5 Benefits of Living in a Walkable Community

As we envision the future of the city of South Miami, we must decide how to engage development as it relates to the health of our community. Here is a great article about the benefits of walkability.

https://www.locallogic.co/blog-post/5-benefits-of-living-in-a-walkable-neighbourhood

South Miami Citywide Garage Sale

An ordinance approving a single day relief from garage sale permits was passed at a commission meeting in December. However, the procedure for initiating a date was not clarified in the ordinance. The South Miami Neighbors recently inquired about that as we've all got loads of stuff we've been saving for much too long. Please stay tuned for a date when this piece of the puzzle is resolved. In the meantime, please take a look at this great article about us when approached the city commission about the idea.

http://sfmn.fiu.edu/south-miami-considering-citywide-garage-sale-event/

Check out our Meeting notes from October 21, 2019

Hi all,

Please check out our meeting notes to see what we discussed and what you might want to be a part of in the future.

South Miami Neighbors Minutes Oct 21, 2019,  at Planet 57

In attendance:

Holly Zickler, Annick Sternberg, Fabian Kahn, Gray Read, Mari Chael

Pablo Alvarez, FIU Biscayne Campus, Sr Journalism (South Florida Media Network) Emily Gorman, OrganizingRepresentative, Sierra Club/ Ready for 100 Campaign

1—Public Space Challenge Grant awarded to the South Miami Neighbors: Painting the Rainbow:

Tasks:

--Meet w Meg Daly and get a better feeling for Art Master plan & to facilitate volunteer participation, etc.

--Meet w Bo Droga, who can add perspective on the process, etc.

--Possibility of getting additional sponsorships for materials, labor, etc. Possible Sponsors &Community partners (the list can be expanded):

South Miami Hospital FNBSM

Grass River/ Fed Realty The Underline

Sherwin Williams along Underline Ace along the Underline

Rotary

CRA/ City of South Miami Chamber South

Red Merchants

2—Garage Sale Update:

Annick & Holly spoke at last commission meeting in support of a citywide garage sale day in resident’s yards. Although the resolution did not appear on the agenda, commissioners seemed supportive. If passed, the garage sale will be scheduled for 2020 because the holidays are upon us. Date of garage sale TBA once a resolution is approved.

3—Potluck on Dec 15, Dante Fascell Park. On the issue of corporate food sponsorships: the potluck is not a venue for this.

Task: Have info at the potluck to encourage growing membership in South Miami Neighbors ($15 per family) &sponsorships on projects: SoMi Rainbow Underline/ Alternative to College Fair/ Candidates Forum

Think about and prepare a more formal sponsorship to ask for participation in the future. Develop a procedure/guidelines.

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4—Alternative to College Fair: Application to South Miami Community Center pending. Anticipated to take place in March or May 2020. Participating institutions and trades can include Port of Miami, Jorge T Baker Aviation, Mc Fatter Technical College, Robert Morgan Trade School, South Miami Police, etc.

5—Tentative date for Candidates Forum: Monday, Jan 27, 2020, is available at the Elks Club (the venue for the last Forums). Fabian is our go-to guy. This year if we wish to have food (which is optional), the cost for cleanup is $200 (non-negotiable). Do we wish to forego food?

6—Emily Gorman, representing the Sierra Club discussed the Ready for 100 Campaign, Readyfor100.org. South Miami has committed to 100% renewable energy by 2050. The city has submitted a $300,000 grant proposal to the SE Sustainability Directors Network and will learn if they will receive it by the end of November. It will be used for implementation and consulting related to the 100% Renewable commitment and other citywide sustainability efforts. If they get the grant, the goal for the next 2 years will be to set its implementation plan. (6 cities already implementing this.)

Having open communication with the community, understanding the needs and the wishes of the residents is vital to the success of the program. The South Miami Neighbors could play an important role in the communication process. Helping to identify the needs and wishes of residents, organizing with other community organizations to tap into other groups of residents and tirelessly requesting/demanding from the city to recognize what residents want and updates on their decision making and progress. We could also help organize listening sessions and bringing in experts from other cities farther along in the process.

Gray will contact the City Manager to set up a meeting to ask what is the city’s timeline for this program and how they plan to keep the residents informed. Holly will join her for the meeting.

--can be a topic for discussion at Candidates Forum & a component for Lovable Cities discussion (Holly offered to host a potluck dinner on May 6^th or 7^th 2020)

--How can we cut electricity consumption? Seal doors, windows, roofing, plant trees, add insulation (program in place in CRA to insulate houses)

--FPL customers can organize; sign up for a purchasing program (Solar Together)

--There are 2 bills in Tallahassee targeting 100% renewables statewide

--Gray hopes the grant includes newsletter w topics: recycling, composting

--Idea: CRA as the pilot area because it includes public housing, private residences with onsite solar

7—This year let’s get out there and participate in Give Miami Day, on Nov 21, https://www.givemiamiday.org. And a thought: If we participate annually we can make our membership day concurrent w Give Miami Day. Update, need a real website and not a blog. We might need to budget for that in the coming year.

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Potluck and Paint!

February 10, 2019 3PM till dusk

Dear Neighbors,

Please join us in celebrating both another year as neighbors and share our community activism in participating in Xavier Cortada's Under Water Homeowner's Association at our next potluck at All America Park on February 10 beginning at 3PM.

Xavier Cortada will join us as we paint over repurposed campaign signs indicating our property heights above sea level to place in our yards. The signs offer us an opportunity to open discussions with our neighbors about climate change and possible projects we might come together on to mitigate its effects. 

Some of our low-lying neighbors are already seeing problems on their properties. 

Please join the UnderwaterHOA to stay informed about other events. The first meeting was held on Monday night and we have already elected our first chair!

I can collect your old campaign signs to prep for painting on that day (adding a coat of primer that will need to dry). Please PM me if you would like to help in preparation for that day and to pick them up. 

Even if you don't want to participate in this project, please come out to meet your neighbors and bring a dish to share!! 

http://www.fcvedfund.org/Underwaterhoa/…

Quick! YES, YES, YES!!!!

On Aug 28 Vote YES on #240 

1. Democracy relies on the trust the people place on their elected leaders: the opinions of the majority or in this case, supermajority, is a more democratic alternative to the unanimous vote. Democracy does not work on the basis of 100% agreement.

2. Our downtown needs help. The Shops at Sunset Place, is the unique and one of a kind large parcel in our downtown by the South Miami Metrorail Station. The taller portions of the revitalized Sunset Place are along US1, our urban boulevard. New residents and inhabitants will bring much needed people to support our downtown businesses, and would help with the momentum boosting our city merchants and restaurants., This change, if implemented, will not effect residential areas; South Miami must not pass up on this opportunity

3. But it is not just up to the Shops to carry 100% of the burden for re-energizing our struggling downtown. Here are other ways the City can demonstrate it supports our downtown:

•  Allow portions of our downtown streets to open to pedestrian only traffic at certain times of the week (during the weekend, etc.), allowing businesses to spill onto the sidewalks and streets in a convivial way.

• Our current shuttle has a limited route, and there is no predicting its whereabouts. An expanded route and an app to determine its location will help. Open electric vehicles like the Downtowner with its on-demand free shuttle for South Miami residents will also assist residents to visit our downtown. We can encourage walking and biking to downtown; it’s easy to walk to destinations 15 mins or less away ("Walk 10,000 steps a day for wellness"). It’s easy to bike to destinations 1-2 miles away. Sometimes we forget that South Miami is only 3 square miles!

• Make it easy for small properties to add much needed urban, transit-served apartments, studio apartments, and additional office space. Relax parking requirements in the smaller parcels, or even allow the market to determine how much parking, if at all, to provide. That way, the City can reward property owners, future residents, and future office workers that desire to live a car-optional lifestyle.

4. Let’s ignite the spark and give the love and support for our city’s healthy downtown on August 28th! Voting YES on #240 is the path forward!

--The South Miami Neighbors board

South Miami Community Conversation on Climate Change

What would it look like?  What would it take?

Join us for a South Miami Community 

Conversation on Climate Change

Monday, March 6, 2017

Tea & Poets, Shops at Sunset, South Miami

Stop in between 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Speakers, Exhibits, Conversation Tables

Link to Facebook Event page  or call Gray Read 305 205 4814

Sponsors:  South Miami City Commission

FIU College of Communication, Architecture + the Arts

Help shape the Parks and Recreation Master Plan!

The South Miami Department of Parks and Recreation has scheduled two public workshops to get input on the city's parks and recreation master plan. At the workshops, Miller Legg (the consultant hired by the city) will conduct a discussion of goals and objectives so that residents can discuss the community's needs.

Both workshops will be held at South Miami City Hall (6130 Sunset Drive). The first will be held Thursday, June 25, at 7p.m., and the second will be on Saturday, June 27, at 5p.m.

Residents are strongly encouraged to fill out the Parks and Recreation Residents’ Survey, which is available online at www.southmiamifl.gov. This quick (15 minute) survey allows you to give input about the future of our parks and programs.

Ludlam Trail Charrette Follow-up Presentations April 23 and 29

This Thursday and next Wednesday, Miami-Dade County Commissioners Sosa and Suarez are convening follow-up meetings to discuss the Ludlam Trail Charrette with their constituents. Both meetings begin at 6pm.

Ludlam Trail Town Hall Meeting November 12 at South Miami High School

Friends of the Ludlam Trail is hosting a town hall meeting at South Miami High School next Wednesday, November 12, at 7p.m. Come participate in the discussion about how best to balance Flagler-FECI's desire to develop the property with building the world's next great urban linear park.

South Miami High School is at 6856 SW 53 Street.

two more opportunities to speak in support of the Ludlam Trail

South Miami neighbors are invited to come speak out in favor of the Ludlam Trail at two upcoming meetings. On Monday, October 20, the county Planning Advisory Board will discuss the value of transforming the old railway right of way into a six-mile linear park. That meeting begins at 2 p.m.

On November 19, the Board of County Commissioners will take up the subject at their meeting. Both events will be held in the County Commission Chamber at 111 NW 1 Street, Miami.

Come speak up in favor of the Ludlam Trail

Friends of the Ludlam Trail, the grass roots organization working toward turning the old FEC right of way into a beautiful linear park stretching from Dadeland to Miami International Airport, has let us know about an attempt by the railroad's parent company to change the zoning on the right of way to allow for residential development. This would all but eliminate the possibility of creating a new park.

Friends of the Ludlam Trail encourages South Miami residents to attend the three upcoming Community Council hearings to learn more about FECI’s proposal for mixed-use development with a trail component within the Ludlam Trail corridor:

·         Kendall Community Council: (12): Tuesday, September 23, 2014; 6 p.m.Kendall Village Center Civic Pavilion8625 SW 124 Ave.Miami, FL 33183

·         North Central Community Council (8): Monday, September 29, 2014; 6 p.m.MLK Plaza,2525 NW 62 St.Miami, FL 33147

·         Westchester Community Council (10): Tuesday, September 30, 2014, 6 p.m.Ruben Dario Middle School350 NW 97 Ave.Miami, FL 33172

MDC Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER) Planning department advertises in the Miami-Herald Neighbors section and also sends out postcards or notice cards in the mail ½ mile from the subject corridor. While the meeting public hearing locations are not close to the Ludlam corridor it is still within Community Council boundaries.   Those residents who would be affected the most near the Ludlam Trail corridor are especially encouraged to attend these hearings.

Comment on the South Miami Intermodal Transportation plan tonight!

George Puig and Stewart Robinson of Kimley-Horn will present an update for the South Miami Intermodal Transportation Plan (encompasses bicycle and pedestrian route plans)  this evening for the Green Taskforce Meeting. Please come by to give your comments if you can. This will likely be one of the last chances for public comment. The meeting is at 6pm at City Hall.

Friends of the Ludlam Trail

The Friends of the Ludlam Trail is reaching out to South Miami residents who are interested in environmental conservation and expanding our bicycle and pedestrian networks. A number of South Miami residents serve on the board of the Friends of the Ludlam Trail, and they invite your participation in their efforts. They have a number of ways of getting involved.

As their web site explains, "The Friends of the Ludlam Trail is a non-profit coalition dedicated to the implementation of the Ludlam Trail, a 6.2-mile linear park through the heart of Miami-Dade County within the partially abandoned Florida East Coast railway right-of-way. The park will contain community gardens and a trail that will provide a safe dedicated and direct route for cyclists and pedestrians to schools, parks, work and shopping. The trail will connect more than 34,000 people within a half-mile, walkable service area to five greenways, five schools, four parks and two transit hubs.

"The Friends of the Ludlam Trail represents the thousands of Miami-Dade County residents who want to see the Ludlam trail become an asset for the community as a running, biking, and walking trail. We see the Ludlam Trail project as a way of spurring job creation in our community, realizing immediate value increases for adjacent properties, and achieving a major transportation and recreation connection across the heart of the county. Please join us!"

Time is running out

Donald Shoup to speak April 21

Donald Shoup, author of The High Cost of Free Parking and distinguished professor of urban planning at UCLA, will give a talk on Monday, April 21 from 8 to 10 AM at AIA's Miami Center for Architecture & Design, 100 NE 1 Ave, Miami, FL 33132.

Shoup is the godfather of the scientific study of parking, and has spoken widely about the benefits of eliminating required parking for mobility and urbanism.  Shoup writes: "This doesn’t mean, however, that developers won’t provide off-street parking. It simply means that urban planners won’t tell developers exactly how many parking spaces they must provide before they can get a building permit. Developers will provide the parking spaces they think buyers demand."

Capacity is limited, RSVP at shoupmiami.eventbrite.com.  Continental breakfast will be served.  Supported by the Knight Foundation, AIA Miami, APA Gold Coast Section, and Townhouse Center.

Green South Miami

Take a look at the Green South Miami web site for information on sustainability initiatives in the City of Pleasant Living. It is the official blog of the city's Green Task Force.

Ecological theme art exhibition at The Tropical Audubon Society

Artist Nancy Martini will have celebrate the opening of her solo eco art exhibition this Friday from 6pm to 9pm at The Tropical Audubon Society at 5530 Sunset Drive. Take a look at the online gallery of her work.

The Public Space Challenge: Imagine SoMi as the best hometown along the M Path!

During the past summer thru September, the Miami Foundation held a Facebook open

competition called "The Open Space Challenge," with hundreds of entries

submitted.  Lee and I attended the kickoff celebration at the Design District,

where many attended and mingled for drinks at the open bar and nibbled on pulled

pork sandwiches and the likes from the nearby food trucks.  During cocktails,

huge plasma screens displayed live Twitter feeds of ideas.  Check out the write

up from The Miami New Times, ttp://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cultist/2013/08/draft_our_miami_launch.php.

A panel of judges will soon decide which projects will be awarded a share of

the $120,000 for actual project implementation.

Submissions came from folks living in neighborhoods all over Miami wanting to

create a better sense of place for people to gather, and identifying places in

dire need of makeovers. Check out the map dotted with all kinds of suggestions!

http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/48640.

Our public libraries have been on the news lately.  Here is one idea for making

our downtown library better.  This idea too can be transferred to our own SoMi

public library.http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/45409

Closer to home in SoMi, we have heard many times before how our parks and trees

make our lives better.  We are again a Tree City, we have committed to planting

trees in our streets, and even have a  commissioner, Bob Welsh, volunteering to

plant trees at our homes.  But what about the public patches of communal spaces

that can stand a makeover?  Here is an idea for Paciencia Park, adjacent to our

South Miami Metrorail Station,  http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/45387.

--Others have creative ideas for public spaces along the M Path--check out this

idea for student start-up shops at the University of Miami (just minutes north

of us along the M Path),http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/46220.

--Check out this idea for a park at the Downtown Dadeland area (just minutes

south of us along the M Path),http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/47187.

--And how about a unifying idea of a linear park along the M Path?  Here's one:

http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/48640.

The M Path, is our urban bike trail, but on a larger scale functions as an

important element along the East Coast Greenway, spanning from the Florida Keys

to Canada!  Check out,  http://www.greenway.org/about.aspx.

Mosquito-Borne Disease Advisory Issued for Miami-Dade County

First Confirmed Locally Acquired Dengue Case in Miami-Dade County in 2013

Miami, August 23, 2013 - Today, the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County has issued a mosquito-borne illness advisory for Miami-Dade County. The first locally acquired Dengue Fever case in 2013 has been confirmed in an 18-year-old male.

Symptoms of Dengue Fever may include headache, fever, fatigue, dizziness, weakness, pain behind the eyes, joint pain, and confusion.  Health care providers should contact their county health department if they suspect an individual may meet the case definition for a mosquito-borne illness. Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control and the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County continue surveillance and prevention efforts and encourage everyone to take basic precautions to help limit exposure by following the department of health recommendations.

Work continues on safe routes to schools

The South Miami Neighbors, Bike SoMi, and Green Mobility, and our City leadership have started working with our local schools to encourage our kids to bike and walk to school. This year, we have started working with South Miami K-8 and South Miami Middle School.  We have dstributed Safe Routes to School Parent Surveys, and are currently evaluating the data on the surveys returned.  

We have also coordinated the installation of a bike rack, donated by South Miami bike shop, Mack Cycle, to South Miami K-8.  From the looks of the bike commuters on the bike rack's inauguration, South Miami K-8 will soon be ready for additional bike racks!

Next steps would include performing an analysis on the area immediately surrounding the schools and identify what obstacles exist to biking and walking, and subsequently remedying the physical barriers that exist.  

It is our hope to work with all of our local schools so that we get a steady increase in families walking and biking to school in SoMi.