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News 08/16/07: Miami Beach Dade Boulevard Bike Path Project The City of Miami Beach presents a community workshop for the: Atlantic Greenway Network Master Plan & Dade Boulevard Bike Path. Join this community workshop to learn about the Atlantic Greenway Network (AGN) Master Plan and the Dade Boulevard Bike Path Project. The AGN Master Plan is being developed to promote alternative transportation and community enhancement in the North, Middle and South Beach neighborhoods of Miami Beach. The objectives are to increase safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, diminish gaps while improving network connectivity, and establish future bikeways. The Dade Boulevard Bike Path project will run adjacent to Dade Boulevard from Bay Road to 23rd Street and will be designed to extend the existing Venetian Causeway bikeway to destination points within Miami Beach. Thursday, August 30, 2007 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Police Department, Community Room, 1st Floor 1100 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach 05/07/07: Take the South Florida Commuter Challenge Take the Challenge and carpool, use transit or bike or walk to work on May 17, 2007, and be entered for a chance to win a Grand Prize Trip including airfare and hotel & one year of free commuting costs. Register at http://www.yridealone.com/ or call 1.800.234.RIDE today. 03/11/07: RSS Feed Our website now provides an RSS Feed on the home page. All changes to the website will be documented here including meeting schedules, updates to our library, and progress on the NEW WEBSITE. New entries in the discussion forum will not be provided by this feed. Enjoy. 01/10/07: A.R.T. Meeting Schedule Back To Monthly Meetings will now take place every month on the first Monday at 6:30pm. As always we are meeting at The Seymour, 945 Pennsylvania Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139. 07/30/06: Old Problems, New Chances At the recent South Pointe Parking Garage neighborhood meeting at the Miami Beach Police Auditorium, it became quickly apparent that not only was this particular project not wanted by near-unanimous consent, but that parking garages themselves are now becoming the point of contention. As person after person spoke against the South Pointe Parking Garage as a lightening rod for all the vehicular mayhem already extent on South Beach, a viable alternative theme also emerged: have vehicular parking moved out to easily-accessed collection peripheries and move their occupants about the Beach via reliable public transportation circulators arriving on fixed schedules. It's a fact of life. Unless this commonsense approach is adopted more and more hulking parking pedestals will continue to sprout all over Miami Beach, exacerbating the vehicular problems that late-night restaurants and other after-hours venues create with noise, gridlock and deleterious quality of life issues. Many of those in attendance advocating for a local circulator/collection points approach as being the best alternative to neighborhood-based parking garages or to adding unsightly surface parking were also aware that the Miami Beach City Commission adopted a resolution calling for streetcars as the mode of public transportation best suited for our communities-an idea further endorsed overwhelmingly by the residents of Miami Beach in a special public referendum. Streetcars present a more inviting mode of transport than buses and raise property values along their routes, which no bus does. Worse, buses add to the gridlock, not decrease it. A couple of circulating streetcars do the job of dozens of daily bus trips, moving people quickly and cleanly around their Miami Beach destinations. It's time to realize Miami Beach's terrific potential as a major pedestrian-friendly environment-and that means that less, not more, parking garages, with their attendant hassles and endless issues, be built in our community. Nobody wants to deny Beach visitors from finding their pleasures here; however, where they put their cars, and how they get about the Beach while here is our business, and that means we get to decide how best to go about defining the resolution of this very important "in our back yard" issue. Jeffrey Bradley 02/01/06: A.R.T. Meeting Schedule Changed After having met only once per quarter last year we are now moving to bi-monthly meetings. Meetings will take place every other month on the first Monday at 6:30pm. The first meeting will take place this Monday, February 6, 2006 at 6:30pm. As always we are meeting at The Seymour, 945 Pennsylvania Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139. 11/21/05: Unfortunately Jerry Libbon cannot attend tonight's meeting due to a prior a commitment 11/19/05: A Special Joint Meeting of the Alliance for Reliable Transport and Flamingo Park Neighborhood Committee on Monday, November 21, 2005 at 7:00 pm On November 15, Jerry Libbin (1,750 / 36.60%) and Alex Annunziato (1,117 / 23.36%) qualified for a runoff election for Miami Beach City Commission. The runoff election will take place on Tuesday, November 29, 2005. An invitation has been extended to the two run-off candidates in the Miami Beach City Commission election to discuss transportation and development issues affecting the Historic District in South Beach. Miami Beach residents and others interested in the future of the city's Art Deco District are invited and encouraged to attend and participate in this important discussion. Please note that the forum will take place from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m and will be followed by additional business of the Alliance for Reliable Transport. Click here for the agenda. 08/09/05: Guest Speaker Gabrielle Redfern at Monday's Meeting (8/15/05) Guest Speaker Gabrielle Redfern, running for the open seat on the Miami Beach City Commission, will be attending our August 15 A.R.T. meeting to discuss her views on public transportation and policy. 3/21/05: New A.R.T. Meeting Schedule As of this month the official A.R.T. meeting schedule has been changed to quarterly meetings. This allows us to offer interesting guest speakers and presentations. We will offer casual meetings every month at a location to be determined to catch up on and discuss current developments. All members of the steering committee will be notified by e-mail for the casual get-togethers. If you know a fun place please e-mail the list. 2/23/05: Miami-Dade Commissioner Carlos A. Gimenez Four A.R.T. members attended the luncheon at the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce titled "A Dialogue with Commissioner Carlos A. Gimenez on People’s Transportation Plan and Where to go from Here". We were all rather impressed with the Comissioner's responses to our questions and he stated that he strongly opposes missuing any funds from the Peoples Transportation Plan to cover for old operating losses from public mass transport. Commissioner Gimenez currently serves as Chair of the Regional Transportation Committee providing oversight and direction for Miami-Dade County’s largest economic engine – Miami International Airport, and for the effective implementation of the People’s Transportation Plan. He is also a member of the Infrastructure and Land Use Committee; the Intergovernmental, Recreation and Cultural Arts Committee; as well as General Obligation Bond Program Subcommittee. 1/21/05: Guest Speakers at Monday's Meeting (1/22/05) Guest speakers Bob Middaugh, City of Miami Beach Assistant City Manager, and Fred Beckmann, Director Public Works on the future of the South Beach Electrowave / The Local. 12/15/04: A.R.T. passes resolution on South Beach circulator (Electrowave/the Local) A.R.T., the civic group Alliance for Reliable Transport (ART), passes a resolution concerning the upcoming decisions regarding changes to the South Beach circulator bus (the Local / Electrowave), and the public process for making the changes. Click here to read it on our press release page. 11/13/04: Miami Beach votes YES! for Streetcars Residents of Miami Beach voted overwhelmingly for the Baylink project during yesterday's election. In the areas most directly affected over 60% of voters voted for the project. Click here to check local results at the Miami-Dade Elections website. 10/26/04: A.R.T. Prints Postcards in Support of Streetcars A.R.T. printed postcards in English and Spanish for the November 2 election in support of the Miami Beach Straw Ballot Question 1. Click here to see the English and here for the Spanish version. 10/11/04: A.R.T. Press Release: Transit Alliance to Show Historic and Future Streetcar Videos Click here to read our new press release about the video presentation on October 18, 2004. 10/09/04: A.R.T. to show footage of our original 1930s and new Baylink Streetcars On October 18 at 7:30pm A.R.T. will present original film footage of the 1930s Miami Beach streetcars and a new video about the Baylink project including computer animations of the new streetcars. Come and build your own opinion about the Baylink project. This A.R.T. meeting will be held as always at 945 Pennsylvania Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139. 10/09/04: Miami Herald recommends YES vote for Miami Beach Streetcars Click here to read the article online. 04/18/04: Baylink Station Area Design Meetings to begin At its March meeting the Governing Board of the MPO approved $400,000 in additional funding for the Baylink project. The approval of the additional funds will allow the project consultants to prepare the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) application, which requests approval for the project to go into Preliminary Engineering, and to simultaneously undertake the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The expansion of the scope is due in part to the extensive conditions attached by the Miami Beach Commission to its affirmative on moving forward with the FEIS. Station area design meetings will begin shortly. The Public Involvement portion of the FEIS is anticipated to be completed in August. Details coming soon. For a list of upcoming transit meetings with dates, times, locations and a key to all the acronyms click here. 03/16/04: Carlos Bonzon and Wilson Fernandez attended this month's A.R.T. meeting At this month's meeting, we were treated to a thorough, thoughtful and 'no holds barred' review of transport project funding and planning in Miami-Dade County, including of the proposed Baylink project; by the County's Assistant Manager and Surface Transportation Manager, Dr. Bonzon, accompanied by Wilson Fernandez, Baylink Project Manager, who gave us more detail on Baylink, in answer to several questions. 03/16/04: New A.R.T Document Resource Library In support of our mission to "improve public dialogue on transit issues and ensure a voice for current and potential transit users," we have begun building a library of relevant documents on particular projects, such as Baylink, as well as on the transport planning process, sustainable community initiatives and related topics. Reports added this month include:
03/16/04: MPO Website Relaunch Check out the Miami-Dade MPO's newly revamped web site which went live recently. The Federal Transit Administration requires that metropolitan areas over a certain size have a Metropolitan Planning Organization to carry out long range transit planning. The Miami-Dade MPO's new website makes the organization's wealth of information more accessible. 03/16/04: MPO expands scope of Bay Link FEIS Station Area Design Meetings to Begin in April. At its February meeting, the Governing Board of the MPO authorized staff to expand the project scope and funding of the Baylink Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The expansion of the scope is due in part to the extensive conditions attached by the Miami Beach Commission to its affirmative on moving forward with the FEIS. The expanded FEIS is now set to be approved by the Governing Board at its meeting of March 18. Station area design meetings are now anticipated to begin in April, with the Public Involvement Program to be completed in August. Stay Tuned. 02/22/04: Carlos Bonzon, Director of People's Transportation Plan is coming in March A.R.T. is pleased to announce that Dr. Carlos Bonzon will be our guest at the March meeting. Dr. Bonzon is charged with directing the implementation of the People's Transportation Plan (PTP) which is funded by the 1/2 penny tax for transit. This will be an excellent opportunity to get up to speed on the timing of Baylink and other proposed transit projects. 01/26/04: MPO set to approve Baylink FEIS public involvement process At its February 2004 meeting, the Governing Board of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is set to review and approve the Public Involvement Process for the Baylink Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). A.R.T. has called for a transparent public process with full opportunities for public review and input, and will provide details once the process is finalized. Stay tuned! 11/07/03: A.R.T. meeting schedule changed A.R.T. now meets every third Monday of the month, 7:30 pm, at The Seymour, 945 Pennsylvania Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 33139. ART meeting notices will be e-mailed at least one week in advance. 9/30/03: MPO endorses Bay Link The Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has endorsed streetcars for the Bay Link project connecting Miami Beach and Downtown Miami. The project will now go to the study phase which includes engineering, final routes, and costs. The study will take 6 months to a year to complete. 9/9/03: MIAMI BEACH COMMISSIONERS VOTE: YES, BRING BACK STREETCARS At approx. 15 minutes after midnight today the Miami Beach Commissioners voted 4:3 to go ahead with the Baylink project using streetcars. 9/1/03: 4-Color Pro-Streetcar Card now available A.R.T. is pleased to announce the availability of full-color 5"x7" pro-streetcar cards featuring a photo simulation of a streetcar on Washington Avenue and a 3-D map of the entire proposed route, from Government Center to Convention Center, with all the existing and future attractions along the way. Pick up a bunch at the Seymour, 2nd floor reception, Tuesday through Monday, September 8, 9:00 am-5:00 pm, or at this Tuesday evening's A.R.T. meeting. Click here to see it now 9/1/03: New Times sheds light on politics of Baylink The current issue of Miami New Times provides a timely review of the politics of the Baylink project. Get all the details at http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2003-08-28/feature.html/1/index.html 9/1/03: This week A.R.T. meets on Tuesday So that we may observe Labor Day, and rest up for the busy week ahead, A.R.T. will meet on Tuesday, instead of Monday evening. 8/11/03: New Flyer "Clear Benefits" now available A.R.T. has added a new simple one-page flyer with all the facts about Why Miami Beach Wants Streetcars. To get your very own copy click here (Adobe PDF, 51 KB). 8/11/03: Chamber of Commerce votes 25-2 For Streetcars Last month, the Board of Governors of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce voted to move forward on the final phase of the Baylink study, but deferred a decision on the preferred mode. This past week the Board of Governors voted decisively (25-2) to support the City Consultant's recommendation of Streetcars as the best vehicle type for Miami Beach. 8/11/03: Breaking News: Vancouver Votes To Replace BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) With Light Rail Only two years ago, Vancouver opened a Bus Rapid Transit line (BRT) hailed as "one of the most advanced bus systems in North America." Now, Vancouver's regional government has voted to replace BRT with the city's third Light Rail line. Transit officials acknowledge that buses are still widely perceived as inferior by the public and by most local politicians. The public bus agency noted, "the expectations were an awful lot higher than what we've been able to provide," and a local Mayor concludes, "you gets what you pays for." While A.R.T. believes that BRT can be appropriate in some settings, its main utility is in low density areas. Miami Beach is the only one of the top ten densest urban areas in the U.S. not to be served by rail transit of any kind. For the complete news story click here to see last Sunday's Seattle Times. 7/29/03: New Transit Facts Flyer now available Do you find yourself stumped when inundated by the barrage of misinformation that often swirls around the proposed Streetcar/Light Rail project? A.R.T. now has a simple, well-designed, one-page flyer with all the facts that add up to why Miami Beach needs to bring back streetcars. To get your very own copy click here (Adobe PDF, 35 KB). In the coming weeks, A.R.T. will place additional flyers, as well as highlights from the Miami Beach consultant's final report, on this website. 7/29/03: Study shows Light Rail is a success across US A newly released report, Rail Transit Works: Light Rail Success Stories from Across the Country, found that light rail systems surpassed ridership expectations and boosted property values in cities nationwide. According to the study, "though the initial construction costs are higher than adding buses, in the long run, rail attracts more riders and is cheaper to operate, is faster and more reliable, and does not contribute to pollution." The study found that 50% of rail passengers in Los Angeles, 59% in Dallas, and 75% in Denver had access to a car but chose rail instead. For the story in Metro Magazine and a link to the full report, click here. 7/20/03: Countdown to September 8 A Special Miami Beach City Commission meeting will be held on Monday, September 8 at 5:00 p.m. to make a decision on the proposed streetcar/light rail line linking the Beach with the mainland. The City decision will then be submitted to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Governing Board for consideration, at their September 25, 2003 meeting. 7/20/03: ART in general agreement with consultant recommendations At the July 14 meeting, the A.R.T. Steering Committee generally agreed with the consultant's recommendation of streetcars and believes that some variation of the streetcar/light rail mode should move forward into the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). However, A.R.T. will continue to debate decisions about many of the details that will be important to the reliability and success of the system. Participation encouraged! 7/11/03: ART makes presence felt at July 10 Workshop At the July 10, Commission Workshop on Rapid Transit Options, Charlie Hales, HDR Engineering, did an excellent job of presenting the proposed streetcar technology and the reasons why it is appropriate for Miami Beach. ART was well represented, as was the opposition. The Commission asked a number of questions and put off a decision until Monday, September 8, 5:00 pm. Read more about it in Sunday's Beach Neighbors article: " System of trolleys suggested to link city to mainland, Proposal reworks Bay Link plan". 7/10/03: STREET COVER STORY ART made the cover of this week's street MIAMI with "FUTURE TRAIN or LOCO MOTIVE? Baylink Boosters Are Routing the Opposition." Emma Trelles' incisive article profiles ART and examines the competing visions for the future of Miami Beach. Click here to read all about it. 6/30/03: City Consultant gives preliminary support to Streetcars at Transit Workshop The City of Miami Beach held the second of two Public Information Workshop regarding the evaluation of rapid transit options for Miami Beach on Wednesday, June 25, at the Eden Roc Hotel. The consulting group hired by the City, HDR, Inc., answered questions from the public and suggested that Miami Beach has the potential to be one of the premiere streetcar cities. HDR, Inc. is expected to release its final report on or prior to July 10, 2003. 6/22/03: The City of Miami Beach has asked for a 60-day extension from the MPO, until September 25. 6/05/03: When Miami Beach Had A Railway The Historic/Contemporary Light Rail presentation is set for Wednesday, June 25, 6:30 pm, Mirador, North Tower, Community Room, 1200 West Avenue (Please note the press release in the press section). 5/32/03: City Workshops on Modes of Transit A big round of applause for the substantial contingent of A.R.T. members in attendance at this past Wednesday's Modes of Transit Workshop, held at the Police Station. The workshop was conducted by Charlie Hales of HDR, the city-hired consultants reviewing the findings of the Baylink Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The rains could not prevent Alliance members in support of Light Rail, nor the usual naysayers, from making their voices heard. Much discussion revolved around the need for dedicated lanes for rapid transit in Miami Beach. While support for Light Rail may not have been unanimous, there was widespread agreement on the need for dedicated lanes in certain areas and at certain times. HDR will conduct another Modes of Transit Workshop in the near future to gather input from Middle and North Beach residents. Alliance members in Middle and North Beach should make every effort to attend. If you are on our mailing list, you will be notified of the time, day and location of the second workshop as soon as they are available. 5/23/03: Light Rail on Television This coming week All About Architecture, the cable television program of AIA Miami, will focus on Light Rail and the Baylink Study. The 30-minute program can be seen on Charter Cable Channel 36, as follows: Sunday 5/25, 11:30 am; Tuesday 5/27, 9:30 pm; Wednesday 5/28, 12:00 pm; and Friday 5/30, 10:00 am. |
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