Spotlight 213-260602

Good morning. What we’re covering in today’s Spotlight:

Goombay: Finding a Formula for Success
Can We Talk: The Fate of the Playhouse
A New Window Opens on City Salaries
A Proposed Greenway Bonus for Developers

Can a Revived Goombay Stand on Its Own?

Coconut Grove’s signature celebration of Bahamian culture returns this week, but organizers say growing attendance has not solved a lingering problem: finding the sponsors needed to secure the event’s future and reduce its reliance on city funding.

By Francisco Alvarado

With the beat of Junkanoo drums echoing down Grand Avenue and revelers in bright Carnival costumes filling the streets, the Miami Goombay Festival returns to Coconut Grove this week with the color, sound and energy that have long defined the neighborhood’s celebration of Bahamian culture.

But as the three-day event enters its fifth year since organizers revived it in 2022, organizers say the festival’s long-term future depends on solving a persistent challenge: attracting enough private sponsorships to reduce its reliance on city funding and keep pace with rising costs.

Organizers say attendance and community support have continued to grow since Goombay’s return. Yet securing corporate sponsors has proven more difficult.

Playhouse Neighbors Strive to be Heard by the County

Miami-Dade County officials say they are willing to talk to concerned residents ahead of a critical City Commission vote next month on the county $59-million playhouse plan, but the outcome of those talks is far from certain.

By Don Finefrock

Heading into a summer showdown at City Hall over the fate of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami-Dade County officials are signaling their willingness to compromise on key elements of their playhouse plan to address neighborhood concerns.

The county lost a critical vote last month before the city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB), and is now appealing that decision to the Miami City Commission. The commission is expected to hear the county’s appeal on July 9.

Ashlee Thomas, the interim director of the county’s Department of Cultural Affairs, said many of the concerns raised by playhouse neighbors are “quite reasonable” and she said she intends to engage the community this month to address them.

City Launches Salary Portal, But Key Pay Data Remains Hidden

Miami’s new salary transparency website makes it easier to see what city employees are scheduled to earn. What it still won’t show is the full breakdown of compensation behind those figures.

By David Villano

City of Miami officials last week launched a new online salary transparency portal that allows residents to search the names, job titles and salaries of more than 5,000 municipal employees — pulling back a curtain on a workforce whose pay and benefits are approaching $1 billion in annual spending.

The new portal, approved in February by the City Commission at the request of District 3 Commissioner Rolando Escalona, allows users to search employees by name and view their annual salary, gross pay year-to-date and most recent paycheck.

Greenway Bonus Proposal Returns in Expanded Form

After an April hearing at the City’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board was canceled for lack of a quorum, Miami officials are bringing back a controversial proposal that would allow taller and denser development near bike trails and pedestrian corridors — but with a significantly larger footprint than originally proposed.

By David Villano

A controversial zoning proposal that would allow developers to build vastly taller and denser projects near bike and pedestrian corridors is set to return to Miami’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board on Wednesday — this time in a substantially expanded form.

The measure, first scheduled for review on April 1 before a PZAB meeting was canceled for lack of a quorum, would create a new “Greenway Public Benefits Program” allowing developers to obtain bonus height and floor area in exchange for cash contributions, trail construction or other public improvements.

When the proposal was first unveiled earlier this year, eligibility was limited to properties within a quarter mile of designated “greenways.” The revised version now doubles that radius to one-half mile, potentially bringing a far larger number of properties into the program.

Letters to the Editor

Readers React: With the City of Miami offering developers more and more ways to increase the size of their high-rise projects, a Spotlight reader wonders whether a one-size-fits-all approach represents the best way to build housing…

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