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🥖 Introducing the Pub Sub index
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🥖 Introducing the Pub Sub index

When the bougainvillea start blooming, you know it's almost summer in Miami 🌺 😍

MEET CARLOS GARIN

This week we dropped our voter guide to the May 22 Miami-Dade County District 5 special election. Yesterday we introduced you to candidate Eileen Higgins, and today we’ll introduce you to another candidate, former telanovela actor Carlos Garin.

Here are a couple key quotes from the interview; find the full Q&A here.

The biggest issues facing the district: “Security. We live in a district with gangs, robberies, prostitution and drugs, where police work is not enough, so we must implement the NETs (Neighborhood Enhancement Teams) and reinforce them with police, a kind of community police that know the citizens and the areas where play.”

How to fix transit: “We need safe, fast and ecological long-range lines, which allow us to divide the county into grids and, at the same time, stimulate private investment – that is, short lines of small buses that connect the neighborhoods with the central lines, stimulating at the same time, the competition for better prices, quality service and hundreds of jobs.”

On whether to build an extension of the 836 and extend the Urban Development Boundary: “I support the extension of the urban development boundary and the 836 expressway.”

On gun control: “The Second Amendment is the guarantee of the security of the family and the Republic, we must take care of it and adapt it to the times we live, but it must remain.”

Read on for details on how he’s been prepping to become the county commissioner.

P.S. Head to the guide to find early voting locations and get a peek at your sample ballot. The other two candidates, Zoraida Barreiro and Alex Diaz de la Portilla, did not respond to multiple requests for interviews.

RAMADAN KAREEM

Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, began at sundown last night. It’s a month of prayer, reflection, and community for Muslims all over the world, who will fast from sunrise to sunset every day for the next month. They break the fast every day with iftar, a delicious and festive evening meal, and this year Muslim organizations across the 305 are opening their doors to the community so that non-Muslim locals can experience an iftar. Check one out for yourself:  

  • Thursday, May 17, 7:30 p.m., Islamic Center of Greater Miami, 4305 NW 183 Street, Miami Gardens.
  • Monday, May 21, 7:30 p.m., Islamic Jafferia Association, 10554 NW 132 Street, Hialeah Gardens, FL.
  • Wednesday, May 23, 7:30 p.m., Islamic School of Miami at the Al Noor Mosque, 11699 NW 147th Avenue, Miami (Kendall)
  • Thursday, May 31, 7:30 p.m., Masjid Al-Ansar, 5245 NW 7th Avenue, Miami.

For more info, contact Shabbir Motorwala at [email protected]. To RSVP to any of these iftar events, email [email protected].

WHAT’S NEW IN THE 305

Raise up. A Miami Beach developer will soon become one of the first in the city to move and elevate a building to protect it from sea level rise. The Henry Hohauser building at 1600 Washington Avenue is a designated historic building, so it can’t be demolished – but the building’s age and location mean that it’s also not really built to cope with frequent flooding. The historic preservation board just approved the developer’s plan to move the building further west and raise it a bit. The decision could pave the way for plenty of other projects like this in the coming years. (Re: Miami Beach)

Digging in. Miami’s been talking about a car tunnel under the Miami River near the Brickell bridge for about four decades now, but Brickell’s growing traffic crisis is finally giving the idea some traction. The Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization is considering a bunch of different proposals for a car tunnel. But many in the neighborhood say that we should focus instead on expanding transit and making it easier to get around as a cyclist or pedestrian. (Miami Herald)

We have two words for you, Wynwood. Vegan. Tacos. (Miami New Times)

Left behind. Triple Five Group, the developer behind the proposed American Dream Miami – the behemoth $4 billion half-mall half-theme park concept in northwest Miami-Dade – bought Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School’s property in Little Haiti. Triple Five plans to use the space for retail, rental apartments, and condos – a possibility that has many neighborhood residents super alarmed. Several other nearby development projects, including the massive Magic City Innovation District, already have longtime Haitian residents scrambling for a foothold in their neighborhood as rents skyrocket.  (Miami Herald)

The Pub Sub index. How much does Publix love Adam Putnam? As much as many Floridians love Pub Subs, apparently. The grocery store chain has given the Republican gubernatorial candidate $670,000 in the last three years – more than any other candidate since 1995, and possibly ever. That’s enough to buy 74,527 chicken tender subs, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ math. 

Your turn. Miami Beach is considering taking on a $300 million general obligation bond to fund a bunch of public projects the city can’t otherwise afford, like stormwater improvements and new fire stations. It’s similar to the City of Miami’s $400 million “Miami Forever” bond that voters approved last year, in which a city takes on debt at a low interest rate because it’s essentially guaranteed by the city’s ability to tax residents. Before Miami Beach finalizes the details and puts the bond on the ballot, the city wants to hear from residents on what projects are a priority and how much they would be willing to see taxes raised to pay for them. There are four public meetings coming up, plus an option to share your thoughts online. (Miami Herald)

All hail the rail. The future of transportation in Florida is riding on Brightline, the privately funded high-speed train that will eventually link Orlando to Miami. The train, which has been running between West Palm and Fort Lauderdale since January, will begin serving Miami this weekend, and urban planning wonks across the country are watching SoFlo to see if private rail service might be the solution for traffic-clogged metro regions all over the U.S. (FastCompany)

SHOW SOME LOCAL LOVE.

It’s that time of year: voting for the Miami New Times “Best of” list. Help out your 305 faves by taking a few minutes to cast a vote.  The New Times wants to know the best of everything, from art galleries to strip clubs (yes, really). Cast your votes here.

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