Local News. Local Matters.
With city commissioners set to consider a series of bond-related measures next week — possible groundwork for a proposed $450 million public safety bond — the city’s own audited financial statements show last year’s borrowing increased debt and borrowing costs while new fiscal pressures continue to mount.
How Studio Vizcaya has turned artmaking into a Miami summer tradition.
As Miami officials ask voters to approve $450 million in borrowing for new police and fire facilities, a Spotlight analysis of retirement records reveals another major long-term public safety cost: The city’s police and fire retirement system paid out nearly $192 million last year in pension and cost-of-living benefits.
Wildlife experts say coyotes are here to stay, like the other exotic animals that have quickly adapted to life in South Florida.
An advocate for the Miami-Dade County public library system, which include the Coconut Grove and Virrick Park branch libraries, says the proposed tax measure represents an “existential threat” to local libraries and the services they provide.
Critics of the proposed development plan for the Coconut Grove Playhouse got another chance this week to voice their concerns, ahead of a pivotal vote next month by the Miami City Commission.
The move caps a public planning process led by the Allen Morris Company, the Coral Gables firm that is building the upscale Ziggurat mixed-use development on the former site of the Coconut Grove Laundry & Cleaners.
A proposed overhaul of Miami’s traffic-impact regulations would also eliminate a little-known requirement for independent environmental studies on major city land deals, raising questions about oversight of upcoming redevelopment projects.
Real estate investors and developers are acquiring older condominium buildings in Coconut Grove, fueling fears about the pace, price and scale of neighborhood redevelopment. “The Grove doesn’t need to be another Brickell,” one resident said.
The operator of Grove Harbour, home to The Fresh Market and a Dinner Key marina, claims city officials improperly intervened in an independent appraisal process in an effort to justify millions of dollars in additional rent.
