Miami Mayor Francis Suarez pushes for renewal of ‘Plan Z’ on Rickenbacker

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez pushes for renewal of ‘Plan Z’ on Rickenbacker
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Anyone who thought the outrageous and over-the-top $500 million Plan Z proposal for the privatization of Rickenbacker Causeway was dead in the water might want to look again.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez wants to resurrect the public land grab.

Suarez is asking the commission on Thursday to urge the county to revisit Plan Z — which would replace and rebuild the bridges with a wider and reconfigured causeway, with a separate 8 foot lane for bicycles, an observation deck, a gift shop and other recreational amenities — or request a proposal for a similar project. The resolution on the agenda, if approved, would “reaffirm the endorsement of the Rickenbacker Causeway project AKA ‘Plan Z’ … supporting its vision as presented; urging Miami-Dade County to immediately reopen request for proposals no. RFP-01982 or reissue a similar RFP to develop, maintain, and operate the Rickenbacker Causeway and associated recreational elements.”

The resolution further requests for the project to come back to the city commission for input during the early design phase.

Read related: Rickenbacker Causeway bike safety was casualty of Plan Z public land grab

Did you all read it the same way Ladra did? Suarez is really pushing for the original Plan Z to come back to the table. No similar nada. City Hall insiders told Ladra that renowned architect Bernard Zyscovich — who designed and championed the no-bid, backroom deal for a $500 million bridge and road improvements project with “recreational amenities” in exchange for ownership of the causeway and its contracts and its tolls — has been meeting or trying to meet one-on-one with Miami commissioners ahead of Thursday’s vote.

His pitch is all over the resolution language. It sounds like the mayor is working for Zyscovich. Why not? It worked for Jorge Mas.

“WHEREAS, after eight (8) years of gathering input from the County and municipalities as well as Rickenbacker Causeway stakeholders and the cycling community, renowned architect and urban planner Bernard Zyscovich developed Plan Z, a comprehensive design that includes a thirty (30) foot wide separated and protected bicycle and pedestrian corridor, improved automobile traffic flow, the replacement of the Bear Cut Bridge, the elevation of the entire road bed by three (3) feet to meet coastal resiliency standards and a twenty (20) acre park that serves as green infrastructure to protect the road and enhance equitable access to the bay for all County residents; and

WHEREAS, Plan Z’s phase 2 also enhances connectivity by and between South Miami Avenue, South Bayshore Drive, the Commodore Trail in Coconut Grove, and the Underline, creating a safe and sustainable corridor for cyclists and pedestrians as well as enhancing connectivity with mass transit, including bus stops, the City’s trolley system, the Metrorail and Metromover, thereby providing better access to the County’s public transportation network for all residents and visitors; and

WHEREAS, after multiple meetings with the County, municipal leaders, and stakeholders and in the absence of a County public engagement process and plan to finance and improve the Rickenbacker Causeway, Zyscovich in good faith organized a consortium of partners to design, build finance, operate, and maintain the Rickenbacker Causeway, and submitted an unsolicited proposal March 2021 following all County ordinances and State Statutes for a “Non-P3 Qualifying Project” that would be competitively bid subsequent to County due diligence; and

WHEREAS, the County did its due diligence as prescribed by ordinance using independent finance and design criteria professionals in the analysis and found the Plan Z proposal to be viable on all levels of design and financing, and after receiving Board of County Commissioner approval, released Request for Proposals (“RFP”) No. RFP-01982 in August 2021 and was amended to remain open to potential bidders until March 2022 to allow ample time for design and finance joint ventures to be formed and submission of bids to compete for the Rickenbacker Causeway concession agreement; and

WHEREAS, on January 19, 2022, with forty-five (45) days left until the bids were due and after a significant expenditure by the consortium to fairly compete and meet the RFP requirements, the County cancelled the RFP; and

WHEREAS, while the County has a right to cancel an RFP at any time, the decision to do so prior to receiving bids has deprived the County from substantial benefits coming from the extensive planning and engineering designs that the proposers were in the process of submitting; and

WHEREAS, receiving bids would also have provided valuable information regarding the costs and the financial proposal as well as a project completion time frame; and

WHEREAS, the canceled RFP was also addressing primary concerns of safety regarding roadway separations of vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians; and answers for traffic congestion, resiliency, and sea level rise, as well as the provision of highly desirable additional park space;

Doesn’t that sound like it was written by Zyscovich and/or his people? We know Suarez lets interested parties write legislation that will affect them. He’s done it before. Ladra can’t help but wonder who wrote this.

The unsolicited proposal was actually scratched after community outrage over the extent of it and distrust with the people involved. The project was being overseen by the parks department, not the transportation, proving that it is more about the future concessions and other money making endeavors than it is about providing safe entry and exit from the key. And one of the Plan Z stakeholders was the former parks director for the county.

Read related: Rickenbacker RFP looks like a done deal set-up for no-bid Plan Z proposal

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that something still had to be done and began by painting a green bicycle lane to keep cyclists safer. It didn’t work. Two more cyclists were killed in May when they were struck by vehicles. Since then, Levine Cava has committed to spending $250,000 immediately to distinguish the bike line with some sort of barriers and finding federal dollars to repair or replace Bear Cut Bridge.

That’s not enough for Suarez. Apparently he wants the whole Zyscovich kit and kaboodle. And Plan Z has somehow been resurrected through this tragedy — as if concessions and an observation deck can save lives.

The meeting at the city of Miami begins at 9 a.m. and can be viewed live on the city’s website here.

9 Responses to "Miami Mayor Francis Suarez pushes for renewal of ‘Plan Z’ on Rickenbacker"

  1. It is tragic when anyone is killed or injured when driving, biking, or walking. However, in the case of the telegenic and popular Rickenbacker Causeway, the danger to cyclists is over stressed by local news media, elected officials, and architect-developers when compared to the rest of Miami-Dade County. Since 2006, there have been six bike casualties on the Causeway, but hundreds more cycling casualties elsewhere in Miami-Dade County. Further, the majority of the cycling accidents and casualties on the Causeway occurred before the Bear Cut Bridge and Crandon Boulevard bike lanes were upgraded. In addition, the ‘demands’ and ‘calls’ by some activists for protected bike and pedestrian lanes ignore the fact that most of the Causeway indeed has paths completely separated from vehicular traffic and green painted bike lanes. There are areas, such as the area involved in the latest fatalities, that do need safety improvements, notably where turning cars and bikes interact, as well as some westbound portions of the Causeway that have no barriers. We need a Plan-A to fix only those elements found to be hazardous to both cyclists and motorists on the Rickenbacker Causeway. In addition the plan should not cause undue burden on the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County.

  2. ‘Is Mayor Cava listening?’

    She is listening but TERRIFIED of the Cosa Nostra Miami political machine.

    I would call her a spineless jellyfish but jellyfish can give some sting .

    IMO the real Mayor is Jose Pepe Diaz .

  3. If elected officials hand over the Rickenbacker Causeway to a private company t tolls might increase 100% to 300%. After all, the private company is in business to make a massive profit… from the stupidity of elected officials. Just like Jeff Loria and his Marlins company were in business to make a profit…and boy did they.

  4. The causeway is a boring bond pledged public toll roadway, very hard to steal from. Even worse the public lashes back from the voting booth when the politicians raise the tolls.
    But
    Take the same roadway, the same operating cost, create a P3 and now they can laundered the tolls so all the politicians get their pork tasting and the elected have political cover when the P3 (not the politicians) set dramatically higher toll rates to cover the additional cost of P3 profits and the cost of all the politicians’ tastings.

    And what is the P3 offering the public in return ? Nothing the county should’ve been offering over the last 75 years if they hadn’t continually mis-managed the tollway funds all along. .

  5. City of Miami and Miami-Dade elected officials voted to divert over $3 BILLION to the owner of the Miami Marlins. Yup. Jeff Loria walked away with $1.2 BILLION in his pocket…more if you count all his profits for 7-8 years… Francis Suarez, Manny Diaz, Carlos Alvarez, Marc Sarnoff, Joe Carollo, Keon Hardemon, Alex Diaz de la Portilla are all corrupt scammers. Plan Z is another con.

  6. Another scam to divert taxpayer money to connected insiders like Bernard Zysovich! And whichever friends of Francis Suarez want the construction contracts. Suarez LOVES killing parks and covering parks in concrete. Suarez killed Melreese Park and Suarez killed a chance of a world class public park on Watson Island. Key Biscayne residents are opposed to Plan Z.

  7. In The Miami Dade” PINAPPLE ” Who will Investigate The SAO ? It’s a PAY TO PLAY Culture!

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