Information for Voters

10/21/2022

Miami Lakes can get a much better deal for Optimist Park - here's how

The Town leaders have failed to secure funds from the State of Florida, the Federal government, the County, the School Board and from the nonprofit benefiting from Optimist park. That park can be improved substantially by working a better deal for Miami Lakes.

Our State Representative, Tom Fabricio, spoke to us on 10/20/22 and he is prepared submit to appropriations a request for funds for the improvement of Optimist park. He thinks it’s more likely to be approved if it’s submitted with another agency committing also committing funds.

Most of our council has grossly failed on the subjects below.

Failure’s by the Council

They failed to seek grants and funds from the Federal government and from the State of Florida for this project.

They failed to secure any funds from Miami-Dade County or the School board during the negotiation on the joint use agreement.

They negotiated a one sided agreement that helps the School Board and gives Miami Lakes very little benefit. We pay for 100% of the maintenance of the park and now we’re going to have to accept High School baseball games in the sports complex they want to build. The Town will pay the additional security and bear the additional traffic and the additional maintenance.

They have signed an agreement with the Optimist Club, a nonprofit organization, which requires that the nonprofit pay the Town virtually zero. We get zero revenue and we get 100% of the expense for the park that largely benefits them.

They have failed in the maintenance of the pocket parks and of Optimist Park. It’s always been in the joint use agreement that the Town has to maintain Optimist Park. This isn't new. All those issues you see in pictures are due to failures by the Town to maintain the parks.

They have failed repeatedly. And now, they want you to reward those failures by giving them more responsibility, more budget, more of your tax dollars. And if you don’t agree, you’re terrible because you don’t like children. It’s nonsense.

The Town can get a much better deal taking the following steps:

Reject the bond. Vote #247 against the bonds.

Send fresh blood to the council so that they no longer have a voting block making these bad decisions.

Renegotiate the agreement with the Optimist park so that each participant contributes an amount to offset the increased taxes from any future borrowing. The promoters of this bond keep telling us that this improvement will attract young affluent families. Young affluent families can afford participation fees. When the Optimist club receives those fees it can agree to a contract with the Town that offsets part of the expense. The Optimist club can raise funds so that they can provide scholarships to those who can’t afford the participation fees.

Contact Mario Diaz-Balart and request federal grants for the improvements
Accept the offer provided to request an appropriation from the State Representative Tom Fabricio.

Renegotiate the Joint Use agreement with the School Board so that it is not so one sided.

Negotiate a grant or funds from Miami-Dade or the School Board.

The way this bond referendum is structured is completely one-sided with the Miami Lakes residents carrying the entire burden. It's a bad deal. Reject it and send them back for a better deal.

Vote # 247 – vote against the bonds

10/20/2022

The way this bond referendum is structured is completely one-sided with the Miami Lakes residents carrying the entire burden. It's a bad deal. Reject it and send them back for a better deal.

The Town leaders have failed to secure funds from the State of Florida, the Federal government, the County, the School Board and from the nonprofit benefiting from Optimist park. That park can be improved substantially b...

10/17/2022

It's NOT a renovation. It's a new baseball complex

Yesterday there was a question regarding whether the existing park will be repaired or completely rebuilt. We asked an architect experienced in this scope & type of project to review the proposal and this was the response.

"The proposed layout of the Optimist park is completely different than the existing layout. All fencing, dugouts, light poles and all electrical and water infrastructure will need to be demolished/removed. New infrastructure will need to be installed including underground electrical to new light pole locations, electric and water infrastructure for new building, foundations for new fencing, etc. The entire site will need to be re-graded for drainage including underground drainage structures. This is not a renovation of existing, it is a completely new baseball park that does not make use of any of its existing infrastructure."

10/17/2022

Yeah, about that $77 a year you’re supposed to pay. Maybe they should recalculate that to reflect rising interest rates.

Mortgage rates could climb another 1.5 percentage points, according to a leading economist. National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun predicted that interest rates could be on their 8.5 percent if they pass a threshold of 7 percent, according to Bloomberg. Yun based his forecast....

10/16/2022

Mayor Cid, Vice Mayor Rodriguez and Councilmen Fernandez and Alvarez want you to believe that Optimist Park is a dilapidated mess that needs to be completely torn down. We need to spend $19,500,000 on removing the exist...

10/15/2022

The bond mobile is on the prowl. Vote 247

10/14/2022

Information for voters PC will NOT be using children for Robo calls or any type of advocacy for this. We will leave that to our opponents.

If we have to resort to seeking advice from children regarding complex financial choices, which is what this Bond and Baseball complex redevelopment is, we have failed as a community.

These Robo calls do confirm my suspicion as to why so many of the choices and communications coming from the politicians in Town Hall are juvenile and immature. Their judgement is equal to that of a 12 year old.

Alberto Aguiar

10/14/2022

The advocates for the baseball complex redesign obviously think that there is insufficient parking now and want to increase the parking. See the images below. Also, the Optimist club provided information that there has been a 71% growth in participation from 2018 - 2022.

At the same time, they are claiming that Miami Lakers are going to other cities. Again, see below.

So which one is it? Is the park empty and there is plenty of parking, or is the park full?

Is all of this is an attempt to redesign grade school baseball fields into a full blown baseball complex?

If they add High School capacity fields to that park, there will be frequent High school games played there which will increase traffic and security concerns.

Regardless of what anyone says, an active baseball complex will NOT increase property values.

10/14/2022

I guess you don't have to start playing on a professional field to learn to play baseball.

10/13/2022

And we're supposed to believe that the Town can borrow at the same rate that they did in July 2021.

Homebuyers face the highest mortgage rates in two decades, a new report shows, as elevated borrowing costs have slowed sales in Southern Nevada and around the country this year.