RESOLUTION APPROVING PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE COUNTY MANATEE PROTECTION PLAN, INCLUDING REVISIONS TO MARINE FACILITIES SITING CRITERIA; DIRECTING THE MAYOR OR MAYOR’S DESIGNEE TO SUBMIT PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE COUNTY MANATEE PROTECTION PLAN TO THE FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION FOR REVIEW AND APPROVAL; DIRECTING THE MAYOR OR MAYOR’S DESIGNEE TO BEGIN TO PREPARE AMENDMENT TO COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT MASTER PLAN RELATED TO PROPOSED REVISIONS TO MANATEE PROTECTION PLAN
The lossening of the Manatee Plan is being heard in committee today. Why I think it won't pass, the 5 people on the Committee: Xavier Suarez won't vote for it, Lynda Bell facing a tough election would not vote for it (suicidal to her campaign) and Barbara Jordan, by quotes in the press, won't vote for it. I am not sure of Audrey but I assume she won't. Only Pepe Diaz is left and he also is up for reelection.
This is how dim, dim Bruno Barreiro is:
On Thursday, Mr. Barreiro is bringing several overly broad proposals written by boaters, marine-industry groups and waterfront property owners to the commission’s land-use and development committee, of which he’s not a voting member.He can't even write his own proposals.
20 comments:
As usual, there is more to this story than meets the eye, and it involves some of the usual suspects in the City of Miami. The Crespogram is on the case and hopefully I'll be posting a story in the next couple weeks.
Bruno can't be commissioner without having a cell phone in his ear to talk to lobbyists who explain to him what to say. It's going on for many years. Shame on Miami Beach voters who keep returning this guy to office!
Watson Island and Terminal Island have lobbyists for proposed projects with mega yachts in the sales brochures.
Bruno the Dim. Remember it was Bruno who made the Motion to approve the Marlins Scam.
Heard there was no vote....
Is there a link to a video of the meeting?
Someone should run him over with a boat.
"F*** the property and business owners, SAVE THE MANATEE!"
I'm so tired of hearing about property and business owners in general when it comes to certain issues. They all have rights obtained when they either purchased property and/or started a business. If they wish to expand or change their land use down the road that's the risk they are taking that they may or may not be able to do it. I'm tired of the BCC being used as a property value enhancement board instead of doing what's right for the community. I'm tired of this business owner stuff too because I am one and I don't need any type of legislation to change anything to expand my business. I'm not sure if your comment was tongue in cheek which it probably was but it's so old to me from watching too much bad stuff from the Dim One and the rest of the URM!
This item was withdrawn but will be back.......
It's not a matter of using the bcc as a "property enhancement board" it's a matter of preserving the property's inherent rights. There has to be a balance between creating a safe habitat for the manatee and helping promote industry on the river. Case in point, the manatee protection plan chased a thriving recreational marine industry out of the Miami river and turned Fort Lauderdale's new river into the center of the marine industry. Even worse, between the manatee protection plan and the Payne vs City of Miami lawsuit, marine industrial property owners are left in an untenable position where they can't develop there properties into residential sites and they can't utilize them to their fullest potential as marine industrial sites.
So I ask you, in my position sitting on nearly six acres, over $5mm in debt services as well as $152,000/year in property taxes, wtf am I supposed to do with a property that's only permitted for six slips?
To Straw Buyer. No one put a gun to your head and forced you to buy the property. No one put a gun to your head and forced you to burden the property with debt. You might not realize it but many people like living near the water. Many people who cannot afford to live on the water like to visit the water. Our scenic beauty and our clean waterways are part of our wealth as a community. No business owner and no property owner should be so short sighted that they justify destroying the environment.
Straw Buyer, I didn't realize you were so well heeled, take me out to dinner sometime.
Whose destroying the environment? You're right, no one put a gun to my head, all I'm trying to do is maintain a business and jobs in an industry that's lost 85% of its jobs since 2007 as well as maintain rights that belong to a property that's been a marine industrial site since 1947. I'm not asking for anything other than for the site to maintain what it's had for nearly 70 years.
As far as maintaining the environment and protecting the manatee, when the state and the Feds cut off funding for manatee research, I kept my doors open for manatee researchers and provided a place for them to work out of for YEARS.
I'll reiterate again, we have to find a happy equilibrium between maintaining a safe environment for the manatees and the industry on the river.
To straw buyer and anyone else asking "balance." The time for that is long past. For the sins of your forefathers and destruction since the industrial revolution it now time to make REPARATIONS, if that is even ever possible. Why is your species and your little problem of personal Profit any more important than the survival of the manatee species. Donate your property as public park, take the tax write off. And forget about it.
Sounds like a plan, thanks!
SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN! Thanks!
So let me get this straight.
If we want to cut pollution from cars, or car-related deaths, we limit the number of garages and parking spaces that can be built.
If we want to cut manatee deaths, we limit the number of boat slips.
Hey, that makes sense!
I am a responsible boater, and probably have done more to protect the environment than 95% of the posters on this blog. I walk the walk (or bike!) in so many aspects of my life, and that of my family's.
Many of the current manatee "protections" are nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to keep the public riff-raff away from wealthy areas.
Witness the illegal prohibition against non-property owners entering the Coral Gables Waterway during certain times of the year. Sorry CG, you can't just close off a public waterway.
Similar to restrictions around pricey areas near Key Biscayne. Then there's Miami Marine Stadium. But that's another rant.
Once an area is designated a manatee zone, with no wake or limited speed, it's very tough to change that designation. Never mind that manatees might only cruise that area very infrequently, or in small numbers.
The current manatee plan needs updating.
Let's have a rational discussion on how to balance competing interests.
Part of that discussion should be about FPL's role -- and the role of other utilities that discharge warm water that attracts manatees (which technically are West Indian manatees).
There's also the FPL oil and service barges that kill manatees.
No man-made discharges of warm water, fewer manatees concentrated in one area.
I also would love to one day hear from the manatee lobby what they consider a sustainable population. As in hard numbers. At least a range.
Then we can use that as a benchmark in the debate over our ultimate goal.
Is our goal keeping manatees from becoming extinct? That's laudable, doable.
Is it to have the manatee population return to pre-historic levels? I dunno about this one.
BTW, does anyone know what those population levels might be? I have heard they were actually lower, pre FPL power plants. But I don't claim to know if that's BS or not.
Or to continue using manatee protection as a growth management tool for frustrated environmentalists and smart growth people?
China, India, Paris... everyone is suffering from pollution. In some cities in China it looks dark at noon. Why? So a businessman can make a profit? Who is protecting the world so it will survive another 100-200 years? There is no excuse to justify polluting the Miami River and to kill more Manatees.
Whatever Bruno promotes is sinister. Marlins scam? More billboards? Taxpayers paying rent to his family? Etc.
Responsible boater, you hit the nail on the head. If the Manatee protection plan isn't modified, the Miami River will eternally be a shithole, sorry but that's the truth. The river should be at the heart of our city rather than an afterthought that no one knows how to properly deal with. It's a down right shame that we live in the yachting/boating capital of the world yet you can count the number of waterfront restaurants that are accessible by boat practically on one hand. It's embarrassing to have visitors come from out of town asking to go out somewhere to eat on your yacht and only be able to offer them Garcia's (which doesn't have a proper dock), Casablanca or Seasalt & Pepper (which btw is operating their dock illegally as DERM hasn't given them the proper permits). It's a sad commentary on our local government and waterfront stakeholders for not being able to properly manage and utilize the waterfront.
To the folks that live around the river, is the river in its current state what you want or would you rather have a thriving river that's open to recreational boaters and pedestrians on a proper riverwalk? To the residents of Durham Park, are you happy with the run down disused marine industrial sites at the entrance of your neighborhood? If the manatee protection plan isn't changed, it's only going to get worse.
For those extremists that want to keep the plan the way it is, let me tell you something, restricting recreational vessels from traveling up and down the river isn't going to do a damn thing to protect the manatees, the entire river is a no wake zone, therefore additional traffic at idle speed should pose no danger whatsoever to the manatees. I would be far more afraid of the twin screw 2000hp tugs that move the cargo ships up and down the river. Go by the river and see what kind of thrust their props create when maneuvering a 300' ship through the river, that's far worse than any damage a recreational boater traveling at idle speed could possibly do. And guess what? With the manatee protection, if plan left the way it is, these tugs can go up and down the river unfettered by any regulations from DERM.
Everyone is missing the big picture, the real harm that's being done to the manatees and the river isn't from vessels, recreational or otherwise, it's from the emissions from the metal recyclers over at the north western end of the river. I have photos and videos that would make you sick to your stomach and have been complaining to DERM and DEP for the better part of 7 years to no avail.
Straw Buyer -
You are so right about the scrap metal "businesses". I saw one group with a large sign stating, "We Buy Stolen Metal". An decent DERM or Miami-Dade County Environmental Cop could find a million violations per site, if they looked.
How much oil and gas and just plain sick stuff is being swept from scrap metal joints into the Miami River and into our ground water? There is an illegal scrap metal place at 296 NE 60th Street in Miami that has been operating for 4-5 years. No sign. No permits. No inspections.
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