Please place on the September 11, 2019 City Commission Agenda a discussion regarding a review of the City of Miami Beach’s policies and procedures relating to evictions of senior citizens and evictions during a storm emergency.

At a time when Miami-Dade County was urging residents to prepare for Hurricane Dorian, the Miami-Dade County Police assisted a South Beach landlord to evict a 75-year-old woman, after 28 years of residency, whose belongings were placed in the street. The pre-storm eviction of Maria Cazanes, her adult disabled son, 81-year-old brother, and about twenty cats and turtles sparked outrage in our community.

Acknowledging that County Mayor Gimenez has already publicly committed to a revision of the County procedures in and around storm events, as well as State Senator Pizzo and State Representative Grieco having made commitments to sponsor statewide legislation, I would ask the Administration to review our processes and protocols and implement any improvements they are able to identify for 1) evictions during a storm emergency; and 2) evictions of senior citizens. Additionally, I would like the Administration to develop coordinated procedures with the County to help, if needed, senior citizens who are evicted, in order to ensure that they have temporary shelter.

For additional information, please contact my office at extension 26437.