pursuant to the Strong Mayor vote. This was the Mayor's attempt to appease the activists. Appears some of you have taken the apple, and are chewing on it. Don't lose sight of the big picture.
The Manager's Staff Need To Be Slashed And Burned . . . too many assistants making over 100k while citizens are being laid off!
Let's congratulate Mayor Carlos Alvarez for the vetoed items, and commissioners Carlos Gimenez, Sally Heyman, Dennis Moss, Katy Sorenson and Rebeca Sosa for their NO Votes.
Milly Herrera
Hialeah, Florida
Milly, I echo your statements. When are you going to run again?
Not a moderate --
this blog has always been supportive of the mayor...where have you been? I did one cartoon of him with natacha, except for that cheap shot, there has been no other...
He has guts and did the right thing. There will be many very rich people angry at him. I for one respect him.
genius, who did you vote for in 2004
I would be willing to bet my bottom dollar that is was Jimmy.
We've gotta strong mayor now with veto power who is acting on behalf of the citizens of Dade County. Yes, we put him in there for transparency of government. He's showing wisdom and for what anonymous above said: "It's high time that the Mayor step up, and begin to address the multiple issues with County Staff--their souls, highly paid and under-
achieving. Now, let's also work
on 8 year term limits for County Commissioners and give new faces
a decent salary.
El Sid
Not a moderate - actually I was not happy with Jimmy as he voted on some 11th hour perk that gave the county commission some extra power...it might have been communications but I don't remember. As for my vote: I went to many debates, about 5 at least, Alvarez didn't show up for any of them. Obviously, that influenced my decision. He was targeting certain areas I would suppose and wrote off Jimmy's turf and I would suppose that was a good strategy since he won. That being said, I am not sharing my vote at this time.
corrections: Milly never ran for office, anon person above, you are thinking of "MILLIE". Two different people.
And El Sid:8 years is quite enough you are right, especially when you think they have 8 years to go (you have to start fresh). I might die with Natacha still in office. That is not comforting.
Gee Moderate, why is it we cant criticize the Mayor when he does something we dont like? Are you on his staff? Are you a former cop that has to fall in line with the rank and file?
Carlos is a big boy, he can take the criticism, its called Democracy and is protected by the constituion, you know, that document that the police keeps wiping their ass with?...
arrested during ftaa,
Sorry you couldn't get a repeat of the Battle in Seattle for your leftwing anti-capitalist protest of FTAA. Next time, do as the nice officer asks you, and you can continue to protest peacefully. The cops in Miami have to put up with too much shit already. Just ask the ones not attending a funeral this week.
And a great veto by the Mayor. I hope the BCC doesn't override it. Any bets on whose arm will be twisted off to override?
I am very interested to see what Dorrin Rolle will do. If he is going to turn over a new leaf he will not vote to override.
But here is what is going to happen. They need some of those projects to go forward .... so it will be a close call...
I agree with Gimleteye that it is a good day for Miami-Dade when the Mayor takes a regional perspective on the future of our county.
By holding the Urban Development Boundary, this should also give the county less reason to keep pressuring the residents of the Hammocks to have our family-friendly, homeowners, SUBURBAN 104th Street widened to a 6-lane, commercial-size street, immediately.
We Hammocks residents are not totally opposed to the widening of our street, we just don’t think it needs to be done now. We want the county to look at all the available options, like widening the two or more commercial streets immediately North and South of 104th Street.
Commercial streets, N Kendal Drive - 88th Street and 120th Street are not yet 6-lane highways in our neighborhood, so why is the county insisting they 'need' to widen our
104th St neighborhood carriageway immediately while telling us 120th Street can not be widened to 6-lanes?
Whose county planning idea was this?
There is a US Immigration office building under construction at the corner of 120th Street and 147th Ave. One more reason for the county to widen 120th Street immediately to accommodate the anticipated major traffic flow ON THAT COMMERCIAL STREET.
Is this just another bullying tactic by the county to force our neighborhood into considering ‘incorporation’ as a means of avoiding the widening of 104th St. at this time? If Hammocks chooses to ‘incorporate’ to avoid this immediate pressure by the county, then the county would rid itself of having to continue maintenance of some neighborhood roads, providing 911 Emergency services etc. as these expenses would be transferred directly to Hammocks homeowners, after ‘incorporation’.
How many other suburban neighborhoods, like the Hammocks, have been coerced and bullied by the county into choosing to 'incorporate' their neighborhoods just to avoid this type of pressure, which includes commercialization of their family-oriented neighborhood streets?
Do you know Gimleteye?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/kendall/story/336679.html
Posted on Sun, Dec. 09, 2007
WEST KENDALL
Move to delay parkway widening
West Kendall residents who have been battling the county for a year to kill plans to widen Southwest 104th Street have renewed hope after Thursday.
Posted on Sun, Dec. 09, 2007
BY YUDY PINEIRO
ypineiro@MiamiHerald.com
In a small victory for Hammocks area activists opposed to widening Killian Parkway to six lanes, a county transportation subcommittee agreed Thursday that the roadwork should be delayed.
But not so quick.
Several other boards must first consider the resolution approved 5-1 by a subcommittee of the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee. The resolution asks the county to stall the roadwork until activists and public works officials reach a ``reasonable consensus.''
The full Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee will consider it next at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW First St. at County Commission chambers.
''We're not saying don't do it,'' said Miles Moss, president of the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations. ``We're just saying at this point it's not needed.''
Moss and other residents told the subcommittee that plans to expand Southwest 104th Street to six lanes -- first between Southwest 137th and 147th avenues, then between 147th and 152nd avenues -- should be delayed at least until the county finalizes area transportation plans.
''We are talking about doing this in a vacuum,'' said Jane Walker, who has led the effort against the road widening.
Public works officials said the roadwork is not being done in a vacuum because it's been in the county's long-range transportation plans since 1991.
''It was always meant to be a six-lane roadway,'' said Leandro Oña, chief of Highway Division for the Public Works Department.
Oña said the roadwork is necessary for two reasons:
• To improve traffic flow in the already-congested West Kendall area.
''This is one of the most congested areas in the county,'' he said. ``It's not going to get any better.''
• To minimize the impact of added traffic expected from planned commercial developments such as the 160-acre Kendall Commons at Kendall Drive and Southwest 162nd Avenue and the mixed-use Century Business Park, 65 acres at Southwest 157th Avenue and 120th Street.
Besides, Oña said because those developments were approved contingent upon Killian Parkway's widening, the county could face legal obstacles if it abandons the roadwork.
''If we delay it, I don't know what we'll be violating,'' he said.
Oña said the project has already been delayed quite a bit as new plans were drawn to include enhanced landscaping, decorative street lighting and signaled U-turns -- what public works calls concessions, but residents say they never negotiated.
Changes in the work's scope, public works officials say, have increased the project's price tag by $1 million to more than $7 million, requiring them to ask county commissioners to terminate the current contract and put the project out for bid again.
Debate over the roadway expansion has been brewing since late last fall, but really picked up steam in January when residents banded together, circulating a petition to stop the work and save the freshly-planted palm trees along the median.
Recently, about 77 percent of Hammocks residents who responded to a poll circulated by the community's board of directors said they were against the road expansion.
''Who are we widening this road for? It's not for the residents out there,'' said Janice Martone.
``Nobody wants it. So who is it for?''
NOW VETO THIS...........
The Interstate 5 freeway is closed in both directions at the Newhall Pass Saturday Oct. 13, 2007, as the truck route tunnel still smolders after a 15-truck pileup on the rain-slicked Golden State Freeway in northern Los Angeles County in Santa Clarita, Calif., late Friday.
» More Photos
• Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Jason Hurd says it was a horrific scene.
• 5 trucks burn in Calif. freeway tunnel
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --
A late-night crash in a Southern California freeway tunnel quickly turned into a fiery, chain-reaction pileup that mangled several trucks, killed at least two people and shut down the key north-south route as the wreckage burned into Saturday.
The crash late the night before involved an estimated 15 big rigs and possibly one or more passenger cars and sent people fleeing for their lives from the flaming tunnel. At least five of the trucks burst into flames, and the fire spread to the others. Ten people were injured.
"It looked like a bomb went off," said Los Angeles County firefighter Scott Clark, one of about 300 firefighters who battled the blaze through the night.
The bodies of two crash victims were found in the tunnel Saturday, said California Highway Patrol Officer David Porter. He couldn't immediately say whether one of them was a trucker listed as missing.
Firefighters could find more bodies as they explored the charred tunnel Saturday, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Ron Haralson.
The pileup in the southbound truck tunnel of Interstate 5 began about 11 p.m. Friday when two big rigs collided on the rain-slickened highway about 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. As crashes continued throughout the tunnel, which is about an eighth of a mile long, five tractor-trailers burst into flames, and the fire quickly spread.
NO TUNNELS IN MIAMI
I agree with Gimleteye that it is a good day for Miami-Dade when the Mayor takes a regional perspective on the future of our county.
By holding the Urban Development Boundary, this should also give the county less reason to keep pressuring the residents of the Hammocks to have our family-friendly, homeowners, SUBURBAN 104th Street widened to a 6-lane, commercial-size street, immediately.
We Hammocks residents are not totally opposed to the widening of our street, we just don’t think it needs to be done now. We want the county to look at all the available options, like widening the two or more commercial streets immediately North and South of 104th Street.
Commercial streets, N Kendal Drive - 88th Street and 120th Street are not yet 6-lane highways in our neighborhood, so why is the county insisting they 'need' to widen our
104th St neighborhood carriageway immediately while telling us 120th Street can not be widened to 6-lanes?
Whose county planning idea was this?
There is a US Immigration office building under construction at the corner of 120th Street and 147th Ave. One more reason for the county to widen 120th Street immediately to accommodate the anticipated major traffic flow ON THAT COMMERCIAL STREET.
Is this just another bullying tactic by the county to force our neighborhood into considering ‘incorporation’ as a means of avoiding the widening of 104th St. at this time? If Hammocks chooses to ‘incorporate’ to avoid this immediate pressure by the county, then the county would rid itself of having to continue maintenance of some neighborhood roads, providing 911 Emergency services etc. as these expenses would be transferred directly to Hammocks homeowners, after ‘incorporation’.
How many other suburban neighborhoods, like the Hammocks, have been coerced and bullied by the county into choosing to 'incorporate' their neighborhoods just to avoid this type of pressure, which includes commercialization of their family-oriented neighborhood streets?
Do you know Gimleteye?
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