City of Miami

City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com

Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:00 AM SPECIAL MEETING City Hall Commission Chambers

City Commission
Manuel A. Diaz, Mayor Joe Sanchez, Chair Michelle Spence-Jones, Vice-Chair Angel Gonzlez, Commissioner District One Marc David Sarnoff, Commissioner District Two Tomas Regalado, Commissioner District Four Pedro G. Hernandez, City Manager Julie O Bru, City Attorney Priscilla A. Thompson, City Clerk

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9:00 A.M.

INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Present: Commissioner Gonzlez, Commissioner Sarnoff, Chair Sanchez, Commissioner Regalado and Vice Chair Spence-Jones On the 19th day of March 2009, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in special session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Sanchez at 9:47 a.m. and adjourned at 3:14 p.m. ALSO PRESENT: Julie O. Bru, City Attorney Pedro G. Hernandez, City Manager Priscilla A. Thompson, City Clerk Pamela E. Burns, Assistant City Clerk Chair Sanchez: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The City of Miami special meeting pertaining to the ballpark is being called to order. I want to take this opportunity to welcome all of you. This meeting has been properly advertised for March 19, 209 [sic]. It's being held here at City Hall in our historic chambers. The members of the City Commission are Michelle Spence-Jones, the Vice Chair, Tomas Regalado, Angel Gonzlez, Marc David Sarnoff, and me, Joe Sanchez, as your Chair. Also on the dais we have City Manager Pete Hernandez, the City Attorney, Julie O. Bru, and our City Clerk, Priscilla A. Thompson. The meeting will be opened by a prayer by our City Clerk, followed by the pledge of allegiance by Commissioner Gonzlez. Invocation and pledge of allegiance delivered.

ORDER OF THE DAY

Chair Sanchez: We will now begin the special meeting. Madam City Attorney, read the procedures to be followed into the records [sic], please. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission, Mr. Manager, Madam City Clerk, and members of the public. This is a special meeting of the City Commission. We're here to consider only items that are on the agenda, and the items include agreements related to the stadium for the Marlins and an amendment to the interlocal agreement with Miami-Dade County related to the amount of convention development tax funds the County will pay to the City of Miami in connection with the development of the parking facilities on the former Orange Bowl site. Any person who is a lobbyist must register with the City Clerk before appearing before the City Commission today. A copy of the Code section about lobbyists is available in the City Clerk's office. The material for each item on this agenda is available during business hours and at the City Clerk's office and online. Anyone wishing to appeal any decision made by the City Commission for any matter considered at this meeting may need a verbatim record of this meeting. No cell phones or other noise-making devices -- please silence those now. Any person who -- with a disability who requires auxiliary aids and services for this meeting, please notify the City Clerk. And the sergeant at arms has asked me to please remind everyone to keep the aisles clear. It is a fire safety requirement. Chair Sanchez: Once again, under our City Charter, the Mayor has the authority to call a special meeting, which he has. It is a public advertised meeting. We had a meeting on February 13, 209 [sic] pertaining to the baseball. At that time, we had 44 speakers who spoke. The meeting was opened and closed. At this time, we will open up to the public for additional comments once again. We do ask that the 44 speakers who spoke at the last meeting, we will incorporate those comments that were made on February 13 into the record today, Madam Clerk. So at this time, there are three items that have been properly advertised. We have SP.1, which is the executive stadium agreement; SP.2, which is the waiver of bidding Marlins
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ballpark; and SP.3, which is the interlocal agreement, MSEA (Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority). Those are the items that have been properly advertised.

SP.1

09-00132

RESOLUTION

City Manager's Office

A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE FOLLOWING STADIUM AGREEMENTS, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORMS HERETO, AS EXHIBITS "A" THROUGH "E", RESPECTIVELY, RELATING TO THE DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A NEW BASEBALL STADIUM FOR THE FLORIDA MARLINS, AND RELATED PARKING FACILITIES, AS CONTEMPLATED IN THE BASEBALL STADIUM AGREEMENT DATED MARCH 3, 2008, APPROVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. 08-0089, ADOPTED FEBRUARY 21, 2008: 1.CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION AGREEMENT AMONG MIAMI-DADE COUNTY ("COUNTY"); THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND MARLINS STADIUM; DEVELOPER, LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (EXHIBIT "A") 2.OPERATING AGREEMENT AMONG THE COUNTY, THE CITY AND MARLINS STADIUM OPERATOR, LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (EXHIBIT "B"); 3.CITY PARKING AGREEMENT AMONG THE CITY, THE COUNTY AND MARLINS STADIUM OPERATOR, LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (EXHIBIT "C"); 4.ASSURANCE AGREEMENT AMONG THE COUNTY, THE CITY AND FLORIDA MARLINS, L.P., A DELAWARE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP (EXHIBIT "D"); AND 5.NON-RELOCATION AGREEMENT AMONG THE COUNTY, THE CITY AND FLORIDA MARLINS, L.P., A DELAWARE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP (EXHIBIT "E"); FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER AND/OR THE CITY MANAGER'S DESIGNEE TO EXECUTE SUCH OTHER DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, AND TO TAKE SUCH OTHER ACTIONS, AS MORE PARTICULARLY REQUIRED OR PERMITTED IN THE STADIUM AGREEMENTS.

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09-00132 Summary Form .pdf 09-00132 Legislation.pdf 09-00132 Exhibit 1.pdf 09-00132 Exhibit 2.pdf 09-00132 Exhibit 3.pdf 09-00132 Exhibit 4.pdf 09-00132 Exhibit 5.pdf 09-00132-Submittal-City Attorney (1).pdf 09-00132-Submittal-City Attorney (2).pdf 09-00132-Submittal-City Attorney (3).pdf 09-00132-Submittal-Commissioner Spence-Jones.pdf 09-00132-Submittal-Frank Del Vecchio.pdf
Motion by Chair Sanchez, seconded by Commissioner Gonzlez, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.

Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner Gonzlez, Sanchez and Spence-Jones

Noes: 2 - Commissioner Sarnoff and Regalado

R-09-0130
Note for the Record: The comments on item SP.1 of the Special Commission Meeting of February 13, 2009 were incorporated into the discussion of item SP.1 of the Special Commission Meeting of March 19, 2009. Direction by Vice Chair Spence-Jones to the City Manager to work with all five Commissioners' offices and the unions to establish a training or trades-based center in all five districts or target three districts for a pilot program. Direction by Vice Chair Spence-Jones to the City Manager to transmit a provision to the contract to Miami-Dade County that would protect the City's assets in relation to the H2-B Visa program issues. Direction by Vice Chair Spence-Jones to the City Manager to ensure that there is an independent agency or individual in place to monitor compliances with the established goals. Direction by Vice Chair Spence-Jones to the City Manager to create a separate trust fund for the City of Miami for small businesses and youth-based programs in the City of Miami. Chair Sanchez: At this time, what I'd like to do is turn it over to the City Manager to get us up-to-date as to what are the amendments that have been presented on this agreement. At this time, Mr. City Manager, you're recognized for the record. Pedro G. Hernandez (City Manager): Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, good morning. As you know, since February 13, when this item was previously before you, there was a lot of participation by the public. There was a lot of discussion. The meeting was continued to another date. It was changed a few times and is before you properly today. During the last five weeks, this Administration has been working with the County and the Team; has been listening to the public comment, has been listening to your specific concerns, and we're ready today to propose modifications to the original agreements for baseball that were presented on February 13. I consider these initiatives that are the result of the work of the County, the City, and the Team, but specifically, initiatives that are supported by the administration of the County and the administration of the City. The modifications fall in four areas. I would say the number-one area is probably the most significant and is the one that deals with jobs and jobs and the creation of jobs, also the emphasis on providing opportunity to small businesses. The second component deals with the parking agreement, the third one deals with community benefits, and
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the last one deals with contributions by the Team. So I'm going to go by those components. And you have before you the latest version of all the amendments. I'm not reading the whole document but I'm going to highlight from the different areas the most significant elements. In the construction administration agreement, the City will be allowed to participate as part of the review committee in determining goals for the bid packages for the construction of the stadium and also as it relates to the public infrastructure. The -- there is language where the parties have agreed that the CSBEs, Community Small Business Enterprises and Small Business Enterprises, will be given equal opportunity to compete, and that there will be a community outreach program to identify, recruit, educate, assist small local businesses on issues such as project bonding and the most effective use of existing working capital and bonding assistance program, which are components of the County ordinance for small, local businesses. There is also language regarding prompt payment, where the subs have to be paid within five days. And in the event that you're dealing with a CSBE or an SBE (Small Business Enterprise) firm, those payments have to be made within 48 hours. There is also a community workforce goal of a -- of 10 percent. The CSBE goals will be set by the review committee as it pertains to each one of the many bid packages that are anticipated in the construction of the stadium. The stadium developer shall cause the construction manager to use diligent efforts to recruit workers from the County's target areas and also from the City's neighborhood development zones to satisfy the community workforce program. Under the construction agreement, there is also an aspirational goal to have as many local workers and local firms, as reasonably practical, to have at least 50 percent of the baseball stadium project workers be residents of Miami-Dade County and 20 percent of which would be Miami residents. So, in essence, the Miami participation component will be based on 20 percent of whatever the County participation would be. But the aspiration is to have, at minimum, 50 percent of the workers to be from Miami-Dade County and 20 percent from the City of Miami. Also, there is an aspiration to have at least 35 percent of the firms hired as subcontractors on the stadium project to be firms located within Miami-Dade County. There is new language that I want to read into the record that also deals with the support of the small businesses. The stadium developer shall adhere to an aggressive small business outreach program, the construction outreach program. This program will be developed jointly by the County, the City, and the stadium developer, and shall be designed to increase small business participation during the construction of the baseball stadium with a view to supporting the aspiration small business and local hiring goals described previously, subject to applicable law. The County Manager and myself shall present the final terms of the construction outreach program for approval by the County and the City. There is also an addition of a penalty to the -related to the compliance of the community small business enterprise goals. If the construction manager is unable to make up the deficit on future phases of the construction of the baseball stadium and the construction manager has failed to exercise reasonable good faith efforts to achieve such goals, then the stadium developer agrees to make a contribution equal to 150 percent of the deficit percentage of the construction phase. So, since we're dealing with such a large project that has so many bid packages, if there's a deficit in one package, it will move to the next contract and it has to be make up on the next contract. If you get to the end of the project and you still have a deficit, the developer, if he's done everything that he can to make sure that there is that CSBE participation, then he would be -- if he has done all that he can and there is still -- or if he hasn't and there's still a deficit, then he would be paying a monetary penalty that is equivalent to 150 percent of the deficit. There is -- the termination for convenience has been modified to be either July 1, '09 or whenever the County sells bonds. The wording would be the County executes the final bond purchase agreement and/or completes a competitive sale with respect to the County bonds secured by the convention development tax, professional sports franchise facility tax, or tourist development tax. That, in essence, concludes all the changes to the construction administration agreement. The next one that I'm going to go into is the City parking agreement, and the changes to that are, I would say, very simple. The City estimates the construction cost of the parking facilities at 94 million. The City acknowledges that it will not use any ad valorem revenues to fund construction of the parking facilities, and the parties further acknowledge that if the cost of construction, exclusive of soft costs and tenant improvements, exceeds 94 million, the number of parking spaces will be
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reduced accordingly so the 94 million cap will not be exceeded at any time. The City parking facilities project is totally controlled by the City. And when we do the RFP (Request for Proposals) for that project, we'll establish the necessary goals for small businesses and local workforce. Moving over to the operating agreement, there are two significant items. The Team is agreeing to provide, through its foundation, Team foundation, an amount of $500,000 per year that will be used for sports-related programs designed to support youth and community-based programs within the respective jurisdictions. In the first seven years -- seven and a half years, 125,000 of those $500,000 will be set aside; 100,000 going to the County's Park Foundation and 25,000 to the City's Heart of Our Parks fund for related programs. Also, as an additional community benefit, the Team shall build or improve a total of 39 baseball fields in Miami-Dade County, with at least three in each Miami-Dade County Commission district, and at least 10 that will be located within the City of Miami. Under the operational agreement, there are also local business initiative, and its goals are as follows. It's 15 percent of small businesses and 25 percent of baseball stadium workers from residents of the designated target areas, including the City of Miami's neighborhood development zones. The operator will aspire to have as many local workers as reasonably practical and aspire to have at least 50 percent of the baseball stadium workers be residents of Miami-Dade County, 20 percent of which are City of Miami residents. This is similar to the statement that I read before under construction. Moving into the last component -- this is the one that deals with the special events and the -- what is called the equity participation by the City or the anti-flip. As you can see on next to the last page, the percentages for the participation of City and County with respect to a sale of the Team within the first ten years is listed on the table. It's important to note that year one that percentage is 70 percent; year two is 60 percent; year three is 50 percent; year four is 30 percent. And previously, it was seven years, and now it has been extended to ten years. With respect to stadium events, the -- which, in essence, it doesn't impact the City, but it's mostly County and Team -- basically, it's all County and Team. There are modifications that, in essence, provide additional funds going towards the Cap X, which is the account that would provide for necessary improvements to the stadium. In essence, that concludes all the proposed amendments to the original agreements. And I want to, again, you know, state that these recommendations are jointly made by this Administration and also the County Administration, which will be submitting the same original agreement with amendments to their Commission next Monday, the 23rd. I also want to note that today happens to be St. Joseph's, and the reason I mention that is because he's the patron saint of the workers, and I see many of them here. Applause. Chair Sanchez: All right. Let's refrain from clapping, whistling, cheering, so we could get through this meeting today, okay. Does that conclude your -Mr. Hernandez: Yes, Mr. Chairman. Chair Sanchez: -- comments -- or your presentation, Mr. City Manager? All right. At this -Mr. Hernandez: Yes, it does. Chair Sanchez: -- time, before we bring it on to the legislative body for discussion or debate on the item, what we're going to do, as I stated, we're going to open up the public hearing, affording you the opportunity, those that did not have an opportunity the last time, to address this legislative body. The only thing that we ask is that you please register with the City Clerk before you come up and speak. So, at this time, the Chair will afford two minutes to each speaker, as long as you're registered, to come up and address this Commission. So, at this time, for the record, the public hearing is open once again, and we'll take on those that want to address this legislative body. So once again, please make sure that you are registered with the City Clerk. All right, so speakers, please approach the --

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Jane Winston: Hi. My name is Jane Winston, a resident -Chair Sanchez: Address, please. Name and address, please. Ms. Winston: 1845 Southwest 18th Street, Miami, Florida; Mr. Regalado, my Commissioner. I'm in support of the stadium. I'm a City of Miami resident and small business owner. A major league city should have a major league team. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you so much. Sir, good morning. Frank Nero: Yes. Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission. My name is Frank Nero. I'm president of the Miami-Dade County Beacon Council. I'm here on behalf of our organization to support the approval of the proposed financial package that will result in the construction of a new baseball park at the former Orange Bowl site and the re-branding of the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins. As an economic development professional and trained as an economist, we view this as a corporate retention issue, an economic issue, and a quality of life issue for Miami-Dade County. As a former public official and having negotiated on behalf of a municipality, Jacksonville, where I served as deputy mayor, to obtain a professional sports franchise that required the expenditure of public funds to build the stadium, I understand the difficult public policy decisions you, as elected officials, are weighing in the best interest of your constituents. All of us are concerned about the outlay of public funds, and we are obviously sensitive to trying to get a deal that meets the objectives of both parties. But clearly, the restrictive covenant on the utilization of these funds are a factor that weigh heavily on -- in favor of this proposal. These funds cannot be used to build schools, to build roads, or the myriad of other worthwhile projects that many of us would like to perhaps see built. The Beacon Council conducted the original economic impact analysis that was submitted to Major League Baseball in 1991. That analysis concluded that based upon an average attendance of 25,000 fans per game, in 1991 dollars, the combined direct and indirect impact was over $100 million. Now there are many studies that have been written on impact of professional sports that have generated disagreements, but there is no question that professional sport teams do greatly impact in a positive way the quality of life in a community. One need only replay the Florida Marlins '97 or 2003 World Series victories, the Miami Heat winning the NBA (National Basketball Association) championship, or even the recent World Baseball Classic that we've all been a party to. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Frank, in conclusion. Mr. Nero: Okay. In conclusion, let me just say this. Look, this ultimately is also about economics and construction jobs. Seventeen-percent drop in construction jobs in this county. We've seen thousands of people lose their jobs because -- in the construction industry. If nothing else, just the construction jobs alone to get this economy moving warrant your serious consideration of building this stadium now after 12 years of debate. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Mr. Nero: Thank you very much. Chair Sanchez: Next speaker. Mariano Cruz: Yes. Mariano Cruz -Chair Sanchez: Two minutes. Mr. Cruz: -- 1227 Northwest 26 Street. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because I see everybody saying that -- I am a member of -- first, I am a fee payer. I am not a City taxpayer because I got total
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exemption of taxes, okay; disabilities, homestead, the whole thing, okay. Now remember ABDA, Allapattah Business Development Authority, Empowerment Zone, Civil Service Board, the Bond Advisory Board, the group benefits for the museums too, all that. You know, that's good because I get involved to make sure that my -- our money gets spent properly. I don't see it here spent properly. I don't see any of those zillionaires baseball player making a fund to bring money. You know how much (UNINTELLIGIBLE) made last year? Seventeen point five million dollar -the baseball Commissioner, seventeen point -- that's obscene. He made more money than Allapattah together, seventeen point five -- that's obscene. Talk about AIG (American International Group); those are babies compared to these people, you know. And I know AIG because I used to deliver their mail (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Also, about small business -- yeah, I care about -- the City don't care about the small business. The City (UNINTELLIGIBLE) officer to harass our people there. That's what they're doing. Declaration of Independence, no. Harass our people and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) suspect. And you know what Larry Spring told me and Diana Gomez? No, we need money. We're not getting tax money. We need money from the inspection. They enforcing rules that they were in the books for years and years. Now they enforcing them. They (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- to sell tire -- a used tire, you have to have a used merchandise, like pawn shops, $305 more a year. That's obscene too. You helping a small business? Oh, come on. Don't tell me. Another thing, you talking about -Chair Sanchez: Mariano -Mr. Cruz: -- employees -- okay. Chair Sanchez: -- in conclusion. Mr. Cruz: In conclusion. City employees (UNINTELLIGIBLE). When Johnny Winton was there, he told me he went down to Brickell now seeing all those condominium. Eighty percent of the workers were from out of town, a company brought people from out of town. They were specialized workers. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) workers from out of town, all of them. Because the companies, they don't know anybody here. They bring their people. They're not stupid, okay. They have a bond performance. They want to do everything on time. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, Mariano. Mr. Cruz: Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Cruz: Bye. Chair Sanchez: Next speaker. Thank you. Miguel Fuentes: Good morning. Miguel Fuentes, 295 West 79th Place, Hialeah, Florida. Obviously, some very exciting times here in the City of Miami, but good times also. There's people on both sides of this issue, but I'll tell you where I stand and a lot of the folks that I work with also. Different people with -- you got people from management, people from labor, public officials, community groups, small businesses and unions all coming together trying to address a multitude of concerns to make this a good project. It's a community effort. Regardless of where you are on this, at least our people are enthused about it. But let me say, we all came together, we all talked about the issues, and I think, collectively, in the end, we've come up with a good product. It includes checks and balances. It includes the genuine aspirations and efforts to hire County residents, training opportunity for folks who are unemployed or underemployed or want to get in with a trading component opportunity and a career path and some upward mobility. And the type of employment that made the American Dream possible, a good middle-class, well-paying job, and I think that's what we're all looking for here today in the end. I think
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everyone here would agree that a strong middle class and local people working on a project makes for a healthy and vibrant economy. That has never been more clear than today. People who know they have a job tomorrow, regardless of how much money they're making, hopefully, as much as they can, know that they can spend a little extra, buy a little more, and stimulate that economy 'cause they'll go out into the community and maybe go to the restaurant, buy a TV (Television); hopefully, splurge a little bit and get their kids some sneakers that they've been asking for, or other things that we all want. We all want to live a little better. I think this project, the stadium, can be an engine for that sort of economic growth in the community if administered properly, if done right, and if there's inclusion of the community. I certainly want to say that to demonstrate my commitment and the commitment of my organization, our members -Chair Sanchez: In closing. Mr. Fuentes: -- in closing, we would love to do anything that we possibly can to put in the community of needs of low-income areas some training opportunities for folks that we could funnel through, get them into those programs, get them working, and let them be a part of this community. So let me close by saying this. Guys, let's do it right. Let's do it now, and for God sake, do it for us. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Osvaldo Vento: Good morning, Mr. Chairman -Chair Sanchez: Good morning. Mr. Vento: -- members of the Commission. My name is Ovi Vento. I am the immediate past president of the Latin Builders Association, president and owner of Everglades Lumber, a business in the City of Miami; your district, Mr. Regalado, since 1941. As the immediate past president of the Latin Builders Association, we have over 700 members that employ hundreds and thousands of people directly related or indirectly related to the construction industry. We need the stadium now and we need Miami to shine. As owner of Everglades Lumber, I have to tell you that just over a year ago, we employed over 300 families. We're down to just a little less than a hundred families, families that need to get back to work, families that need our politicians to help. I encourage you to vote in favor of the stadium. This is something that's going to happen now, not a year from now or two years from now, and it is what we're looking for to stimulate this economy. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning. Fred Frost: Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is Fred Frost. I'm president of the South Florida AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations), representing 70,000 people in Miami-Dade County, 100,000 in South Florida. Today's a big day. I heard the Administrator just talk about St. Joseph's is for the workers, and we're talking about jobs. We're not just talking about jobs. We have to start thinking about sustainable jobs. We -- everybody's got a job; most of them have two and three jobs in this town. Today is the most uncertain times we've ever felt, frightful times, but also pioneering times. It's how you act today is going to elevate the City of Miami and the future of South Florida by creating sustainable jobs. What the AFL-CIO has been trying to do for the existence, since 1955, we brought you workers' comp. We brought you Social Security. We brought you overtime. We brought you the 40-hour workweek. And what we're trying to do now is create an economy that works for all, that uplifts the people, in particular, the most vulnerable in our community. Today we have a chance to do that. I'm proud to come from Miami. We're going to set the tone in this nation, right here today. We're the most multilingual, multiracial, multicultural. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere by creating a sustainable job. Now let me just tell you, from my
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viewpoint, this is not just about the Marlins Stadium, with all due respect to Mr. Loria and Mr. Samson. This is about future projects, a cultural change. If we build all different public projects with the same mind-set of creating sustainable jobs for our local people with quality job training. I heard Commissioner Sarnoff, last time I was here, talk about what a job means, a sense of purpose, a sense of dignity, a sense of well-being. It's also a sense of community, and I think we all know that better than ever. Today is a big day. It's March 19. Let's set the tone for working people in this community. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Bill Diggs: Good morning. My name is Bill Diggs. I'm the president/CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, to Commissioner -- Chairman Sanchez and our good friend, Mayor Manny Diaz, and the other members of the City of Miami Commission. Today is an important day, and today is a day that all of us have to ask ourselves what are we willing to give up to make sure that this community can move forward. It's been tough because, to be quite honest with you, the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce stood with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and we crafted what we thought to be a great agreement, but we also made a very strong decision, and that decision was to not stand in the way of progress. We understand that all of us in this community need to rise above to make sure that one thing can happen, and that is that our community can go back to work. The port tunnel's in trouble. Museum Park is in trouble. The Miami Intermodal Center's in trouble. The north Metrorail station is in trouble. We know that. We've talked to Congress; we've talked to the people at the State level. But one thing we can do is we can make a difference today to make sure that as all those projects are going to have to be vetted at different times, we have an opportunity today to put Miami back to work. Many of the people that are sitting in this room are part of unions. Many of the people that are sitting in this room are part of the public workforce. Many of these people in this room are unemployed. Many of those people are our members of our chamber. We feel it everyday. They're continuing to be reduced and be -- and the ability to be able to take care of their families. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not about anything other than making sure that we can put our community back to work. Are we using public money? There's no question about it. Has that public money been put to good use to be able to make sure that our community can go back to work? That is what you're here for. I ask you today to do what's right for this community, to do what's right for the Chamber, to do what's right for its citizens, to do what's right for the public people that are a part of this process to help sure [sic] that Miami can rise above. We've created a partnership with the Latin Builders Association. We were on Spanish radio with them yesterday talking about how we can build the community together. This has not happened before in this community. Allow for this kind of public communication to work between our organizations so that we can put our people back to work. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Mr. Diggs: Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning. Jenifer Johnson: Good morning. Jenifer Johnson, 800 Douglas Entrance, in Miami. I'm here actually this morning on behalf of the 40 people that work at Bliss & Nyitray, the structural engineering firm that is currently on the design team for the Marlins. I was here for the eight hours the last time we were in session, and I heard person after person stand up and say this is going to be good for the economy, this is going to be great for the City of Miami. I want to tell you right now we are a CBE firm. We need this job. We need to have a place for the people who are currently working on this. This isn't about tomorrow. This is about today for us. So we're here to say, with my face for those in my company, that we hope that you will vote for this because we have been in Miami for over 55 years. We live here. Our children go to school here.
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This is important to Miami; it's important to our firm. It's important to everything that we stand for as a community. So on behalf of us, we hope that you will keep us here in Miami. Chair Sanchez: Thank you so much. Ms. Johnson: Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Next speaker. Good morning. Carlos Rodriguez: Morning. My name is Carlos Rodriguez, from Urban All Development Group and Marlins View Holding. I'm a developer, very involved in the area of Little Havana doing projects like this one, affordable housing there. This is in 12th Avenue and 2nd Street. Also, working with the City in community programs to help small business like this program, the faade program, working on this project called Intown Miami with the University -- FIU (Florida International University) Architectural Department to enhance all the faades in 12th Avenue from Flagler to the River, and also promoting the creation of this park district in the area of Little Havana to bring to the area national interest for creating a sport destination. And we really need the Marlins Stadium as an engine to call the attention of other investors to get into the area and create jobs and development into the area. That area really needs increased work, jobs, and quality of life. I have been in the area for more than four years, and it's tremendous the unemployment that this area's experiencing now because this area get most of the construction workers that work in the City. So Marlins Stadium is a tremendous necessity for our local economy, so I support the Marlins Stadium. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Morning. Frank Bradley: Good morning, Chairman -- My name is Frank Bradley -- and Commissioners. I live in 842 Northeast 121st, in Biscayne Park, and I'm a member of Local 1652 of the Laborers International Union. I've been laid off for more than a year and four months, and a lot of my fellow brothers and sisters in my local union have been laid off a lot longer than me. And I work when I can, when I can find work, but it's a struggle for working-class people everywhere. And Shakespeare said, The world is a comedy to those who feel, but a tragedy to those who think. So I urge the Commissioners to vote yes on the Marlins Stadium and make Miami a comedy; feel for Miami because I think that if you envision the Marlins wining the pennant again -- and I'm sure they will -- are they going to be talking about New York City or are they going to be talking about Miami? They're going to be talking about Coconut Grove, Biscayne Park, and Fort Lauderdale. And they're going to talk about Florida, and this is what it's about. It's about creating jobs for all kinds of people, not just union people, but all types of working class and businesspeople, and it's something that I believe is a time in America that we need to be patriotic and support whatever we can do to improve the economy. And certainly, this is an investment I think is well worth it. So I urge the Commissioners to feel and make Miami a comedy. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. Barry Johnson: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. My name is Barry Johnson. I'm president and CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, 1601 Biscayne Boulevard, in Miami, since 1907. Speaking today in favor of this project and the two-time World Champion Florida -- soon-to-be Miami Marlins, this project is part of the global agreement, which our chamber has supported in resolution in May of this year. It's -- it is a very integral part of the future of what our community can be and should be. And I am not here to quote Shakespeare, but this is a time when I think we do have to look at philosophers and others, and I bring to mind that great philosopher Mick Jagger, who says, You can't always get what you want, but sometimes if you try, you get what you need. And we need this stadium. We need the jobs. We need baseball in Miami. Thank you very much.
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Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. All right, good morning, sir. Robert Fournier: Good morning. My name -Chair Sanchez: Name and address for the record. Mr. Fournier: Robert Fournier, 2070 Northwest 13th Street. I'm going to do a little show and tell, and that will explain how I feel about the Marlins. First (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ticket. There it is. I saved it all these years. Now I -- that's the way I feel about the Marlins. I think we need that stadium. I think we need it downtown, but I think we need it maybe in five years when the recession is quieted. Okay. Now do you know how much young couples owe on their credit card on the average? Between 7 and $8,000. It will take them 34 years to pay off their credit card if they pay the minimum payment. Last year we had the bailout bill in -- from President -- the Bush bailout bill. That added $2,400 on our debt, each and every one of us. Then we had the stimulus bill; now we owe $4,800 on the national debt. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Federal Reserve is printing money now and then we'll each owe $8,000 on this debt. That's you and me, and our children are going to school and the babies and yet-to-be born. When I see us saying build today, build now for our immediate satisfaction and pleasure, I will label that as child abuse, and I don't think any of us want to be called child abusers. That's why I'm saying save up this money from the tourist tax. In four or five years when we're in a better shape, let's pour the cement then -Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Fournier: -- not now. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Yes, sir. Good morning. Richard Gomez: Good morning. My name's -Chair Sanchez: State your name and address for the record. Mr. Gomez: -- Richard Gomez, 10040 Southwest 33rd Street. I'm here representing the Builders Association of South Florida, and I'm also vice president of TGSV (Tatum Gomez Smith Vitalle) Enterprises, been locally owned since -- for the past 30 years. I'm here to express our support for the stadium. As Mr. Vento so eloquently put, our industry and our community is suffering right now. This project is shovel ready, and we need jobs now. The community program, the small -- CSBEs and the SBEs, which is a program very near and dear to my heart and my company's existence -- we do a lot of work at the Aviation Department -- could really benefit from this. And I've done a little bit of research, and on the last two stadiums that Hunt Construction Group has done, they've met or exceeded their goals for every community and county program, and I think this city really needs this -- these jobs, this stadium, and we need to move forward. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning, sir. Greg Mikenas: My name is Greg Mikenas. I'm from 4197 Kivey Drive, Lake Worth. I came down here to speak on behalf of the carpenters. I'm unemployed at this time. I've been unemployed for the last six months. I'm living off my credit cards. I'm not here to ask for a bailout. I'm here to ask for a job. I like my field of expertise. Construction got hit really hard. I like to do carpentry, and I just want to be able to earn money to support my family, no bailout. I'm not looking for a bailout. The understanding that I have on this is it makes good business sense for the City of Miami to invest in the Marlins Stadium. I've taken a real estate course, and the objective on a real estate course is location, location, location. And right now, in this
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economic downturn, it's jobs, jobs, jobs. All around, it's a win-win situation for Miami and for the workers of Miami. If this gentleman with the loud voice who first spoke concerning them outsourcing the jobs comes to be true, then it's not a win-win situation for everybody. But if the Administration sticks by their guns and provides the work for the local people, then, yes, it's a no-lose situation for Miami. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. State -Howard Kosowsky: Good morning. Chair Sanchez: -- your name and address for the record. Mr. Kosowsky: My name is Howard Kosowsky, 3832 Shipping Avenue, Miami, Florida. I spoke last before the Commission in favor of the stadium, and I am still in favor of the stadium. And I'd like to thank all of you who participated in negotiating between the City, the County, and the Team that came up with these new terms and conditions, which help benefit all of us as citizens of the County. I would like to add that in addition to asking and promoting local workers, that you include the purchasing of the major components to be done by -- with local firms. When the Performing Arts Center was built, this was not adhered to, and there were many, many problems associated with firms from out of town who did not have an interest, a local interest in the stadium -- I mean -- excuse me, in the Performing Arts Center. Their interest was just their pocketbook, only the profits they could make. So I just hope that Hunt and the others involved, once contracts are let, that they're encouraged to purchase all the major components from local suppliers. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Lonnie Turner: Good morning, ladies and gents. My name is Lonnie Turner. I'm from Northwest 16th Place, Sunrise, Florida. I'm an out-of-work carpenter, union carpenter, Local Union 79. I'm here on a personal -- for a personal reason. I'm out of work. I've been out of work for a year and a half, okay. I have a family, two sons, wife; one son in college, one son want to go to college. I received a check from my brother day before yesterday. I called him up to thank him. He said that's what family for. My son called me yesterday and said, Dad, I had a flat tire. I need to get it fixed. Okay, I'll find the money from somewhere. Get it fixed 'cause he need to finish school. My youngest, he want to go. This is a lifeline for me and people like me. So for anyone to object to this stadium, they should have a good reason. I can't see it because it's going to put money back in the community, money that we need to get this economy going again. I mean, I have never seen it this bad before, and I've been down here for about, what, 35 years now, and it's bad. I mean, you all -- you have jobs. You get paychecks, and a lot of things -- you don't see us out here. I understand that because when I was working, I didn't see a lot of people out there either. But you need to understand the situation out here is serious. It is serious. I have a mortgage. I have car payments. My family will not be homeless. Chair Sanchez: In closing, sir. Thank you. Mr. Turner: And I'll close with that. You need to get us back to work. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Good morning, sir. Name and address for the record. Al Huston: Thank you. My name is Al Huston. I represent Local 1652 of laborers, construction laborers. Our business is located at 799 Northwest 62nd Street. We have been vendors in this city for 55 years, and we stand today, all those people that you see behind me in the orange (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and the others, stand to -- in support of this stadium. We agree with both our County and City Mayor that job opportunities should be first and foremost in this city right now in order to get this economy moving. Our peoples come in in the morning looking for jobs.
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They have no idea where they're going to get them from. We need to provide some kind of hope for them, and we feel very strongly that this stadium will do just that. Now, in closing, I would just like to add that my concern is to make sure that those jobs that are provided are provided to local communities. That's what I would like to see because if there is not some safeguard in place to ensure that those jobs are provided to local people in local community, then they will not -- that will not happen. I thank you very much for your time. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Sir, good morning. Jorge Vazquez: Hi. Good morning. My name is Jorge Vazquez. My address is 1786 West 75 Street, Hialeah. And I'm right now unemployed, and I'm a political and intellectual activist, I guess, is how you can -- I can represent myself. I've been hearing a lot of talk about economics, and the problem here that I'm seeing is people are making the same mistakes most bad economists make. They don't look at the unintended consequences of any action. For example, if the government is going to spend half a billion dollars on building this stadium, public -private companies, individuals are not going to have this half billion dollars to spend as they see fit, whereas, individuals make rational decisions to make a profit with their money, to grow their wealth so that they can suit their needs. Politicians use money in order to profit in their -- in the way that they can profit, and that is through reelection. What I'm seeing more than anything else is -- I've already voted against this stadium. Most of Miami has already voted against this stadium, and I see nothing more than a political boondoggle to transfer wealth from people who have already created it to a company that can't create it in this market. Let's be honest. This is not a baseball town. We're too poor. If we really care about baseball, let's see that this is a wealthier county. Let's reduce property taxes. Let's get our insurances in line. That's going to attract more businesses, more jobs that will be creating a profit. If we lower taxes, we make it less expensive for people to come in here and give us jobs, to actually provide these jobs. They're going to be making a profit, and it's an investment that they're making in the long term. This stadium, once it gets built, jobs are gone. You can say political or you can say retraining and this and that for so many years, but as we've seen, government promises never come true because the unintended consequences of taxes is you tax an activity, you're going to have less of it. The revenues from the hotel taxes aren't going to materialize the way you guys think. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. In closing -Mr. Vazquez: And that's it. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. All right, next speaker, please. Sue Freedman: Good morning. My name is Sue Freedman, 133 Northwest 100th Avenue, and I'm coming at it from a different angle. I'm a volunteer with the Florida Marlins Community Foundation, and although we don't get a lot of publicity out there like the Dolphins, being on the news giving out turkeys, we do the same thing. We've injected over $6 million back into the local community over the past ten years, including the RBI programs, which is Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities, holding baseball clinics, donating to the Camillus House, Daily Food Bank, to Make a Wish, by providing scholarships to students. There's over two hun -- I mean, numerous, numerous charities. Also, just so people know, if we do get the stadium built, in 2014 we would have the All-star game. And in 2008, $7 million was injected back to the local charities just last year. I just -- you know, this is not an issue that we can revisit. We don't want to lose our Major League Baseball franchise. The time is now to get it done, and I want to thank everybody for all the time and effort they put into this. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning. Brenda Riggins: Good morning. Brenda Riggins, 19504 Southwest 135 Court, here in Miami. I come today as part of the construction management team of Hunt/Moss. I'm president of Mars
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Contractors, a community small business. We have been since 1992. Why are we still in the program since 1992? 'Cause we have refused to be a part of any project that does not adhere to the intent of the project. Let me say this, that our success over the past 16 years is because of what Commissioners like you do in order to make sure -- you work hard to make sure that small businesses have an opportunity. We're -- are at the table. Hunt and Moss are doing a great thing to engage us. For the past several months, we have been part of the process, and we are learning so much. That's the intent, not just of Hunt and Moss, but what the Marlins have mandated from the top down, and that's where you need to look, from the -- at the top. Marlins - the Marlins' intent is to make sure that not just the project is a success, but the community itself is a success. I urge you all to vote yes. Michelle, to you, you know I work very hard not just in the district where I live, but in your district. One of the things you said to the community was it's time to wake up, time for change. Change is here. This has been two or three years you've been talking about this. Change is here. Let's give the opportunity -- the community something to be proud of. Hey, everybody -- and to the community, let's just go out and play some baseball. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, ma'am. All right, next speaker. Bruce Freedman: Good morning. My name's Bruce Freedman; the address, 133 Northwest 100th Avenue, and obviously, I'm talking in support of the stadium. The issue here today is really, do we want baseball here in South Florida? Do we want the opportunity to bring our children and our family to see All-star games here, World Baseball Classics here, where the finals are set to be here maybe in the next five year -- four years, where the whole world will be watching this city? The simple fact of the matter is you have a deal. Nobody feels like -everybody sometimes feels like they haven't received enough or they've given too much, and when you feel that way, that's when a good deal is in the bank, and that's what we have here. Everybody feels that way. Let's get the stadium built. Let's get this issue completed for once, and let's put all these people who need jobs back to work in this community. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. Hashim Benford: Thank you. Good morning. My name is Hashim Benford. I'm an organizer with the Miami Workers Center. I live at 2144 Southwest 11th Street. I work in the community of Liberty City. I'm here to speak out against the Marlins Stadium, and I speak in solidarity with the low-income and working-class people that we work with in Liberty City, Wynwood, Allapattah in partnership with Power U in Overtown. And I'm here because we believe that this stadium is a bad deal that doesn't serve the interest of working people. It's true that a lot of people need jobs right now, and our concern is that once this stadium is built, those jobs will be gone. We do need sustainable jobs and we need projects that facilitate smart development. The reason we're in this situation now where so many people are out of work, the reason why we've experienced this bust is because for so many years this country and Florida led the charge in irresponsible development. There's this rhetoric going around that a job is a job is a job, that building for building's sake is what we need, and that ideology is wrong. If we need to spend tax -- tourist tax dollars, let's retrofit our hotels. Let's build up tourist infrastructure that's going to create long-term jobs. Let's build up transportation that serves the tourist community as well as the people that serve the tourist industry. Now is the time for smart development. Now is the time for vision, and I'm looking at you specifically, Commissioner Spence-Jones, because you know that your communities are the ones most impacted by this downturn. Now's the time to not fall into the same trap of building for the sake of building. We need jobs that are going to be here after the project is done. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Michelle Garcia: Good morning. Michelle Garcia, 1251 Northeast 141st Street, in North Miami. The -- we all can see that the country is in a severe economic downturn. We got in this
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downturn because of overspending and failure to control on what we spent. Common sense tells you if you can't afford to build it, don't. And for many years, we built when we couldn't afford, and now we're in a crisis. We're about to build a stadium, give away the key; we will not have had access to any of the revenues from the naming rights -- that will go back to the Marlins 'cause they will own the stadium. There are people who walk home and they walk in their doors every night and they hold their breath when they flip on the light switch because they can't afford to pay their power bill, and they never know what day is going to be the day they get cut off. If the City can afford to give the money to the Marlins, do what is needed for the people who elected you and put the money in their pocket. Something extraordinary happened a few weeks ago at the North Miami city council meeting. That council was able to give back to their people. It was only $18.99 every three months, but they gave back to their people. You have the power to do the same thing and take care of the people who put you in office. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. Good morning. Elsie Hamler: Good morning. My name is Elsie Hamler, and I am president of Contractors Resource Center and a member of the board of Allied Minority Contractors Association. And I stand before you as an advocate for small and minority businesses. I've heard some of the specifications that were addressed this morning by the City Manager, and it's obvious that you're trying to make some impact on what happens with the small business community, and we appreciate that. But it's important to understand that the money of this magnitude -- we do construction, and we want to be a part of this construction effort, if it happens, and we want the provisions that's going to allow us to be successful. We've put those provisions out there. I think many of you may be aware of it, and we're depending on you, as stewards of our money, to try to influence those issues that affect the small business community because after all, we are a great part of the taxpayers in this community, and we need to sustain ourselves in these hard economic times, just like anyone else. And I thank you for your time and your indulgence. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. Good morning. Cecilia Tavera Webman: Good morning. Cecilia Tavera Webman, 3091 Day Avenue, Coconut Grove. Mr. Sarnoff is my representative, and I oppose the Marlins Stadium. Let the Marlins pay for what they want to build. When I buy a house, I pay for it; the City doesn't. And by the way, I'm a realtor, and it's no longer only location, location, location. It's location and price. So thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Tavera Webman: And thank you, Mr. Sarnoff and Mr. Regalado. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Alan Rigerman: Alan Rigerman, 17910 Northwest 84th Avenue, unincorporated northwest Dade, Palm Springs North. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. My interest in this issue began some years ago when a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Florida trend alerted me to the difference in sports economics, accounting, and that used in the real world. I spent some time in Judge Jeri Beth Cohen's courtroom listening to the testimony of the Marlins and the County's economic experts. A letter to the editor in the Herald, New Study Shows Stadium Benefits, another expert. I'm so sick and tired of experts. In 1983, the Bell Commission, a group of experts, told us -- published A Nation at Risk, decrying our public schools, experts with an agenda that still the press don't understand. Where did the Everglades pythons come from? The experts will tell you releases. This nonexpert with more bona fide and creds than the experts will tell you Hurricane Andrew. It demolished many breeders in the East Everglades. An adult tiger loosened in Loxahatchee; a Florida Wildlife Commission officer shot the tiger, had no choice. The experts came out of the closet decrying the shooting. Was I published? No, but I owned these same animals and I've
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worked with big cats since the '80s. Why am I here? Some years ago, after working with wildlife, young people, Everglades, Big Cyprus -- and I still own these animals ad nauseam -- I needed a hobby, something relaxing. I chose local government. This is my clipping, pro and con. Who are my experts? My experts are Michael Lewis and Miami Today; the Miami Herald, Michael Putney. Of course, I must be my own experts. Are these temporary or sustainable jobs? No-bid contracts, shell companies; are they a licensed --? Commissioner Sanchez: Sir, in closing, please. Mr. Rigerman: What's -- are they a license to steal? Ladies and gentlemen, you obviously know where I stand. I ask you to do what you will. Bye-bye. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. All right. Next speaker, please. Let's try to keep it down. We must be respectful. All right. Frank Amedia: Mr. Chairman, Frank Amedia, at 1237 North Venetia, in Miami. I want to, first of all, thank this illustrious body, our City fathers, our mother, and those that are involved, as our Mayor, for hard work. I've heard everybody come up and take one position or another, but truly, there are many of us who appreciate the hard work each and every one of you have done, and we know this is not an easy situation. Allow me to just say this about myself. I come to you with a very peculiar blend. I'm a local businessman, a local developer, a builder. I own property close to the stadium that we're trying to figure a solution for in your district, Honorable Commissioner. I'm also a pastor. I've also been a baseball coach, and I'm pleased to tell you a couple of the young men I've mentored are now in the Majors and a few are on their way, so I have a deep passion for this. And I -- there's enough that's on each side of this that you don't need to hear that from me. The only thing I would point to and ask you to look and consider very deeply is what I understand is item two, which is a no-bid item. And as somebody who understands how important it is for you to protect the public dollars, anything that just says no-bid all of a sudden becomes under suspect. This morning as I was getting dressed to come here and saying my prayers about how I could bless you and not be a problem to you, on the news was, again, the CEO of AIG talking about how he was going to give back bonuses that were given in a deal that was done under a stimulus package where some mistakes were made that were not quite as prudent. I would ask you this, please consider the no-bid on that. We have a lot of good local firms given a chance to bid that can do as good a job as Hunt/Moss. God bless you and thank you very much. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. Roce Simpson: Good morning, Commissioners. My name's Roce Simpson. I'm a representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 349, and also here speaking on behalf of Bill Reilly, the president of the Miami Building and Construction Trades. We want to go on record that we're in full support of the Marlin [sic] group and the building of the stadium. In addition to that, everybody that spoke before will tell you, these are sustainable jobs. Another thing to consider is that most of the groups that will perform work on this particular project have training programs, are comprised of bilinguals, all -- everyone with a cultural makeup of this community is encompassed in the training programs, young people who will eventually be journeymen in each of their skilled trades and will live here, be here, and continue to perform work through this community. I also -- I was born and raised in the City of Miami. I've been here 66 years. I think I've seen good and bad change all through that period of time, so I think I can sit back and look at it with open eyes and say I think this project will be good for a world-class city, and that's what we are, with world-class leadership. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. Nombre, direccin. Wilfredo Mendoza (as translated by official Spanish interpreter, Ren Ramos): Good morning.
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My name is Wilfredo Mendoza, and my address is Northwest -- 3335 Northwest 3rd Avenue. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. There has been a lot of talk right here about this stadium bringing a lot of jobs. I have no doubt. I don't doubt that there's going to be jobs. Real bad idea is for how long it's going to provide jobs for the residents of this county. The construction jobs are going to last barely two years, maybe three years. And we're going to use more than $500 million to give me a job -- temporary job, and then send me back to the unemployment line again? This is a good compare [sic] with a building -- a worker that works in a five-star hotel. After the luxury hotel has been built, he won't have any cash left to spend not even one night at that luxury hotel that him [sic], with his own hands, built. There's been talk about the Dolphins losing the stadium -- the Dolphins have a stadium right now. What's really bad is that it's going to be used more than $500 million and the people in the City of Miami are without jobs. How are we going to go to a game, baseball game without a job? We don't have any money. That's it. Chair Sanchez: Gracias. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next speaker. Good morning. Marleine Bastien: Good morning. My name is Marleine Bastien, director of FANM (Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, Inc.), and I'm here on behalf of all our clients who could not be here this morning. Some of them are in hiding, some of them are out there looking for work, some of them are in the fields working, you know, back breaking -- doing back-breaking work to put the bread on their table. And then they heard about the stadium and then they've asked questions. Why is it that we taxpayers always have to bail out big businesses, big corporations when they want to do something? Why do we have to put our money to bail them out? Why are we talking about bailing out companies, big companies right now at a time of crisis for our communities? I mean, we're talking about thousands and thousands and thousands of people who can -- who are losing their homes and are unable to eat. Why are we talking about bailing out anybody right now? Why are we rushing into making a decision at this time? It seems to me we are rushing into it. There hasn't been enough information. There hasn't been enough community participation. It is their money. That's their tax dollars. We're not talking about these bigwigs' money. We're talking about their money. How come that they have not been contributed, they have not been partaking in the decision-making processes? And the question -- the other questions that they've asked, we know there have been a lot of promises made. For example, that dollars will be invested in communities, but who's going to be -- make sure that these promises are kept? We have a bad experience -- experiences in the past where promises are made to our underserved community and they are not kept. Who's going to be sure -- who's going to hold these people's feet in [sic] the fire to make sure that the promises that are being made to you, who are making decisions on our behalf, will be kept? Lastly, the jobs that are promised -- and I've heard many intervened about these jobs. Who's going to guarantee these jobs? Who's going to guarantee that the workers who are going to be employed, that their rights are respected? Who's going to guarantee that they will have these jobs that are promised in the first place? There are so many questions today right now, and it seems to me that we are rushing into discussions. If my clients -- if our community is asking so many questions -- and I think we are rushing today into making such an important decision that will have a life-long impact on them. And I will finish to say, remember -Chair Sanchez: In closing. Ms. Bastien: -- I will finish, Mr. Chair, to say that we are in debt. We are in debt, so you are in debt, and you're going to get into more debt to bail out bigwigs who could afford to build their stadium in the first place? That doesn't make any sense to me. So these are the questions that I'm posing to you, sir, madam -- and she's not here. I'm sure she's watching. Maybe we need to postpone this -- table this until we're sure that we're going to really be good steward of our people's money because -Chair Sanchez: Thank you.
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Ms. Bastien: -- frankly, Mr. Chair, we do not have a good precedence in that arena. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker, please. Gertrude Clyde: Good morning. My name is Gertrude Clyde. I live at 1990 Northwest 4th Court, Unit 4, Miami, Florida 33136. I'm here in reference to the situation about the arena. And my point -- I agree with a lot of the other residents in reference to what they're saying about this stadium. Now, is this going to be the same promise that was promised to us about the arena? It was going to create jobs. It was going to be there for years, this, that, and the other. Now the Miami Arena isn't there. So is this same promise that was given for the Arena is going to be the same promise for the Miami -- Marlins Stadium? If so, I don't think it's fair. But if it's in good hands, and if it's for good reasons that's going to give a lot of people jobs, steady jobs before, during and after, in a way, I'm kind of for it. But if it's not going to be a place where people can be guaranteed a job after it's built, then I'm not for it. One thing I also would like to say, I commend my Commissioner, Spence-Jones, for taking the time and looking at all these areas. She's the only Commissioner that I can remember and can recall that actually stood up and standing up for trying to do what's right for her district. And I'm sorry she's not here for me to say this to her face, but I do commend her because all the other Commissioners never stood up and fought for anything in District 5, and I commend her dearly. And I hope that she can stand tall and can get this done and do it in a fair way. That's my comment in reference to the Marlin [sic]. Commissioner Sarnoff: What was your name, ma'am? Excuse me. What was your name? Ms. Clyde: Gertrude Clyde, C-L-Y-D-E. Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you. Ms. Clyde: Bonnie, she left me. I don't know where she went. Commissioner Sarnoff: Next. Melissa Sturgis: Yeah. My name is Melissa Sturgis, 5300 Northwest 26th Avenue, Apartment 28, in Miami, Florida. I'm here on behalf of myself and my two teens, and people from Overtown. This Marlins Stadium will not help Overtown because there -- these jobs is not going to last long, and I am out of work, been out of work for two years. I've had three separate jobs in Overtown ranging between 2003 and 2007. It don't make no sense for us to have this stadium. Where are the people Overtown going to get money to go to a game? None of us will be able to afford this. And where does Michelle Spence-Jones get off wanting to vote for this Marlins Stadium and want it -- the only way she'll vote for it is to get jobs for Overtown residents? It's not promised for anybody 'cause I'm out of work. I need a job, and so is my teenage daughter who is coming out of school this June. She need a job also. I'm in debt. I need help, and so is the people Overtown. There are children -- and I heard someone say earlier this money need not to be used to build schools and parks. That is a lie. We need education for our black children, brown skin children, and light skin children in Overtown. If they don't go to school, they will be out committing crimes, and we don't need that anymore. We need this to stop. Don't vote for this 'cause it's hard enough for people to live -- What about the small mom-and-pop businesses Overtown? We need more businesses -- big businesses, like a Wal-Mart, fast-food restaurants, education for our children, a college. And we need to put our hotels back here in Overtown, just like there is on South Beach, Miami Beach and everywhere else. Don't build this Marlins Stadium 'cause it's not going to help me nor my kids 'cause none of us is going to afford to go to a game. We all need help. Job -- permanent jobs. These -- this stadium will not bring permanent jobs for nobody in Overtown, and I'm speaking of everybody Overtown. Commissioner Sarnoff: Melissa, what was your last name?
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Ms. Sturgis: My name is Melissa Sturgis. Commissioner Sarnoff: Sturgis. Thank you. Teresa Cruz (as translated by official Spanish interpreter, Ren Ramos): Teresa Cruz, 3301 Northwest 3rd Avenue, in Wynwood. I live in poor community. The way I come here because I don't want to Florida Marlins because we have a lot of projects need priority. The stadium, we will have to pay taxes. We can pay taxes. Everybody (UNINTELLIGIBLE), more taxes. I retire. I have 76 years. I get only $600, my pension. I don't -- and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people, no job, lost the job, you know. We can't support no more taxes. We don't have -- that's why. We have a lot of program needs priority in Miami. We need security. We need housing for poor people. We need a lot of things. The Marlins want the stadium, we can't pay. They have (UNINTELLIGIBLE). The owner of the Marlins put some money. We can't put no more money. We don't want to pay no more taxes. I'm so sorry. Thank you very much. Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you. Next. Ann Meng: Ann Meng, 7441 Wayne Avenue, in Miami Beach. And I am both for and against the stadium in the sense that -Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): I'm sorry, Chair. I apologize. I didn't hear her name. Commissioner Sarnoff: Ann Banks [sic]. Ms. Meng: Ann Meng. Commissioner Sarnoff: Oh, Ann Meng. Ms. Meng: M-E-N-G. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Ms. Meng: The project, as it stands, may create some jobs. And in construction, a two-year job is a good job. The -- what I don't see is any guarantee that the people here will be the ones employed. If you look at a lot of other projects going on in the City right now, the people that are working there are not from here. And also, I think that if the City and the County want to do this project, they need to do a better job of horse trading. Lend them the money, but get something back for our tax dollars. Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you. Next. Erika Brigham: Erika Brigham, 735 2nd Street, Miami Beach. I think this is a very, very bad deal for the City and the County, a wonderful deal for the Marlins. There's a much better deal to be had, a much better location to be had, and that is the former arena site in downtown Miami. And as you can see from this Miami-Dade Transit map, it is surrounded by public transit. One of the lines is the Metro line which goes up and connects with the Tri-rail, which means that people from Broward and Palm Beach County can get on the Tri-rail, hop on it, get down to the transfer station, jump right off and be at the Marlins Stadium. Almost every single transit line in the City goes within three blocks of the Marlins Stadium. There is one line on Northeast 7th Avenue, one bus line. As far as the site of the Orange Bowl is concerned, that could be a wonderful place for community soccer fields that would bring great life to the community. There could be parkland there. It would be very, very, very much appreciated by the residents, whereas the downtown site would generate an enormous amount of extra TIF (Tax Increment Fund) funds because it is in the heart of the Overtown/Park West community development CRA
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(Community Redevelopment Agency) area right here and keeping the money there. Private developer Glenn Straub is very happy to deal with the Marlins. He would make a much better deal for the -- the City and the County may not have to put any funds in it. It would stay in private hands and be leased to the Marlins, and there would be an enormous amount of money generated in the CRA that would stay in the CRA that would jumpstart all kinds of projects down there and create lots and lots and lots of businesses surrounding it. It's for the local people who are talking about the jobs that they so desperately need. The hotel tax is the generator of the money that is being -- is said to be used for the Marlins Stadium -Commissioner Sarnoff: And in conclusion. In conclusion. Ms. Brigham: Pardon? Commissioner Sarnoff: In conclusion. Ms. Brigham: Oh, yes -- which could amount to $1.8 billion, and there would be no money left for anything else like re-nourishing the beaches, upgrading the convention center, which is the economic engine of the hotel tax and the County. Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you. Clotilde Luce: Yes. Good morning. Clotilde Luce, 301 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach. I think you have heard a lot of very moving testimony this morning. We've heard a lot of people expressing a lot of distress. The gentleman who couldn't get his son's flat tire fixed. There's a lot of distress and fear and anguish in this community, and that's what you've been listening to this morning. There's also a lot of hope from these people. They actually -- I'm sorry to say, I'm afraid they're a little bit deluded that they're going to get a job out of this this morning. Some of the people who've come before you, individually, I am afraid will not get a job out of this thing. I was talking to a city planner at Government Center and he told me off the record the only people who are going to get a really long-term job from this Marlins Stadium are going to be, you know, a guy with a dog, the guard guarding the parking lot when it's not in use. That's -- those are the long-term jobs you're going to get out of this, I'm sorry to say. I think -- I know you've made some amendments. It is still very easy to wiggle. There is too much wiggle room. These people from the unions today, I'm afraid you're being used for political reasons. You may not get those jobs. I don't think the language is any way specific enough. And that leads me to my third point that I think is very unfortunate for our city, which is the image that sometimes Miami, shall we say -- you know, there's a little murkiness in the way the deals are arrived at. Since I've lived here, I've been through the port deal, the airports, things like that. I think this deal was not carried out with enough transparency. The no-bid aspect of it is very worrying, so there are many good reasons to reject this deal, this particular deal, and I'm afraid a lot of the people hoping to get jobs here today will be disappointed. Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you. Next. Jim Anderson: Good morning. My name is Jim Anderson. I'm a 35-year taxpayer of the City of Miami and an entrepreneur. I was the one actually that told Joe Robbie to build the stadium where he built it. He was negotiating at 36th Street. Then I drew him a diagram. I showed him how he could adapt the football stadium to the baseball stadium, which he also did. I haven't researched lately, but I know at the time there was two brothers that owned all that property up there, and they made him a hell of a deal on that property because they wanted to make the rest of the property more valuable. I would imagine that property is still available. And in other cities in the country, they have a football and a baseball stadium together, and that's where it should be, between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Where it is, it's a lousy location. Also, the deal that you have made is very bad for the taxpayers, very good for Mr. Loria, who obviously hasn't got any money, and you fellows haven't even demanded to see his financial statement. Mr.
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Braman, who they begged for money from him a couple years ago, asked to see the financial statement; he wouldn't give it to them. Obviously, he doesn't have much money. You have a $35 million loan to Loria. I don't understand that a bit. There's about 80 baseball dates. So there's over 200 open dates for this new stadium you're going to give Loria, the Marlins. He has the right for all that revenue. To me, that's insane. He can sell it to rock groups, car dealers, whatever he wants, 200-something dates. Why don't we have that revenue? Why are we giving that to Loria, who, obviously, hasn't got any money? Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Anderson, in conclusion. Mr. Anderson: Pardon? Commissioner Sarnoff: In conclusion. Mr. Anderson: Vote against it. Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Samuel Gilmore: My name is Sam Gilmore. I live at 3171 Northwest 57th Street, Miami, Florida 33142. Thank you for the clock. I've had an opportunity for my company to be on both the Performing Arts Center and the American Airlines Arena. We were on both jobs, so we understand how fast-tracked design-build projects are done. We sat down with the president, Samson, and also the counsel, Mr. Derrick Jackson, and we had a very frank and honest discussion on the conditions there are for small contractors, and we're very happy to say that everything I heard from both of those gentlemen was honest, and that was very refreshing. At no time did either one of the individuals or the project manager, which was -- is presently here right now -- at no time did they put conditions forward that were not something they could or could not do out of 20-something plus items. I am here, as Ms. Elsie Hamler is here, for those conditions for small contractors. Many times small contractors don't know what they're getting into. Because they don't know what they're getting into, they end up with conditions they're not familiar with and they end up having a very -- a big problem on it. As we understand, all the conditions that the Marlins could adopt, they have adopted already. There are other conditions that they County Manager -- and we presented them to the Board of County Commissioners -can help us with. We gave them to Commissioner Rolle yesterday. The rest of the Commission should have them, and we're asking for these conditions to be adopted on this project. In conclusion, the only thing that really worries me is this economy. We have three federal reserve chairmens [sic], Volcker, we have Bernanke, Greenspan, all say we have no idea where this economy is going. We have no idea. We have a real estate crisis, financial crisis, and a manufacturing crisis all at one time. Please -- and I voice my opinion to the Commissioner -Chair Sanchez: Through the Chair. Mr. Gilmore: -- in conclusion -- review plans available in case we have to feed 20 to 25 percent of this population for about two years. That's what it looks like right now. Please review plans for that. Pass this or don't pass -- but please make sure your citizens can be fed if this economy gets worse. Yesterday, the Federal Reserve, they opened the doors -Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Mr. Gilmore: -- ten trillion dollars plus in spending. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Gilmore: Thank you very much.

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Chair Sanchez: Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Next speaker. Name and address for the record. Richard Strell: Thank you. Richard Strell, 404 Northeast 35th Street, Miami. My first concern is that Miami likes to think of itself as a progressive city, but when it comes to proposals like the Marlins, this is about a 25-year-old plan. Most cities in the US (United States) have stopped giving anything remotely what Miami's willing to give the Marlins because they found over time that it does not bring money back into the city. In fact, the Oakland A's have been trying to find a home for the past four years. They negotiated with the city of Freemont for two years. They bought land. They were willing to buy the land, build the parking lot, build the stadium, build housing and a retail center, so many similar elements to this plan, all with their own money, not asking for any money, for any of it. And the city of Freemont, after two years of negotiations, said we don't get enough out of it. We have traffic and all kinds of problems, so we really don't want it, but thank you. So the A's had spent $24 million on it, and the city is getting reimbursed $750,000 for the time the city spent negotiating with the A's. That's an example of what else is happening in the country. The A's have also gone to another eight cities and no one wants them, on much, much better terms than the Marlins even with the Marlins' concessions over the past 24 hours. So why is Miami acting as though this is essential and they're doing us a favor? The details of the plan are far, far off of what they should be, and we're really not getting remotely enough from it. Within the same context, there was an article today in the Herald about the no-bid contract that those -- the contractor had some ethical violation. So a no-bid contract's bad enough; this particular contractor, it makes even less sense. So that should be a serious concern, I believe. As far as the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) funding, we know from experience that promises usually aren't met when it comes to that stuff. And in this case, there are so many more unknowns than is typically the case, why we would believe experts that are hired by the Mayor to push for this plan is hard to imagine. I can't imagine that anyone who's really looking over the details believes the CRA money is going to come a year from now Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Mr. Strell: -- but we won't know until then. Thank you very much. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Name and address for the record. Raissa Fernandez: Good morning. My name is -Chair Sanchez: Good morning. Ms. Fernandez: -- Raissa Fernandez, 1835 Southwest 12 Avenue. I wanted to ask the City Attorney a question. The components for this proposal that he mentioned earlier, when were they delivered and at what time? Chair Sanchez: Madam Attorney. The question, when -- the question was were the documents delivered? Ms. Fernandez: Final components that you were talking about that were -- that you said at the beginning of the hearing, I wanted to know when and at what time were they delivered, the final version? Mr. Hernandez: When was the final version --? Ms. Fernandez: Um-hum. Mr. Hernandez: Well, we've been working on refining the documents as a result of public input
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and also the meetings with our Commissioners. We've been working with the County and the City and the County, City, and Team over the last three, four weeks. The final version, we've had it, I would say, for about five days or so; and as we move forward, we continue to do tweaks, as we'll probably end up doing maybe here today. Ms. Fernandez: Okay. So yesterday on the news, there was talk about -- that it might be a problem, a legal problem because of the language that it had. It hasn't been revised then? Mr. Hernandez: I don't think there is a -- you're talking about notice and the time that you need to have between -Ms. Fernandez: The 20 percent that you're talking about the community businesses that were going to be -Commissioner Gonzlez: Mr. Manager, I believe the lady -Chair Sanchez: Yes, sir. Commissioner Gonzlez: -- is referring to the agreement that was being discussed between the Marlins and whoever it was. Mr. Hernandez: The outside agencies. Commissioner Gonzlez: That has nothing to do with -Mr. Hernandez: Okay. Commissioner Gonzlez: -- the stadium contract. Mr. Hernandez: The Commissioner is totally right. Those issues are totally, totally outside of the realm of our agreements. Those were issues that we were not involved in, the County was not involved in, and are totally outside of our agreements, totally. Chair Sanchez: All right. Ms. Fernandez: So the 20 percent from the City that small businesses have to be part of the workforce at the stadium, that's not --? Mr. Hernandez: No. What I read here today, that's part of our agreement. Ms. Fernandez: Okay. Mr. Hernandez: Okay. So if it's something that I mentioned earlier in my introduction, that's a recommendation that it be added to the original agreement. Chair Sanchez: All right. Ms. Fernandez: Okay. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Fernandez: All right. I want to say to all of you that I think this is not a good deal. Little Havana and Overtown have been promised many, many good stuff, and we've all soaked it up for many years and said, okay, that sounds great, but it hasn't come through, okay. And I wanted to know who's going to watch over the Marlins and our cities and our counties that this so-called
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agreement will be in place to protect this community? And I leave it up to you guys because, you know, I think it's very important -- we see the whole thing with the banks, that there was no regulatory nothing in hand, and now we see the damage. Chair Sanchez: All right. Ms. Fernandez: Thank you. Chair Sanchez: This -- ladies and gentlemen, this is to hear your comments. We can't have everybody come up and ask questions directly to the City Manager or the attorneys. The way it works through the public hearing, it is to hear your concerns based on the item that's being discussed, so please refrain from asking questions. We just want to hear what your comments are, whether you're for it or against, what your opinion is on the item. So next speaker. Name and address for the record. Good morning. Rosa Green: Good morning. Rosa Green, 219 Northwest 16th Street, number 3. I'm here today not to speak against the Marlins Stadium, and I think -- everybody has been calling Michelle Spence-Jones name. I think it was that she didn't want to vote until certain demands was met for the area in which I live, which is Overtown. I am a retired teacher, came here in 1941, but I wasn't always a teacher. I got my first degree at 50 years old, so I'm not looking for a job right now. I did a little work at the youth center. I'm living on a small retirement and Social Security, but I did a little work at the youth center, and IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is writing me. So that let you know they don't want you to make much money, okay. But my biggest concern is I came here to Miami in 1941. I started coming down here to try to understand how the City works in 1992, to be exact. And from the time I've been coming, we have been getting promises, promises that they were going to bring Overtown at -- not back to what it was, but even better than what it was. But when I came here, we did have a clean city. We had theaters that we could afford to go to right in Overtown. We had a couple of brand-new hotels that were built from the ground. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and somebody else built them. And then they had the Dorsey Hotel on 2nd Avenue. We don't have any of that now. We had the Orange Bowl, who [sic] has recently been destroyed, and I know for the Marlins -- not necessarily for the Marlins, but that was a lot of black history there. Chair Sanchez: Ms. Green. Ms. Green: I remember the Orange Bowl -- I'm going to finish right now. Chair Sanchez: In closing, please. Ms. Green: Right now, please. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Green: But my point is, please think of the poor black people, like myself, in Overtown, and understand that we too sing America. Think that you -- we need -- I've been retired. I don't have anywhere to go. I'm sitting in my home everyday looking at TV, no recreation. We don't have a decent recreation center in Overtown for seniors to go to. We don't have a decent movie nowhere. There's a lot of space, a lot of empty houses, every year they throw some paint on them, and they all boarded up. So I think you people that we get in line and vote for, take my tax dollars -- God knows I've paid a lot, my husband and I; he's deceased -- and I haven't seen anything to show for all the taxes that we poor people pay. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Green: And also think about education 'cause that's what everybody need, vocational
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schools. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, Ms. Green. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you, Ms. Green. Applause. Chair Sanchez: All right. Hey, listen, I'm going to ask you once again very respectfully, you know. You read the procedures. You can't clap. Next time you clap, I'm going to have the sergeant at arm escort you out. Please, let's try to get through the meeting in an orderly fashion. We can't have people clapping and whistling and -- for whatever the opinion may be. We can't have that here. Please, we ask you to help us out so we could get through this meeting in an orderly fashion. Yes, sir. Good morning. Reginald Munnings: Good morning. My name is Reginald Munnings. I'm a activist in the community. I live in the Overtown area, 1130 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Apartment 302. I've been in Miami for quite some time, and I love it here. I love my community, but this deal, I do not love. I would like to see you do something a little different and -- concerning the Marlins. And the rich guys who want to hit ball with stick, I think that maybe they should get themselves a loan from the bank. And you guys need to run this panel more like it should be run instead of running it like a savings and loans when it comes to these type of deals. I would also like to see something done in my neighborhood. I mean, we talk about all the good things that the Marlins want to do for the City, but I've been in the City for a long time, and as far as I'm concerned, the City has been where I've been living, and it's not very good over there. You guys could see that, you know, and taxpayers' money are going to this deal. I think maybe you should think a little something about those concerns, and I'll leave it at that. Chair Sanchez: Thank you -Mr. Munnings: Thanks. Chair Sanchez: -- sir. Thank you. Next speaker. Charles Cutler: Yes. Charles Cutler, 706 Northwest 4th Avenue. I -- my family has been in this area for over a hundred years, and I've been living in Overtown for about 35 years. And primarily, what my concern is, with the land that we have, I think we should use it for the high and best use, and I do trust the Commissioners and leadership of this City totally, and I have respect for -- and I know that you will make the best decision based on the information that you have. But what I do want to challenge you in is to look at -- even if this deal does go through, I think we have to look at the makeup of our community now because with the diversity that we have, it's really not reflected in the contracts that are issued and in the workforce that we see in our communities. And we have a lot of young people now that are pouring out of school that cannot pass FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test), and I'm talking about young men and young women. And these people need to be able to go to work. They have families; they have children. And I'm just hoping that you would have some compassion because when these people come out of school, they have to come and live with us, and that impacts the crime, and it creates a lot of social distress on the community. So we must sincerely start doing something about how we're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) these contracts and how we're developing the workforce that's benefiting from the contracts, and that is a serious problem in this community. And it really frightens me with the economic stimulus money that's coming down and even with this Marlins Stadium deal and how it's being cut because I heard one guy said, you know, bilingual. The people that I live with, they're not bilingual, and these are people that are Overtown and we've got to do something to help our young people. Thank you.

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Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Good morning. Denise Perry: Good morning. My name's Denise Perry. I'm with Power U Center, 164 Northwest 20th Street. I want to recognize many of the statements given by my brothers and sisters in Town Park. I thought Ms. Gertrude Clyde, Marleine, Ms. Green made some incredibly powerful statements, but I actually would like to make a statement to the public that we need to stop this foul deal. Whether it's here, whether it's the County, or whether it is at the courthouse, this deal is not good for our community. This group of folks does not represent my community, and that we're tired -- if you can get people to believe in the ridiculous, you can get them to commit the atrocity, and this stadium is an atrocity. Our public dollars being used in this way -we are aware of how that money can be spent. We're aware that money needs to be targeted towards tourism. We're also aware that we need a comprehensive way of spending this money that is good for the long term of this community. Most of you or many -- maybe all of you will not be sitting in these seats when this deal is done, but these people here will be living what you decide to do today or what the County decides to do on Monday, or what the courts decide for us after that. And that -- this needs to be some transparency about what's going on. We need to know not just maybe when the fifth day of the deal was drawn, but for the last ten years, and that even the State of Florida has overlooked giving these folks money for this deal. Why is Miami giving away our money? Last thing, everyone's excited about the potential of up to $500 million for Overtown. I want to get excited about where do we get to control the $500 million you're sending out of Overtown that's supposed to be our money? Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next. Good morning, sir. Walter Ross Jr.: Good evening. My name is Walter Ross. I'm from 160 Northwest 14th Street, Pompano Beach, and I come way down here to say that I'm with this stadium being built because there is no jobs. I have built up so many big companies, so many big buildings far as going out of town. Now I'm starting to work out of town. I'm working out of Fort Lauderdale area. I work out of Aventura area, but now I want to come back and work for the City of Miami in this area here, and I am with it. And now I'm out of work, and I've been working for this company for six years. Now there's no work. I'm with the local International Union of North America. Sometimes I feel like just leaving this city and go somewhere else. Why is that there? Because there's no jobs in the City of Miami, and I believe there should be jobs for people in the City of Miami in the Metro Dade County area. And I thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning, ma'am. Joann Love: Good morning. My name is Joann Love. I'm a member of Power U, and I live at 467 Northwest 8th Street. And I say no to the Marlins deal also. The reason why I say no is because there will be no long-term work. This is just for one year, maybe a year and a half. We need people working for 5, 10, 15 years to get things moving again. What y'all are saying up there, I don't understand it. I don't understand it. People need to work. People need to eat. People need to have clothes. People need plenty stuff, just like you all need. We need too. You send the jobs away first. You want the Crosswinds here. You still want them here. That's a no-good deal. I say no to the stadium. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Once again, folks, those of you who gave testimony on February 13, your testimony will be put on the record today. It'll be incorporated in today's record. I see some of you that are on the line that have already made statements, I would ask you respectfully to limit your statements to additional statements you may have. Greg, you're recognized for the record. Greg Bush: Okay. My name is Greg Bush, 6261 Coral Lake Drive, and I'm representing the Urban Environment League. And I would ask you simply to not get hung up on last-minute concessions. But look -- I think that you should look at the big picture, as several other people
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have told you to. It's not just about baseball. It's about resource priorities for this community. The Urban Environment League thinks this is a bogus stimulus effort that masks a huge future hole in the taxpayers' pockets. This is also not a neighborhood-friendly design in an area that has the highest need for additional public parkland. A sea of expensive parking lots will be taking place here, and there's little attention to local commercial or residential needs. Why is all this funding from the tourist tax dollars going to baseball rather than to other places, like senior centers or parks, as people have said before? Final point or two that I want to make real quickly, notice that the opposition here today is very broad based. It's cross class. It involves working people. It involves business people. It involves environmentalists, people involved in wanting to see good planning for this community. And you all, as several people have said, are going to be here a short time, and you really need to think about the big picture, about the long-term history. Please move beyond what I see as a kind of corrupt culture of spectacle that, in many ways, Miami has become. Think about the long-term best interest of the entire community, not the cynical acceptance of this corporate welfare. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. Michael Burnstine: Good morning. Michael Burnstine, 4447 North Bay Road, Miami Beach. I want to make it very clear that I go to Marlins games. I like the Marlins. I like to take my kids to the Marlins games. I would love to sit in a new, pristine stadium. However, I just cannot support the current deal that is on the table. You know, I've heard Mr. Samson say that this is simply a business deal to him. I think someone forgot to mention that to the people that are negotiating for the citizens of Miami and Miami-Dade County that this is a business deal. It's an egregious, onerous business deal to us, the citizens, in Miami and Miami-Dade County. Let's talk about jobs. I always ask myself, why is this going through. Let's talk about jobs. Let's talk about the rhetoric that I hear, the thousands of jobs. I've heard Mr. Samson say the operational part of the stadium will create thousands of jobs; the construction, thousands of jobs. Then I heard Mayor Alvarez say in his -- read in his memo three weeks ago that it's hundreds of jobs. Well, is it hundreds of jobs or is it thousands of jobs, okay? And I think if it's shovel ready, then I believe that there are budgets out there -- and I think someone from Hunt/Moss is here. Why don't we ask -- why don't you all demand to see the budgets and see exactly what jobs are actually going to be there for the people of Miami and Miami-Dade County? I think the only long-term sustainable jobs that are going to come out of this deal are for these folks sitting right over here, not for these folks sitting right here. And I think you all need to think about that prior to being up in here and supporting this deal. The last thing I would say is that no-bid contracts - you know, I watched President Obama three weeks ago, whatever that was. I think he mentioned four times in his speech about no-bid contracts, and here we are in Miami-Dade County, City of Miami, where three no-bid contracts are on the table. It's despicable. It's terrible, and I can't -- I don't know how we can actually sit here and vote for no-bid contracts when the President of the United States sits there in front of the public and says no-bid contracts are a thing of the past. Make them a thing of the past. Vote no, please. Chair Sanchez: All right. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning. Brian May: Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission, my name is Brian May, with 7840 Southwest 52nd Avenue. I'm here on behalf of Unite Here, representing over 4,000 hotel, restaurant and facility workers across the county, and representing thousands of employees working at stadiums across the country. Here to inform you today that, you know, we're pleased to let you know that we do have a labor peace agreement with the Team. We've worked closely with them over several months and really have come to a, you know, very good deal, and we're here really to support this deal because we think it is good for the community. It will provide, you know, thousands of jobs at the stadium and on an ongoing basis. We're happy to be, you know, in the position to represent hundreds of those people. And I can tell you that what we're most pleased about is because the Team -- and we have to give some credit to them -- has stepped up and agreed to a labor peace agreement. We're extremely confident that those jobs
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are going to be meaningful, well-paying jobs that will provide benefits to workers and their families, and we think that is the kind of thing that does make a difference for the community, and we are very hopeful that you will support this deal. Is it a perfect deal? No. Has -- have there been, you know, bumps along the road? Has it been a work in progress? Absolutely. It's probably one of the most difficult things, you know, this community has tried to tackle in a very long time. So, you know, I really hope that you'll support this. Again, it's not perfect, but it's going to really make a lasting impression on the community. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning. Elvis Cruz: Elvis Cruz, 631 Northeast 57th Street. Why? Why are some public officials so in love with this terrible deal? Have you ever had a friend or a family member who was dating someone who was all wrong for them and no matter what logical advice you gave, they wouldn't listen because love is blind? The Marlins won't open their financial records; yet, they want us to partner with them. Why would we expose our general fund to that risk? The Marlins have included the death clause; yet, they'd have you believe that they've negotiated in good faith. The 335-page contract doesn't even name in writing who that death clause is supposed to cover. The sports tax and tourist tax that would bring -- excuse me, the sports tax and tourist taxes would bring much more economic benefit and sustainable jobs if they were put into a new convention center, which those taxes are allowed to do, but that's a fact that the supporters of this deal don't want you to consider. The latest amendments that were mentioned this morning used the word "aspiration" to describe the hiring goals. How do you enforce a contract that merely aspires? You can't. There's an alternative site in downtown Miami at the former Miami Arena site. That site was looked at by the City before and it was ranked number three, while the Orange Bowl site was ranked number five. The Arena site has Metrorail and Metromover. It would contribute to the total downtown experience. It would use private land and private money. It's a no-brainer. Let the Marlins cut a deal with Glenn Straub so we can use the sports and tourist tax for a convention center and those sustainable jobs. In closing, don't let your base -- your love for baseball be blind. This is a terrible deal for the public. That concludes my statement on that item. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Cruz: Mr. Chairman, as a point of clarification, is there going to be a separate public hearing for item number 2? Chair Sanchez: No, there will not. This will cover all the items. Mr. Cruz: Okay, but I -Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Cruz: -- I did want to speak to that. I was not aware -Chair Sanchez: All right. Mr. Cruz: -- that this was for all three. Chair Sanchez: Next speaker. David Chiverton: Good morning. David Chiverton. There's been a lot said about the jobs and job creation. My concern on the current package that's presented is what it'll cost the taxpayers in the long run. It looks like approximately 1.8, almost $2 billion, and I don't know that that's really fiscally sound given our current state, the way our community is. The question about jobs and everything that comes into -- always in question, we've seen that for many years. I've been a
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part of a community that has continued to feel as if it's going to be included, and then excluded. I understand that the benefits of bringing a stadium to this community, but fiscally sound, I don't think it benefits our community in its current presentation. Thank you. Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you, sir. Grady Muhammad: Good morning. Grady Muhammad, president, representing Contractors Resource Center, 1730 Northwest -- Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 201. Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, Mayors, what we have here is a combination of two things, a public-private partnership and then we have a private entity. Prior to this deal in anything that was announced, the waiving of the competitive process, signing of the five compact agreements, that allowed the private partnership to be a private-private partnership and the public is giving it away, but the Marlins are a wonderful private entity and there was never any federal anything prior to the signing of the compact. The taxes have always been tourism, convention development, sports-related. Where is the federal government or a penny of the federal dollars will be spent on this? Because we talking about jobs for Little Havana and they need them. Overtown is the original revitalization area that's needed. Put the stadium there. We got Metro fare -- I meant, excuse me, Metrorail. We'll save a hundred and fifty million dollar line. We'll save $24 million in infrastructure. We will revitalize Overtown. The Performing Arts Center didn't do it, neither did the American Airlines Arena, neither did Bayside Marketplace, neither did American [sic] Arena did it. But Mr. Nero, the official economic development agency's executive director for the County said (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Denver stadium, but that's west of the downtown central business district in Little Havana, but they need it too. If we put it in Overtown in the central business district, in the CRA, jobs will be created, but more importantly, at the end of the day, Contractors Resource Center needs to be in this deal. You know why? Contractors Resource Center is a small network of minority contractors. For 20 years, they assigned or technical assistance provider to the City. They're a technical assistance provider to Miami-Dade County -- and I'm closing, Mr. Chair. Allow them to be written into the agreement to ensure small minority contractors, all of them, union and nonunion, will be included in this deal. Please allow Contractors Resource Center do what they're doing right now with the City as a technical assistance provider for the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County. Consider them so that minority outreach of contractors can be included, not aspirational goal. If it ain't in black and white in American, it's not enforceable. Thank you, Commissioners. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Just a way of reminder, we -- this public hearing covers all three of the items that have been publicly advertised today, so -- next speaker. Yes, sir. Jumel Calixte: Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Jumel Calixte. I'm 8271 Northeast 2nd Avenue, City of Miami. The reason why I'm here today is that, you know, I see a lot of deals in the City of Miami, and as a citizen and a City of Miami voter and -- I would like to see, you know, my community, Little Haiti, has a fair share of the pie. So everybody ask for a fair share of the pie, and that's the reason why I would like to see a fair share of the pie for my community. And the reason why, you know, Little Haiti, you know -- I walk everyday in Little Haiti and I haven't seen much done, especially in the sidewalk. We don't have no sidewalk. We don't have beautifications. If you walk right now in Little Haiti, you know, we don't have no beautification. Economic development is zero, and I would like to see a fair share of the pie also for economic development. And I would like to take -- I would like to say the next Mayor to take Little Haiti as a serious business to see economic development and beautification in the City and Little Haiti because Little Haiti is located in the City of Miami, so every community, like I said, is asking for their share of the pie. We're asking a share of the pie. And also, I would like to see -because there is a vacant land sitting there in City of Miami, you know, in downtown Miami, and I think it would be a good gesture to see a stadium sitting there, to build there because, you know -- and I also wanted to say that, you know, I remember when Dolphin was built -- Dolphin Stadium was built, Joe Robbie Stadium. Joe Robbie was building the stadium with his own money. So I know Mr. Samson and Lorias [sic] and associate, they have a lot of money, so I
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would like to see if they can do the same thing as Joe Robbie did -Chair Sanchez: Thank -Mr. Calixte: -- you know, for Dolphin Stadium. Chair Sanchez: -- you. Mr. Calixte: And -- Thank you, sir. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning. Scott Galvin: Good morning, honorable Commissioners and Mayor. My name is Scott Galvin, and I'm the vice president of education for a nonprofit association known as Junior Achievement of Greater Miami. We're located at 13490 Northwest 7th Avenue in the great city of North Miami. Now a lot of the people who've come to speak to you today have spoken to the economic and tax benefits of this deal, but I'm here to talk to you in favor of this deal based on a more precious resource, our children. Junior Achievement as a nonprofit organization's mission is to bring corporate volunteers into school classrooms to talk to them about business and the community in this society. Every year, the Florida Marlins dedicate dozens, hundreds of business hours to send dozens of their employees into school classrooms to talk to the kids in our community. Yes, they teach them lessons about business and community while they're there, but more importantly, they serve as role models, and more importantly, they create relationships with the kids in those schools where they go to visit. By approving this deal today, you'll do more than just approve a stadium that's bricks and mortar. By approving this deal today, you'll provide continued opportunity for our children to interact with professionals, to learn more about the world around them. Junior Achievement hopes that you'll support this measure today. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. Dago Castillo: Good morning. My name is Dago Castillo. I live in 34 Northwest 17th Place, and I support the union carpenters Local 72. And I've been working for last nine years steadily. And I think by making -- building this stadium is going to be more jobs because everybody's going to invest money around it. That's the way I see it because once you invest money in the stadium, union laborers, union plumbers, electrician, everybody's going to get a little bit, and the economy is going to start getting back on its feet. That's the way I see it, so thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Ramon Guillen: Good morning, all -Chair Sanchez: Good morning. Mr. Guillen: -- the Commission. I no play today. That's right. Me [sic] no play today. Some of the people and some of the community comment today in Miami and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) not show. Some of the people is give me, give me, give me. I live right there and you know for 42 years I work in the community. I not tell the City of Miami give me employment. I not tell the Dade County give me employment. I not tell the Miami give me employment. I tell the City of Miami, you no put (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I tell the Dade County (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He clean all the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people come over here the City of Miami, the Dade County. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), two line, one north, one sur. How many lines got it now? He got, you know, 16 line. He got (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and got it in the south. He got progress. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) oh, me live in Overtown. You live in Overtown, but you not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Overtown. You know the government, the Dominican Republican, he put all the money to Dominican Republica (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Overtown right here. He put all the
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money. All the money in other community to Overtown, all the money -- the government, the Dominican Republica. Why don't you do something people come and get employment, work the carpenter, work the electric, he work --? No way. He work the community. He put the support, you know, the Marlins Stadium, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Commission today. Ms. Thompson: Excuse me, Chair. I did not hear the speaker's name. Chair Sanchez: Name and address for the record. Mr. Guillen: I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. Chair Sanchez: Nombre, direccin. Mr. Guillen: 338 Northwest 34 Street. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chair Sanchez: Please repeat. Mr. Guillen: 338 Northwest and 34 Street. Chair Sanchez: Name. Mr. Guillen: Oh, Ramon Guillen. I'm sorry. Got -- you know, the nervous today (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Sanchez: No, you're fine. Thank you. Mr. Guillen: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the City of Miami. Chair Sanchez: Thank you so much. We just needed your name and address. All right. Next speaker. Yes, sir. Sir, you're recognized for the record. Robert Guthrie: Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Robert Guthrie. I'm from northwest -- northeast North Miami (UNINTELLIGIBLE). My address is 1660 Northwest 130 Street. I'm here this morning to support the Marlin [sic] because I'm in the business of building for almost 20 years, and I always appreciate to see the community development in the area of Miami. I'm in the area -- in the areas going through Miami, I can see ups and down, and I would like to see the Commissioner look around and see what the building structure all around here is like. With the employment section going down back and forth, I would like to see the support with everybody to look around and see the development for us all to help each other and the families, and back and forth to see helpers to each other. Okay, so we're all into it together and a lot of people back and forth talking about taxpayer money, but we all working to pay taxes, and we know that the taxpayer have to support some way, somehow. But I know -- like I said, the Marlin [sic] owners can see that they can stand part of the development and whatever (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to help to build this building because we all here together to support the family and the children also. So I would appreciate you very much -Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Guthrie: -- to see it help. Thank you very much. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Before we go on, are -- is this -- are you the last speaker, sir, coming in? Are you --? Unidentified Speaker: There's a line of people behind me.

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Chair Sanchez: There's a line of people behind you? Two more behind you? 'Cause we need to wrap this up. So there's two more behind you? And how many are on this line? You're the last one here? Okay. If you're going to speak, I suggest you get on that line because once we get to the last speaker, we're going to be closing up the public hearing. All right. Okay, sir, you're recognized for the record. Ken Knight: Yes. Ken Knight, 1281 Northwest 56 Street. Mr. Chair, Commissioners, Mr. Mayor, I'm here representing the -- one of the largest homeowners associations in all of Florida, and that's the Hadley/Model Cities Homeowners Association, and also one of the largest AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) organizations in all of Florida. And what I'm here for is to let you know -- because I was somewhat in the middle with this whole thing, and I appreciate Mr. Samson -- he almost reminds me of the biblical figure they call Samson in terms of the weight that he has to carry. But I'm not here to talk as a business owner. I'm here to represent the solid majority of people, and that's the homeowners and that's the seniors of this city. And what I'm here to let you know about this situation is that I find it hard to support it because we can't even get, at Hadley Park, at the center at the -- in the park -- and again, I'd like to thank the Chair for just coming in the neighborhood, and also, Commissioner Regalado, for coming to our meetings. But a ream of paper is around about four dollars at Staples, Office Max. You go to Walgreens, you'll probably get it for two dollars. The park manager informed me that he only gets a ream of paper a week. That's two dollars, or maybe four dollars, depending on what store you go to. The seniors there, they have to hobble, they have to ride in on wheelchairs, and they have charged me to say, Mr. Knight, could you get us a bus. So Mr. Mayor and Commissioners, it's how we treat our most vulnerable citizens, and that's the seniors. I heard about all the deals that are on the table, whether it be from Overtown or across town or around town, but what about these seniors? They have to be able to get around, and when you put these deals together, make sure when we do this, do it for the Hadley/Model Cities Homeowners Association, the AARP. Get those seniors some transportation. I don't care where the donation come from -Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Knight: -- but until we get this deal done, just get that transportation. Thank you very much. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. You made your point. Next speaker. Good morning. Andreina Figueroa: Andreina Figueroa, 1441 Brickell Avenue, 15th Floor. First, let me first start by saying that I wasn't scheduled to be here. I was supposed to be in Tallahassee. I changed my flight to be here this morning 'cause I wanted to show the Marlins that I was committed, just how much Mr. Loria has been committed to this -- to South Florida. Let's go back a little bit -- few more years -- few years past. In 1999, we started having conversations about publicly funding a baseball stadium. Mr. Loria was not the team owner. That didn't happen. That owner decided to sell. Mr. Loria still bought the team; bought the team, committed to stay in South Florida. We're this close after so many years. Are we going to really have him just leave South Florida after he showed true commitment buying a team knowing that he probably wasn't going to get a stadium in South Florida? This past week I was having dinner with a few senators and we were talking about what baseball team, what fan you were. I was proud to say that I was a baseball -- a Marlins fan, number one team. Before that, really didn't follow baseball until they came here. Please, don't make me have to go back next year and have to pick another team because I don't have a team to cheer for, okay. He's been committed, and that's all we need to show him is our commitment for him to stay here. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Figueroa: Thank you.
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Chair Sanchez: All right. Next speaker. Good morning, sir. Robert Blanchette: Good morning. My name is Robert Blanchette. I'm from 2040 Southwest 23rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale. I'm a member of the Miami carpenters. I'm here to address the short-term versus the long-term effect from the money. I've heard many people say that it's only going to be two years because of the construction. I've been in the construction industry since I was nine years old. I'm 67 now. That means I've been in the construction industry for 58 years. One of the things we do is we work ourselves out of a job. We constantly do that and go on to the next one. As far as the short-term impact of the $500 million is concerned, that money is earned by the workers and the business people and spent by the workers -- respent [sic] by the workers and business people and their wives. And it goes on. It doesn't just end after two years. The money that is generated there -- also, the facility is going to be earning money. The people that work to maintain the business, the people -- the building, the people that are playing -- the players also live in the community and spend in the community, so it's not just a two-year interval that we're looking at. I don't know Mr. Samson personally. I only see him on TV, and what I see on TV, I'm not too happy with. He hardly ever smiles. I'm happy to see that they've included some kind of program for local people, for young people that can learn the business and go on to making a living later on, and I'm happy to see Michelle Spence-Jones, what she's done -- her position that she's taken. Good job, girl -- Vice Chairman [sic]. Thank you very much. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Thank you. Next speaker. Willie Worlds: Good morning. Willie Worlds, 2285 Northwest 102 Street. I'm here to represent my local union. And one of my agents came out and he said something to me that really kind of - you know, it made me a little hot. You know, our work is seasonal, and we've been around a long time. We've turned out a lot of journeymen carpenters. As I look around at this structure, I'm sure some of my brothers been here. And I like to say, you know, I hope this thing go off without a hitch for myself and the brothers behind me and those that came before because it's our livelihood, and I been at it for 39 years right here in Dade County, and I was certified right here in Dade County. And a lot of us have pride and good work ethics and looking forward to our feet being in that Marlin [sic] Stadium and bringing it up and doing it right because that's what we about, building America. And we just like the opportunity to show you all and America what we really about. As you can see, we don't mess around. We do the thing, and we do it with skill that was taught to us in our schools, and we do it with pride that's taught to us, you know what I'm saying? We're not just fly-by-night people. We set aside four years to go to school, like some of you did, and doctors and lawyers. It's just that right now we're dependent on you people for the opportunity for us to show you all what we can do. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Mr. Worlds: Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Fernando Gonzalez: Commissioners, my name is Fernando Gonzalez. I live here in Miami for 39 years -Chair Sanchez: Your address. Mr. Gonzalez: -- and I live three blocks far from the stadium that's going to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Sanchez: You need to put your address on the record, sir.
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Mr. Gonzalez: My address is 128 Northwest 18 Avenue. And according to City Zoning Department, there is about 60,000 families living under the poverty in Little Havana, the neighborhood with high level of crime. In the City of Miami, instead to wasting millions of dollars building parking lots for the new stadium project, which will (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in a hundred years maybe, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) instead to spend that money trying to solve these issues better our (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in our community. With only 81 or 82 games, I don't know about it. For years, the new stadium will not create jobs. Valet parking and selling hotdogs will not create sufficient jobs when compared to the cost of creating them. I want to say this because I'm very concerning about this. Please stop deciding our community. We are the real interest of certain politicians of building this stadium. Where are the families losing their home when the stadium construction begins? Of course, we want the stadium. All us want the stadium, but it's a vehicle to spend or waste the money not come from taxing tourists, but from taxing the community in this time of crisis. Search for another sources and do the stadium. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Benjamin Chiszor: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. My name is B. J. Chiszor, 1789 Northeast Miami Gardens Drive, an unincorporated part of the County. I am the chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, but I'd like the record to reflect I'm here speaking as an individual, Madam Clerk. I rise in opposition to all three items, Mr. Chairman. I feel, as a rule of thumb, it is bad policy and bad politics to take at this time in our country, in our county's lifespan, to invest up to $2 billion over 40 years for a public stadium. If we need to use the tax -the tourist tax dollars for some construction, how about a convention center here in this fine city, or the convention center in Miami Beach? How about if we need to do something on that wonderful piece of property, how about a hospital medical district to rival that of Houston, Texas, that'll connect with the area just north of 836? How about a Latin American-influenced entertainment district several blocks long, several blocks wide? I believe in an investment in small business. I believe in an investment in mass transit, an investment in our community, an investment in affordable housing is a much better use of public dollars than a for -- to assist a for-profit entity in their ability to make profit. Now I would like the record to reflect that I am a Marlins fan. I go to several games a year, and I'm happy to sit in the fish tank. And I, in fact -Mr. Loria, a good portion of my hair loss is because of rooting for your wonderful team. However, I'd like to say again, as a rule of thumb -- all of you are wise individuals and I thank you for your public service -- but, as a rule of thumb, I believe this is a bad project. I believe it's the wrong time to invest this type of public dollars in something that will go to assist somebody in making profit a quarter of the year and stay there empty for the remainder of the year. I do not believe that this will result in ancillary economic development. I believe it will be temporary, and I encourage all of you to put the red light to this project. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good morning. Is it still morning? Jeff Torain: Good morning -Chair Sanchez: No. Good afternoon. Mr. Torain: -- Commissioners. My name is Jeff Torain. I live at 119 Northeast 53rd Street, in the City of Miami. I am a candidate for the City Commission in District 5, but I'm speaking here today as an individual. I am concerned about the priorities that we have as a city. Why we are investing so much time and energy into a sports stadium, which is an upside down deal, as far as I'm concerned. The investment that we are about to put into this stadium, should we vote in favor of it, should be invested in small businesses. This is a community of small businesses. It should be invested in dealing with the crime problem that exists in this city, where we've had children dying, literally dying in our streets under the age of 20 for quite some time now. Where is the comprehensive plan to address that issue? Where is it? Why don't we spend the time that's
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committed for that? This stadium deal is a bad deal overall. It's the wrong time for it. This country is suffering overall, and we are debating whether or not to provide a for-profit, multibillion -- multimillion-dollar corporation with a subsidy such as this. It's a bad deal. It's not good for us in the long term. It's not good for us in the short term. It's not good for our community; certainly not good for the residents in District 5. I encourage, Commissioner, that you vote no on this. I encourage all of you to vote no on this deal. This is not a good deal. It's the wrong time. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Martin Margulies: I'm Martin Margulies, 445 Grand Bay Drive, Key Biscayne. First, I think everyone in this room is for jobs. My only question about the job issue is if the facility is being built in Dade County, where is the negotiation? Why is it a 50 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent -it should be 100 percent jobs for people in Dade and Broward County, period, because it's being placed in Dade County and the funds are coming from Dade County. That being said, I am against this bailout, and the reason is the taxpayers have been denied their right to vote on a matter of enormous magnitude benefiting a private business at the citizens' expense. There's been no due diligence. No one has reached out to the new owner of the Dolphins, Stephen Ross. No one has reached out to Glenn Straub lately, who's willing to put up private money. The agreement is so one-sided. It's a terrible business deal; 335 pages written by the Marlins' attorneys. The process is shameful and, as usual, overstating revenues. You saw what's happening to the hotel bed tax. It's gone down 22 percent, and the County Manager has said 2 percent is his projection. It's gone -- and understates the expenses. I feel this is a corrupt process, just like the fire fee scandal; the backroom deals being railroaded through with constant meeting changes and no public input. No financial disclosure from the Marlins. They're too good for that. All they do is say trust me. Well, I got to say that Overtown has trusted a lot of people over the years, and look at the result. It's a deteriorating community and they cannot trust this business of five shell corporations. In conclusion, the no-bid contract is really a scandal because that person or entity will be chosen by the Marlins, and we have hundreds of contractors in this community that can bid this job and do this job with their eyes closed. Thank you for all the time and effort you've put into this, as well as I'd like to thank myself for putting in all this time and effort. I get no profit, and in many cases, I get grief. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Mr. Margulies: But anyway, all the very best to the citizens of this community. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good afternoon. Manuel Quintero: Good afternoon. My name is Manuel Quintero. I live in 503 Northwest 98th Avenue, Plantation, Florida. I've been unemployed since November. It's been the first time I've been out of work more than two weeks since 1984, whether union or nonunion. I belong to Local 75 of the carpenters out of Broward. In all of that time, I've -- was always able to find work, whether it was through carpentry work, working in a restaurant, didn't make a difference. Right now I can't even find a job washing dishes. It's shameful. I hear people talking about temporary, temporary work. I have gone to work to a company for two weeks until they were able to see what I was capable of doing; ended up staying two, three years; going from that job and running a job someplace else. Right now, no matter wherever I call, they have either been shut down or they don't have any work, or they have laid off their whole crew. My daughter's prepaid college, I had to suspend the payments because I have no way of paying it. Working part-time as an instructor at the carpenter's local, I've been able to sort of make -- pay my rent and pay for my truck in order to continue to survive, and even then, it's not happening. We should become the renaissance city. Building the Marlins Stadium should be the catalyst. Let's show the US (United States) and the rest of the world that we can do it. Miami is a lot better than that. Thank you.
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Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Frank Del Vecchio: My name is Frank Del Vecchio. My wife and I reside at 301 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach for 13 years. I'm a retired Massachusetts attorney, not a Florida attorney, with a very long career as the HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) senior official for New England for community development, and I worked for the cities of Washington, D.C. and Boston, Mass. I'm pro bono. I'm retired, but I've become involved. May I ask the Chair if I can pass to the City Clerk a legal analysis I've done for distribution to the members of the Commission, the City Attorney, and the City Manager? Chair Sanchez: Yes. Mr. Del Vecchio: Thank you. I want to narrow my remarks to the second item on your agenda where your resolution provides that you're going to waive the required competitive bidding under your City ordinance and under State law in favor of a no-bid contract to the same company that will be building the Marlins Stadium. It's for $24 million of the public construction work. Your finding, as written, is that it is not practicable to put the contract out to competitive bid, and it's not advantageous to the City. I think you should examine this, put the contract to the test because I think you will find that it is practicable to put the contract through competitive bidding. These are public construction contracts, and there's a large inventory of City contractors and County contractors qualified to do this. And the second reason would be it's not advantageous to the City to competitively bid it. I think it's just the other way around. It would be advantageous. Quickly, approving this as no good -- bid puts the contractor Hunt/Moss in the driver's seat and the City at a great disadvantage. They set the terms. The -Hunt/Moss should be required to bid like everyone else. You might get a better deal, and you would certainly, as the result of a competitive bidding process and negotiated terms, be in a stronger position with a competitively-selected firm. Advantages to the City: lower price, including from Hunt/Moss; better terms, better accountability. Now on the legal side, I'm not going to get into it. Chair Sanchez: In closing. Mr. Del Vecchio: I believe that your City Attorney should take a careful look. I think you're exposing yourself unnecessarily. Lawyers should not make legal arguments to a City Commission. I think this is most importantly a practical matter and you ought to hold up on that competitive and bid it. Thank you very much, sir. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Thank you. Next speaker. Mark Joy: Good morning -- Good afternoon, Commissioners -Chair Sanchez: Good afternoon. Mr. Joy: -- and Chairman. My name is Mark Joy. I've been a resident of Dade County all my life. I still live down in Cutler Bay. For decades, I've seen public dollars being used for various projects that the contractors have hired illegal aliens and people that are -- didn't live in this area. There are jobs right now on highway construction that are not even open to me. They're just not hiring. And I've -- I came to the union a little bit late. I've only been a member for 7 years, but I've been in this trade for 27 years, and it's -- it just seems a shame to see a good job go to somebody that's barely qualified to work at a convenience store or fast food because they work so much cheaper than I do. They're -- they don't make a living wage. I don't know how -it must not be their only job. They don't have healthcare. They can't afford to buy their own healthcare. It just -- and many of them don't even live in this country, you know; they're here illegally. It just seems a shame to see public dollars -- so many public dollars going to a project
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like this that's going to last for so many years and we're shut out of it. Just seems a shame. If there's anything you could do about that, I will always be grateful. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, sir. Mr. Joy: Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Appreciate it. Next speaker. Good afternoon. Alyce Gowdy Wright: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Alyce Gowdy Wright. I live at 268 Northwest 59th Terrace. I'm not here for the Marlins. I'm not here for Commissioners. I'm not here for any other edification other than the folks that I've represented for the past two and a half years before this very body. All of you have seen me before, representing not only some of the construction trades unions, the South Florida AFL-CIO, the Allied Minority Contractors and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Unidos, which comes from a community group of over 500 families in Little Havana. What I'm here for is to remind us that development is up to you all and good development is up to you all. You've heard very good arguments on both sides of this today. I'm here to talk about what is it that makes it good development. What do we need to be doing in order to start a precedent for this town that is going to allow us to hire locally, to train the folks that live in the neighborhood, to ensure that they are getting these opportunities? And in order to do that, we also need to have local businesses. We heard Elsie Hamler. We heard Sammie Gilmore. We heard a number of folks from the Contractors Resource Center saying that there are some requirements still missing from this deal. I urge you to look back at the requirements that have been laid out in this deal and ensure that we're looking holistically at how we're going to build a sustainable economy here. It means not just involving residents in job-training programs. It means not just having good jobs, which we've made some progress for and on today. It also means we have to have the local businesses that provide those good jobs and bring those local folks onto their workforce. So I ask that instead of us looking at this as a brick-by-brick issue, as a physical construction issue, we also be looking at this as a sustainable development issue and that those requirements that we have talked to you all about for two and a half years be actually included in this deal. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Grace Solares: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Commissioners. I am going to address the waiver issue, Mr. Chairman, but before I do that, sir, I have to put on the record that, as of last night at 11:30, I did not find any amendments on the Web site. I came in here today and I heard a summary of what the amendments are, so there is no -- actually no ability for the public to have a real discussion or input on the amendments. Chair Sanchez: All right. Ms. Solares: With reference to the waiver -Ms. Thompson: Excuse me, Chair. I'm sorry. We need a name for the record. Chair Sanchez: Grace -Ms. Solares: Yes. Chair Sanchez: -- Solares. Ms. Solares: Grace Solares, 60 Southwest 30th Road. Chair Sanchez: And for the record, your comments from February 13 will be incorporated into
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this. You've spoken on the item. Ms. Solares: Thank you, sir. There is a major flaw with the resolution, the waiver resolution. The memo of the City Manager does not comply with even the minimal requirements of City ordinance, nor does it comply with the provisions which allow for waivers under the state statute. As of last night, no written findings were issued by the City Manager for the public to review with respect to his written findings of fact and citations to the evidence supporting those facts, which are required, required by law that he issues them in order for the Commission to waive the competitive bidding. None of you -- none -- if you had to justify voting for this resolution, could tell us, the public, one of the fact that would support what is written in the proposed resolution because none has been provided. The resolution before you today only contains self-serving conclusory statements in point of fact. The language of the resolution is nothing other than an attempt to bootstrap and rationalize and thereby circumvent the state statute. In summary, we have here today is no more darkness and no sunshine. There is only more darkness and no sunshine today. Everything I have just described are further example of what has been referred to in these very chambers as backroom deals, an endemic issue in the stadium deal. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Solares: Do not approve the waiver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon. Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz: Good afternoon, Chairman. Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz, partner with Broad and Cassel, but I'm on behalf of the executive board of the Latin Builders as the legislative chair. Several months ago, the Latin Builders were approached by the Marlins to see if we could support such a development. We analyzed it and met, and there are many reasons why we decided to do so in support of this stadium. We even urged our membership -- and we did it as a board -- to send resolutions to each of the Commissioners asking you to support this stadium. The reasons we believe that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) important really break down to two. One is economic development. The initial economic development that we're discussing is for the development of the initial stadium. It is short-term to an extent, but this will create and this will fuel the city. If you guys have never been to the Chicago and the Cubs stadium, it's a perfect example of what stadiums do to the area. They allow for development and they allow for growth, and they allow for jobs, which we all know we're sitting in 2009 during an economic downturn and any job is good for anybody in this community. Secondly is a sense of community. One thing the City of Miami has always done is to create the need to do things with your families, to create places for families to go together. This ballpark would do that. It would be in the middle of the city at a very inexpensive cost for people to go with their children and share the day, go with colleagues, go with friends. We need this stadium. The Latin Builders will speak in support of this. We believe it is the best thing for the community. And I don't want to take much more of your time, but I do ask that you support this -- you support and you vote in favor of the stadium. Thank you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Next speaker, and we have one more speaker, and then we're closing the public hearing. William Delgado: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the Commissioners [sic]. My name is William Delgado. I'm the president of the Latin American Business Association. We also passed a resolution yesterday in favor of the building of the stadium in the City of Miami. I'm not going to get into the economics of the matter because I failed math in second grade, but I did go to the University of the Streets of Miami in 1962, when I arrived to this country, and I also went to the University of the Streets of the City of Hialeah for almost 20 years, and I know what's going in the City of Miami and I know what's going on in Hialeah, and I know what's going on
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with the people that need to work. And there's a lot of people out there without a job. Many have been to the podium today explaining to you how hard it is for them to pay the mortgage, how hard it is for them to maintain their family today, so I think this is an opportunity for the Commission and the City of Miami to vote in favor of this particular project. I ask you just to, on the job side, please do, in black and white, whatever amendments you need to do and that's our only concern, that a percentage of these jobs stay right here in Miami-Dade and Broward County so we will benefit the Afro-American community, we will benefit the Hispanic community, we will benefit the Haitian community, we will benefit our Anglo community, but here in Miami-Dade County and Broward County. I don't know if that is legal, that is illegal, but it seems like every time we try to protect one of our communities, somebody say that's illegal. That's fine with me. You know, that's the law. I will abide by it, but at the same time, we need the work to stay in a certain percentage here in Miami-Dade County. And that's all I have to say. I thank you for your time, and I hope for a yes vote on the stadium deal. Chair Sanchez: Yes. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, and that concludes our public hearing. Lillian Slater: Oh, this the good part. Good afternoon, Chairman. Chair Sanchez: Good afternoon. Ms. Slater: Thank you for everything, the Commissioners. I look back over the years -Commissioner Sarnoff: Need your name. Ms. Slater: -- 69 -- many years ago. Chair Sanchez: Name and address, and then we could go to the -Ms. Slater: Oh, sorry. Chair Sanchez: -- many, many years ago. Ms. Slater: Yes, okay. My name is Lillian Slater, 1640 Northwest 4th Avenue, Apartment 10C, Miami, Florida. I lived there for 30-some years. This apartment was built in 1971. Okay, the good part. All the years, do anybody know how Miami, Florida, was built? Who was here first in Miami? Commissioner Sarnoff: Indians. Chair Sanchez: I believe the Indians were here first. Ms. Slater: No, no. It was Bahamian people came through Coconut Grove. Look back at the record. Commissioner Regalado, you know. I know you know, okay, 'cause I been coming here a long time. Yes, you're the oldest one there 'cause I've been right here with you, and I'm still fighting and I got your back, okay. Well, now I'm not worried about the Marlins Stadium. I'm worried about Overtown. We had everything in Overtown. We didn't have to leave from Overtown. We had hotels, everything; dentists, doctors -- I could go on and on. We don't have it now. The homes are just going down. Where I live went in foreclosure for three times. Thanks for Commissioner Spence-Jones for letting us stay into Town Park Village. This is the one we built in 1971. I thank God we are there and we going to be there. With all of you sitting here, Commissioners -- I'm kind of ashamed of you a little bit. Chair Sanchez: All right, in conclusion. Ms. Slater: I'm going to tell you.
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Chair Sanchez: In closing. Ms. Slater: In closing. Chair Sanchez: Ma'am, in closing, please. Ms. Slater: I want you to take a look in Overtown near Jackson Memorial Hospital, from 14th Street back to 21st Street, and look at these houses and these homes. They're falling apart. I want you all to come over and rebuild what's there -Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Slater: -- and don't take away nothing else and -Chair Sanchez: Thank you. Ms. Slater: -- forget about the park. Chair Sanchez: Thank you. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the public hearing. It comes back to the Commission. At this time, I will pass the gavel to the Vice Chair and request to be recognized for a motion. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Mr. Chairman, I guess, Commissioner Sanchez, I recognize you. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. I would make a motion to approve SP.1 with two very simple, friendly amendments pertaining to Section 5.2, where it states that 20 percent of the 50 percent of employment on the construction side will come from the City. I would like to amend that to include that if the County, for whatever reason, goes past the 50 percent to 60, to 70, to 80, to 90 or 100, the 20 percent be included on that based on an inflating rate. That is one of the amendments. So to clarify it is 20 percent of whatever the -- is achieved on that. So if -once again, if it's -- goes up to 80 percent, we don't get only 20 percent of the 50; we get 20 percent of the 80 percent. That is a very clear friendly amendment. The other amendment falls on Section -- on the 10 baseball park improvements throughout the City. I think it's only fair to have this in a motion, or we could do it through a directive to the City Manager, where it is two per district to make sure that all districts are covered in this benefit to the community. So I would make a motion based on SP.1 as it is with those very two friendly amendments. So move. Commissioner Gonzlez: I'll second the motion -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: I have a motion. Do I have a second? Commissioner Gonzlez: -- with the amendments. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: With the amendments. I'm going to go ahead and open up. Starting with Commissioner Regalado, you have any comments? Commissioner Regalado: Thank you, Madam Chair. It is good when city government and a city hall is full with people that want to discuss jobs because that's what's important now. In fact, I urge my colleagues to have a special meeting, have workshops to see how we can get job, how we can retain jobs in the City of Miami, how we can help small businesses in the City of Miami, but the fact of the matter that -- the issue at hand here is not about jobs; it's about the deal. It's about the deal to build a stadium in the City of Miami, which will not be owned by the City of Miami. I remember that Mayor said when he first started the meeting that we had several weeks ago, that we, City Commissioners, should vote as representative of the City of Miami; and as such, I would like to say that for the City of Miami, this is a bad deal. It is a bad deal for several
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reasons, and only (UNINTELLIGIBLE) representing the City of Miami and the residents of the City of Miami. Number one, we need to go back in history because history cannot be rewrite when we have the facts here, and we do. And let's go back to October 8, 1997, memorandum of understanding, signed by the Manager, the Mayor of Miami, the Mayor of Dade County. Miami-Dade County wanted to build an arena. They wanted to build what is today American Airlines Arena, and they came to the City. And I was here. The lady was right; I've been here too long, and I remember. I still have memory, though, and I remember. And on that day, we began the discussions to sell the portion of FEC (Florida East Coast) track to Metropolitan Dade County. At that time, it wasn't called Miami-Dade County. It was called Dade County. Miami-Dade County wanted to -- or Dade County at that time wanted to build an arena that they would own, so they came to the City; and after month of discussion, County agreed to buy the land from the City of Miami at a price, at that time, 1997, of $2,043,273 an acre. The total price, $37,606,234. The sale of 19.0420 acres to Metropolitan Dade County was finally approved, and we got the check. I was here on January 2, 1998. Why I'm saying that this is a bad deal? Because today we're giving away 17 acres to Miami-Dade County, and the people of Miami are not getting anything in return because we do not own the stadium. The people of Miami own this land; we don't, and yet, we say that we represent the people and we are giving the land. The arena was built, but you know what? In the same contract here, signed by the mayors, by the Manager, after we got the check for $37 million, we did a contract with Metropolitan Dade County, and it says, on 30.2, Off-Duty Municipal Services, the County and its agents, licensees, and tenants of any firm managing any County facility at the property shall utilize City police and fire personnel in connection with all require off-duty services provided to the property. Up to this day, the off-duty service in the American Airline [sic] Arena, City of Miami police, City of Miami Fire Department. On this deal, City of Miami police would only be able to go into the stadium facility to go to the restrooms. They are not the primary force. When I asked, I said, well, that's the way the deal was structured, so for the City of Miami, it's a bad deal, especially because the Commission, 5-0, directed the City Manager that the primary force for the stadium was the City of Miami police and the City of Miami Fire Department. We will be voting on today in something different that wasn't comply. Then we have the obligation of building the parking, and it's fine because the stadium does need parking; but we are told that the deal is that the City would only get 50 percent of the advertising because the Marlins will get 50 percent of the rest of the advertising, and it will be the Marlins, not the City, who will determine what kind of advertising it will go on the parking facilities. I have never seen somebody building a building and then giving away the -- half of the revenues to other person that never put a dime on it. My colleague, the other session, wanted to set a cap or the cost overruns on the garage that the Marlins will take on, but the Manager came up with another idea. If we go over $94 million, then we'll stop doing parking. And so I was thinking, well, if we (UNINTELLIGIBLE) doing parking, then we will get less revenue because we will be able to sell less parking to the Marlins and probably because since it's more -- less parking, the amount that they would charge will be bigger. The City of Miami would only be able to say we have a stadium. I am really concerned with the jobs issue because I kept listening -- aspirations. Aspirations to get this or aspirations to get that, and I was really moved by the people that were here asking for a job. A gentleman from Lake Worth has aspirations to get a job, and the gentleman from West Palm Beach also has aspirations to get a job, and gentlemen from Fort Lauderdale and Plantation that were here. And so we only have aspirations. We don't have assurances, and that is wrong, at least for the people of Miami who really need jobs. I try to get details about how this funding all is going to be, and of course, the County has their issues and all that, but I'm always being told in the briefing "trust us," "trust me; everything is going to be okay." I mean, it's like, you know, today somebody mention AIG, but I -- and then I remember, yeah, sure. It was revealed today that, you know, AIG people are under investigation by FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) for criminal offenses because they said to the investors a year ago, trust us that your investment is sound and it's fine. And then we remember the Bernie Madoff, you know, claim "trust me; your investment is sound." And Enron, "Trust me; your investment is sound." So we are told that we need to trust something that we don't know, that we don't have any control; and I don't doubt the honesty and the good faith of those who are telling
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us "Trust us; we think that everything is going to be okay." I think that it's important that we discuss job, but you cannot take an action -- you know, other Commissioners who were sitting here 15 years ago, 20 years ago, they took actions, then, when they left, and somebody said, you all not going to be here when this thing pops -- when we came on, some of us, '96, '97, and then we found the City bankrupt, and we found an oversight board running the City imposed by the governor of the state of Florida, and we had to fight a committee to abolish the City of Miami, and the good citizens of Miami accepted a higher tax to save the City, and voted 90 percent to keep the City running; and they forgot what other government officials had done to bring the City down in '96 with a City that was bankrupt and almost on the brink of being abolished by the state of Florida and become UMSA (Unincorporated Municipal Service Area), Unincorporated Miami-Dade County, but the proud residents of the City kept it; and they told us, "don't do it anymore." And so I'm cautioning my colleagues to think about the deals. I want to ask you to take a note, August 24, 2009. August 24, 2009, it's a Monday, I believe; and this is the day that the property appraisal [sic] office will unveil the new style of appraisal and the new numbers for the properties in Miami-Dade County. The property appraisal [sic] will be working March, April, June, July, and then in August will come up with what they call a real value to the properties, and a real taxation method for commercial properties by income and not by future use, as the property had been taxed now. Remember, we elected a property appraisal [sic], and this person works for the people. He doesn't work for the government that feeds on property taxes. So my colleagues have always said here that next budgets will be hard. March 10, the County Manager said on an e-mail (electronic) to all the employees that the next budget cycle will be difficult and the next one will be difficult, and he cannot promise that services will not be cut or people would not be dismissed; and he wrote this on March 10 to all the County employees. I have the e-mail. So I think that we have here three options today. One option is approve it as it is and hope that everything is going to be okay, and it's fine. The other option is tell the Administration go sit down and rehash this deal, you know. Maybe the City can get a better deal. Maybe less money, maybe more guarantees, maybe more authority. But get the City something out of this giveaway of the land that belongs to the residents of Miami. After all, we are told that nothing can be done until June 30 of this year, so we're still more than 90 days away from the exit -- the so-called exit clause. And number three, the other option, take it to a referendum, you know. If this is what the people want, this is what the people want. We need to respect the people wills, and a referendum will probably be something that will fix a lot of things. We will know what the people want and Mr. Braman will pull his appeal, which it is my understanding that we cannot float bonds until the appeals is resolved. So I think that it's very noble to discuss jobs -- it is important that we do -- the retention of jobs and the creation of jobs. But I think it's important that we discuss the deal itself. I remember that the last time we discuss an issue that wasn't the issue that we were supposed to discuss, we were taken to court and the City lost. I remember that. During a zoning issue, the whole discussion was about health care, and so the City was taken to court, and the people prevail. And this shouldn't be. We should do a stadium. We should have the Team play in Miami, but let's get something for the City of Miami. Today, we don't have nothing. We have done everything. We have given away everything, and we have nothing in return. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you, Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Sarnoff, you're recognized. Commissioner Sarnoff: Well, first and foremost, I think most of us would like to see the Marlins stay in Miami. I know I'm a Marlins' fan. I know I enjoyed the '97 World Series and the 2003 World Series. I know I was a converted Met fan, and I certainly do support the Marlins. The question we ask ourselves today is do we support this agreement. Is this agreement a wise choice on behalf of a politick body that has to use its discretion and has to balance competing interests? What are the competing interests? The competing interests are budget, properly budgeting and understanding where the money could and best be used to promote, something that I said from the moment I got on this dais, jobs. And it wasn't very popular at the time because unemployment in Miami-Dade County was 3.9 percent, and nobody was talking about
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jobs. They were talking about housing. They were talking about putting up condominiums, and they were talking about those condominiums encroaching upon everybody's neighborhoods and what the hell; didn't really matter. And then all of a sudden, something happened. Excess greed, AIG, Lehman Brothers, bad mortgages; something called subprime acted like a spear and has cut us in half. The stock market now stands half of where it stood at its historical high of 14,000. Just as important, though, everything that we're going to do to pay for this stadium is bed tax. Call it what you like. I can quote the little acronyms like anyone else can. I could tell you the CDT (Convention Development Tax) is worst than the TDT (Tourist Development Tax), and I could tell you why that is, but I don't think you care. What I think you need to care about, quite frankly and candidly, is how are you going to pay for this stadium? Will the stadium cost you, the taxpayers, any money? If so, how much money and where will that money come from? And that's the question everybody in this room, with the exception of the folks in Broward that were here and the folks from Palm Beach County, should be concerned about. And that's the direction I've always looked at this particular deal. It was certainly negotiated in 2007 late and in 2008. I could tell you the stock market was at 12,000. I could tell you the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent. I could tell you it was a different environment. I could tell you everything about our country seemed different, so how do you make up for a 22 percent funding gap of bed tax revenue decline? How do you figure out a way to pay for this? City Manager said a moment ago, one of the ways that he's going to commit to the citizens of Miami was that there would be no use of ad valorem tax dollars. No kidding. He can't. Can't use ad valorem tax dollars 'cause it's against the law. You'd have to have a referendum. He didn't make a commitment that we would not commit and pledge our general fund. Now, just to use a couple of numbers. If I'm wrong, I apologize. We have about 528 million general fund; 278 million comes from ad valorem. The rest of that money is different franchise fees and different issues that we receive from various entities and various taxes that come to the City of Miami. Nobody can pledge to you that the City of Miami general fund will not be utilized. And it was a little disingenuous for us to put in this agreement that we will not use ad valorem tax dollars because if we did so, we would be violating the law, and I don't think anybody up here is prepared to violate the law. However, there is no commitment in that agreement that the general fund will not be utilized, pledged, thought of, considered, and in the event of an emergency, backed. So where does that leave us? This leaves us in something called CABs (Capital Appreciation Bonds). I used to call them zero-coupon bonds, but Larry taught me that the correct word is a CAB, and we know that CABs will be used. Okay, what is that? One of two things. One, you don't make principal payments; two, you don't make any payments at all until a great big balloon at the end. Why is that a bad thing? Sounds like a great way to finance a home. Oh, wait. I forgot. Isn't that how we got into this mess? Isn't that how the subprime mortgage acted like a spear, cutting us in half like a country, making us seem like we were nothing more than a balloon? So what difference does it make if we just pay interest upon interest? Who really cares? Come on, Commissioner, get on board. This is a beautiful stadium. What is wrong with you? How does $600 million -625, if you'd like to be precise -- become 1.9 billion, $2 billion? You pay interest only upon interest, so let's not kid ourselves. The projections that were provided to us on February 13, at 10 o'clock in the morning, one hour into our deliberations when we first came here from Mr. Burgess, a very honorable man, were projections that showed a 2 percent decline in bed tax revenue. He's only 20 percent off as those projections exist today. I could show you a waterfall or an algorithm that will be red ink as if it was bleeding like a stuck pig. I won't do that to you because nobody here will admit, without using interest upon interest financing alone, can we pay for this stadium with the bed tax revenue. And us, as Commissioners, or we, as a politick body, are at least two to three feet off a cliff before we get to exercise our discretion and say to you, the taxpayers, we're going to put all of our eggs in one basket. That's a policy decision we can make. We can sit up here and say, you know what I've considered, I've thought, and in my best interest as a City Commissioner, I'm going to vote for baseball because I want to put all of our bed tax revenues in one basket. You could make that call, but you can't make that call right now because you don't have adequate bed tax revenue to pay for that, unless you're willing to go $2 billion in debt for the stadium, and that -- if you'd like to go into the job analysis, I could do that for you, too. Because if you want to do spin -- and that's what this is, political spin -- if you want
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to spin the jobs, $1.8 billion only comes to $1,801,801 a job. How do I come up with that? Well, Mayor Alvarez corrected himself about two weeks ago when he -- everybody was saying this will create thousands of jobs and carefully issue a prepared statement that said the Marlins stadium will provide hundreds of jobs. So I took the number 999, not hard to do. Nine hundred and ninety-nine goes into one point eight billon -- one million, eight hundred and one thousand, eight hundred and one dollars. If it takes three years to build the stadium, it's only $600,000 per job. Oh, come on, Commissioner, that's not the way you do your math. Come on. You're looking for the worst-case scenario, okay, so let's use the principal. Six hundred and twenty-five million dollars. If you take $625 million, divide it by 999 jobs, which is just under a thousand, then you come to $625,625 per job. If you'd like to divide that into three years, it's $208,540 per job. Commissioners are up here to set budgets and priorities. The question you have to ask yourself, what is the best use of $1.8 million -- billion -- excuse me. If I say million, I apologize. I need to use the word [sic] "B," and I should have become more adept at the word [sic] "B," just like I should have become more adept at the word [sic] "T" because October of 2008 taught us what trillions mean, and we're only talking about billions here, but let's get into the principal of the millions. We've got to get on terra firma -- strong, firm footing -- for us to even have and exercise our discretion to vote for this stadium because what's going to happen is you're going to put this off for years to come in the hope and the prayer and the expectation that bed tax revenues will come back at a sufficient rate, at an exponential basis to pay off these bonds. Now, that doesn't even address a number of issues. It doesn't even address the cost overruns. It doesn't even address -- let's just talk about that for a moment, and I'm going to center on one of them mostly. Performing Art [sic] Center. Okay, bad idea. Whatever you want to call it. It was scheduled to cost 240 million. We know it came in at over 450 million. We know we floated $170 million in bonds, but using our cap "X" bonds, those CABs that don't pay interest -- that don't pay principal, which intend to pay back $670 million. Okay, not a bad deal for our kids, maybe. Airport. We know it's three to four year -- three to four billion over budget. It's seven years behind. South Dade Cultural Center, two years behind schedule, 40 to 50 million over budget. But here's the one you need to compare apples to apples. The American Airlines Arena. It was paid for by the private operator, Micky Arison. He paid for it two -- one of two ways. One, he took 185 million in revenue bonds. He also took about 25 million in the sales tax that was voted for him up in Tallahassee to float a bond issue, as well, to retire the debt. He had every reason in the world, as a private person, to build the American Airlines Arena carefully, prudently, judiciously -- and remember, this was before the big boom period in Miami. This is before steel, concrete, everything went haywire. This is when unemployment was at six and a half percent. This was not a good time in Miami. He came in on what was supposed to be a 200 million project, and he had a man there that now is hired by the City of Miami that is intending on doing this project. His only job was to make sure there were no cost overruns because you can imagine this was Mr. Arison's money, and he came in 20 percent over budget. So what was to cost 200 million ended up costing $240 million. If you just use the 20 percent, which I would tell you -- and I think most of you would agree -- is a careful, judicious estimate of the cost overruns. If you just plug it into this equation, you have a $625 million stadium and parking garage. And by the way, just so we understand, the $94 million cap on that parking garage does not include soft costs. There's a debate in the Administration whether that's 10 percent or should be 15 or 20 percent. I'll let you guys do the math. That's over 105, $110 million. That -- if you read the language carefully, it's not a $94 million cap. It's just a $94 million cap on the actual hard costs of the garage, not the soft costs. But getting back to the 625 million. At a 20 percent overrun, that is $125 million over budget. The Marlins, in their contract, have a $30 million contingency. That means they've budgeted $30 million in the event of an overrun. They've also done what's known as a letter of credit. I'm sorry, a line of credit. What they should be doing is a irrevocable letter of credit. I don't think there's an attorney in this town that has ever heard of a line of credit that is not pledged for the construction agreement, but that's the nitty gritty. That would be $50 million of cost overruns. So if, in one of the most historical times that we've ever been in, and if we're not to repeat history again -- we look at a carefully planned, carefully thought out stadium, like the American Airlines Arena, in which private funds were used, and that experienced a 20 percent overrun, who, if this same judicious approach, that same careful
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analysis, that same oversight is employed, the Marlins come in at $125 million over cost, who's going to pay the $75 million cost overrun? Well, the answer is you don't know. They say the Marlins will pay for it, but here's what you don't have. You have no idea what the Marlins are worth or not worth because they have not shared with you their books, their financial ability, or their even desire to pay beyond their $20 million line of credit, and again, I stress to all of you, that should be a letter of credit irrevocable. That is the term of art in the industry, and everybody knows what that means. I do not know what a line of credit means. I suspect most of you out there have ability to have credit -- maybe not at that tune, but there's no pledge. So before we get back to the diving board because right now, as we exist, we exist about two feet off the diving board because we know our revenue source simply will not handle this particular issue. I want to say one thing to my colleagues who are about to vote, I suspect voting a little differently than myself, and I want to talk to you a little bit about the nonrelocation agreement, and I brought this to the City's attention. It doesn't seem to go anywhere. When Mr. Samson -and by the way, David Samson was a very fair negotiator and a fair man with me, and he spent as much time as I wanted to with him, but when he met on this dais -- or I guess he was at the podium on December 13, 2007, I asked him the following question. Let me take that one step further and maybe satisfy some people. Would Major League Baseball be willing to sign off on that agreement as well?" And for those of you that don't know, I am speaking and Mr. Samson had just talked about the nonrelocation agreement. Mr. Samson responded to me: "On the nonrelocation agreement?" I responded "yes." He says, "They have to sign off because that's how relocation works. In the nonrelocation agreement that we have"-- which is right here -"there is no signature for Major League Baseball." So what happens if Major League Baseball determines to relocate the Marlins? But more importantly, what happens if things are not going as well as we hope and expected? What if Major League Baseball determines that it's in their interest to go into contraction? They certainly said that they were considering that on February 28, 2009 to the New York Daily News. Major League Baseball is not a signatory to the nonrelocation agreement. Your nonrelocation agreement should have in it a signatory for the Major League Baseball, and it should include contraction because if it doesn't, you risk having a Miami Arena, so ask yourself why was it, in December 2007, you were going to have Major League Baseball sign off on the nonrelocation, but in March 2009, they're not doing that? One last thing about the sale clause, which is something I worked very hard on and wanted to see any way, shape, or form, to get this deal back onto terra firma so that Commissioners could exercise their fiduciary duty and make sure that they balance competing interests. Does anybody remember the Panthers in 1996? Do you remember the rats? Everybody used to throw rats on the arena. Right after that, Wayne Huizenga sold the team, half of it -- 49 percent, I apologize. He sold 49 percent of the team; 7.3 million Class A common shares for $10 each. He raised $73 million. You know that that would not trip the due-on-sale clause in this instrument, better known as the Construction Administration Agreement. There are so many holes and there are very few ways of getting this agreement back to the reality of March 2009 and where we find ourselves in the heart of a stifling recession. I know jobs are important, and long-term jobs have got to be considered, but the question to ask yourself as you compete -- like I said, each Commissioner is up here to weigh the competing interests. Are we better suited, are we better thought of, is it more prudent to invest money into convention centers that we know fill our hotels into a tourist industry that employs 11 percent of all of City of Miami workers? With all due respect to the construction industry, I could be arguing for two more condominiums, employ the same amount of people, and in the end, the result would be very similar. The construction industry presently occupies less than 3.7 percent of our workforce, and after each job is competed, they have to find the next job. It's not very sustainable, and it probably won't be sustainable in the long-term for a period of time; and that's a shame, but it is the reality, the economic reality of where we live today. Now, it's interesting -- you know, you had 74 or 75 people come in today and give testimony. Numbers were very close in terms of support or against. Rosa Green came in and said she knows how the City works, and I guess in this whole process, I'm beginning to learn how the City works. Hashim Benford said that we need to support the tourist dollars, and I happen to agree with him. Frank Riley came in and quoted Shakespeare. He said Commissioners need to feel. He said not so much think, but feel. I think
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it's our job to think, and I think it's our job to employ long-term thinking so that you have a city that doesn't look like a haphazard set of conditions and circumstances that play out like a mosaic that, in the end, business ideas fail. And I think we've got to get into the economic realities of where we are today, and we've got to be prudent stewards with the citizen taxpayer dollars, and we have to be frank and honest not only with our Commissioners, but with the people out there. And to be frank and honest, you have a huge deficit with your bed tax. The only way to make up that deficit is one of two ways. You hit the general fund, which competes with Police, Fire, roads, parks, or you interest -- you issue interest-only revenue bonds, and you hope that your revenue stream that you get more tourists in years and years later, but because we went so far out on the diving board, because we went to the very end, it will take you years to make up the lost revenue stream that you're experiencing today. So that means more interest upon more interest so it could be -- very well be likely that your $1.8 billion that you're going to pay back for this stadium could grow to $2.2 billion and beyond. You have -- we've learned in this process that a number of interest-only revenue bonds had been issued for various projects in the County. It didn't work for the private sector. It should not work for the public sector either. Thomas Jefferson said it best, "How can you ask a man to enjoy today and ask his grandchild to pay for it tomorrow?" What right do you have to place that onerous obligation upon the shoulders of those who've yet to be born and have yet to make one decision and for generations that precede them to have made decisions not based on prudence, but predicated upon special interest and upon poor thought out financial planning? So let me last quote Robert Fournier. "I don't know that it's child abuse, Mr. Fournier, to satisfy our immediate satisfaction of creating a baseball stadium, but I do know it's wrong of us to pass that obligation on to those who have yet to be born for them to figure out the best way to satisfy any arbitrary or capricious desires of anyone to fund a stadium that cannot be paid for as we presently know it today." Thank you. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you, Commissioner Sarnoff. Do you have a comment, Commissioner -Chair Sanchez: No. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: -- Sanchez? Chair Sanchez: I'll go next since the Commissioner left, unless you want to say something. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Well, I'm going to say it in closing, so do you have a comment? Go ahead. Chair Sanchez: Thank you, Madam Chair. I think a lot of things have been said here today that I think we need to clarify before we go any further, based on all the agreements. Mr. City Manager, I'm going to be asking you a variety of questions here that I think are very important for the healthy discussion of this debate that's in front of us today. One of the questions that has been proffered is will the stadium cost the taxpayers dollars? In other words, what funding source is being used and what are the restrictions on that funding source? Mr. Hernandez: Commissioner, the majority of the dollars are from tourist-based funding sources, like the convention development tax, the tourist development tax, and the professional sports franchise tax. There is 50 million coming from the general obligation bond that actually impacts every citizen in Dade County, but the majority is from tourist taxes, which have restrictions on their use for public venues, such as stadiums, convention centers, et cetera. Chair Sanchez: All right. But let me ask you, could we use that money to hire more police officers? Mr. Hernandez: No.

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Chair Sanchez: Could we hire [sic] that money for more social services in our community? Mr. Hernandez: No. Chair Sanchez: Could we use that money for schools and education? Mr. Hernandez: No, you cannot. Chair Sanchez: So those fund come with restrictions that could only be used as you stated? Mr. Hernandez: All the tourist development dollars are restricted to uses for public venues and is to continue to support and promote tourism in this area. Chair Sanchez: All right. So if we were today to decide, based on the decisions that are made here by this legislative body -- being that we live in a democratic society -- to vote this down, those funds could be used for Miami Beach for their convention center, would they? Mr. Hernandez: Yes, they could. Chair Sanchez: Those fund could be used for Homestead Racetrack for their facility? Mr. Hernandez: Yes, they could. Chair Sanchez: Okay. Now, another thing that -- you know, they brought up the word "spin," you know. You know, I'm a Commissioner. I'm certainly not an expert on everything. I'm not an expert in CFO (Chief Financial Officer), I'm not an expert in the legal field, and I'm not an expert in you being the City Manager, so I rely on your information based on these agreements. Now, one question that keeps coming up is that will we be using general fund dollars for this project. Mr. Hernandez: Commissioner, with reference to where the City is investing its funding, which is -- or what the City's overseeing construction wise, which would be the parking facilities. On the parking facilities, the revenue streams are from convention development tax coming from the County and from the revenue stream of parking, which will be paid by the Team. The -- we don't have any impact on ad valorem. However, just to be clear on the record, when we issue bonds -because we'll use the CDT and we'll use the parking revenue to issue bonds for the construction of the parking facilities -- those bonds will be pledged by non ad valorem, so I wanted to be clear. However -Chair Sanchez: That's clear. Mr. Hernandez: But that's something that is done every time that we issue bonds. Chair Sanchez: Okay. But as of today, we will not be dipping into our general fund dollars to pay for --? Mr. Hernandez: The answer is no. Chair Sanchez: Okay. Cost overrun, which continues to be a problem, addressed by all the Commissioners here today. Now, cost overruns on the stadium, who does the burden fall on on cost overruns for the baseball stadium? Does it fall on the City? Mr. Hernandez: No, sir. It falls on the Team. Chair Sanchez: Okay. On the parking lot, that was a concern that was addressed here in this
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Commission, and it was wisely debated; and it came back where we have agreed that the cap is $94 million and that's what we're going to built [sic] with $94 million; is that correct? Mr. Hernandez: That's correct. Ninety-four million is the cap for the construction costs. Chair Sanchez: Okay. Now, look, I'm not going to dwell on the past. I'm going to focus on the future. We could sit here and blame the airport for their cost overrun. We could point to the PAC (Performing Arts Center) for their cost overrun. We could point fingers at anybody for their cost overruns. We are doing everything we can and should be doing everything we can to make sure that the cost overruns burden does not fall on the City, and that has been made very clear. Now, let's talk about the relocation because that's another issue that keeps coming up, and I think it's important for us -- and I would like to have Mr. Samson come up on the relocation as to Major League not signing this. I mean, you're basically under these agreements is you're staying here for 35 years. Mr. Samson: Yes. Hi. It's David Samson with the Florida Marlins. Hello, Mr. Chair and other Commissioners. The -- that is correct, it is a nonrelocation agreement. What should be clarified is that in order for a team to relocate, it's actually a vote of the other 30 teams. You have to have a three-quarters vote, so no individual team can, on their own, decide to relocate. You need that vote from the other teams. And Major League Baseball was never going to be a signatory on any nonrelocation agreement, Mr. Chair. It was only based on my -- I hope I hadn't been misunderstood back in March of '07 or December of '07, but what I meant to say was that Major League Baseball signs off on all documents. They have to approve all documents that are done - all stadium-related documents; and then for relocation, it's actually a vote of the member teams.

Chair Sanchez: Bob DuPuy, do you want to come up? I think you have a better understanding on that. But the question here is can Major League Baseball tell you you got to move to Pahokee, Florida? Mr. DuPuy: You have a 35-year -- we have approved a 35-year lease, Mr. Chairman. Chair Sanchez: Listen -Mr. DuPuy: And you have a 35-year obligation that -- the Marlins have a 35-year obligation to the County and City as a result. Chair Sanchez: All right. On the fiduciary responsibility, which is something that we all take very seriously up here, and I think it's important for us to address that issue. Once again, we depend on the expertise of the City and the County as to the bed tax. Their projections, and based on my understandings, is that we can meet those bond obligations. That's what they're telling us; they're the experts. I don't know if -- any of these -- any of us here have hired outside sources or maybe contacted some outside sources to do some analogies for you, but I have to depend on the expertise in the City. Now, I want to talk to you about the facts and what are the issues in our community. This is a deal (UNINTELLIGIBLE) been working for for a long, long time. Is it a perfect deal? Absolutely not. It's not a perfect deal. I think that the greatest risk in life is not taking one. I think everyone's taking a risk here. But based on our economy and based on the situations that we're in today, my justification and motivation here is to partner up with the City and the County and the private sector to create opportunities and jobs for people in this community. Now, you've heard all the people that came up and spoke, whether you're for the stadium or against the stadium, and I respect everyone's opinion. I think that's the beauty of us being able to disagree and respect each other, and really, that's what makes us, really, a society when we respect each other on the issue. But as to the deal in itself, I don't look at it as being a Marlins' stadium. I look at it as to the opportunities that this partnership of investments
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is going to create for our entire City and the County because it's not only the stadium and the jobs that come along with it. Whether they're short-term or long-term, tell that to somebody who's unemployed. They're not going to care if it's short-term or long-term. They want to work. They don't want to get an unemployment check. They want to work for their money. They want to take pride. They want to take pride in building a city of the future in Miami. But taking that into consideration and looking at the statistics, the realties are very, very simple, folks. If you look at the number of families in the City of Miami that are below the poverty rate, 22.5 percent, and I would love to use all this money to provide social services for them, but I can't. I would love to take that money and maybe provide affordable housing for them, but I can't. If you look at the unemployment rate in the City of Miami that is at 7.1 percent and right now -- 3 percent increase in the last year, ladies and gentlemen, times are tough. The economy is bad. People need an opportunity and people are looking for jobs. Number of jobs lost last year, it's alarming, the numbers of jobs lost last year. Now, here's interesting. The number of foreclosures, 2,300; and the medium household income in the City of Miami is 28,900. So once again, I believe that this deal meets our objective here, to create economic vitality and create economic development around the Orange Bowl. Once again, it's not the stadium. The jobs that come with it is good, but it's what's going to be build [sic] around the stadium that's going to be able to provide people in this community, and I think we're looking after the working people in our City. You know, the greatest dividend that we could pay is investing in our working people. It pays the most. When you're able to provide them with jobs -- and I think this is a great opportunity for us to be able to provide people Opportunity. Now, you talked about sustainable jobs. Yeah, these construction jobs are going to be temporary; maybe three years. They're good-paying jobs, folks, and for somebody who doesn't have a job right now or somebody who's about to lose their home, somebody who's really making tough decisions -- whether I give my child $3 to go to school or a dollar to be able to buy their lunch at school, these are tough decisions for us to make because I could tell you this much -- and I say this every time that I'm up here -- we're blessed to have a job. If you don't -- if you have a job right now, consider yourselves blessed to have a job in these tough economies [sic]. And if I were to ask everybody here to raise your hand if you had a family or a loved one that does not -- that did not have a job or has lost their job, I guarantee you, most -- about 50 to 60 percent of you will know somebody who have lost their jobs. So it is about partnering up with the County and the City and working out a best deal that at the end of the day, we could all be very proud of. And I think that based on these facts today and how we've been able to negotiate these contracts in good faith, whether we agree or we don't [sic] disagree because you know what? I don't agree with some of my colleagues here, but I respect their opinions, I respect their remarks and their debate. But overall, I think that we have an opportunity today that's not being afforded to us by anybody else -- and I certainly don't see Ford Motor Company knocking on our doors willing to invest millions of dollars into partnering up to create jobs and create a lot of things that are going to benefit this community. If you look at this agreement, this agreement has a lot of community benefit that benefit, and those are the things that we don't take into consideration. We look at everything as a dollar sign. You know, is it good for me? Is it good for you? But look what we're doing for our community, building new parks, providing programs for low-income -inner-city children in our community, and giving jobs to a people that right now may not even have the skills or may not have the resources to find those jobs, but through this, when it's all said and done, they will have an opportunity. And you know, I'm not looking out for the Marlins; I'm not looking out for probably the big developer who's going to get that job; you know, I'm looking out for the little guy who doesn't have a job, the little guy who looks at it and goes "Maybe it's a good deal or not bad deal, but what do I get out of it?" But we need to stop thinking about what's in it for us. What's in it for me? It's not what's in it for me; it's what's in it for this City, and I think that once we're able to accomplish this, we're going to have a world-class facility, a world-class baseball stadium, a team that's going to represent Miami, Florida, the Marlins -- the Miami Marlins, and we're going to have economic vitality in an area I represent that has been neglected for many, many years; and if you look at it now -- I got 45 acres out there. Take a drive by Little Havana and see what Little Havana looks like. I don't want your community or the district you represent to look like that. It's a shame. It's a shame
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for this City, it's a shame for us who represent the City, and really, it's a shame for South Florida to have an area that has so much history and today it's lost that history. But you know what? When history ends, history begins; and we have an opportunity to begin a new history with a beautiful ballpark that I think, at the end of the day, it'll be a win-win situation for the entire community. So with that, I have said enough. Madam Chair, thank you. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you, Commissioner Sanchez. Commissioner Gonzlez, you have any comments at all? Commissioner Gonzlez: No, no comments. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: First of all, I'd like to start off by saying that my newborn and I watched the entire City Commission meeting held on February 13. Actually, we watched it a few days afterwards, and I can honestly say that my son, Baby Noah, has got his first taste of real City of Miami politics just from watching the hearing. But there's a few things that I really want to kind of address. I didn't get a chance to, of course, participate in the last hearing, so I would like for my fellow colleagues to indulge me for a bit. The first concern or biggest concern I have with the baseball stadium agreement is do we have the financial capacity to pay for it? And I think that that's what we've been hearing kind of all day, you know, not only from the audience, but also from my colleagues up here. That is a concern. Now, as everyone knows and I'm sure most of us up here know that, you know, as Commissioners, you know, we do not have the ability to structure complex, financial transactions. As my Chairman has stated, most of the times we rely on our City staff and professionals to kind of give us their input on it, so I have a couple of questions and I want it to be cleared. I'm glad I see that our County Manager -- is he here yet? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Great. Okay. My -- if you can just come forward and then also Larry, and I just want to make sure that I'm clear on a couple of key issues. My question to the professional staff is a simple one. It is the financial plan for the stadium a feasible plan, for one? Or is the plan based on -- and I'm not trying to be funny because this is just basically what we're hearing all day -- voodoo economics? Meaning, can we really make this happen? Wait one second. So what I want to really understand -- because I do hear what Commissioner Sarnoff is saying, and I do here what Commissioner Regalado's saying, and I, even to a certain extent, hear what Commissioner Sanchez is saying, but people are fearful of this overall plan; and we have to rely on -- at least from the City side -- we rely on our CFO. The County's actually put together this financial plan as a part of this. So my first question for Larry -- and then I'm going to ask George to at least respond to us on the record, so at least the people listening, watching will understand. Now, Larry, can you please explain why this is a good financial plan for the City of Miami? Why you feel, based upon your analysis, based upon your expertise, this is a great financial plan for the City. Larry Spring: Larry Spring, chief financial officer. Commissioner, I believe over the last several months in all of our briefings, we've gone through the City's financing plan with regards to our obligations under these agreements. One of the things I think I've stated and reiterated several times is the fact that with regards to our financial obligations, the City is -- and you're supposed to approve today CDT dollars from the County. In addition to that, we're approving today an agreement, a guaranteed payment of parking revenue from the Team. Between those two revenues, we have done various scenarios and runs, and we've determined that we can clearly meet our financial obligations with those revenues. When you look at this situation, we had an Orange Bowl that actually, as the CFO, I was responsible for running that facility. Our number-one tenant -- our only tenant left. They decided to go north, so we were left in a situation where we had an obsolete facility that needed to be either redone or come up with another use. Well, we have an agreement today before you that allows us to utilize 40 acres of land in the middle of the City. We are being provided the revenue stream from two outside parties, and we will know the benefits of what will happen around that area as a result of having this facility there. So, again, I will say it again, from the City's perspective, as the City's CFO,
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when I look at these set of circumstances, that is why we recommended this deal, because it is good. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. And I just have to state this. I mean, again, we are not -- from where we sit, this is not what we're paid to do. You are paid to provide us with expert information, dialogue, back up, whatever on these related issues. You are the CFO. If I ask you a very pointed question, you should be able to give me a very pointed answer as to whether or not this financial plan works or this works for the City. And just before you leave, I want to at least, before George comes up, I want to be clear. Our percentage in this overall deal, the investment that the City's making, what is that percentage again, just so that the public --? Mr. Spring: Actually, I haven't -- you have 13 million going from the -- into the stadium. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: I'm saying the percentage. I believe it was like 3 per -- is it --? Mr. Spring: On the stadium. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: On the stadium project, what is our investment, the City -- I can't -again, this agreement is now leaving us; and if it gets approved today, it goes to the County; and the County has definitely a larger investment in this overall project. But I just want to be clear and I want the public to be clear of what our financial investment is and -Mr. Spring: And to the stadium, it's less than 4 percent, I believe. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. Mr. Spring: Because it's $13 million over $500 million, plus the -- obviously the land, but -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: So you're saying -Mr. Spring: -- that's no cost. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: -- that it's less than 4 percent of -Mr. Spring: When we talk about cash -- yeah. Thirteen million until 515. Commissioner Sarnoff: Well -- I mean -- point of privilege. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. What -- okay. I didn't interrupt anything -- I would ask for you to reserve any of your questions -- everybody's questions until I finish because I sat and listened patiently and didn't interrupt at all. Commissioner Sarnoff: Okay. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you. So Larry, I'll give you an opportunity, if you feel you need to step aside and give the correct answer because you know that you will be challenged on it, so I would suggest that you give us a correct answer; and I will be willing to at least let you step aside and let Mr. Burgess step -- okay. Are you prepared to answer it now? Mr. Spring: I can give you -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Because I know you're caught off guard. Mr. Spring: -- a percentage. Based on our contribution to the stadium --

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Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Can you speak into the mike, Larry? Mr. Spring: -- and I'm looking at the 13 million, plus the infrastructure half, which is another 12 and a half million or so, divided by the -- what, 2 -- 560 or something, in that range, we're talking less than 5 percent. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. All right. So Larry -- fine. Let me talk to Mr. Burgess. I know you know you're the man of the hour, right? George Burgess: Commissioner, I'm just delighted to be here. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Could you state your name for the record, please. Mr. Burgess: My name is George Burgess. I'm the County Manager. I've been the County Manager for five years, and it seems like 45. We do many things in government. We don't do one thing at the expense of everything else. We do many different things, and hopefully, when we do them, we look toward the future and we look toward trying to do things that improve a community, investments that make good sense to stimulate continued private investment in the future. You asked two specific questions, and I can elaborate beyond those. If this plan didn't work, we wouldn't be here. I would have no interest in trying to sell something I didn't think could work. Secondly, I never studied voodoo economics. They didn't offer it at the school I went to. You know, difficult projects have inherent risk. They do. And sometimes it's riskier to do nothing. You have heard many different things. You've heard folks -- honorable people. Mr. Sarnoff is an honorable man, but everything that one says isn't always totally accurate; and I urge everybody -- because over the last several weeks there have been things said about this deal that are simply not accurate, and it does a disservice to the public debate when people start saying things with half of the facts. I do not have a crystal ball, but I urge everybody to debate a project on its merits and on the facts. For the record, the South Dade Performing Arts Center is under budget. For the record, our bed taxes do not have a deficit that is huge, small, or in the middle. We have never failed to meet an obligation in the history of Miami-Dade County. We have never defaulted on a bond payment, ever. We have issued secondary pledges to secure the credit-worthiness of debt. We have never had to access a secondary pledge. It is not our plan to access one now. This is an understandably difficult decision we are all making. This is not the best economic time for anyone. None of us wishes we were in this situation. But this is the kind of time when you have to have courage to do things. If we came back in two years and made the decision to proceed with this project, by definition the financing of this deal warrants that we would have done that today. Because if you decide in two years when the economy's better you can do this deal because of the way the financing's structured, you can do it now. You can simply do it now. People talk about how debt is structured. We talk about the fact this is a $1.8 billion project. The last time I asked somebody what they paid for their home and they said $500,000, I doubt they would have said it was a million dollars-plus. When somebody says how much did I pay for my home? Do you talk about the fully amortized cost with principal and interest over 30 years? You don't. We're talking about things in terms of present value, the value of a dollar today. The value of a dollar today, whether these are current interest bonds or capital appreciation bonds, will be different but not appreciably. When you discount dollars in the future to today, you adjust their value to today's worth. This deal is not significantly different in present value costs. You can only do the deal with appreciating debt, with debt that grows with a revenue stream. Somebody said earlier today that we should not be doing something that burdens future generations. Any time we finance a project, we're burdening future generations. Though I would choose or prefer to say we're not burdening them; we're making investments for them, and all of the generations that contribute to the project contribute to the assets' cost, to its repayment. That's what we're doing. There's a decision here. Do you want to do the project or not? That's a fair decision to make, but make it on facts and not fiction. We have run numbers, and our financing plan -- and we have some fault here because it was labeled that in a heading on an attachment to a memo to the board -- but anybody who understands numbers and is intellectually honest knows that that was a scenario to show somebody over the period of 35
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years whether or not an average annual growth rate of 4, 5, or 6 percent could support the project. And the answer is absolutely yes, when, in fact, the growth has been somewhere north of 6 percent as a blended average, 5 and a half for the tourist development tax, 6.2 percent for the professional sports franchise facility's tax, and 7.5 percent, if I'm not mistaken, or 7.7 -- about 7.5? -- 7.5 percent for the CDT, the convention development tax. Our point was simply to show that on an annual basis, we're being conservative. We have run literally dozens of runs, showing growth, showing declines in the first year as 20 percent, the next year zero. We're running all kinds of different iterations, but we're trying to base our long-term thinking on facts and the reality that an economy that goes down is going to rebound. I have not heard anybody that has any depth of knowledge on our bed tax, on our tourist tax community -- on our tourist community that says that this is something that's going to be stained for years and years. I think, if we were honest with each other, none of us think this is going to last longer than four years. I suspect it'll be less. I don't have a crystal ball. You have to decide on the merits. The answer to your question, we wouldn't be here if we didn't think it worked. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you, Mr. Burgess. So you're saying that it is definitely a feasible plan? Yes. Mr. Burgess: If it wasn't, I wouldn't be here. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you. All right. Let me state for the record that, you know, I've never attended a professional baseball game in my life, never gone to the Marlins game. I heard that -- there's some baseball fans sitting on the dais and there's definitely some out in the audience. I don't know the names of any players or the rules of the game. I think the only player that I really know -- and that's just because he's in the news all the time -- is A-Rod, but for the most part, you know, I don't know anything about baseball. I don't follow it, at all. And I would probably say I'm probably not a fan of it, so I can't speak from that perspective; and I do not support a baseball stadium as a stand-alone project, so I want to be very clear about my position regarding all of this. I supported the global agreement as a packaged deal, and I know that, for some reason, we seem to get away from that, but I think the majority of us here supported it based upon the global agreement, and that's because the global agreement at the time contained projects that were near and dear to us and to our hearts. For instance, many of us love the Performing Arts Center, so we supported the global agreement because it supports the Performing Arts Center. Many of us love museums, and the global agreement, you know, addressed the Museum of Science and the MAM (Miami Art Museum) museum, so some people supported it for that reason. Many love the idea of a port tunnel because it was going to be -bring thousands of jobs, temporary jobs, permanent jobs, but for the most part we supported it because of that reason, the global agreement. I love the entire City of Miami. We all are here -even though we're elected in districts, we are still responsible for the whole entire City, but I have a special love for the heart of Overtown, the revitalization of historic Overtown; and thanks to the global agreement and the expansion of the Overtown CRA, we were able to actually get that done, and I want to at least publicly acknowledge my fellow Commissioners once again for their support by making sure that there were going to be millions of dollars poured into the revitalization of Overtown as a part of the Overtown -- as a part of the overall global agreement. So Ms. Rosa, Ms. Slater, Denise, all of those commitments that was made by this Commission or this body sitting up here, the whole idea was to send a message loud and clear that Overtown will get its fair share and it will not be left behind; and I think that every single Commissioner sitting up here voted for that because we both -- we all believe in the fact that it's something that should be done and should have been done a long time ago. So it is only in that context of the global agreement that I can even consider the construction of the baseball stadium, so you know, when I came back from maternity leave, I was forced to kind of address this whole issue, and that was my first statement. I wanted to make sure that we lived up to our promises that were made to the people of the City of Miami. So I proceeded since then, since that February 13 meeting with two guiding principles, and I want to be clear so that everybody sitting in the room what my principles were regarding these issues. First, I wanted to ensure that the promises and the
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commitments made to historic Overtown by the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County were actually kept, and that happened, so I'm very happy that we're moving in that direction. I just want to be very clear with my City Manager on the record because I've learned that you always have to put it on the record that at this point, Mr. City Manager, it has -- the City of Miami has voted -- the Commission has voted on it, the CRA has voted on it, and my question for you, sir, is has it been transmitted to Miami-Dade County for them to begin their process? Mr. Hernandez: It's in the process of being transmitted today. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. So it is getting transmitted today? Mr. Hernandez: To the County. Yes. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: To the County. Okay. The other question I had -- we had a wonderful meeting with Chairman Moss this week regarding their support of expediting the FON, which is the Finding of a Necessity Study, which I truly appreciate his -- him taking out the time to meet with Overtown residents regarding this issue. There was a time frame that we spoke of in reference to getting the process through Miami-Dade County as a part of this overall global agreement. Can you tell me what that time frame was? Mr. Hernandez: That total time frame is estimated to be six months, 180 days. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. So in the next 180 days, we should be moving right along with --? Mr. Hernandez: We should be processing the finding of necessity through the County, through their committee system and their board of County Commissioners, and the redevelopment plan next, and then the master bonding ordinance last. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. And then my last question for Larry, not to keep putting you on the spot, Larry, but you are our CFO, and I see our bond counsel here. Because the big question for most people coming from my district -- which is who I represent, the Overtown area -- is this going to be a long -- is this long off, or like how -- how long before we actually see some progress on actually taking this to the market? Mr. Spring: Well, the commitment -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: What's your estimated time frame on doing that? Mr. Spring: We had estimated around the fall of this year, just beyond that six-month time frame. Again, I think we laid out that the approval processes that need to be undertaken, the approval of the finding of necessity, City/County -- I mean, CRA, City, County; the approval of the redevelopment plan, CRA, City, County; and the approval of the master bond ordinance, CRA, City, County, so -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: So the original commitment from me -- this all began with this -which was making sure that those dollars and that support actually goes to the Overtown area is actually in progress now, so that was very important to me, and we were able to get that voted and approved. Mr. County Manager, I see -- I know that you're here. I know that what we're going to do on the City side and I know that you know that your Chairman did come to meet with us this past week regarding this issue. I just need you to put on the record for me, sir, if you don't mind, your level of commitment to make sure that it is expedited through the County system once it's transmitted by the City. I just would like to make sure that the residents of the City of Miami know that you're committed to doing that.

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Mr. Burgess: Commissioner, our commitment has not wavered since the day that I stood at this podium, along with others, and urged the support for all of those projects that in concert mean enormously good things for our City of Miami urban core. That commitment has not wavered. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. So the question, though, George -- I just want to be clear. I know that was the overall commitment, but I want to hear that once we transmit it over to the County that we can count on your support to help expedite the FON, which is coming your way, and the redevelopment plan for the Overtown area. That's extremely important to me. So I just want you to be able to state that that is going to be a commitment from your perspective. Mr. Burgess: I can speak for Mayor Alvarez, the Administration. We are committed to doing everything we need to do to make sure that moves aggressively. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you so much, sir. All right. So that was the first part of this for me. Secondly, businesses not only just in my district -- because I do understand that I represent my district, but I do have fellow Commissioners up here -- I wanted to make sure that the businesses in my district and the businesses throughout the City of Miami, and of course Miami-Dade County residents, benefited from these shovel-ready projects during construction and throughout the life of the stadium project -- operation -- project and operation. So for me, those were the two guiding principles. With those principles in mind, after returning back from maternity leave -- and again, for those that have not had a baby or never gave birth to a child, you know, having to get up three times in the middle of the night to feed and change and still think about a heavy issue like this really created some tireless days, but for the most part, over the last three weeks, I've met with several community stakeholders, the City and County officials, organized laborers, the clergy, the Marlins organization, small contractors and many of my constituents. I also did a poll in my -- throughout my neighborhood associations to really make sure that I got a clear understanding of what their viewpoints were, and the whole idea was to kind of address their concerns or their issues that they had with this agreement, and I'm sure that Mr. Samson can tell you that whether or not in our meetings or community meetings that we've had with him over the last three weeks have been -- some hard-hitting issues have come out of those meetings, and I'm thankful that we were able to at least sit down to kind of discuss them with you so that at least the public understood. So at this time I'd like to ask Mr. David Samson, the president of the Marlins, to come forward. Thank you, David. What color socks you got on today? David Samson: I do have socks on. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay, good. Mr. Samson: Yes. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. One of the things I would like for Madam City Attorney to clear up for me -- I mean, I know that my City Manager went through all the details earlier with the changes, and I appreciate you going through them so that we all understood them. But I really want to make sure that there's no confusion about the language that's in the document. Because sometimes, you know, we say things up here and it kind of gets a little translated differently in the document. So I want to make sure that Madam City Attorney, Ms. Julie Bru, actually reads the physical document so that we're clear or at least my constituents, the folks that I represent, understand, so -- just so that I'm clear, Mr. Samson. One of the most important components for me was the percentage of jobs, and I think that it's extremely important that we send a message not only to your organization and the City and the County that the jobs for this particular community is a number-one priority, and I'm saying that because I had some serious issues -- and again, it's not really -- wasn't based upon the Marlins, but based upon -- I'm assuming what the County's attorney has come back to say to us, but the reality is that there's no way in the world that any one of us can sit up here on this dais and justify not having 50 percent
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or more of the jobs coming from Miami-Dade County. It just -- it's crazy. If we start talking about the bed taxes and all these other things that are generated in Miami-Dade County, then to me, the right thing to do is to reinvest back in the people that made it all happen. So my question -- I know that in the agreement, Madam City Attorney, the agreement ask the Marlins aspire to at least the 50 percent of the baseball stadium project, and that 20 percent of those come from the City of Miami. I just want to be very clear -- now, I know that I've been told -- and this is one of the sticking points that I had in our discussions, David, regarding this issue, was the legal problem that was communicated to us by the County regarding us being able to actually put in the document -- I understand it's in the document now, but it's in the document only from an aspirational standpoint. Personally, I feel like it needs to be a goal. It needs to be a requirement. But I need for you to state on the record so that I'm clear and that it's communicated back to the County why this is important to the Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami residents. What is the issue, so that we're clear? Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Madam Vice Chair, if you'd like, earlier the Manager had summarized certain revisions to the document, which, in great part, were all your initiatives. One of them verbatim, which is found in the agreement now, is the fact that the construction management agreement shall -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. No, no. This is what I would want you to be clear for me on the record. Ms. Bru: Okay. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Because by the time it gets over to the County, I just want it to be clear from at least all of us -- because I know not one Commissioner sitting up here will deny that it's important for the -- that all these jobs really, okay -- but I'm going to go with the 50 percent -- need to come from the area. Can you please state for the record why it was communicated that it needed to be aspirational language and why we couldn't make it mandatory? Ms. Bru: Well, the agreement already has provisions in there whereby the construction is going to utilize the programs that Miami-Dade County has in place, which recruits and hires laborers, both skilled and unskilled, from areas that are located within the County, a lot of them within the City, that are areas called "designated target areas," as well as, pursuant to your initiative, neighborhood development zones, which those are zones that are designated because of the high unemployment rate, and those are in the City of Miami. So the agreement had the designated target areas found in Miami-Dade County. Pursuant to your initiative, now they are required to hire and recruit also from City of Miami neighborhood development zones, and that whole program will be administered by the County, which already has the infrastructure in place to do so. In addition to that, we're also putting in certain goals. We stayed away from having specific quotas or set asides because of the issues that that might bring with respect to privileges and immunities, but there is a goal here for the Marlins, for the stadium developer that requires them to -- the language is that they have to aspire to have as many local workers and local firms as reasonably practical and aspire to have at least -- this is not a maximum; a minimum -- at least 50 percent of the baseball stadium project workers will be residents of Miami-Dade County, and then at least 20 percent -- and that was -- Chairman Sanchez insisted that at least 20 percent of which are City of Miami residents. Chair Sanchez: Could I interrupt you for a minute? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: No, um-um, 'cause I didn't allow for him to -- I would ask for you -Chair Sanchez: You have the Chair. It's okay. That's it.

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Vice Chair Spence-Jones: -- to hold your comments until afterwards. So what I really wanted to be very clear about, Julie, so that there's no confusion, we could not -- we could only put aspirational language in because it -- if we made it mandatory or made it a goal, it would be -based upon the comments that we got back regarding this issue, it would be a problem, correct? Ms. Bru: I think the -- we narrowly tailored this in order to respond to the grave economic ills that we're facing that, you know, the loss of jobs and unemployment, so I think narrowly tailoring it as such as a goal will withstand any legal challenge. And I think it's important to note that, pursuant to your initiatives now, there is this goal that is addressing not just the residents of the target areas, but residents throughout the entire City of Miami. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. Madam City Attorney, so I'm following your lead because you are our City Attorney. But I wanted to state for the record that we are in a recession and we've been hearing about it all day, and the economy has caused the loss of jobs and businesses that are having serious issues. I'm going to ask my staff -- I don't know where Koteles is -- but I want to at least make sure that we understand just the unemployment rates that's happening in Miami-Dade County at this present time. I've heard different rates in the midst of this hearing, and it went from 3 percent, 5 percent, 9 percent, but based upon what we've gotten from our Economic Development Department -- and I'm relying on them because they're professionals and they're supposed to brief us on all of these related issues, but according to them, unemployment in Florida is the highest since 1982, and in Dade County is even lower than the rest of the state at 8.8 , which is lower than the nation's 8.5, so the reality is -- and I just want us to be clear, and that's why I think it's extremely important that we send a message loud and clear to the County when it gets over there that our people are hurting. We need the jobs to happen in this area, so I just want to make sure that we say for the record and at least add this into the record these statistics. And I just wanted Mr. Samson -- I know that you (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Sorry. You understand why it's a priority for Miami-Dade County residents, and I just want you to put on the record that you agree with this particular goal, that it should at least be 50 percent of the residents coming from Miami-Dade County. Mr. Samson: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. Thank you, sir. All right. Secondly, outside of the job situation -- and I know people don't really want to hear about the jobs, you know, or -- it's not that they don't want to hear about it, but for some reason, in people's minds it's become "Oh, it's just an excuse to pass the project." No, it's a reality for many groups that -- secondly, so I wanted to address at least two more items, and then I'm done. Secondly, organize labor and apprenticeship programs, and I got to say this because, for some reason, people hate to say organized labor. I didn't learn that until I got in office that when -- you know, that there's an issue with saying organized labor, but for me, it just makes sense; and one of the things that I'm extremely proud about that was included in this agreement now is that we will have added to the overall agreement that there will be some sort of partnership or this will be -- or the unions will become a clearinghouse, meaning, they will become a resource, whether or not it be the carpenter's union, whether or not it be the electrical union, whether or not it be my labor union that's located in our district. The idea is to make sure that they have some level of participation, and I do know in the midst of these last two or three weeks, there has been issues and concerns around whether or not that should actually be placed in the agreements. I'm proud to say that it is actually in the agreement, but what I do want to have happen, though, is through the partnerships that we are establishing with the unions, I would really like to see or develop -- and I'm going to direct the City Manager after all of this is said and done -- to work with all of our offices and the unions to establish some sort of training center or trade-based center in either each one of our districts or target three pilot districts. I've already spoken to Mr. Mayor about this through his Mayor's Poverty Initiative. We're going to try to work on putting together Miami Works, which is a pilot project that will focus on getting people trained and ready to work because one of the things that I did not want to have happen is that this job site began and
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people -- and it was time to get people to work. Then the other excuse we always get, "Well, we don't have people that are trained to work." No. We want to make sure, Mr. Manager, that in the beginning, before the site even mobilizes or any else -- anything else starts, we want to be able to put in place these training centers -- and the unions have already agreed to pay for the training, to pay for the space to make it happen, so the reality is -- you know, we think that it's extremely important, and I believe that -- hopefully, there's some discussions with all of the Commissioners around where they would like to see these training centers actually take place, but that was extremely important as a part of this overall agreement. So I think that it's -through the apprenticeship programs, through the training centers that we're looking at doing, through this new relationship that hopefully we're forming with organized labor, we can and will make a difference in the lives of many of the people that actually live in not only the City of Miami, but Miami-Dade County. And that goes beyond aspirations, so I really, really wanted to make sure that it was clear and it is now included in the overall agreement. Now, I know that there was one thing -- one additional thing that the -- that was asked, Mr. City Manager, and I wish -- I would like for you to at least work along with the Administration as it goes over to the County regarding the agreement, is there is a concern about the primes and them addressing the lower tier subcontractors, and I believe the issue is centered around the H2-B visa problem, and I'm going to ask that -- just for two seconds -- the Florida Carpenter's Union to at least put it -Miguel, to put it on the record so that we're real clear. It's not in the physical agreement now, but what I'm asking for them to do is to make sure that we address this issue. Miguel Fuentes: Okay. Basically -- Miguel Fuentes, Florida Carpenter's regional counsel -what the provision would allow is to protect the City's assets, the County's assets, taxpayer dollars, and even the Team's assets by not allowing contractors who classify employees as independent subcontractors to subvert paying taxes, workers' comp, and all the other burdens that all the legitimate contractors are paying to be able to compete. In the end what happens is if you have someone who would not be on a project under the auspice of an independent contractor and there's an injury or an incident, it trickles up into the prime and also the owners of the project. It's easy to avoid that by putting a provision in place that says, hey, local people are now required so they should be treated as employees as such, and you really do protect yourself if you do that, so I'm proud that you guys are taking that on because we really start being a little more prudent about how we spend our money and how those investments are done. So thank you. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you, Miguel. And -- so Mr. Manager, you understand what the issue and the concern is, so if we can transmit that over to Miami-Dade County to make sure that that is also considered as well. Mr. Hernandez: I will. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. Thirdly, the support -- and Madam City Attorney, that -- I want to be clear; the apprenticeship language is actually in the agreement now, correct? Ms. Bru: It is. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: And also we're going to work on these other issues that we just mentioned, and also the union language is in there. Thirdly, the support for small businesses and small contractors. The Marlins and their construction team have taken the time to meet with many of the representatives of the available workforce and the contractors to understand some of the impediments that had prevented small businesses from meaningful participation in past major projects, and again, David, you can attest one of the things that actually has come out of that discussion with the various meetings that we had for a lot of our small contractors is unfortunately, they may get the job, and for whatever reason, because of -- the payment is slowed or delayed or whatever the case may be, that creates a problem for many of our small contractors to even pay their employees, so I know that we put in additional provisions to
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address that so that they don't have the financial burdens and that their companies are not -- not only are they able to pay their employees, but later on down the line they're not losing their companies behind debts. So I just wanted to make sure that that is something that you have agreed to support as a part of this overall agreement. Mr. Samson: Yes. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. Madam City Attorney, can you at least state for the record for me what -- how we have addressed that issue in the contract? Ms. Bru: Okay. You're -- are you just referring to the prompt payment issue or just -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Yes. Ms. Bru: -- generally for the small businesses? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: The prompt payment situation and the financial burden portion of it. Ms. Bru: Okay. As to the prompt payment situation, the contract had already provided for payment to be made to the subs within five business days, and I think this is pursuant to County regulations. Pursuant to your initiative, additional language was included that says within 48 hours in the case of a subcontractors that are CSB (Community Small Business) and SBE (Small Business Enterprise) firms. These are the community small business enterprise and the small business enterprise firms, so we've added that pursuant to the -- your initiative. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. Again, here's another additional change that has been made for the small businesses because it does not make sense for us to have a mega project like this and put hundreds of businesses out -- small businesses out of business, so here's one issue that -or one thing that was add -- actually, been able -- we've been able to add based upon what small contractors have come back to us to say, "Commissioner, yeah, we'd like to have the work, but we don't want to be out of business having the work." So that is an additional thing that we have now added. I'm just going to also -- I know I'm giving you a lot of directions this afternoon, Mr. City Manager, but here's the third direction. I really want to make sure that we have someone in place, either on staff or someone -- an agency or whoever -- whatever way you want to work it, but I think that we need to have somebody in place to monitor these compliances with the goals that we have established. And I know that the County has -- between the City and the County, we have, you know, a person that is going to be hired to do that work, but I believe that person actually will work for the County. I really want to make sure that we have an independent person that's going to come in front of us as a body and give us a full report and tell us the truth and not feel threatened for whatever reason because they work for the City or the County. So I'm asking that you please work on identifying or whatever way you feel you need to do it, but we need to have on the City side to protect our investment that this gets handled. Mr. Hernandez: I understand, and I'll assign, in whichever way is most, you know, convenient for us, a person that will monitor City-related issues in this overall project. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: No problem. All right. And I think when it's all said and done regarding the small businesses and the small contractors that the Marlins and their construction managers have agreed to take the certain necessary steps to knock down these historical barriers that actually affect our small businesses, so I've already had Madam City Attorney read the financial burdens into the actual record so we already have that. But last and not least -- and I think it's extremely important to say this -- you know, trust has always been the biggest issue for, I would say, the constituents or the residents of our cities. For whatever reason, there's been so many broken promises, or so many things that have been stated in agreements with all the right intentions or with all the good intentions, and for some reason along the way, the people get left
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out. And I just really had an issue or concern with this agreement not having financial penalties attached to it. I thought that it was extremely important that the Marlins, for whatever reason, if they had not met their requirements or their goals, that there should be some sort of financial penalty that they would have to pay, and those funds that were generated from them not doing that would benefit youth-based programs or benefit supporting smaller business in the City and the County. So that is the additional thing that I know that we were able to add because I really felt in my heart and most of my residents and the people that I've had a chance to meet with felt that, you know, those penalties or not having penalties, you know, at the end of the day, it's like a toothless tiger, and you know, it's a failure to achieve. So the idea is to really make sure that if they don't meet those goals, then they have to actually pay into this overall trust, and I just want Mr. Larry Springs [sic] real fast -- just if you could step up real fast and make sure the people of Miami understand what this means from the standpoint of the formula and how it works. If the individual has a million-dollar contract, meaning the contractor has a million-dollar contract as a part of this overall deal, how does that work if they do not meet their requirements, how are they penalized? Mr. Spring: Larry Spring, chief financial officer. We extracted from the existing County ordinance kind of a procedure, if you will. In that -- in the administrative orders, excuse me, not the ordinance itself. It would require that any -- when they come up with a bid package for the stadium, they would determine what the CSB goals are for that particular trade, and that goal is assigned to that bid package. If the stadium developer, construction manager did not meet that goal, and let's assume we're talking about a million-dollar bid package -- and the CSBE (Community Small Business Enterprise), SBE goal was 10 percent, so $100,000 goal, if you will, needed to be met with regards to that contractor. Say -- assume that they missed that goal, negligently missed that goal -- now, if they put forth good efforts and they made every good attempt to hire, then there will be no deficit, but if they were just negligent in not meeting that goal and they blew it completely and it's at the end of the contract period, the Team would be required to make a payment into the County's small business -- CSB development trust fund or compliance trust fund, I think is the name, $150,000, or 150 percent of the deficit percentage that they missed. So that's generally how it would work. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. And I just want to add on this part of it another directive, Mr. City Manager, is to make sure -- I have a concern with all of the dollars that are generated, especially from the City portion of it, whether or not they -- if the Marlins does not meet this, you know, and they have the penalties, I would like to see, Mr. City Manager, or I'd like to direct you -- for us to have our own trust fund set aside for our own small businesses and our youth programs in the City of Miami, so I'd like for you to work along with George to see if there's any way that we can do that for our investment in this overall project, and we can work out the formulas, but I think it's extremely important that our businesses benefit and our youth-based programs benefit from it. It's not to say that the City and the County doesn't share a lot of this, but a lot of times what happens with the municipalities what is told to us most often, especially for the small business fund that you're speaking of, is that your City, whether or not it be Miami Beach, City of Miami, should be able to take care of your own businesses because you have funding for whatever sources in your City. I want to make sure from this particular deal itself if there's any penalties or any dollars that come from it whatsoever that we have those dollars transmitted over to the City of Miami so that we can take care of our own businesses and our own youth-based organizations. So I just want to make sure that we're clear on that. Mr. Hernandez: Right. Commissioner, the compliance trust fund is governed by the ordinance, the County ordinance on the CSB, and my approach would have to be, you know, through the County to see how we can work and determine a way where the City could share on any penalties that result out of this project. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay, and that's what I'm saying. I know that it's not in the official agreement now. I know that we do have the penalties part added, right, Madam City Attorney?
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It is -- the penalties portion is now added, which was not there before. Is that correct, Madam City Attorney? Ms. Bru: That's correct. And if I'm understanding you, you are just directing the Manager to work with the County administration to see how some of those dollars can come back to the City? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Right. And then the portion of it -- of this regarding the penalties for the Marlins if they do not meet the goals or the requirements now has a -- now will have a financial penalty attached to it that would benefit these programs; correct? Ms. Bru: And this is a penalty that is above and beyond what the County had already provided in their program, so this is another one of your initiatives that now has a disincentive for failing to adhere to the goals that are being set. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. Thank you very much. So I am closing out. Again, I didn't get a chance to sit on the first hearing, so I know that everyone had the opportunity to speak and at least put their viewpoints out, but these are the things that have actually come back to me as the district Commissioner that were concerns by the people from my district and outside of my district that service my district, so those were the other things that I felt were extremely important to actually add into the overall agreement. The Parks trust fund has been addressed already, so I don't have to deal with that, so our neighborhood parks and our neighborhood youth-based baseball programs will be addressed, so I'm not going to worry about that because I know you have that under control. But Mr. Samson, in closing on this issue with all these amendments -- because this is the end of it -- I just want you to put on the record that you are in support of these amendments. Mr. Samson: Yes. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. A deal of this nature is not perfect, and voting to approve this project does not ensure that the project will even happen. There are multiple challenges that this project faces, but it's only one of the major construction projects that is going to move in the City of Miami, if it happens. The reality is that we need to employ workers and struggling small businesses, so I understand why we're here in this room today to kind of talk about what we can do to get people back to work. The burden, though, remains on the Marlins to continue to make their case and to defend the worthiness of this project. So at the end of the day, whatever we vote on today, whether or not it's yea or nay or whatever the case may be, it is up to the Marlins to really defend whether or not this project is worthy. So with that said, it will remain the responsibility and the duty of the elected officials and the Administration to monitor the progress to ensure that the agreement is adhered to. Now, we always want to talk about President Barack Obama, but even President Barack Obama recognizes the importance of stimulating the economy, and even though everyone does not agree with his approach -- and we know that he's been getting beat up for the last 90 days -- leadership requires sometimes taking bold steps and acting bold in the face of the unknown. So in the last 90 days, as you can see, he's passed billions of dollars to kind of stimulate the economy to get things moving back again. The recession has, as we know, devastated the economy of Miami-Dade County. Our building industry is on its death bed. Our employment rate is out of control. I passed that out earlier and you saw that. Our families are hurting. And foreclosures are at a all-time high. The baseball stadium represents, I know to a many -- lot of people, it represents jobs, it represents training, it represents programs for youth, it represents small business contractors. I know all of that, but I also understand that there is a concern that, you know, in supporting this project, is it going to hurt us down the line? And quite frankly, -- I mean, I think that is something that we need to discuss and we needed to discuss to have a clear understanding. I'm going to go back -- I don't remember his last name, but the young man that -- older man that stood up on the dais. His name was James. I believe he was a carpenter. And I think out of all of -- I mean, a lot of stuff
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hit me today and -- from all different levels, but I think the story that probably stuck with me the most was his story when he stood up to this mike, and he was very -- I'm sure you remember him. He's very small -- soft-spoken, tall guy, yellow shirt; and his comments were very simple, you know. Not working in six -- I believe six or eight months. Brother called him; gave him a loan. Son called him; needed help with, you know, a flat tire. You know, just basic. You know, just basic things that one felt -- feels as though they need to have in order for them to survive, and you know, it made me think about a lot of things. And I do understand what the Commissioners are saying up here, I mean, regarding the issue of 30 years now, you know, our grandchildren and their children are going to be stuck with this burden, but I can't help but realize or think about what about now? I mean, the district that I represent -- and I'm just going to say to you -Liberty City, Little Haiti, Overtown, Wynwood -- you know, and I know that there's this push, well, we don't want a job that's a year -- for a year or for three years, or we don't want it -- we want it for five years, we want it for fifteen years. Listen, some people be glad to have a job for, from the district I represent, six months or for two months or whatever to take care of their families. And you know, to sit up here and not consider that -- I mean, you know, I look at Mr. James and, you know, the reality is even though, you know, at the -- in the end, you know, Mr. James, let's say he gets employed by the stadium or whatever, or by a contractor that's working on the stadium. Well, now he has some decent wages. Now he has some insurances [sic]. And now at least for the next two to three years, he knows that he can take care of his family, he knows that -- you know, there's key things that he can do to at least provide for his family. He now has the ability to pay his mortgage, okay. The same mortgage that he's going to pay is going to be those taxes that we're going to be relying on, you know, to help us do a lot of things that we need to do in the City, you know. And again, he's not losing his home, so we're not having a issue with the house now going into foreclosure, which we already know foreclosures are out of control. Now he's going to be able to take his family out to eat a meal or to go to the dry cleaners or to support one of those smaller businesses in the area that would generate or stimulate the economy in those neighborhoods that are already suffering because Mr. James is no longer coming to dry clean his clothes any more because he can't afford to it because he don't have that job, even if it's for three years, you know. It's that same Mr. James that now has his car that he can, you know, not put gas in or not, you know, for whatever reason, pay his insurance, so now he's losing that car, which means -- I mean, even though we look at -- and I think George -- you know, George, you came up here heated today. Where is George? With a lot of energy. George Burgess, you -- I mean, I thought you were going to jump on the dais with us up here for a minute to prove -- you know, to show us your viewpoint, but I want to say this. It's -- you know, the thing that resonated me the most with what you said was in the end, it's going to be all of these things that kind of somewhat come together; and no matter what, each one of these things are going to stimulate the economy in some sort of way so that everybody somewhat benefits from it. And we can't look at the present dollar that we're speaking of now because, quite frankly, I happen to believe in our President and I know that some of my fellow Commissioners up here have stated they believe in him too. I believe that the economy will change or turn around in four or eight years. I believe it. And I believe the same discussions that we're having now is not going to be an issue for us later on. I believe it. And I just -- in the end, for me -- I mean, it really boils down to, I mean -- Commissioner Gonzlez, I think that our districts, out of all of them, are the ones that are hit the hardest. I mean, from no jobs, correct, to our businesses struggling. I mean, we really feel it. You feel it in Allapattah, like I feel it in Liberty City and Overtown. You feel it. And it's us that's getting these phone calls in our offices saying, we need work. It's us that's saying we need support for our small businesses. We're getting that. Not to say that Little Havana is not getting or Flagami, but I know that we're getting it. And I just -- you know, it's hard for me to understand, you know, how we could even sit up here and not even think about people that have to live for today. I mean, we're talking about the future, and you got people that can't live today. These people aren't even going to be around for the future because, guess what? They're not going to be able to take care of themselves and their families, you know. In looking at this overall agreement, I really tried to work on amendments that made sense, amendments that had real teeth in it, amendments that spoke to the heart of people, and that's what we've done, and I can -- I have to honestly say this,
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you know, it was a very tough situation because going into, you know, negotiations and talks on many of these issues, they were outright nos in the beginning, and that changed; and I'm just happy that we're at that point. So with all that being said, I just think about Mr. James, that you know, at this point in time, you know, whether or not you feel three years is good or two years is good or ten years is good, Mr. James needs to be dealt with right now. And with all being said, you know, my biggest issue in the very beginning was trust, and I think that that's what we're hearing in the audience. People just don't trust government's going to do the right thing. Well, we need to make sure that we put teeth in the agreement that's going to make us do the right thing. We only -- the City of Miami's a very small portion of this deal. The most -- most of it really lies with the County, but the City, in return, is going to get a lot back for the small investment that the City's making, but the biggest investment that we're going to be making is the investment in the people. And you know, this is a tough decision to make one way or the other. And people came into this meeting or into this hearing thinking one way or the other. Spence-Jones. They knew what Spence-Jones vote was going to be, but really -- what I really wanted to do is hear the voices of people in this room, and I've heard them loud and clear. So I just want to say to my fellow colleagues, you were elected by the people that, you know, you represent, so I understand your position. So I'm assuming that you have gotten impact or conversations or discussions or viewpoints from what came from you polling your community; I've done the same, and I feel pretty confident, and in listening today, I feel even more so confident on why we have to make a decision that works for the City. So with that being said, I just -- I don't know -- I see Commissioner Gonzlez moving up to the mike like he want -- would like to have something added -Commissioner Gonzlez: No. Just call the question. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay, call the question. Applause. Chair Sanchez: You're the Chair. The question has been called. It's time for a vote. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Time for a vote. Commissioner Gonzlez: All right. Chair Sanchez: All right. Commissioner Gonzlez: Roll -Chair Sanchez: For a point of clarification, there's two friendly amendments. It is -Commissioner Gonzlez: After a roll call. Chair Sanchez: -- the two baseball parks that are being renovated per district, and the other one is very simple. It's the 20 percent out of the 50 percent, which is if the County goes to 60 or 70 or 80, it is 20 percent of whatever their amount is. So that's very clear. Okay. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: So call the question? Chair Sanchez: Yes. You're the Chair. I passed the gavel to you. Commissioner Gonzlez: Ask for a roll call. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Roll call.

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Pamela Burns (Assistant City Clerk): Madam City Attorney, were you going to proffer any additional changes? Ms. Bru: Madam City Clerk, the changes that were made to the document that is attached in substantially the attached form to the agenda item were summarized by the Manager at the beginning of the deliberations, and then subsequently, the chairperson added two additional amendments and those have all been discussed, so the item is being voted on, as amended. Ms. Burns: Roll call on SP.1. Commissioner Regalado? Commissioner Regalado: No. Ms. Burns: Commissioner Sarnoff? Commissioner Sarnoff: No. Ms. Burns: Commissioner Gonzlez? Commissioner Gonzlez: Yes. Ms. Burns: Chair Sanchez? Chair Sanchez: Yes. Ms. Burns: Vice Chair Spence-Jones? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Yes. Applause. Ms. Burns: SP.1 has been approved, 3-2. Chair Sanchez: Come on, come on, come on. Hey, come on. Let's go. We got two more items on the agenda.

SP.2

09-00133

RESOLUTION

City Manager's Office

A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION , WITH ATTACHMENT(S), WAIVING BY A FOUR-FIFTHS (4/5 THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF THE CITY COMMISSION, COMPETITIVE SELECTION (COMPETITIVE SEALED BIDDING) FOR THE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE WORK ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROPOSED FLORIDA MARLINS BALLPARK ("THE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE WORK") AS NOT BEING PRACTICABLE OR ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE CITY OF MIAMI IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 18-85( A) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE"); FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE AWARD OF THE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE WORK, PURSUANT TO SECTION 255.20, FLORIDA STATUTES, BY A FOUR-FIFTHS (4/5 THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE, TO HUNT/MOSS, A JOINT VENTURE, AS CONSTRUCTION MANAGER/CONTRACTOR, BASED UPON THE CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES SET FORTH IN SECTION 18-85(A) AND OTHER SECTIONS OF THE CITY CODE, AND THE ATTACHED WRITTEN FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CITY MANAGER AND THE ARCHITECT/ ENGINEER OF RECORD, RESPECTIVELY.
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09-00133 Legislation.pdf 09-00133 Exhibit 1.pdf 09-00133 Exhibit 2.pdf 09-00133 Summary Form.pdf 09-00133 Public Notice 1.pdf 09-00133 Public Notice 2.pdf 09-00133 Public Notice 3.pdf 09-00133-Submittal-City Attorney (1).pdf 09-00133-Submittal-City Attorney (2).pdf 09-00133-Submittal-City Attorney (3).pdf 09-00133-Submittal-Commissioner Spence-Jones.pdf 09-00133-Submittal-Frank Del Vecchio.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Gonzlez, seconded by Vice Chair Spence-Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.

Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner Gonzlez, Sarnoff, Sanchez and Spence-Jones

Noes: 1 - Commissioner Regalado

R-09-0131
Chair Sanchez: Next item on the agenda is SP.2. That is the waiver. That is the -- waiving the competitive bidding for the Marlin [sic] Park [sic], and that's going to require a four-fifth vote; so, Mr. City Manager, we need to put into the record the advantageous to the City as to why we are -- you're asking us to waive the bidding. Pedro G. Hernandez (City Manager): Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, if we can just take one second and put SP.1 behind us, the Commission, as a whole, has voted to support the stadium agreements. Now we're looking at the bid waiver that has to do with the construction of the public infrastructure. This is the construction of water and sewer lines, drainage lines, electrical lines, sidewalks, roads, illumination, et cetera; and it's extremely important that there be extreme coordination of the scheduling and of the construction activities. As an engineer, these are items that I'm very familiar with and that we could manage. However, as a Manager, I have to protect the City; I'm concerned about risk. I believe that we have to ask or act in a fiscally prudent way, and my recommendation to you would be to, in essence, accept this bid waiver, support it so that the stadium contractor -- in this case, Hunt/Moss -- will be able to manage the construction of the public infrastructure, thereby reducing the risk to the City and ensuring that there is great coordination, eliminating the finger pointing and the potential claims when you have those two activities going on at the same time by possibly two contractors. Now, there is something that I must add because I've noticed a concern or maybe a misunderstanding. The fact that we're doing this bid waiver through Hunt/Moss does not mean that Hunt/Moss is going to do a hundred percent of that work. As a matter of fact, Hunt/Moss is the construction manager. He will manage the construction, and he will receive a fee for his management of that construction activity. However, the individual trades, the drainage, the water and sewer, the electrical work, the street lighting, the roadway work, they're all going to be bid independently as packages; and in this area, we're fortunate to have a very significant number of contractors that do this kind of work. My projection is that at least 70 percent of that work of the public infrastructure, maybe more, is going to go to local contractors because of the nature of the work because we have that abundance of contractors here that do sidewalk, that do roadway, that do drainage. I know that Hunt/Moss is represented here, and they could even possibly put in the record or confirm what I'm saying that these trades are going to be bid independently; and based on the capacity at the local level to do that kind of work, that work will, in essence, over 70 to 80 percent will go to local companies. So I wanted to put that on the record because there was a confusion that we're just giving it away to Hunt/Moss. In essence, the work stays here. The advantage is that Hunt/Moss, as the construction manager, will be able to manage and coordinate all the public infrastructure activities with the construction of the stadium, avoiding claims, avoiding risks to
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the City. Chair Sanchez: So it is your advice that this would reduce costs? Mr. Hernandez: It will reduce risk. It will reduce claims. So it's fiscally prudent for the City to act in that fashion to protect our risk. Chair Sanchez: But the main factor here, based on fiduciary respondent, is that the burden of cost overruns fall to the stadium developer? Mr. Hernandez: Yes. Chair Sanchez: Okay. Just want to make that clear. Commissioner Gonzlez: Mr. Chairman. Chair Sanchez: Yes, sir. Commissioner Gonzlez: Mr. Manager, I have to tell you that I had real big concerns about this item, but now that you have explain specifically what the reason is and what this company's going to be doing and not doing all of the infrastructure work, so -- if I understand correctly, what they're going to do is like a -- be like a supervisor for both companies that are going to be doing the work, make sure to tie the jobs. Mr. Hernandez: Exactly. Commissioner Gonzlez: To coordinate the job between the -- whoever companies are going to do the project. Mr. Hernandez: Coordinating the scheduling -Commissioner Gonzlez: Okay. Mr. Hernandez: -- ensuring that the activities are fully coordinated and there is no conflict, and things are delivered on time. So there is no issue that, for example, our electrical lines or the sewer lines are not there on time, thereby delaying the stadium. They cannot come back to us and say, you know, that there is a claim because they have the control over both. Commissioner Gonzlez: All right. Based on that, I'm ready to make a motion to approve. Chair Sanchez: All right. There's a motion by Commissioner Gonzlez. Is there a second? If there's no second, dies. There's no second. Is there a motion to deny? Well, I'm going to pass the gavel, and I'm going to second the motion if Commissioner Gonzlez makes the motion. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Can I --? Mr. Hernandez: Mr. Chairman, let me stress again how important this is. As I said before, you know, we could have a -- an independent bid or we could do it independently. The net result is going to be about the same because you would have a general contractor that would, in essence, do bids for the different trades, except that then you have a general contractor here and you have the construction manager at the stadium and you could end up having conflicts and we assume a greater liability. No question. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Can I -- Mr. Manager, can I ask our director of procurement to hit the mike?
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Mr. Hernandez: Sure. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: To step up. I mean -- 'cause one person I know that's going to make sure that it's -- everything is done right and properly and not -- no issue is Glenn Marcos. Glenn Marcos (Director, Purchasing): I appreciate that, Commissioner. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: So just -- Glenn, so that I have clarity -- and I don't know if everybody else is comfortable with -- are you comfortable with what is being asked of the City Commission? Mr. Marcos: Yes, I do. I do feel extremely comfortable. I think, if you hear the City Manager state the reasons on the record -- the City Commission has already decided to pass the construction of, you know, the stadium. Now you're talking about construction management. This is a very, very complicated project, and if you were to end up bidding this thing out, it would go to one construction company. The coordination, the organization of this project is very, very complicated where -- as the City Manager just stated on the record, you don't want the finger pointing. You want to make sure that for the sake of the Florida Marlins, that they get this project done on a timely basis. If you end up having the finger pointing involved with multiple contractors, then what you're going to end up having is the likelihood of lawsuits being filed against the City. And we have to end up acting prudent here, and I do fully support, in this case, a bid waiver. And you all know -Vice Chair Spence-Jones: I know -Mr. Marcos: -- how I don't like bid waivers, but from a business perspective -- let's vacate and let's put aside the procurement decision here -- from a legal perspective, I do believe that this is the right thing to do. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Okay. With your recommendation, Glenn, because I know you're not going to put your stamp of approval on anything that you don't -- you do not feel that's right, and you are the professional; this is what you do for a living, so I'm going to trust your viewpoint and your decision. So I support it based upon you. Chair Sanchez: All right. So is -Commissioner Regalado: Madam Chair. Chair Sanchez: -- there a second? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Well, you have -Commissioner Gonzlez: Second. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: -- a question on the other -- oh, you second already (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Sanchez: No, no, no, no, no. Give me -- let me take control of the meeting back [sic]. I got to take control of this meeting. Vice Chair Spence-Jones: But see -Chair Sanchez: All right. Wait, wait. Hold on, hold on. Before we discuss and debate this, we need a motion and a second. Is there a motion?
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Commissioner Gonzlez: I made a motion. Chair Sanchez: The motion has been proffered by Commissioner Gonzlez. Is there a second? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: I'll second it. Chair Sanchez: It has been second by the Vice Chair. Before we open it up for discussion here, Mr. City Manager, then Commissioner Regalado. Mr. Hernandez: I wanted to stress again that what the local community want as well as you, as City Commissioners, is that the work goes to local companies, and that you have local workforce involved. Whether you go with our recommendation and have Hunt/Moss do it, or whether you go through an independent bid and have another general contractor in charge of the job, the net result is going to be the same. You're going to have local workforce and local contractors doing the work, except that if we go with the bid waiver to Hunt/Moss, then the overall manager and coordinator of the projects will be the same, and that will ensure that there are no scheduling issues and there are no conflicting construction activities going on. So that's why I feel that it's - you know, feel very strongly that this is really a must. Chair Sanchez: All right. Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Regalado: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Manager, you feel strongly. So the City is going to be doing the bidding for Hunt/Moss for the County and for the City work? Mr. Hernandez: No. Under -- for the public infrastructure. Commissioner Regalado: Yes. Yeah. I'm talking only about the public -Mr. Hernandez: Right. Commissioner Regalado: -- infrastructure. Mr. Hernandez: Whether you have the approach that we're recommending, which is the bid waiver to Hunt/Moss or whether we select a general contractor, either Hunt/Moss or the general contractor are going to do their own bidding for each one of the trades, meaning the drainage or the water and sewer or the illumination, et cetera; and because of the abundance of contractors that we have here locally that do that kind of work, the result is going to be that you're going to have local workforce doing the actual work. I would say 75 percent, maybe 80 percent at minimum. Commissioner Regalado: So Glenn Marcos -Mr. Hernandez: However -Commissioner Regalado: -- is not going to be supervising? Mr. Hernandez: Who? Commissioner Regalado: Glenn, your department is not going to be supervising. Mr. Hernandez: He's not supervising that procurement. However, the City and the County, together with the Team, have a say-so as to who they award those projects. So they have to go through a bidding -- through a --

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Commissioner Regalado: Right. Mr. Hernandez: -- selection process, and we have a say-so as to who gets it. Commissioner Regalado: Help me. What is a say-so? Mr. Hernandez: Well, let's say that the general contractor -- I won't use Hunt/Moss -- goes through a bid process for drainage and he likes a certain firm who may be second or third in the bidding process. That has to come to us and we have to approve that before he can make an award to that company. We can say no. We have to go through the bidding process. We have so and so who's the low bid. You cannot award -- we cannot -- we will not accept that you award to somebody else other than the low bid. Commissioner Regalado: So you have the veto power for price and location. Suppose that a Lake Worth company bids. You have the veto power to say no, we want local. Suppose that they want to choose a company that has bid more than other; you have to the absolute veto power? Mr. Hernandez: If they -Commissioner Regalado: That's a say-so? Mr. Hernandez: -- want -- no -- to select someone that, in essence, let's say at a higher proposal in price, that somebody who they like, they cannot do it unless we approve it; so they would have to submit to us we want to go with this firm because of this reasons, and we would have to approve that. Commissioner Regalado: And "we" is you and the County? Mr. Hernandez: Yes. Because the City and the County are sharing in the funding and the oversight -- the general oversight of public infrastructure. Commissioner Regalado: Is it not the custom for FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) to have bonds for companies for -- if they go -- if the cost -- if there is a cost overrun, if the FDOT -- I remember when they did Southwest 8th Street and then Coral Way. They have a bonus for the company if they finish before. They have a penalty if they finish after. But they have a bond -- they requested a bond if they go over the cost that the contract bid. Why cannot we use that -- and let me tell you, it's more transparent. It -- this one you may strongly recommend it because it makes sense, but if you have the same transparency in other and the same results, why not choose the bidding process? Mr. Hernandez: Well -Commissioner Regalado: Why not --? Mr. Hernandez: If I go through an independent process to select a general contractor for the public infrastructure work, I may get firm "X." That firm "X" is then going through -- is going to go through their own bidding process to select contractors for the different trades, so they're going to be doing the same thing that -Commissioner Regalado: But you still have the veto power. Mr. Hernandez: I would have to put it into the contract, which we can. But in essence -Commissioner Regalado: What is the problem then? I mean --

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Mr. Hernandez: No. The problem is that if we go with the bid waiver, Commissioner, it ensures that the management of the combined work, the public infrastructure and the stadium is well coordinated not only on scheduling, but on the coordination of construction activity, thereby eliminating the risk of claims, the risk of things being off schedule, of us not delivering in time a certain element. It protects from overruns because -- unless you have an unforeseen condition, everything else is going to be their respondent as far as overruns, so I think that -Commissioner Regalado: And this is -Mr. Hernandez: -- I recommend it because it provides maximum protection to the City. Commissioner Regalado: No. I -Mr. Hernandez: And the result is the same that you're going to have local workforce doing. Commissioner Regalado: And I understand. We discuss that yesterday, although I didn't understand it. But let me ask you this. So we are to vote on the waiver for the bid, but how 'bout [sic] if the County doesn't do it? So is -- what happens then? How 'bout [sic] if the Manager in the County does not have the super majority, what happens then? Olga Ramirez-Seijas (Assistant City Attorney): Commissioner, in that event, the agreement would have to be amended to provide the mechanisms for the City and the County each to bid out the work independently of Hunt/Moss. So either both parties approve the waiver or the waiver is a no-go. Commissioner Regalado: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair. Chair Sanchez: Yes, sir. You're recognized for the record. Commissioner Sarnoff: Well, I got to tell you, Pete, I thought I understood these agreements and now I have to confess I don't understand the public infrastructure. Where in the public infrastructure does it say 75 to 80 percent of the actual workforce subcontractors will be City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, or even Broward County for that fact? Mr. Hernandez: I think I used the word local. Commissioner Sarnoff: All right. I'm going to ask the City Attorney to read this to me because I really don't understand. Mr. Hernandez: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff: And I was -Mr. Hernandez: Commissioner, if -- I'm sorry -- I may, that was my opinion based on my knowledge of the local workforce with respect to those type of improvements. I know from experience that when we're dealing with infrastructure issues, the water and sewer, the drainage, the illumination, sidewalks, roadways, we have an abundant number of contractors locally that do that kind of work, so a Hunt/Moss, when they bid those packages for each one of those trades, the work is going to be -Commissioner Sarnoff: So it doesn't say -Mr. Hernandez: -- here.
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Commissioner Sarnoff: -- it; you just think it will happen. Mr. Hernandez: I know, Commissioner. It's my opinion, based on my experience and my knowledge of the local workforce and the type of work that that entails. This is not specialized work in any way. This is -- as infrastructure goes, it's routine work. Commissioner Sarnoff: Well, I was made to understand that the reason you wanted a bid waiver was so that the cost overruns for the public infrastructure would be borne by the Marlins. Chair Sanchez: Project developer. Mr. Hernandez: And that is correct. Commissioner Sarnoff: All right. And that would have been -- Commissioner Sanchez corrected me -- the project developer, which is not actually the Marlins; it is -- what's the name of the entity? Mr. Hernandez: Stadium developer. Commissioner Sarnoff: Stadium developer. And stadium developer is backed by who? Mr. Hernandez: The Team. Commissioner Sarnoff: Marlins, LLP (Limited Liability Partnership). Can you speak -Mr. Hernandez: Olga. Commissioner Sarnoff: -- into the mike. Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Yes, that is correct. Pursuant to the assurance agreement. Commissioner Sarnoff: So I was told that the bid waiver was a good idea because it would have -- it would be -- because the people actually building -- it was -- you guys call it a super block or --? Is that the way you described it? Mr. Hernandez: No. Commissioner Sarnoff: What's the public infrastructure? Mr. Hernandez: The public infrastructure in this case are basically drainage lines, water and sewer lines, illumination, sidewalk, roadway work. And you know, one of -Commissioner Sarnoff: This is not -- I'm sorry, but -- I didn't mean to cut you off -- this isn't supposedly that public infrastructure that was going to be this huge open space? Mr. Hernandez: Oh, the plaza? Commissioner Sarnoff: Yes. Mr. Hernandez: No. The plaza is actually part of the stadium -Commissioner Sarnoff: I got you. I didn't understand that. Mr. Hernandez: -- and they are building it and they're going to maintain it. As a matter of fact,
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that's one of the great benefits of this project, but I wasn't talking about that. Commissioner Gonzlez: Most of it is underground work. Commissioner Sarnoff: So I -- and then that makes it harder for me to understand. I mean, if most of this work occurs off site, it's very much like a brand-new development that needs to be, you know, hooked up to regular City sewer line, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, why would a Commissioner vote to not put this out to RFP (Request for Proposals) when you have been such an advocate of RFP'ing anything to at least tell us what something cost. Because you'll never tell me what anything cost because you'll say, Commissioner, let an RFP decide it; that'll tell you what something cost. So why wouldn't I, sitting here, say to you -- and I'm sure there's some designated amount of money that's put towards public infrastructure here. I don't happen to remember it off the top of my head. Why wouldn't I say to you allow Hunt/Moss, as well as anyone in the City of Miami, County of Dade, County of Broward even -- although I'm not sure why we include Broward -- but why wouldn't we let them go to RFP? Mr. Hernandez: Okay. The public infrastructure in this case touches the stadium on all sides, underground and on the surface. You're going to have activity for the stadium that -- let's say a crane in and out -- you can't do the final surface on a road or the final finish or a sidewalk and then have a crane go over it and destroy it. So that's just a plain example of coordination. The coordination of when the electrical power has to be at the site is critical. I want to place that responsibility on them to plan when to have it to satisfy their needs. Same applies to water, to sewer, to even drainage. You have that stadium and the public infrastructure is all around it at the surface and below ground, and that coordination of those elements together with all the activity happening at the stadium can be quite, I would say, messy if you don't plan it properly, if you don't have control of the scheduling and the coordination of activities. I was also saying that the net result that we want out of the public infrastructure is that the local companies do that work. Whether I go through a separate bid process, separate RFP and select a general contract "X" or if I go with Hunt/Moss, my end result of who's going to be doing the work is going to be local workforce. But if I go with Hunt/Moss, I ensure coordination of the management of all these activities, and I'm protecting the City as a whole. I'm reducing risk and protecting us. Commissioner Sarnoff: But -- well, two -Mr. Hernandez: And just an example, Commissioner. Why I know that it's local? Well, asphalt. All the asphalt plants that are going to be used are here. Concrete. All the concrete plants are here. We have not only the resources, but the manpower and the training in these lines of work that can really -- that will be utilized. Whichever way I go, they're going to be utilized, except that if I go -- if you allow me the bid waiver and I can use Hunt/Moss, I then have uniform umbrella management over all activities. Commissioner Sarnoff: How much is the public infrastructure going to cost? Mr. Hernandez: Total is about 24, 25 million, in that range. Commissioner Sarnoff: Is that a guaranteed minimum? I mean, how do --? Mr. Hernandez: It will be a guaranteed minimum. Commissioner Sarnoff: And that's in -Mr. Hernandez: I'm sorry; a guaranteed maximum. Commissioner Sarnoff: Well, I guess that would be a distinction with a difference.

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Mr. Hernandez: In the sense that that 24, $25 million number, I know that it includes like a two and a half, three million contingency already that we have there. However, in working with the construction manager, we will be getting a guaranteed maximum price. Commissioner Sarnoff: So -- let me just see where I had in my notes. The infrastructure, we have 12 and a half million for the City and 12 and a half million for the County, right? Mr. Hernandez: That's correct. Commissioner Sarnoff: Now, I -- in answer to Commissioner Regalado, I -- either I didn't read this or I didn't pay adequate attention or I didn't understand it. You then have veto power over who Hunt/Moss selects on a subcontractual basis? Mr. Hernandez: Well -- yeah. Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: No, Commissioner. I do not believe that that is the case. The contract does say -- and I just wanted to clarify this for the record -- that the construction management agreement for the public infrastructure will be subject to all of the provisions set forth in Section 5.2 of the CAA (Construction Administration Agreement), and that is precisely the section that has been discussed at length today with respect to the small business and local workforce. So to the extent that those -- and I just wanted to clarify that -- provisions applied to construction of the stadium in general, they would also be applicable to the public infrastructure work. Commissioner Sarnoff: So that's the CWP (Community Workforce Program) goal -- somebody want to remind me what CWP stands for? Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Community Workforce Program, and -Commissioner Sarnoff: Of 10 percent. Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: -- the CSBE (Community Small Business Enterprise) and SBE (Small Business Enterprise). Commissioner Sarnoff: Okay. And then it says shall aspire, so it's not required, right? Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff: There's no legal requirement they hit this number? Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Well, there's two things. The aspirational issue is something that was recently added. Commissioner Sarnoff: Right. Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: In addition to that, pursuant to the agreement and as it has been further expanded here today, the construction manager must comply with the CSBE/SBE goals imposed by the County small business department. Commissioner Sarnoff: Right. And you've modified that to 50 percent of the baseball stadium project workers shall be residents of Miami-Dade County, 20 percent City of Miami residents, and they'll aspire to hire 35 percent subcontractors. Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: That is the aspirational provision, but -Commissioner Sarnoff: Right.
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Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: -- there is a -Commissioner Sarnoff: Not a legal requirement, but a hope. Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: They say legal requirement that they comply with the small business program of the County, and -Commissioner Sarnoff: No. I -Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: -- that business program establishes goals, which, again, are goals. They're not to the extent of -Commissioner Sarnoff: Do you know what the word "shall" means in law? Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Yes, Commissioner, I know what -Commissioner Sarnoff: Is there a "shall" in here? Commissioner Regalado: No. Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Well -Commissioner Regalado: No. Commissioner Sarnoff: Is there a "shall" --? Let me ask the question. Is -Ms. Bru: Are you referring to the aspirational goals? Commissioner Sarnoff: Five point two, is there the word "shall"? Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Okay. Commissioner, it says the government -- the construction management contract shall include provisions in compliance with applicable law, including the County's community small business enterprise program, community workforce programs, and responsible wages and benefits. Now, that -- those programs -- and I think that would be best explained by somebody from the County who would be familiar with the programs, but the programs are -- do establish goals, so there is a mandatory requirement that the construction manager complies with the program. Commissioner Sarnoff: Well, here's how I'm interpreting this -Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff: -- and tell me how badly I'm interpreting it as a lawyer. You have aspirational goals, which then adopt ordinances which have aspirational goals, correct? Ms. Ramirez-Seijas: No. I mean, you have a -- you have County ordinances that -- you may be better equipped to explain it. Mr. Marcos: I can explain it -Chair Sanchez: Name -Mr. Marcos: -- in this sense, Commissioner.

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Chair Sanchez: -- and department. Mr. Marcos: Glenn Marcos, Purchasing Director. The reason why you don't have the word "shall" is because of the fact that it is somewhat aspirational because of the fact that you have to look at capacity and resources for a particular project. If you don't have capacity and resources for them to perform the job, then you cannot attain those goals. Now, what will happen is is the Florida Marlins will have to work with the Department of Small Business within the County to prove to them that they're trying their best efforts in reaching out to the small businesses, and these local employee base to try to hire them onto the project. As long as they're making that concerted effort and they can document that to the County and yet, they can't attain those goals, they will work with the Florida Marlins in approving that process, as long as they prove to them that they're trying to reach out to the local workforce. Commissioner Sarnoff: So if I understand you correctly, so long as the Florida Marlins demonstrate a good faith attempt at trying to establish the goals, then they're not -- then they are -- and they cannot meet them, then they are relieved of the obligations of the actual percentages? Larry Spring: Yes. Actually -- Larry Spring, chief financial officer -- I want to make one clarification. Commissioner Sarnoff: I had some questions for you before, but I guess they kind of went out the wind with your 4 percent number. Mr. Spring: Five point three five, to be absolutely correct. Commissioner Sarnoff: Really? You want to go over that now or do you want to hold that back? Mr. Spring: We'll have a conversation afterwards. Commissioner Sarnoff: Okay. Mr. Spring: Just for clarification purposes. In the stadium agreements, there is a requirement that we meet the CSB/SBE goals. That goal setting is a process that is coordinated by the County's Small Business Department. During that process -- and I think when I was talking about the penalties earlier, you'll have a bid package with a trade. They will sit down, analyze the capacity of small local businesses with regards to that trade, establish a goal. Then it is incumbent upon the Team or the CM (Construction Manager) at that point to meet that goal. If they do not meet that goal, they have that -- several penalty provisions within that ordinance, which includes work stoppage, termination of the contract or that portion of the contract; there are -- there's -Commissioner Sarnoff: So the goals, then, are mandatory? Mr. Spring: Yes. The goals that will be set -Commissioner Sarnoff: Why don't you -Mr. Spring: -- through the CSBE/SBE programs are mandatory once they have been set, but there's a process to get there; and you don't see an absolute goal in that -- in this contract. Commissioner Sarnoff: What is the process to get there? What has to happen? Mr. Spring: They sit down and analyze the capacity for that trade, the local workforce capacity for that trade.

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Commissioner Sarnoff: So -Mr. Spring: And they have a database. Commissioner Gonzlez: All right. Commissioner Sarnoff: All right. So some committee or some person -Mr. Spring: A committee. Commissioner Sarnoff: -- sits down and assesses what the capacity of the form fitter for a -Mr. Spring: Carpentry. Commissioner Sarnoff: -- carpentry. All right, carpentry. That's even easier. They find out what the capacity is, correct? Mr. Spring: Correct. Commissioner Sarnoff: That capacity is a number. There are -Mr. Spring: A percentage. Commissioner Sarnoff: -- a thousand workers in Miami -Mr. Spring: They'll come up with a percentage of the contract that has to be -- the local workforce -- I mean, excuse me -- local small businesses can meet that -- can do that work. Commissioner Sarnoff: So just walk me how they do that. Just tell me how they do that. Mr. Spring: Committee meets. Commissioner Sarnoff: Right. Mr. Spring: Let's do carpentry. Commissioner Sarnoff: All right. Mr. Spring: They sit down; we have a trade with a bid package. It's for carpentry. They do an analysis of the capacity -- CSBE/SBE capacity for that trade. They -Commissioner Sarnoff: That's where we get lost. What is this capacity? There are 5,000 carpenters -Mr. Spring: They determine how many companies there are locally that can -Commissioner Sarnoff: That fit -Mr. Spring: -- do that work. Commissioner Sarnoff: Okay. Mr. Spring: That are qualified to do that work, and then they establish a goal -Commissioner Sarnoff: So they establish their -City of Miami
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Mr. Spring: -- to be imposed on the contractor to meet with regards to utilizing those small businesses that meet that capacity. Commissioner Sarnoff: So let me throw a number at you. Mr. Spring: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff: There are 5,000 workers in Miami-Dade that qualify as carpenters. Mr. Spring: Businesses. Commissioner Sarnoff: Sorry. There were 200 businesses that fit CSBEs in the City of Miami carpenters. Mr. Spring: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff: Now, walk me through what happens. Mr. Spring: They -- from that 200, depending on how many they need, they establish a percentage of the total need, how much needs to come from the small business qualifying of those 200. So assume they determine that they need 2,000 carpenters for that job and we determine that there are 200 in -- actually is in the -- I believe it's in the DTAs (Designated Target Areas) and the NDZs (Neighborhood Development Zones) specifically, there's 200, so that is 10 percent of the 2,000. They may set a goal of 8 percent. Commissioner Sarnoff: So -- all right. So now we're taking a percent of a percent. So -Mr. Spring: Because you don't know of all of those contractors will be available to do the work, so on and so forth. Commissioner Sarnoff: How do they unilaterally determine -- let's say they set a goal of 8 percent. Where did they come up with that number? Mr. Spring: I'm -- the dat -- well, yeah, they do have a database. Mr. Marcos: Their database. Basically, they -- the actual County certifies these firms already, Commissioner, and based upon the actual database, what they do is they end up certifying them based upon their various subtrades. And then what they will look at is based upon capacity and resources, as we mentioned before, and then once that determination is occurring, they look at the actual database. And what happens is is that when they're working with these actual firms, they will go back to their schedules, and what's currently in production to determine whether or not they can apply their capacity and resources to attain these goals. Therefore, that's why you won't see the word "shall". It's an aspiration and it's a goal, and they're going to try as best as they can to achieve those goals, but based upon capacity and resources, sometimes those goals are just not attainable. Commissioner Sarnoff: Okay. And I don't mean to be thick, but I'm not getting it. Mr. Hernandez: Commissioner, if I may interrupt on this. It is an interesting subject, but it's, in essence, unrelated to the bid waiver question. The issue of the goals -Commissioner Sarnoff: I thought I got here because the City Attorney directed me -Mr. Hernandez: Well -City of Miami
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Commissioner Sarnoff: -- back to 5.2. Mr. Hernandez: But it's -- whether you have a bid waiver or whether you have a conventional selection process, you know, you apply the goals to either one, but it's unrelated to the question. Commissioner Sarnoff: You know how I got here, Pete? You made a statement to Commissioner Regalado -Mr. Hernandez: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff: -- that you could veto certain folks, if you chose to. Then the City Attorney interrupted you and said, no, you're not going to do it that way. I don't know what I'm voting on because I don't even understand what it is, and I'm the guy that usually understands, based on reading the contract, what it says; and all I understand is, philosophically, what you want to achieve, but I can't tell by reading these documents what I'm voting for other than no bid. Chair Sanchez: All right. Mr. Mayor -Commissioner Regalado: Can I --? Chair Sanchez: -- you're recognized for the record. Mayor Manuel A. Diaz: Mr. Chairman, thank you. I just want to address a couple of points. First, I guess we're spending a lot of time on the issue of small business, and I think that's a very important one, as we did with the stadium agreements. The fact that the City bids this work doesn't mean that if we have a company from Broward County that submits the lowest bid that Pete can veto a company from Broward County simply because they're a Broward County firm. So the fact that Hunt/Moss bids out the sidewalks or those sewer lines as opposed to the City doesn't change that dynamic. The second part, which is, I think, the more fundamental part here, which is the transfer of risk. So that you understand, yes, they are independent projects, but they connect at the site of the job. So in other words, when you have a critical schedule that is developed for the stadium, particularly as it relates to underground work -- sewer, water lines -those lines have to be brought from 2nd Street and 1st Street up to 3rd Street, where the stadium starts, and they need to connect. Now, if the stadium builder cannot start going up on the stadium because he hasn't finished his underground work yet because the line from 1st Street hasn't arrived at the site yet, then it's no longer a $12 million job for us. We're now talking about a $500 million problem because the stadium can't go up on time, the delays, and the additional costs; and that's where the finger-pointing starts. That's where Hunt/Moss says to "XYZ" company, "you've delayed the construction of this stadium by a month. I need a change order for whatever it is and the additional costs attendant to that." That's why this is so important. Yes, they're independent projects, and we do them every day of the week. We fix our roads in all of our districts. We do drainage work. We do sidewalks. We do lighting. We do all that every single day of the week, and we can do it in this project with our eyes closed, but because of the complexity and the coordination that is necessary, why should we put the City at risk on something that is $12 million? And talk about transparency. The entire world is watching us. So this is as transparent as it could possibly get. Commissioner Sarnoff: Well, let me ask you, Mr. Mayor. How was it done at the American Airlines Arena? How did that -- did they also do a bid waiver to get all the lines and whatnot up there, the infrastructure? Unidentified Speaker: No.

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Commissioner Regalado: No. Mayor Diaz: I have no idea. Chair Sanchez: All right. Mr. Hernandez: My understanding is that yes. Chair Sanchez: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Roger. Mayor Diaz: I'm being told yes. Chair Sanchez: Roger. Roger Hernstadt (Assistant City Manager): Commissioner, my recollection for the American Airlines Arena, your BPL, which is Best Properties Limited, did all the work, including the associated infrastructure. Commissioner Sarnoff: And did the County do a bid waiver for them to do the public infrastructure as well? Mr. Hernstadt: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff: Was the City involved in that, because I imagine that was City --? Mr. Hernstadt: No. In that particular project, the City was not involved. It was just the County and Best Properties Limited. Commissioner Regalado: Roger, I thought -Chair Sanchez: Commissioner Sarnoff, are you done? Commissioner Sarnoff: I'll yield. Commissioner Regalado: Just a -Chair Sanchez: All right. Commissioner Regalado: Roger, I thought -Chair Sanchez: Regalado, you're recognized for the record. Commissioner Regalado: Thank you. I thought that at the end, the County paid the company building the arena to do -- to finish the infrastructure, but the County itself started working on the infrastructure. That's my -- that is my recollection. Mr. Hernandez: Right. Commissioner Regalado: I'm sure that you know more than that, but I remember because I follow that very closely. I was here at that time, and I know that they had some issues, and the County hire a firm, but -Mr. Hernstadt: Commissioner, all I could tell you was I was in -- I was the assistant director of Public Works at that time, and I would have seen and signed off on those documents, those contracts.
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Mr. Hernandez: Commissioner, just to add. At that time, the County was planning to do the PI, the public infrastructure, and somewhere along the way they realized that it would be better planned if they gave it to the American Airlines contractor to manage it all. Chair Sanchez: All right. Mr. Hernandez: They realized that it made sense to do, in essence, what I'm asking you to help us with here. Chair Sanchez: All right. Once again, the statements that have been proffered today by all those that came to address this Commission pertain to this item as well as the next item that's coming up. Just wanted to state that for the record. The resolution that's in front of us is a very simple resolution. It basically asks for the waiver, being that it's practicable or advantageous to the City. Commissioner Gonzlez: Call the question. Chair Sanchez: And does it make good business sense? One, it eliminates the potential of scheduling issues that could end up costing us a lot of money; two, efficiency, which is very important and reduce the project costs. And then, again, as we work towards getting people jobs, it focuses on getting locals to work in these projects. So having said that, the motion has been called. It's been debated. The motion was made by Commissioner Gonzlez, second by Vice Chair Spence-Jones. Madam Clerk, roll call. Pamela Burns (Assistant City Clerk): Roll call on SP.2, and this requires a four-fifth vote. Chair Sanchez: Yes, it does. Ms. Burns: Commissioner Regalado? Commissioner Regalado: Well, before voting, I just want to say that if it's -- if this is so good, why you guys are having so much problem explaining? And I think that about transparency, Mr. Mayor, the City has been hit for several issues and not transparency. Remember the last $38 million no bid that the auditor general said that we could have saved $8 million had this gone to bid. I have voted for many bid waiver for Pete Hernandez, but I think that this is more than trust. This is more than business responsible. This is about being transparent with the people of Miami who are really, really fed up with some of the deals that have been done here. So my vote is no. Ms. Burns: Commissioner Sarnoff? Commissioner Sarnoff: I got to tell you, I was prepared to vote no on this, and I'm not sure it would have been -- I'm not sure I would have been doing other than trying to take back a -- what I think is a wrong deal, but you're only one of five votes, and that's, I guess, the way democracy works in that three or four other people can make decisions that you don't believe in, but once they make those decisions, I guess you get behind the project; and I don't think it was a good decision. And I think it's a decision that's going to come back to harm us. But a political process was performed. I think I understand the idea behind the bid waiver. I don't think it's your standard bid waiver. If this process is going to go forward, and it appears it will, I don't want to do anything to create a cost overrun as a natural consequence of my -- it's -- the word's not anger. It's more disappointment. And I watched Natasha Seijas vote vehemently and very much against the port tunnel, something I support because it, I believe, brings 170,000 jobs to the City -- well, to the Miami-Dade County and South Florida. And then I watched her get behind an effort to try to get the governor of the state to bring back the tunnel and it's $1 billion
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infusion of money and real jobs, in my opinion, to the City of Miami and the County, and she said so because she said, you know, I oppose this project, but once the board spoke -- I'm a member of that board, and I have to support the project. And I realize there are certain procedural games that could be played, but I like to think that, as I sit here, I do so not only as a City Attorney [sic] but as a lawyer; and as a lawyer, a political process has happened, and I just don't want to be a cause of a potential cost overrun because I didn't believe in something but three of my Commissioners did believe if something. I once said to the Administration, this would be the most mature vote I'd ever cast, and it feels like the most mature vote because it's the least thing I want to do, but I think it's the right thing to do because, obviously, three people think differently than me, and that's their choice to think differently, and they represent different interests and different constituents, and I understand that, and that's part of America. Part of America is that everybody represents a different point of view. So for my purposes right now, I'm going to cast the mature vote and I'm going to get behind my Commission, as much as I don't want to, because I think they are wrong, but nonetheless, they've acted, and I will support them now. My vote is yes. Ms. Burns: Vice Chair Spence-Jones? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Yes. Ms. Burns: Commissioner Gonzlez? Commissioner Gonzlez: Yes. Ms. Burns: Chair Sanchez? Chair Sanchez: Yes. Ms. Burns: SP.2 has been approved, 4-1.

SP.3

09-00134

RESOLUTION

City Manager's Office

A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO: (I) EXECUTE AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH MIAMI-DADE COUNTY ("COUNTY"), IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF CONVENTION DEVELOPMENT TAX ("CDT") FUNDS PAYABLE BY THE COUNTY TO THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARKING FACILITIES ON THE FORMER ORANGE BOWL SITE (THE "NEW CDT AGREEMENT") AND (II) TERMINATE THE INTERLOCAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT DATED DECEMBER 14, 2004, BY AND AMONG THE COUNTY, THE CITY, AND THE MIAMI SPORTS AND EXHIBITION AUTHORITY ("MSEA"), APPROVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. 04-0750, ADOPTED NOVEMBER 18, 2004, ("MSEA CDT INTERLOCAL"), PROVIDED THAT THE TERMINATION OF THE MSEA CDT INTERLOCAL SHALL BE SUBJECT TO THE CITY AND THE COUNTY ENTERING INTO THE NEW CDT AGREEMENT AND THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF TERMINATION SHALL BE NO EARLIER THAN JUNE 30, 2009.

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09-00134 Legislation.pdf 09-00134 Exhibit 1.pdf 09-00134 Exhibit 2.pdf 09-00134 Exhibit 3.pdf 09-00134 Summary Form.pdf 09-00134-Submittal-City Attorney (1).pdf 09-00134-Submittal-City Attorney (2).pdf 09-00134-Submittal-City Attorney (3).pdf 09-00134-Submittal-Commissioner Spence-Jones.pdf 09-00134-Submittal-Frank Del Vecchio.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Gonzlez, seconded by Vice Chair Spence-Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.

Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner Gonzlez, Sarnoff, Sanchez, Regalado and Spence-Jones

R-09-0132
Chair Sanchez: All right. SP.3. SP.3 is the interlocal agreement. Commissioner Gonzlez: Motion on SP.3. Chair Sanchez: All right. There's a motion that -- we shouldn't even debate this one. Motion is made by Commissioner Gonzlez. Is there a second? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Second. Chair Sanchez: All right, there's a second. This pertains also to the item. This was open -- all three items were open to the public hearing. Commissioner Gonzlez: Call the question. Chair Sanchez: Everyone had an opportunity to address all these three items. Just want to make sure that that is stated on the record. The question has been called on SP.3. It is a resolution. Let's have a roll call so we have a roll call on all of them. Madam Clerk. Pamela Burns (Assistant City Clerk): Roll call on SP.3. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. We have a slight modification to the item, which Olga's going to read into the record. Chair Sanchez: Okay. Olga Ramirez-Seijas (Assistant City Attorney): The modification is the definition of City parking should be modified to mean "approximately" 5,500 parking spaces instead of "at least" 5,500 parking spaces to make it consistent with the City parking agreement. Commissioner Gonzlez: As amended. Chair Sanchez: All right. Roll call. Ms. Burns: Roll call on SP.3, as amended. Commissioner Sarnoff? Commissioner Sarnoff: Yes. Ms. Burns: Commissioner Regalado?
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Commissioner Regalado: This item is for the City to get the money from the County. I vote yes. Ms. Burns: Vice Chair Spence-Jones? Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Yes. Ms. Burns: Commissioner Gonzlez? Commissioner Gonzlez: Yes. Ms. Burns: Chair Sanchez? Chair Sanchez: Yes. Ms. Burns: SP.3 has passed, 5-0. Chair Sanchez: All right. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much.

MOTION TO ADJOURN
A motion was made by Commissioner Regalado, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, and was passed unanimously, to adourn today's meeting. Chair Sanchez: We need a motion to adjourn. Applause. Chair Sanchez: Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Regalado, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye.

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