NEW BUSINESS  27.

COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

HISTORY:

Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz was the spiritual leader of Temple Menorah for 45 years. In recognition of his positive impact in the community and pursuant to Commissioner Michael Gongora’s request, an item was referred to the Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee (NCAC) at the April 11, 2018 City Commission meeting.  The item concerned the potential co-naming of a street in North Beach for Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz. The referral to NCAC included a discussion of amendments to Section 82-503(c) of the City Code which was required in order to allow for this potential co-naming of a City street. At the May 22, 2018 NCAC meeting, the Committee recommended that the City Code be amended to allow for the co-naming of streets for spiritual leaders.  Pursuant to the recommendation from the NCAC, an Ordinance was drafted amending the City Code to allow City streets to be co-named for a deceased person who served as the spiritual leader of a prominent religious institution in the City of Miami Beach for 35 or more years and resided in the City of Miami Beach.

The First Reading of the proposed Ordinance occurred at the June 6, 2018 City Commission meeting.   At the meeting, the City Commission requested that an amendment be made to the proposed Ordinance to include a sunset provision of July 1, 2019.  The Ordinance was approved unanimously on Second Reading at the July 25, 2018 City Commission Meeting and Ordinance No. 2018-4209 was adopted. Following the adoption of Ordinance No. 2018-4209, this discussion item, to consider and review the proposed co-naming, was referred to NCAC at the September 12, 2018 City Commission meeting.   

ANALYSIS:

Pursuant to Section 82-503(c)(2) of the City Code, in order for a co-naming request to be considered, it must first be approved by the NCAC (Committee).  Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz meets the new co-naming criteria established in Section of 82-503(c)(1) and (c)(2), and as such, the co-naming of 75th Street between Dickens Avenue and Harding Avenue as “Rabbi Abramowitz Way” has been sponsored by Commissioner Michael Gongora.

If recommended by the NCAC, the proposed co-naming requires the City Commission call a public hearing with proper notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the City.  At the close of the public hearing, the City Commission may approve the request.  Any request to co-name a street or portion thereof pursuant to subsection 82-503 must be approved by a 5/7th vote of the City Commission.  

Additionally, if the co-naming is approved by both the NCAC and the City Commission, the co-naming request must be sponsored by a County Commissioner and approved by the Board of County Commissioners (BCC).  For previous co-namings of streets, once the request has been approved by the BCC, the City has worked with the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works to implement the signage. The cost for ground mounted signs is approximately $200 per sign and $75 for presentation plates. The County does not typically install or replace internally illuminated street name signs at signalized intersections as a result of street co-namings.  If the City wishes to pursue the installation of these signs, the work would need to be performed by a contractor via a construction permit.  The installation of internally illuminated street name signs at signalized intersections would cost approximately $3,000 per signalized intersection.

CONCLUSION:

The co-naming of 75th Street between Dickens Avenue and Harding Avenue as “Rabbi Abramowitz Way” is being presented to the NCAC for its discussion and consideration relative to a recommendation to the City Commission.