Lots to Think About and Do

Vol. 3, No. 17 31 August 2022

IN CHONICALOGICAL ORDER

SEPT. 1 - 30 League of American Bicyclists'

"Love to Ride Challenge"

It’s back, but this time the goal is for 2 million miles. Last year, the League of American Bicyclists and Love to Ride challenge was to transform 1 million car miles into bike miles. The goal surpassed that target by a whopping 500,000 miles. Be part of the League of American Bicyclists’ goal to inspire more people to see the bike for all of its possibilities for fitness, transportation, and to have fun.

Click here to register or:

https://www.lovetoride.net/drivelessbikemore/signups/new?locale=en-US

SEPT. 2 - 4 Urban Film Festival

The 7th Annual Urban Film Festival, taking place this weekend, September 2 - 4, 2022, in the Historic Overtown Miami community. This year's free festival will include..

• A Youth Empowerment event featuring Romeo Miller, Allen Maldonado, Brandon Gil, and Ted Lucas

• the 15th Anniversary Red Carpet Premiere of the movie Bloodline,

• ten (10) panels focused on educating, exposing, and providing distribution opportunities for filmmakers,

• the exclusive Red Carpet Premiere and screening of The Secret Society 2 movie,

• Over 80 indie movie screenings,

• the 2022 Urban Film Festival Awards Ceremony.

Sept. 6 South Miami First Budget Hearing

At City Hall in the Commission Chambers at 6:00 pm.

The meeting agenda is here. The proposed 10/1/2022-9/30/2023 Budget can be found here.

Sept. 8 and 20 Miami Dade County Budget hearings. The budget is posted here.

Both meetings start at 5:01 pm at

Stephen P. Clark Government Center

Commission Chambers

111 NW 1st Street, Miami, FL 33128

More information is available here.

Sept. 23 South Miami Teammates Reunion

At City Hall in the Commission Champers from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

"The format will be: a few comments from the group members and we will make a donation to the city for the Parks and Recreation.

Background

The players who participated in playing sports (mostly football) at the South Miami Parks and Recreation from 1968 thru high school will be hosting a reunion. We all were around 10 and 11 years old at that time. We played for the South Miami Jr. Dolphins, Grey Ghost and Blue Devils football teams. Mr. Palmer was our coach during those years as we progress to different age groups within the South Miami Parks and Recreational league. His son, Mark Palmer, was our quarterback when we played for the Grey Ghost football team. His son is a part of our group for this event. As we got older, the majority of everyone attended South Miami Senior High School and others attended other local high schools in the nearby Miami Area.

Purpose

Mr. Palmer was instrumental in having a positive impact on all lives as a person and we want to show our appreciation in making a financial donation to Palmer Park of South Miami Parks and Recreation. We want to show our appreciation and gratitude to the Palmer Family and the City of South Miami Parks and Recreation."

Sept. 24 Bike Z00 Miami

Back by popular demand, Bike305 returns to Zoo Miami with another opportunity to 'Bike the Wild Side'. Guided by Zoo Miami staff, groups of cyclists will be led on a leisurely ride around the zoo for approximately 3 miles. Each group will have the opportunity to stop and learn about the habits and habitats of some of our animals. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity to see Zoo Miami in a whole new way! Not all animals may be outside and visible at the time of this ride. Bicycle helmets are required for participants 16 and under. Participants 17 and older are encouraged to wear one. Limited free helmets will be available, while supplies last. Front and rear bike lights are recommended.

September 24, 2022

4:30 pm - 7:00 pm

For more information contact Susan Kawalerski at

kawaler@miamidade.gov or call 305-251-0400

To learn more click here.

Sept. 25 EV Explore Sunday Funday

Sept. 25 - Oct. 1 Childhood Cancer Awareness Week

The American Cancer Fund for Children and Kids Cancer Connection report cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among U.S. children between infancy and age 15. This tragic disease is detected in more than 16,000 of our country's young people every year. An estimated 400,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer globally each year.

Oct. 2 Local Solar Site Tour

ASES [American Solar Energy Society] National Solar Tour is the largest grassroots solar, renewable energy, and sustainable living event in the nation.

The 2021 National Solar Tour was very successful with over 135 Local Solar Tours and over 2,000 Solar Sites in 49 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

Find out more about the local site here.

Please RSVP so the site owner prepares enough refreshments.

Monkey Pox Vaccinations

The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County (DOH-Miami-Dade) is offering additional Jynneos Monkeypox vaccine appointment slots for high-risk populations and to individuals who meet criteria as a priority group. To become fully immunized you must be vaccinated with 2 doses, the second dose is administered 28 days after receiving the first dose.

The high-risk/priority groups include:

- Laboratory personnel and select health care personnel at high risk for monkeypox

- Close contacts of monkeypox cases

-Immunocompromised MSM with HIV (< 200 CD4 white blood cells per ml3) with potential exposure

- All other MSM with HIV who had potential exposure to a sexually transmissible disease

-All other MSM with HIV who had potential exposure

- All MSM

- Other high-risk groups

Appointments for Jynneos Monkeypox vaccine will re-open as soon as slots become available. To schedule an appointment for the Monkeypox vaccine please follow the attached link on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or mobile devices:

https://book.appointment-plus.com/d6b7yl3g The above site also lists Monkeypox symptoms.

Meeting with Commissioner Regalado

On August 24, I met with Commissioner Regalado. She told me some information that was new to me:

(1) South Miami is not threatened by the revised Rapid Transit Zoning proposal which the Commission will be considering tomorrow. She says that our zoning long the Metrorail meets the requirements of this legislation.

(2) The reason why the Metrorail noise mitigation project is so delayed is that the first panels that were used kept falling off. In May a new company with new materials started the process of placing them and testing their efficacy. If there is a plan for when South Miami might benefit from this installation, she did not say.

(3) Commissioner Regalado had much to say about sewer main installation and hook-up. She said that there were "holes" in South Miami where is was possible to hook up to sewer mains, but home owners had not done so. I have asked to get a map of where these holes are. When there are available sewer mains - and I have no inkling of what the time of their being placed in South Miami - home owners will be expected to hook up. She said that there may be a deadline on when a property owner must get connected. That deadline could be extended to five years if the current septic tank passed an approved inspection. However, there might a choice of staying on septic if the septic tank was one of the new fiberglass ones that does not crack. She also said that there are a couple of funding choices that will be available.

There are a couple of recent pieces of County legislation:

New Septic Tank Ordinance (Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems OSTDS) adopted 7/7/2022

New Feasible Distance Ordinance first reading 9/1/2022

$85 million investment in HOMES Plan

There is an interesting announcement by Mayor Cava about how the County is planning to help home owners and developers keep and create affordable living units, IF the County's proposed budget is approved. The criteria for a unit to be affordable is that it be rented at 30% of the renting family's income. For a chart of the income levels that qualify click here. The chart shows the lower boundary of the range. I believe the upper range in Miami-Dade County is 140% of the AMI [Area Median Income]. According to that chart, one person at a low income (80% - 140% of AMI) is supposed to be able to afford $1,365 - $2,390.50 per month. At the very low income range, the possible rents for a single person would be $512.50 - $853.75 per month. At least, that is how I do the arithmetic. Her announcement indicates that there are subsidies available to the landlords and renters.

To read the announcement, please click here.

Finding South Miami Information

I have heard that there are residents who do not know how to get information about what is happening in this City. I know of several sources:

1. The City's website: https://southmiamifl.gov/

2. The SoMi INSIDER Newsletter. Sign up for email delivery here. It is possible to see all back issues here.

3. Program announcements about events at the City's Parks. To register to get their monthly enewsletter by email: call 305-668-3876, or email parks@southmiamifl.gov, and by text: text the word somiparks to 22828.

4. The Commission meeting agendas, minutes and video tapes. Click on https://southmiamifl.gov/102/Agendas-Minutes.

5. The Commission Meetings. The Commission meets the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 7:00 pm at City Hall in the Commission Chambers.

6. Call or text the members of the Commission. All the members have city emails that are their first initials last names@southmiamifl.gov. Thus: Mr. Able Member's email address would be: amember@southmiamifl.gov.

7. Register to get my newsletter. Scroll to the end of https://www.mayorsallyphilips.com/.

Please tell anyone who does not know how to keep track of what is going on in South Miami that the above methods are available.

2050 = Doom?

I was told by a man who has spent his work life installing clean energy systems: by 2050 the human body will not be able to tolerate the temperatures in most of North America.

Unless, of course, something drastic is done about climate change.

That would mean that in 28 years crops would probably not grow outdoors, grazing animals would probably die or go hungry, people could not walk, bike ride, scouter, jog, throw hoops in playgrounds, ice skate, golf, play soccer, walk the dog, visit zoo animals outside. I don't know how buildings would be built. Will forests and jungles exist?

Will today's four-year-olds be living?

People are going to have to come up with ways to live life in air conditioning. And to have body coolers that they can wear when outside.

I wonder what such temperatures would do to the supply of drinking water. Maybe the sea level will stop rising, because water is evaporating. Could fish survive? How much humidity would be in the air? How much oxygen?

I wish I believed I was some kind of nutty alarmist.

In the meantime

Keep safe, stay healthy!