IT GETS MORE INTERESTING

 

In The Miami Herald today (Feb 21, 2009):

 

On page 5B, the announcement appears for the special City of Miami Commission meeting scheduled for March 4, stating that it's purpose is to "deliberate on the proposed Definitive Agreements ...related to the Proposed Baseball Stadium and to consider amending the Interlocal Agreement related to the amount of Convention Development Tax Funds (CDT) payable by the County to the City in connection with the development of Parking Facilities for the Stadium at the former Orange Bowl Site."

 

 

On page 16A there are two Miami Dade County announcements concerning the special County Commission meeting scheduled for March 9.

 

1) Announces that the purpose of the meeting is to "consider the conveyance of naming rights for the proposed Marlins Ballpark in considerations of other terms and conditions set forth in the Stadium Agreements.

 

2) Announces that the purpose of the meeting is to consider waving formal bid procedures for the infrastructure work. It goes on to mention the long list of items which composes the infrastructure work to be done. It states that the County Manager will suggest the County Commission to approve one of the two following solutions:

a) The waiver of the bid proceedings authorizing the infrastructure work to Hunt/Moss, subject to the successful negotiation of terms and conditions of the construction management contract. Hunt/Moss has been competitively selected by the Marlins to construct the ballpark.

b) The waiver of the bidding proceedings in order to authorize the County to contract with an appropriate contractor to construct the infrastructure work because the time it would take to competitively award the contract would increase the cost of the project.

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Does the City want more money from the County? Has there been more negotiations since Friday 13 that would make the City ask for more from the County?

 

There appears to have been some negotiations about the naming rights with the County. Are the Marlins now willing to give part of the naming rights money to the County? Is this the reason why the City wants more County money?

 

It is obvious that voting separately on the waiver of the bidding process favors the approval of the stadium, since only the waiver vote would be subject to the super majority requirement and the stadium agreements would only need a simple majority. This would allow County Commissioners Sorenson, Gimenez, Heyman, Souto and Martinez to all vote against the stadium as long as one of them (Martinez? Souto?) votes in favor of the waiver of the bidding process. This would let the commissioner go on the record as opposing the stadium while not being blamed for the failure to build it. It seems that the plan is to vote on the stadium agreements first, pass it with, at least, a simple majority, followed by the waiver of bidding process vote for the infrastructure because it would be harder for this to fail if the stadium had already been approved.

 

At the city level, the waiver of the bidding process for the infrastructure work is more of a problem because Commissioners Regalado and Sarnoff are against it. A super majority would be required, meaning a vote of 4-1 would be needed for its approval. This will not be possible if neither of the mentioned commissioners change their minds. However, I have a feeling that if Regalado wants to have a chance at being the Mayor of Miami, he needs to find a way to look as if he is fighting for the "suffering taxpayers" while allowing the stadium to happen.

 

Like I said at the beginning, it is getting more interesting!

The "suffering taxpayers" aren't even paying for this unless they use Miami-Dade hotels. Try "suffering tourists".

 

And I thought it was Sarnoff that had designs on running for Mayor.

The "suffering taxpayers" aren't even paying for this unless they use Miami-Dade hotels. Try "suffering tourists".

 

And I thought it was Sarnoff that had designs on running for Mayor.

But let's not let the facts stand in the way for the opposition. I love the city of miami beach going against it-for the schools, right? uhh, police protection? uhh well, lets try, "so we can get all the money we have been promised plus the stadium money to expand the convention center". Well, that should help those in need.

From the Herald:

 

 

Miami city commission's Florida Marlins stadium vote pushed back to March 6

A Miami city commission vote on a new Florida Marlins stadium, initially planned for March 4, has been moved to March 6, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz said Thursday.

 

In a brief memo Thursday to commissioners and staff, Diaz didn't explain why he requested the change.

 

The city and the county must approve five stadium-related contracts before ground can be broken on the ballpark in Little Havana. Miami-Dade commissioners will vote March 9.

 

But even if the city and county approve those contracts, one more vote still would remain. That involves a no-bid waiver vote by Miami commissioners involving public-works repairs around a new ballpark, which had been scheduled to coincide with the other votes.

Now, according to Diaz's memo, that bid waiver vote would come later. That's because state law requires a 15-day period between a publicly noticed advertisement and a waiver vote.The bid waiver is for stadium builder Hunt/Moss to complete $24 million worth of improvements to roads and utilities around the ballpark. The Marlins have agreed to pick up cost overruns if Hunt/Moss is hired.

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My comments:

 

Mayor Diaz is separating the regular stadium agreement votes from the bid waiver vote. This is a smart move.

 

The regular agreement votes will come first, on March 6. They only require a simple majority to pass. If Commissioner Spencer-Jones, who missed the last meeting, votes in favor of the agreements they will pass. Then, at a later date, the issue of the bid waiver vote that would require a 2/3 majority, will be addressed. At the city level this involves only the parking garages and the infrastructure construction. In a worse case scenario, if Commissioners Regalado and Sarnoff stick to their negative vote, it can always be opened up for bidding.

 

If this can be similarly handled at the county level we can get the stadium agreements passed by a simple majority first and deal with the bid waiver vote for the infrastructure at a later date.

that mean we wont know if we got ballpark untill spring if their need set other meeting after march 6 meeting