Please place on the June 28, 2023 City Commission agenda a referral to the June 29, 2023 Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (FERC) Budget Briefing, to consider allocating $150,000 in the FY 2024 Budget for the Miami Design Preservation League’s (MDPL) proposed Monument Island Lighting Project to celebrate the upcoming Art Deco Centennial in 2025.

Video mapping and illumination projects are routinely implemented successfully throughout the world to breathe new life into urban landmarks and instill a sense of community and awe. For several years, the City Commission has sponsored various items to develop a projection mapping or similar illumination project in Miami Beach, with no success.

With further advances in video projection technology, the time has come to implement a beautiful, contextually sensitive illumination project in the City of Miami Beach.  Attached for the City Commission’s consideration is a letter from MDPL describing a proposed project that would finally, as well as the specific details relating to MDPL’s proposal for a beautiful project to illuminate the Monument Island Obelisk in advance of the centennial of the birth of the Art Deco movement which provided the underpinnings for our City’s architectural heritage. 

I would like for my colleagues to consider earmarking initial funding for this proposed project as part of the FY 2024 Budget, subject to the Administration’s review of the proposal and recommendations any permitting requirements, feasibility or other matters pertaining to the project’s potential implementation.