At its October 23, 2019 meeting, the Neighborhoods/Community Affairs Committee members were provided an update on efforts by the County and City to clean up seaweed along the beach. Following the update, the Committee members requested for Public Works to come back on a quarterly basis, starting January 2020 to discuss the cleanliness of our streets.
CLEANLINESS UPDATE
The Sanitation Division currently has 17 hand litter crews that clean streets and sidewalks throughout the City.
Hand crews are based on 5 and 7 day routes, and cover most areas in Miami Beach. These crews consist of Alley crews, Entertainment and Non-entertainment crews. Schedules run from 6:30 AM until 3:00 PM.
There are also night operations that include all Entertainment District areas. Lincoln Road, Ocean Drive, Washington Avenue and parking lot crews operate from 3:00 PM until 11:30 PM.
The City has rolled out an Alternate Side Parking (ASP) initiative in North Beach last summer. Parking restrictions enabled sweeper trucks complete access to curbs and gutters to effectively:
• Clean areas that are always obstructed by parked vehicles
• Allow crews to move into an area unimpeded and swiftly clean the vacated areas
• Cause less noise and dust from relying solely on leaf blowing teams, thanks to the absence of parked vehicles
• Assist with better water quality and reduce the risk of flood waters during heavy rains
• Be more efficient with labor cost by incorporating street sweepers in areas that had historically had to rely on hand crews.
The ASP program in the Flamingo neighborhood had been delayed due to numerous concerns raised by the residents. To address those concerns, a parking analysis will be needed to illustrate the adequacy of available parking. Further, this program will be discussed with the Transportation Parking and Bicycle Pedestrian Facilities Committee for input as well as public outreach and a public meeting with the Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association. In addition, a recommendation to expand the ASP area in the North Beach area is being considered.
The major challenge that remains a challenge is illegal dumping and overflowing dumpsters. The Sanitation Division has dedicated crews that service the alleys throughout the City. Crane trucks are assigned to patrol the alleys and collect discarded items. This effort is augmented with hand crews and sweepers.
During the period of 01-14-2019 to 01-14-2020, the Code Compliance Department conducted a total of 7047 investigations and calls for service throughout the City of Miami Beach. Code Compliance conducted 4262 alley inspections and conducted 1872, illegal dumping investigations throughout the entire beach. Most of the violations were issued for illegal dumping with a total of 2097 and for overflowing dumpsters with a total of 832 notice of violations. The Department issued 3,409 Notice of Violations.
