“Nothing’s going to be heard”: Miami Commission recesses meeting at which Virginia Key situation was to be discussed | Miami

Community activism might have played a role in postponing Thursday morning’s City of Miami Commission meeting, where officials were to discuss the city’s recent forced closure of the Virginia Key Outdoor Center off the Rickenbacker Causeway.

The City Commission meeting began 56 minutes late, but there was no reason given for the delay.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Commission Chair Christine King looked out in the audience and said, “I see we have (people) here who want to comment (on the Virginia Key situation)” and asked that the meeting be recessed until 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, when the conversation about the Outdoor Center would take place.

She asked if anyone would like to speak about the outdoor Center who could not return next week, but she had no takers. There was no indication how many people were going to speak on the subject.

“Nothing’s going to be heard this morning,” King said.

With a packed 105-page agenda, the decision was puzzling.

The discussion item on the Outdoor Center, on Page 74, had one stipulation attached to it: “… accordingly, no member of the public may address the City Commission during this time.”

Various organizational leaders, with interests in the Outdoor Center and the area where a much-debated potential “tiny homes” homeless encampment is being considered, apparently did not learn of the planned Commission discussion until mid-week.

Dr. Leah Kinnaird, co-founder of the Virginia Key Alliance, learned of it Wednesday evening and sent an alert notification to those in her organization and others with a shared interest, urging residents to speak up. They were encouraged to either speak in person or send notes to commissioners that the Outdoor Center needs to reopen – especially, she noted, after all the fine work there being done by the employees, including owner Esther Alonso.

“Many people wrote online comments last night as a result of the communication I sent out,” Dr. Kinnaird said Thursday morning. “We had very short notice because the meeting was changed from Sept. 13 to Sept. 8, and only announced on Sept. 2 … over a holiday weekend, when it is easy to miss such a change.”

On Wednesday morning, the Islander News had reached out to David Peery, the founder and executive director of the Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity, to tell him that a discussion about Virginia Key was being planned Thursday, although Commissioner Ken Russell had previously told him the Commission would be meeting Sept. 13.

Peery’s MCARE organization has been serving as an unofficial “anchor” to gather support from various other coalitions (including those from Virginia Key and civil rights groups), which had planned to rally in front of City Hall at 9 a.m. on Sept. 13 in an attempt to stop the “tiny homes” idea, one he called “misguided, to put it mildly” and with “some racial components to it.”

“We were going to still hold that rally on Sept. 13 (when Wynwood’s Design Review Committee was originally set to meet). Now, it will be more impactful with the commissioners there,” Peery said.

Peery surmised that one reason Thursday’s meeting was recessed was because Commissioner Alex de la Portilla had just gotten into town and requested, informally, that the meeting be moved. “But that’s just my understanding from what I’m hearing … through some sources,” he said.

It was the second thought by Commissioner de la Portilla at the July 28 Commission meeting, when he decided to create a second non-agenda resolution, which resulted in a favorable 3-2 vote for the “tiny home” plan, just a couple hours after the first resolution failed 3-2.

The closure of the Outdoor Center — a popular place to rent kayaks and other supplies — after a seven-year run was due to “code violations” and a reported past due rent of more than $140,000, which Alonso has denied on camera. On Aug. 12, City of Miami officers and code enforcement officials informed her that the lease with the city was being terminated, putting about a dozen workers out of jobs.

The closure raised suspicions after Alonso addressed the Commission not long before that, saying she was afraid she would lose her business if a homeless encampment was situated next door at the North Trail of Virginia Key.

Since that time, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado also spoke out during a Town Hall meeting that she would not support a camp on such an environmentally fragile site, one where residents and tourists can get away and relax from Miami’s hustle and bustle.

Peery said he’s been suspicious of Mayor Francis X. Suarez’s recent announcement of a six-month delay (when Commissioner Russell will be departing) in the “tiny homes” process, and of the preceding closure of the Outdoor Center.

Peery said that location would be the perfect spot to stretch underground utilities and water lines to the estimated 50-100 fenced-in “tiny homes” – a process that would, perhaps coincidentally, take six months, utility officials have indicated.

“The City’s forced shutdown (of the Outdoor Center) is suspect,” Peery said Thursday morning.

“Virginia Key is a natural resource and should be left for that … and not for commercial or residential development. Much of Miami’s politics are driven by real estate developers’ financial interests … You know, ‘follow the money,’ and that’s the speculation right now … If you look beneath the surface, developers are looking to get a foothold (on Virginia Key).”

While the closure of the Outdoor Center can likely be linked to the homeless site (commissioners have asked City Manager Art Noriega to bring back a couple of alternate sites to the Commission’s Sept. 22 meeting), he said an entire other point should not be missed.

“There’s a really important broader issue that goes beyond NIMBY-ism (Not in My Backyard),” Peery said, “and that’s how Miami is handling its homeless crisis and affordable home situation.”

His organization is intent on “stopping any proposal that sweeps (less fortunate people) under the rug, such as isolating them on an island in “tiny homes,” which he has likened to an unsafe, dehumanizing “dog house.”

“Instead, (they) need to establish a policy inclusive (of everyone), so all members of our community are benefited,” he said.

With momentum growing on his social media sites – more than 17,000 people supported the rally on Change.org campaign – Peery doesn’t know how many people will show up Tuesday morning at City Hall for the sign-waving rally.

“It’s hard to know who’s going to show up, it could be 5 to 500, but we’re positive it’ll be more than five,” he said, laughing, noting just his relatives will account for more.

“We are certain that a whole lot of coalition groups are against this racist and environmentally destructive plan, and they all agree there should be no (homeless) development on Virginia Key.”