Dear Friends,
Voting has officially begun! If you receive your ballot by mail, it may have already arrived. This year’s ballot has wonderful opportunities for Miami Beach. Voting YES on all six Miami Beach Referendum questions will help continue to move Miami Beach forward. Plus, The Miami Herald unanimously recommended YES on all initiatives and below is a brief explanation of each referendum:
Inspector General (Miami Beach Referendum 1)
An independent Inspector General will significantly raise the performance bar at Miami Beach City Hall. Miami Beach voters will help bring this vision and my promise to reality by voting Yes #384.
Convention Center Hotel (Miami Beach Referendums 2 and 3)
The City listened to the voters and your feedback helped shape this new project. The hotel is smaller at 800 rooms and 100 feet shorter than the previous proposal. A developer will be leasing City land and funding the project, so no tax dollars! This lease guarantees over $16 million of new city revenue in the first ten years. The third referendum is the hotel question and the second referendum allows you to decide if you would like a portion of the money generated to go to education, flooding, and traffic measures. Vote YES #386 and #388
G. O. Bonds (Miami Beach Referendums 4, 5 and 6)
The City established a special committee of residents from across Miami Beach who met diligently for weeks evaluating and prioritizing projects that were most needed. Please check out www.gomb2018.com for information on each of the Parks, Neighborhoods and Public Safety projects. We need these critical investments for our community and candidly there really is no great “Plan B.” Vote YES #390, #392 and #394.
My office is always available to answer questions. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time.
Yours in service,
Mark Samuelian
Miami Beach City Commissioner
