CONTACT US!!
For more information, contact us via email at mrc@rsmas.miami.edu
MIAMI RIVER COMMISSION
c/o Rosenstiel School
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy
Miami, Fl. 33149
305-361-4850
Fax: 305-361-4755
miamiriver@bellsouth.net
This site
prepared and designed by
Mark Sell Communications, Inc. Public Relations
ABOUT
THE COMMISSION
Our accomplishments:
A
letter from the chair
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This year, the Miami River Commission completed its Miami River Corridor Urban Infill Plan. This is not a study destined for the shelves, but a new “call to action” with 68 specific proposals to improve the river’s neighborhoods; to significantly reduce pollution, and to promote jobs, trade and security. Simply put, this plan is a blueprint for everything we are doing, including ways to pay for it. We are setting priorities to make sure this work gets done. Details are elsewhere in this report, and the report is available in full on our website at www.miamirivercommission.org.
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Dredging remains our top priority. The commission worked successfully with Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Inland Navigation District and Florida Department of Environmental Protection to make this project happen. While we had anticipated work to start by now, we are awaiting the Army Corps of Engineers’ final word before work can begin, most likely in spring or summer 2003. This is a big, $80 million operation, and a must for cleansing the river, improving Biscayne Bay, and aiding navigation. Because of silt buildup, freighters and tugboats must wait for high tide to travel to and from the Bay. We are optimistic work will quickly proceed, as this is the very foundation of our task.
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We have made exciting progress with the Miami River Greenway, in partnership with the Trust for Public Land. Funds are in place and the City of Miami is letting out bids and making plans for greenways in various areas from NW 12th Ave. to the river’s mouth, where it will connect with the Baywalk Greenway at the One Miami Project. This project will be a signature for downtown Miami, and a new center of its activity.
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We released the Miami River Basin Water Quality Improvement Report, with 33 specific proposals to remove pollution, control stormwater runoff and improve the water quality of the river and Biscayne Bay. The report – which is also on our website - aims to attack the root causes of pollution in the river and its tributaries, and the county and city are well along putting the recommendations to work.
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Terrorism has made security a matter of the highest urgency. Answering Sen. Graham’s call for a review of our nation’s shores, Trident Group Inc., in September 2002 produced a Port Vulnerability Assessment for the Miami River Marine Group, to assess the river’s vulnerability to a terrorist threat and to propose solutions. The report recognizes the diversity of Miami River’s trade and businesses and makes strong – and doable – recommendations for improvement in our post-9/11 world. The Miami River Commission will do its utmost to make the river and the State of Florida more secure.
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Along
the river, other improvements continue, with visible results. Crime
continues to drop as neighborhoods revive, from Brickell to East Little
Havana to Overtown to Spring Garden to Allapattah. Developments proceed
at a quickening pace along the downtown Miami riverfront, with required
50-foot setbacks and 20-foot riverwalks, so pedestrians can enjoy the
river. We are happy to say that developers are embracing riverwalks,
including it in their plans and even building on the idea, and running
it by us first.
Jobs
are of critical interest
not just to the river, but to a community with the lowest per capita
income of any major American city. More than 8,000 of those jobs are in
the marine industry and related businesses. Marine industry jobs alone
pay an average of more than $30,000 a year – a valued contribution to
neighborhoods near the river’s corridor. Our committees have
successfully expanded enterprise and initiative zones for small
businesses. River-oriented industries – among the oldest businesses in
Miami – have proven their staying power in creating jobs and taxpayers
for more than a century. We ignore that at the community’s peril.
To
get this far in less than five years, we are grateful for support across
party lines, from Washington to Tallahassee to Miami. We are
particularly thankful to Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Bob Graham, Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Carrie Meek, County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro and
invaluable bipartisan backing from the Florida Legislature.
We have sought to
make the commission a model of transparency, integrity and efficiency.
We believe that, with a total administrative budget of just $200,000 a
year – including salaries, benefits and office costs -
taxpayers are getting a bargain. Managing Director David Miller
and Assistant Managing Director Brett Bibeau have saved the taxpayers
that much and more through aggressive, successful pursuit of grants and
by finding greater efficiencies.
Our accomplishments
are real, but our work is far from done. We are therefore asking the
Legislature to remove that statutory language sunsetting the commission
in July 2003 so we can finish the job we started at the request of the
State of Florida.
Robert Parks, Esq.
Chair
Eric Buermann , Chair
Miami
River Commission's Accomplishments
2001-2002
Completed,
adopted and started to implement Miami River Corridor/ Urban Infill Plan
Completed
and started to execute the Stormwater Improvement Plan
Secured
more than $167,000 in grants to improve river
Worked
to secure pre-bid and permitting work needed for dredging
Promoted
outreach through Riverday festival and partnership for river cleanups
with Hands On Miami volunteer group
Helped
coordinate security, anticrime, development and enhancement efforts
throughout the river area
Expanded
enterprise zone for economic redevelopment around the river corridor
Helped create HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business zone) to help local businesses secure federal contracts