On Oct. 23, thousands of people across Miami will gather at various restaurants, community spaces, and homes as they come together for the 3rd annual My Miami Story conversations.

If you haven’t heard of My Miami Story, it is a county-wide event orchestrated by The Miami Foundation, and it’s a chance for people to gather and discuss who we are, where we’re going and what we can do together to get there. Often, these discussions are happening over our greatest equalizer: food.

We want to introduce you to a few of the hosts participating this year, so we chatted with Nestor Rodriguez, the newly appointed Executive Director at MCCJ. It’s his first year participating and he’ll be hosting a dinner conversation for 10 in his home. His conversation will focus on racial inequality. Here are a couple of highlights from our conversation about why he is hosting and his approach to exchanging ideas:

Food brings people together

“I really enjoy the experience of bringing certain key elements to the table — the food, the conversation and even the music. Some of the most interesting and impactful conversations I have experienced happened over a meal.”

Come for the food, stay for the new perspectives

“When someone gives you a personal account of events or experiences, you really need to be able to put yourself into their shoes and see it from their perspective and not from the perspective you had when you came into that conversation.”

One meal at a time

“We have to do work one day at a time, one person at a time, one group at a time. Life is moving so fast and we are always challenged by the need for outcomes that we forget that the process is slow. It takes time to understand someone.”

You can join Nestor as a host of this year’s conversations (or as a guest) by signing up on the My Miami Story website. Don’t worry, you won’t be flying solo. The Miami Foundation has a super helpful toolkit that includes a webinar, conversation starters, and ideas for taking action after your experience.

PRODUCED BY THE NEW TROPIC CREATIVE STUDIO WITH THE MIAMI FOUNDATION

You skipped a step. Today is the final public hearing on that controversial plan to build an extension of the 836 expressway 14 miles southwest, past the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) and into fragile wetlands. But some crucial info is still MIA, like where exactly the highway would be. Folks on all sides are frustrated by the lack of info and say the county is moving way too fast on the project, which is intended to relieve gridlock for folks living in the southwest part of the county who sit in traffic hell daily Developers are all about the extension; environmentalists hate it because it could hasten a decision to expand the UDB; and Marco Rubio doesn’t support it, but seems to be using his approval as leverage to force Miami-Dade to protect more of the Everglades. Want to know more? We broke down the whole controversy back in June. (Miami Herald, The New Tropic)

Let the credits roll. The film industry here has been struggling since the state cut its incentives program back in 2016, prompting many films and TV series to head to places like Georgia instead. Since then, Miami-Dade’s been considering offering its own incentives to lure some movies to the 305, and it’s now preparing to offer $100,000 to three films that would shoot primarily in Miami. That includes “Critical Thinking,” the film based on the true story of Miami Jackson Senior High’s chess team, the first inner city team to win the national championship. (Miami Today)

PREACH.  Local Maxeme Tuchman, the founder of ed-tech startup Caribu, dropped some knowledge in Forbes about being a Latina founder. She launched what she’s describing as “FaceTime meets Kindle” to help parents read to their kids even when they can’t be in the same physical space, and she’s been racking up awards and money left and right lately. Her advice for other Latino and Latina founders? “Don’t ever let the underestimation of your abilities by others ever define you,” Max says. (Forbes)

Running out of time. There are two pieces of legislation pending in Washington that could help Florida fight the algae blooms that have wrecked our waterways this summer, but both are looking kind of shaky. Federal authorization for a program that allows NOAA to monitor and research algae blooms will lapse on Sunday, and it hasn’t yet been reauthorized. While the program won’t be eliminated if that doesn’t happen, it’s a lot less likely that Congress will pay for it, which is basically the same thing. The Senate is also dragging its feet on a bill that would include plans for water storage south of Lake Okeechobee, to hold more of the nasty water that’s instead being discharged out to ocean, causing the outbreaks. (WLRN)

Slow your roll. The City of Miami Commission will hold a key vote today on the Magic City Innovation District, a massive mixed-use development going up in the middle of Little Haiti. The development has stoked a ton of fear about the acceleration of gentrification that has already pushed many longtime Haitian residents out. Activists are begging the city to delay the decision, which they say has just happened way too fast for the community to prepare or be included in the process. TBD what will happen today. (Miami New Times)

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY.

We’ll catch you mañana.

– The New Tropic