Commissioner Steven Meiner placed a referral to the Neighborhood and Quality of Life Committee (NQLC) on the July 28, 2021 City Commission Meeting agenda to request an update from the City Administration regarding the properties located at 745, 755 and 761 Jefferson Avenue (collectively, “Meridian Court”), and the City’s efforts to ameliorate the criminal conduct and nuisance behavior at these locations.

The item was heard and continued to the October 29, 2021 NQLC meeting with direction from the body to provide an update on continued measures taken to address crime in the area and all legal actions that can be taken to correct the problems.

The intent of the item is to provide an opportunity discuss and recommend remedial measures and assist the City in developing a template or model for the City to follow in similar issues in the future.

The City and the Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) received numerous complaints concerning criminal activity at the Meridian Court addresses related to the sale of narcotics, human trafficking, firearms violations and additional Code violations. The Department with the assistance of the City Attorney’s Office have continued working proactively with the Code Compliance, Fire, Sanitation, Public Works and Building Departments to remediate the ongoing issues.

In addition to the property owner’s corrective actions (i.e., instituting an eviction proceeding, providing notice to tenants that illegal conduct/nuisance behavior is not tolerated, enhancing lighting, minimizing the surrounding landscaping/vegetation, granting MBPD the authority to communicate orders to depart the property), from February 1st through present, the Department has maintained a zero-tolerance approach, continued its undercover operations and daily watch orders, continued to foster its working partnership with Flamingo Park area residents actively observing neighborhood activity, and further collaborated with the City’s regulatory departments and outreach assistance programs.

The actions have proved very successful and acted as a concrete deterrent to the area. The collaboration of City departments and the following measures must continue to stay in place, however, to ensure that this location and any others throughout the City remain safe areas for residents:

1. Deployment of SET officers for targeted & proactive enforcement
2. Deployment of undercover narcotics detectives to periodically conduct surveillance of area to ensure illegal narcotics trade has not resumed
3. Deployment of the Homeless Outreach Police Unit in tandem with the City Homeless Outreach Team
4. Continued deployment of the Community Affairs Unit through which to ensure community-based outreach to create partnerships with the community and reinforce public trust