Author: dralph01

On November 2 2021, City of Miami residents went to the polls to vote. On the ballot was a proposed charter amendment concerning a 75 year lease agreement between the City of Miami and Biscayne Marine Partners for waterfront development in Virginia Key.

Voters chose “NO” to the proposed charter amendment. The ballot language is shown at the bottom of this page.

A “yes” vote would have supported amending the Miami City Charter to allow the city commission, by a four-fifths vote, to waive competitive bidding and negotiate and execute a lease between the city and Biscayne Marine Partners, LLC, for 27 acres of city-owned property in Virginia Key (Rickenbacker Marina and Marine Stadium Marina) for 45 years with two additional 15-year renewal terms for development by Biscayne Marine Partners to construct a mixed-use waterfront marine campus including marinas, boatyards, ship stores, docks, restaurants, retail businesses, and fueling facilities.

A “no” vote opposed amending the Miami City Charter to allow the city commission, by a four-fifths vote, to waive competitive bidding and negotiate and execute a lease between the city and Biscayne Marine Partners, LLC, for development of 27 acres of city-owned property in Virginia Key. More information here.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/10/29/miami-voters-will-decide-future-of-rickenbacker-marina-on-tuesday/

A controversial and consequential question is being posed to City of Miami voters on election day Tuesday on whether to extend the current lease of the Rickenbacker Marina as improvements are needed to modernize it.

At issue is whether the current leaseholders be entrusted with the task or if the city should open it up to competitive bidding.

Aabad Melwani’s family has been operating the Rickenbacker Marina in Virgina Key for close to 40 years.

“My dad about 30 years ago planted all these mangroves that you see here today,” he said.

Voters will decide whether to extend the lease to the Melwanis for another 75 years so they can make improvements to the space but still be gentle to the environment.

Vote by mail ballots have been sent out for Fall 2021. If you are a resident of Miami, we ask you to vote against the Virginia Key privatization project that will eliminate our city run marina.

We ask you to vote against it for the following reasons:

1. The land was donated to Miami with the intent to keep it public – please keep it that way.
2. A privatization for the 75 years will mean no public land usage in our lifetimes and an expected very large increase in marina costs.
3. The company is proposing building “a great touristic infrastructure” meaning a shopping center on Virginia Key and who knows what else – this is not what we want, we have enough shopping centers already and Virginia Key is environmentally sensitive waterfront.

Let’s do what is right for our community, our marina and not for the special interests involved in this privatization of city waterfront on Virginia Key.

Source:

https://therealdeal.com/miami/2021/10/12/after-yearslong-bidding-battle-miami-faces-legal-challenge-over-marina-referendum/

RCI Marine and Suntex Marinas team sues city and current Rickenbacker Marina operator over redevelopment proposal

Alleging the Miami City Commission showed “blatant and illegal favoritism” in awarding a multimillion-dollar marina redevelopment proposal to its competitor, a joint venture wants to torpedo a November referendum that would seal the deal.

Miami voters will be asked to approve the waiving of competitive bids and allow the city to negotiate a 45-year lease with Biscayne Marine Partners, an entity tied to the existing operator of Rickenbacker Marina. The developer would reconstruct the marina on Virginia Key into a mixed-use marina campus with slips, a dry dock boat storage facility, stores, restaurants and fueling facilities. The deal would also include two 15-year renewal options.

For nearly seven years, competing developers have engaged in a vicious fight to lease the city-owned 27-acre site at 3301 Rickenbacker Causeway. During that time, Miami commissioners twice rejected all bidders after protracted legal battles in Miami-Dade Circuit Court and state appellate court initiated by Biscayne Marine.

In the latest legal salvo, Virginia Key LLC, a partnership between Miami Beach-based RCI Marine and Dallas-based Suntex Marinas, sued Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Christina White, the city of Miami and Biscayne Marine, which is led by the current operator Rickenbacker Marina Inc. The lawsuit, filed last week, also names Miami voter Arnold Douglas Pinkington as a plaintiff.

The complaint comes on the heels of a separate, $27.9 million federal lawsuit filed by the owners of Little Havana establishments Ball & Chain and Taquerias El Mexicano against the city. That lawsuit alleges Miami code enforcement and police officers were used by an unnamed city commissioner as his private enforcers in having both venues illegally shut down.

On Monday, City Manager Art Noriega suspended Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, and will hold termination proceedings against him after he ran afoul of three of the city’s commissioners. In a scathing memo last month, Acevedo alleged two of them, Joe Carollo and Alex Diaz de la Portiilla, used the Miami Police Department and code enforcement office to go after businesses they didn’t like.

Both lawsuits and Acevedo’s downfall suggest the city of Miami is run like the titular town in the Humphrey Bogart film classic “Casablanca,” where petty local government corruption runs rampant.

Despite coming out on top in two competitive bidding processes and beating back legal challenges by Biscayne Marine, Virginia Key LLC was freezed out of the current redevelopment proposal that is on the ballot, the latest lawsuit alleges. In July, the city commission voted 3-2 to place the deal on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Robert Christoph Jr., RCI Marine’s president, told The Real Deal that the past seven years have been a frustrating experience, given that his company was the top-ranked bidder in 2016 and again in 2017 when his firm teamed up with Suntex for the most recent competition. He said Virginia Key LLC also spent a lot of resources in civil court the past four years defending the city’s decision to select his team.

“Knowing what I know today, I would not have gone through this process,” Christoph said. “We look forward to presenting our case, and we feel we have strong evidence the city violated procurement rules. The city commission chose to ignore the results and award the company that lost both competitions.”

Virginia Key’s lawsuit is seeking a judge to order Miami-Dade County and the city not to accept the results of the Nov. 2 referendum because the ballot language is allegedly misleading.

Aabad Melwani, president of Rickenbacker Marina Inc., said that Virginia Key LLC’s lawsuit has no merit. “Their goal is to get these specious allegations in the media to hurt the campaign,” Melwani said. “Hopefully, voters see through that.”

Melwani noted that the city commission has the discretion to reject all bids and start over from scratch. “The city’s been at this for seven years and had nothing to show for it,” he said. “The city decided it should do a deal with the incumbent that satisfies the city charter requirements by going to a vote and letting the electorate decide. Now these guys are coming with this BS lawsuit.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article254928442.html

https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2021/07/13/voters-to-rule-on-virginia-key-marina-lease-without-bids/

YOUR VOICE WAS HEARD!

Update from today’s Nov 16th 2020 City of Miami Commission Meeting

GREAT NEWS! Our neighborhood marina lives to see another day!

Miami Commissioners rejected the Mega Marina project proposals in a 3 to 2 vote.

We, the Marine Stadium Marina customers, sent dozens upon dozens of emails to the Commissioners in support of saving our neighborhood marina.

With this saga now behind us, we would like to ask the City of Miami to now refocus efforts and begin reinvesting in our existing marina.

After years of litigation and several commission meetings on the topic, Miami commissioners voted to reject all bids to redevelop our neighborhood marina and the surrounding area.

Commissioner Ken Russell expressed environmental responsibility concerns with Virginia Key LLC, the first palce mega maria bidder. Other Commissioners expressed these and similar concerns.

The comments stem from contractors working for the winning bidder’s principles that dumped over 30 million gallons of raw sewage into Biscayne Bay in the year 2000 and talk that the bidder should have been disqualified from the bid for failing to disclose its role in this major Biscayne Bay sewage spill.

More Details from The Miami Herald:

https://www.miamiherald.com/article247212609.html

Dear Boat Owners in Miami’s Marine Stadium Marina,

IT IS TIME TO STEP UP – THE COMMISSIONERS ARE VOTING ON THE FUTURE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD MARINA ON NOVEMBER 16th 2020 AND WE NEED EVERYONE TO SEND YOUR EMAILS TO THE COMMISSIONERS, THE MAYOR, AND THE CITY MANAGER.

For your convenience we have created the link below for you to send the email with “one click”.

Click here to send the email message now.

THE MESSAGE SHOULD BE SIMPLE AND DIRECT:

WE ARE AGAINST ANY PRIVATIZATION OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD MARINA, THE MIAMI MARINE STADIUM MARINA. WE WANT TO KEEP OUR MARINA PUBLIC AND ACCESSIBLE TO ALL CITIZENS. WE ALSO WANT TO HAVE ACCESS TO OUR MARINA WITHOUT ANY INTERRUPTIONS DUE TO THE BOAT SHOW OR ANY OTHER EVENT.

WE DO NOT WANT OUR MARINA TURNED INTO A WATERFRONT SHOPPING MALL. WE COUNT ON YOUR LEADERSHIP TO DO THE RIGHT THING FOR THE PEOPLE AND VOTE TO KEEP OUR MARINA PUBLIC AND AFFORDABLE.

HERE IS THE CONTACT INFORMATION:

City Manager: Arthur Noriega
Telephone: (305) 416-1025
Email: anoriega@miamigov.com

District 1 Commissioner: Alex Diaz de la Portilla
Telephone: (305) 250-5430
Email: adiazdelaportilla@miamigov.com

District 2 Commissioner: Ken Russell
Telephone: 305-250-5333
Email: krussell@miamigov.com

District 3 Commissioner Joe Carollo
Telephone: (305) 250-5380
Email: jcarollo@miamigov.com

District 4 Commissioner Manolo Reyes
Telephone: (305) 250-5420
Email: mreyes@miamigov.com

District 5 Commissioner Keon Hardemon
Telephone: (305) 250-5390
Email: KHardemon@miamigov.com

IF YOU DO NOT WRITE, THE CITY WILL PRIVATIZE THE MANAGEMENT OF THE MARINA SOON AND YOU WILL PAY A LOT MORE THAN WHAT YOU PAY TODAY – RATES WILL GO UP DRASTICALLY…DO NOT COMPLAIN LATER, ACT NOW. THE MEETING IS NOVEMBER 16th 2020 AND IT TAKES JUST A FEW MINUTES TO WRITE. ALSO, IF ANYONE WANTS TO ATTEND THIS VOTING PLEASE DO SO AND GO TO THE CITY HALL MEETING ON NOVEMBER 16th 2020 10: 00 AM. THAT WILL HELP A LOT.

Save Marine Stadium Marina Coalition———————
We are the Marine Stadium Marina Coalition working to save Marine Stadium Marina located on Virginia Key in Miami. The coalition is made up of Miami residents who use Marine Stadium Marina for boating activities with friends and family on Miami’s beautiful bay waters.

The marina is the last remaining affordable public city marina in the area. Private for profit private interests are working to privatize the management of our public managed Stadium Marina which is expected to drastically increase costs, thus pricing most middle class families out of the marina and boating access to our Miami bays and oceans.

Visit http://www.saveourmarina.org to take action to save your marina.

This is to inform you that on 9/11/19 the City of Miami Commission postponed the voting on the Virginia Key LLC proposal to privatize the Marine Stadium Marina on Virginia Key, Miami Florida. The voting will most likely take place sometime next year. A win for now and we must remain vigilant.

THIS IS GOOD NEWS BECAUSE IT SHOWS THAT WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THIS DEMOCRATIC PROCESS. YOUR LETTERS AND MESSAGES WORKED! THANK YOU FOR GETTING INVOLVED AND HELPING US INFLUENCE THE CITY OFFICIALS.

We will continue to work together with the City of Miami to make our neighborhood marina better.

https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2019/09/10/miami-strives-to-get-operator-for-virginia-key-marinas/