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MIAMI RIVER COMMISSION 
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4600 Rickenbacker Cswy,
Miami, Fl. 33149
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  e-mail: mrc@rsmas.miami.edu

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        The meeting was opened with a discussion of the upcoming Miami River Commission retreat on Saturday, March 3, 2001, 10 am, Miami River Inn, 118 South River Drive.  The agenda is a review of the Miami River Commission’s progress towards the initiatives set forth in the Miam River Study Commission report, and the future efforts towards accomplishing our goals.

The draft Miami River Commission Economic report was reviewed by the Economic Development and Commerce Subcommittee and the chair,  Mr. McDonald, commended the draft report.  Mr. Miller explained the Economic Report came about after the question of the economic impact of the Miami River dredging project repeatedly was asked.  Dr. Ken Lipner was contracted by the Miami River Commission to be the professional economic consultant for the report.  Dr. Lipner is knowledgeable about international marine trade and is a professor at FIU.  In conjunction with the Beacon Council a Miami River Business economic survey was developed distributed and the responses were broken into different categories including commercial shipping, commercial marine sales and service, commercial fishing, entertainment, and  recreational marine industry.  A blank sample survey is an attachment to the economic report.

The subcommittee decided to further develop the recommendations for economic development and conclusions.  Recommendations may include the greenway, stadium, mega-yacht facilities, etc.

On February 16, 2001 Governor Bush announced a new major state and federal iniative called “Operation Riverwalk”.  Brett Bibeau explained there are four components to the plan including crime prevention, code enforcement, environmental and most importantly to the Economic Development and Commerce subcommittee, an economic development portion.  The subcommittee feels the Miami River Commission’s Economic report will be beneficial to the economic component of “Operation Riverwalk”.  Mr. Miller and Dr. Bohnsack will be traveling to Tallahassee this week to meet with State officials.

            Mr. Jones pointed out the benefits of offering economic incentives to spur development.  Brett Bibeau stated he is meeting next week with Andre Wallace, Empowerment Zone Trust, to review how the river businesses should go about applying for the currently available empowerment zone incentives.

            Mr. Miller suggested the Economic Development and Commerce subcommittee provide any final report revisions via-email to the Miami River Commission over the next week and a revised draft report will then be distributed to the Miami River Commission for discussion at the March 3, 2001 retreat.

      Mr. McDonald stated the Miami River Commission should schedule a meeting with Mayor Penelas to discuss the final economic report.

The meeting was adjourned.

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