Weak Democracy in the City of Coral Gables?

December 16, 2020 Leave a comment

DEMOCRACY refers to a political system in which legislative and chief executive decision-makers are elected by majority or plurality rule by eligible voters, with a presumption that the franchise approaches universal adult suffrage among legal citizens and that mechanisms are in place to protect ideological, religious, ethnic, and other demographic minorities.

Source: American Academy of Arts and Sciences. OUR COMMON PURPOSE: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century. Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. 2020. p. 1.

The big question is that if only 20 to 25 percent of the eligible registered voters actually vote in municipal elections, whether the city is a weak democracy. I would say that the answer is weak democracy. However, the City of Coral Gables is not that unusual in having such a low participation in municipal elections.

I would add that strong democratic systems should be conceived as encouraging voter participation. The City of Coral Gables discourages voter participation by having voting outside of routine national and state elections in November.

The impacts of low voter participation can be thought of as voter suppression via the charter of the city, which fixes the election dates at an inconvenient date to the electorate. There is good evidence that if elections are moved to November coinciding with national and state elections, then voter participation expands to twice the current participation.

The Commission considered charter revisions that did not include a change of election date to November to coincide with national elections. This disrespects citizens who are conceived as incapable to select the right candidates for the City Commission.

The City of South Miami should be respected as it submitted the election date change and the change in date was approved overwhelming by the voters.

Filed under Coral Gables, Election

Mr. Mayor: Where are the Impact Studies?

December 14, 2020 Leave a comment

Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli actually tried to cut residents and parents off at the October meeting because “the lobbyists are here” to talk about legislative priorities. He said the Village of Merrick Park had no negative effect on Coral Gables High and this would be the same.

Wawa Whaaaat? Coral Gables to get a gas station across elementary school – Political Cortadito

Filed under Community, Coral Gables, Government

LIST OF MAJOR AMENDMENTS TO ZONING CODE: City of Coral Gables

December 14, 2020 Leave a comment

The following list is obtained from the memo sent to the Commission on September 9. The so-called major amendments are more than “updates” and appear to represent nontrivial changes in building, construction and design characteristic ofl areas within the City of Coral Gables.

The original list and other materials can be found at

https://coralgables.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4632977&GUID=B32FC916-83DE-4298-AC8D-D5230EECE6D7&Options=&Search=

Major Amendments:

  1. Required Open Space.
    •   Increasing required open space in Multi-family 2 and Multi-family 3 from 25% to30% by requiring 5% on upper floors facing the street
    •   Sections 2-100 & 6-105
  2. Mandatory setbacks.
    •   Mandating setbacks at ground level of 10 feet on Douglas and LeJeune, and 20 feeton US-1
    •   Section 4-206
  3. Mixed Use.
    •   Replacing Commercial Limited, Commercial, and Industrial with Mixed Use 1, 2,and 3
    •   Sections 2-200 & 2-201
  1. Permitted mixed use.
    •   Allowing a mix of uses including residential as-of-right for small- and medium-scaled sites
    •   Section 2-201
  2. Building heights.
    •   Providing maximum heights consistency between Zoning and Land Use
    •   Section 2-201
  3. Miracle Mile and Giralda Open Space.
    •   Exempting properties on Miracle Mile and Giralda from open space requirements
    •   Section 2-201
  4. Small mixed-use buildings open space.
    •   Reducing required open space of small mixed-use properties from 10% to 5%
    •   Section 2-201
  5. Downtown District Overlay.
    •   Clarifying the District Overlay and prohibiting parking to face Miracle Mile
    •   Section 2-402
  6. Design & Innovation District Overlay.
    •   Creating the Design & Innovation District Overlay and expanding parking exemption for ground floor showrooms/art galleries and all low-rise buildings
    •   Sections 2-406 & 10-110
  7. Multi-Family 3 (MF3) and Multi-family 4 (MF4).
    •   Separating MFSA into MF3 for low-rise and MF4 for high-rise buildings
    •   Sections 2-104 & 2-105
  8. Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in Multi-Family.
    •   Removing FAR limitations for multi-family to be regulated by height and density
    •   Sections 2-103; 2-104; 2-105
  9. MF3 townhouses.
    •   Allowing density bonus for MF3 of 25 du/ac with Mediterranean Bonus
    •   Section 2-104
  10. Small lot low-rise buildings.
    •   Providing parking exemptions for low-rise multi-family and mixed-use in CBD
    •   Section 10-110
  11. Setbacks in Mixed Use.
    •   Unifying setbacks of 0ft and stepbacks at 45ft for all mixed use
    •   Sections 2-200 & 2-201
  12. Miracle Mile.
    •   Incorporating mandatory shopfronts of 90% min, parking setback of 60ft, and build-to-line of 0ft
    •   Sections 2-201.D.9 & 4-206
  13. Parking minimums.
    •   Reducing parking minimums for multi-family to 1.5 spaces/2+ bedrooms;townhouses to 1 space/unit; offices to 1 space/ 500sf; and restaurants to 1/300sf
    •   Section 10-110
  14. Transfer of Development Rights (TDRs) in Industrial Section.
    •   Allowing Design & Innovation District to be a TDR receiving site area
    •   Section 14-204

18. Minor & Major approved site plan amendments.

  •   Improving and clarifying minor/major amendments to approved site plans
  •   Section 14-203.1219. Structure of Zoning Code

 Structuring and organizing the Zoning Code to allow for future amendments and

additions, such as new Sustainability article and Urban Design article

Filed under Coral Gables, Government

300,000 COVID-19 DEATHS

December 14, 2020 Leave a comment

Filed under Coral Gables, COVID-19

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