Neighborhood Walk Around August 8,9, 2018

I decided to start walking daily to get fresh sunlight while awaiting my work year to start. As a typical millennial I couldn't help taking pictures of anything that caught my attention. Given my recent strong of posts regarding incorporation I couldn't help fixating on thoughts of what the county doesn't do well that a city might accomplish more efficiently and effectively. I invite you to spy some untypical views of my community, and my thoughts of them. On these two walks (Thursday and Friday) I went south so Skylake Plaza,  and back. 

On Monday I will instead walk east towards the single family neighborhood.

Thursday

I recently met with members of the Sky Lake and Highland Lakes Area Home Owners Association and one of them mentioned a past effort to prevent construction of a communications tower. I told them that one of the buildings on my block does have a communications tower in it. Someone told me they receive substantial compensation for the lease of the space.
As a private condominium details of the contract like do not fall under any kind of public records laws.

As I walked south on 18th Avenue I saw something very familiar, but which now had a different context for me, however first notice a parking space next to this pump station.
In the resolution on Northeast incorporation the county demands retention of four pump stations. It seems the county did not include this one as per the addresses in the resolution included here.

I found this pump station between 191st and Miami Gardens Drive, well south of 19720 NE 18 Avenue.
This circumstance immediately raises the question of why the county wants some pumps and not others.

Many of these NO signs went up several years ago. The Yes campaign only recently got their act together and have a much prettier design. I will feature such an image when I find one.

I have a great interest in mass transit. Seeing a handful of people at a bus stop speaks volumes to me. These people waited in front of Skylake Plaze at 2:05pm on a Thursday. I recall a very hot day. I wonder how much residents, employees, and visitors use mass transit in our neighborhood.

The most recent development in my immediate area.

It looks as though we lost a gas station and gained another bank. I find gas in this area too expensive and did not frequent that station.

More NO signs in front of a condominium. I wonder if the boards of these respective places approved these signs. 

When eastbound traffic at the intersection of Miami Gardens Drive and NE 15th u-turn vehicles regularly drive onto the swale, creating this desert next to a patch of grass.
If I understand correctly Florida Department of Transit has jurisdiction of Miami Gardens Drive, rendering both the county and any potential city unable to directly address the design issues which generate these kinds of problems.

I crossed the street to acquire this photo as it features the largest buildings in the Northeast. Buckley towers in the background has a twin out of view behind it. Both buildings have more than the 8 floors in the much newer Sky Lofts.

I photographed this image to remind myself to learn more about the public works project highlighted in the poster near the center of the photo. Consent Decree (meaning there was no discussion or debate) Project #4.09(2) Furnish and Install 12" DI & 16" HDPE Pipe from Miami Garden (sic) Dr. along NE 14th Avenue to Station No. 0455.
I can't make out the last line in the photo stating the Project #.

I presume they installed that pipe on the east side of 14th Avenue.

The ducks hang out here. I wish people wouldn't feed them. They don't need your food as they have evolved over millions of years to find their own food. Ducks crossing the street to eat food left in the grass regularly die from car collisions.

When I first moved to the area people did not park on the swale to the west side of 14th Avenue. I only found two cars this time, but likely many more after 6pm. 

 Trash along the west side of 14th Ave., a small sampling.

Lack of available parking in the condominium lots also lead to many cars left in the swale on the north side of the bridge on 14th Avenue. 

Another pump station. Also not included in the county's demands for incorporation.

 Friday

Open utility box.

I found this along 14th Avenue. (I went counter clockwise on Friday)
Telecommunications companies use fiber optics to transmit large amounts of data. Homes and buildings equipped with fiber optic wiring can take advantage of this technology for some of the fastest internet speeds available to regular consumers. 

I stopped at the bridge on 14th Avenue to create a panoramic of this water. Under me the water runs east towards the ocean. I don't know the name of this body of water, or if humans made it. I would love to see the border areas which aren't accessible by people converted to some kind of swampy forest to get more plant life and water retention. 

I took no more photos Friday as I saw all the same things. Thank you for sharing my walk!

March 19, 2014 HOA Incorporation & Annexation Update

The Sky Lake and Highland Lakes Area Homeowners Association does the only lobbying with the county on behalf of the Northeast unincorporated municipal service area. All members of the HOA with I communicate seem either willing to help me, or forthright in directing me to someone they think will.
One such neighbor, Lenny Feldman, a former president of the HOA, provided me a very interesting document he developed. This provides some insight into the thoughts and concerns of some of my neighbors. It also demonstrates how the numbers have changed over the years.

It starts off with stuff I already know about the "Options" regarding changing boundaries: incorporation, annexation, merger. Keep in mind that many people living in the incorporation have the fantasy of annexation by Aventura, so it certainly stood out to me on the next pages where it mentions Aventura twice:

Fourteen years ago Aventura already rejected the possibility of annexation

Another rejection in 2008. Why conduct a study during a moratorium?

Not only that, but it also mentions the Planning Advisory Board recommending incorporation, and an analysis by an independent third party:

Also, two new documents to find!

Given this information, it seems the Board of County Commissioners would have voted on an incorporation referendum as soon as the District 4 Commissioner would put it on the agenda. Telling from the timeline in the Mayor's Memorandum that would have been the next step. Except perhaps for the moratorium[s] the BCC placed on annexation and incorporation:

Why did they have to do it twice?

While I invite you to read the document itself at the bottom of the page, I point out a few other interesting tidbits from the presentation.

Notable dates

In the "Initial Figures" section I notice the UMSA county rate went from 2.447 mills down to 1.928 mills, a primarily revenue neutral move given increased property values.

I could say many other things about the details in the presentation, but they mostly rehash things I wrote about in my previous posts on the subject, however I will leave you with a snippet from their Cons and Pros section. The item on the left is a con, the item on the right is a pro for incorporation:

While I don't hold it against them, these items reveal the diversity of thought on the subject. While many neighbors in favor of incorporation argue that the city can succeed without raising taxes, this presentation from 2014 explicitly categorizes the LOW level of county taxes as a burden on a new city, and that at the time of its publishing the understanding seemed to be that the incorporation area had a budget shortfall. I will certainly look more in to that.

May 2018 "Incorporation?? Information Sheet for NE MAC Area"

Commissioner Sally Heyman representing the Northeast unincorporated municipal service area (among other places) on the Board of County Commissioners in Miami-Dade County handed out this information sheet at recent public meetings regarding incorporation of the Northeast UMSA.
I wanted to make this available for my neighbors and, as usual, make comments about whatever stood out to me in light of all the things I have read and written in the last few weeks.

The resolution actually requires the new city to contract with Miami-Dade County Police Department for a total of four years. Three regular contract years and at least one year of transition, as I wrote about in my review of the resolution exhibits.
I wouldn't find this technicality such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that MDCPD wants a lot more money for policing than they currently charge us. You can see this clearly in the Office of Management and Budget's "Estimated Impact on UMSA Budget."
I don't have this document by itself, but it pops up in a few different places, (including this budget review) and I have recently E-mailed someone in the OMB with a request for more information about these estimates.
As regards these numbers, I want to also point out, again, that the OMB estimated we spent $3.8M on policing in 2015-16, but the NEMAC decided the new city should spend $4.8M on policing for 2016-17. That's a 26% increase in one year! They based that amount on numbers given them by the county police department and as I shewed, that number also increases 8% the next year based on county police numbers. My neighbors need to consider this mandated expense.

These details are the same for Condominiums/Multi Family

Taxes serves as a great point of contention between those who oppose and advocate for incorporation. Some against incorporation argue taxes will go up, the people for incorporation tout the official line, that we could create "a new municipality without increasing the Ad Valorem Tax Rate."
None of the reports suggest the likelihood the new city could succeed without raising taxes, it only gets argued that it can succeed. Color me skeptical of the argument. Most other cities in the county have raised taxes. All but a handful really!
Given the weight of facts it seems likely a new city would raise taxes. I certainly understand why many object to the idea of higher taxes, but at the same time I also understand the argument for more revenue. Regardless of the needs a community decides on, I definitely think public officials have a tremendous responsibility to uphold the strictest standards for how they spend the money of their neighbors.

Estimated in the resolution at around $600,000 the first year

I definitely think neighbors should read this document if they haven't read the 71 page resolution as it does provide a basic and honest overview. I don't think addresses issues at the forefront of my mind, but I can't fault anyone for my personal preferences.

I do find misleading suggestions that a new city could succeed without raising taxes. The documentation provided to the public in regards to the incorporation vote resolution do not sufficiently justify the suggestion. More importantly, the members of the charter committee, or the city council, will determine the tax rate at their will, despite and regardless of promises made today. My neighbors should understand these things.

Incorporation Question: Police Part 1: Budget

I reviewed the NEMAC Pro-forma budget. I harped on the line item for policing services because it came out to over half the budget. Combine that with what I pointed out as number 4 in my first analysis of the resolution, which explains that the area already pays a special tax for special services.

In this post I review the police budgets provided by county staff, used by the NEMAC in estimating their police service number of $4.86M and how much that number grew in a year.

NEMAC Timeline Part 2 April 13, 2004

When the Board of County Commissioners created the Northeast Municipal Advisory Committee they gave it one year to complete its duties. A year later when they failed to do so the BCC had to create and establish the committee again.

NEMAC Timeline Part 1 April 8, 2003

April 8, 2003
Commissioner Sally A Heyman placed on the BCC agenda a "Resolution creating and establishing the Northdeast Dade Advisory Committee."
The resolution language states that "a group of residents...expressed an interest in creating a new municipality...or annexing to one or more existing." Resolution No. R-341-03 attempted to attend to that interest in six sections.

June 5, 2018 Mayor's Memorandum, Part 3: Exhibit 2 NEMAC Budget Review

The mayor included this budget review as the second exhibit to his memorandum.

"Northeast Dade MAC Budget Review," drafted by PMG Associates, Inc., a company which provides economics, marketing and management services, provided a final, third party approval of the NEMAC budget necessary to bundle everything together before the Board of County Commissioners.
 The BCC voted in June of 2018 to pass a resolution filled with information compiled most recently in 2016, much of it older than that.

I greatly expected this report to finally provide the rigorous statistical methodology appropriate for the question at hand. After all everyone wants to know whether a city can run on the same level of taxes the residents currently pay to the county. Proponents argue our status as a donor community implies we could get improved services for the same level of taxation. Opponents point to the overwhelming majority of municipalities in the county who raised taxes to pay for maintaining their cities.
Given the general lack of accounting anywhere else in the resolution I prayed that here, in the words of unbiased, objective, third party, private professionals--HERE of all places--I could get some data crunching, but no! Not a bit. What an utter disappointment.