FYI Miami: September 14, 2023

Bellow are some of the FYIs in this week’s edition. The entire content of this week’s FYIs and Insider sections is available by subscription only. To subscribe click here.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION?: In the face of privacy concerns, Miami-Dade Commissioner Kionne McGhee on Monday asked a committee to defer consideration of his proposal to tightly regulate meal delivery apps like DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats, with a menu of $10,000-a-day penalties for violations. The measure passed 8-1 on preliminary vote June 21, with Raquel Regalado dissenting. The measure would be the county’s first specific regulation of food delivery platforms, citing “the opportunity to make fair and informed food delivery purchasing decisions.” Under the proposal, food delivery apps would have to disclose to customers the method of delivery, driver’s name, anticipated arrival time and delivery address. They would also have to give customers the phone number or email address of the restaurant. The app would have to provide information on every order to the restaurant, including the customer’s name and contact information, whether the customer is new or a repeat buyer, whether the order was tied to a promotion and whether it was placed through the service’s app or its website.

CASHING IN: Miami-Dade County can keep auctioning off unneeded assets and reap an anticipated $31 million in a two-year period under authority that commissioners granted last week to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Gov.Deals, a national auction site, sells to the highest bidders articles that governments and educational institutions no longer want and collects from the buyers a 12.5% premium for the privilege. The county got into the deal looking for $1 million and struck an unanticipated sales bonanza before authorization to stay in the game expired, requiring the approval that commissioners gave last week. At that time, the county had 42 items on the site and up for auction.

TRAINS TO ORLANDO: Brightline’s long-awaited rail service from South Florida to Orlando International Airport begins Sept. 22, the company announced this week. One-way fares start at $79 for adults and $39 for kids. One-way premium fares start at $149. In Miami-Dade County, Brightline has stops at MiamiCentral Station downtown and Aventura. Other South Florida stops are in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach.

FIU TRUSTEE: Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Yaffa Popack of Miami Beach to the Florida International University Board of Trustees, subject to Florida Senate confirmation. Ms. Popack is a co-owner of YMP Real Estate Management. She is a co-founder of Neighborhood Farms USA and a member of the Touro University Board of Governors and the YMP Family Foundation. She received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a juris doctor from Yeshiva University.