Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall takes a stand: MDX tolls keep rising: Let your voice be heard - Other Views - MiamiHerald.com

MDX tolls keep rising: Let your voice be heard - Other Views - MiamiHerald.com
Thank you to the reader who pointed out Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall's article posted in the opinion section of the Tuesday, June 18, 2013, Miami Herald: MDX tolls keep rising: Let your voice be heard

Mayor MacDougall is showing great leadership on this issue. Take a stand! Mayor MacDougall's actions are in stark contrast to what is NOT happening in Palmetto Bay.

Mayor MacDougall states that he has attended the last two MDX board meetings and was so disappointed by the lack of attendance by our elected officials at these critical hearings. Incredibly, he was the only elected official to watch the MDX board actions.
 
He is asking for you, the taxpayers to get involved in the MDX process, that (a)lthough these important hearings are public there is a sparse audience and the board seems to act in a bubble without any thought to the people who travel these roads daily.

I personally join Mayor MacDougall in thanking the efforts of the grassroots group, RollBackTolls.com, these MDX issues are getting the attention they deserve.

Thank you Mayor MacDougall.  Be sure to let your neighboring counterpart know when it is safe to surface and take part in issues of regional importance. She has been strangely silent on this issue as well.

Note that this is not the first complaint I have issued regarding a strange lack of leadership within Palmetto Bay's current electeds.  See:
A great example of action, follow through, by the Village of Pinecrest on Neighborhood Protection; and
Update on the 3/19 MDX South MIami-Dade meeting. Toll hike on state roads 836 and 112 might not be final - MiamiHerald.com

Public Hearing - MDX - Public meetings including online Webinar regarding proposed toll rate change

MIAMI-DADE EXPRESSWAY AUTHORITY PUBLIC REVIEW - ONLINE MEETINGS
PUBLIC HEARING
The Board of Directors for the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) will be considering a toll rate change for SR 836/Dolphin Expressway. The MDX Board approved a toll rate for SR 836 of 70 cents per gantry at NW 97thAvenue, NW 57th Avenue and NW 17th Avenue in both eastbound and westbound directions. The Board is seeking public input on a potential lower rate of 60 cents for these locations. This change will impact the revenue that will be collected and the future projects that MDX can deliver in Miami-Dade County. MDX will conduct the following meetings to provide information to the public prior to this important decision. locations indicated below. Parking is free at all locations.

ONLINE WEBINAR 

Monday, June 10, 2013
6 pm - 7 pm (English) / 8 pm - 9 pm (Español) Deadline for registration, June 6, 2013 via the following link
For English: https://mdx.webex.com/mdx/onstage/g.php?d=668543355&t=a
Fecha final para inscribirse, 6 de junio, 2013 en la siguiente conexión
En Español: https://mdx.webex.com/mdx/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=662777846
 
PUBLIC REVIEW MEETING / REUNION INFORMATIVA
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 6 pm - 9 pm / Martes, 11 de junio, 2013 de 6 pm - 9 pm
MDX Headquarters - Main Board Room / Oficinas de MDX - Sala Principal de Conferencias
3790 NW 21st Street / Miami, Florida 33142
The Metrorail Airport/MIC Station is located on NW 21 Street, across from MDX. / REUNION INFORMATIVA
Acceso por Metrorail por la Estación del Aeropuerto localizada
en la Calle NW 21, en frente de MDX Free parking available / Estacionamiento gratis
 
PUBLIC HEARING /AUDIENCIA PÚBLICA
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 4 pm / Martes, 18 de junio, 2013 a las 4 pm
MDX Headquarters - Main Board Room / Oficinas de MDX - Sala Principal de Conferencias
3790 NW 21st Street / Miami, Florida 33142

South Dade Busway update. Pinecrest and Cutler Bay are engaged in neighborhood protection. Palmetto Bay continues to ignore this important issue

Update from Pinecrest (taken from the Pinecrest e-news, April 2013 edition):

South Dade Busway Update

We continue to question and oppose the concept of building an above grade toll express lane over the Busway along US 1.  MDX continues to study this ill-conceived proposal, which will not be completed until 2015, and the opposition through out South Miami-Dade grows with each public presentation.  The Village has recently responded to a grant program, by the Metropolitan Planning Organization, and applied for a grant to undertake additional studies for enhanced transit as opposed to putting more cars on the road, all of which would dump back onto US 1 somewhere in Pinecrest. We are proposing the county study a light-rail alternative or enhanced bus transit as a parallel proposed study to the express lanes study. I have asked Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and our local county commissioners (Moss, Bell and Suarez) to support our proposal. Please read this article from the Miami Herald for more information.

____________________________________________

Thank you Mayor Lerner and Pinecrest council for continuing to step forward on this issue that will profoundly impact the quality of life for the US1 neighborhoods.

Cutler Bay has been engaged as well.  Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall appeared before the MDX board at the local meeting held on March 19.

See my prior post for more information: Update on the 3/19 MDX South Miami-Dade meeting.

Palmetto Bay held its council meeting on Monday, April 1.  Surprisingly, no action continues to be taken by Mayor Stanczyk or any other member of the Palmetto Bay Council. Not a peep or hint of interest in protecting the Palmetto Bay neighborhoods. Perhaps their lack of attendance at the March MDX meeting has left this political council ill-advised and unable to formulate a coherent transit policy. I can't point out often enough that for Palmetto Bay Mayor and Council to show up after others do the heavy lifting and then try to lead the parade is worse than never showing up at all.

Get involved. The future is being determined now.

Update on the 3/19 MDX South MIami-Dade meeting. Toll hike on state roads 836 and 112 might not be final - MiamiHerald.com

Toll hike on state roads 836 and 112 might not be final - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

What will be the future for South Dade roadways? 

Pay significant tolls or have roads suffer from neglect? Will we be forced to pay a daily toll to travel in ‘Lexis Lanes’ on the former buslanes (RIP dreams of mass transit – there has been a huge backslide, why invest in mass transit when we can relieve the pressure, for revenue, and create more incentive to stay in your cars).  There are many transit needs and this is a discussion that must involve as many people and officials as possible. Decisions will impact home values and desirability due to practicality for residents in some areas to be able to commute to work in various areas of the County or may promote additional urban sprawl by moving highways out to areas not currently developed. How will future decisions affect infill?

The locally held March 19 MDX meeting was very well attended.  Well attended that is by Roll Back Tolls group and interested residents, but the local elected officials were suspiciously absent and conspicuously silent on an important issue; the future transit policy for south Miami-Dade.  

Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall was the only local elected official to attend. Thank you Mayor Mac. It is sad to report that there was not a single representative from Palmetto Bay present at the meeting. What a shame – an opportunity avoided to take some leadership or at least gather first-hand information from the MDX representatives as well as the many interested residents.

It would have been a good time for local leaders to share concerns and some constructive ideas with the MDX board. Perhaps even make some common sense proposals such as proposing that the Florida Legislature repurpose the proposed Hotel Bed Tax from funding for private sports stadiums for billionaire owners to instead a broad use, funding meaningful and widespread transit improvements rather than continue to literally ‘nickel and dime’ (or in some cases $2.40 each way) commuters to death. 

Read the Miami Herald article:

“All I hear is more tolls, more concrete and more cars,” said Cutler Bay Mayor Edward MacDougall, one of the speakers who addressed the MDX board.

Carlos Garcia, co-founder of the anti-toll group RollBackTolls.com, voiced the general feeling of people who spoke, urging board members to delay the increase.

“Please hold off,” said Garcia, who like other group members wore a T-shirt with signs saying “Enough is Enough.”

It is a shame that Palmetto Bay’s Mayor and council are missing in action on this debate. It could not have been the location.  The MDX board held this meeting in our neighborhood.  Palmetto Bay’s Mayor and council were not required to face rush hour traffic or car pool to downtown Miami, but despite the convenience, it is more than apparent that these horses could not be led to this water.

Remember the lack of attendance in the very new future when you find that you had no voice in the direction of the transit policy for US1 and South Miami-Dade in general or when you travel the local highways and find yourself paying more in tolls than in gas while billionaires are collecting tax dollars from tourists for their private property instead of investigating in the common good and community infrastructure.

Thank you Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall for showing interest and political spine. A rose to you for your participation.  And thorns to all those elected officials who choose to avoid participating in the dialogue in setting long-term policy for South Miami-Dade transit. Showing up after others do the heavy lifting and trying to jump to the front of the parade Madam Mayor and Council members is worse than never showing up at all.

Get involved. The future is being determined now.

Roll Back Tolls update – two MDX Planning Workshops scheduled to be held in the South Miami-Dade area

Public meetings about South Dade Busway scheduled in Cutler Bay and Homestead

Read "Get MDX Off the Busway" Blog for more information.  Also see "Cityof Pinecrest Passes Resolution Against MDX Busway Project" (contains a copy of the Pinecrest resolution)

Attendance at these MDX meetings are important for those concerned about our community, our tax dollars and how the road-toll charges are set and spent in Miami Dade.

Please attend, get informed and speak your concerns!

Meeting one – Wednesday, March 20, 2013

WHAT:           MDX “Planning Workshop”

WHEN:          Wednesday, March 20, 2013

TIME:             6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

WHERE:        South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center

10950 SW 211th Street

Cutler Bay, FL 33189

Meeting two – Thursday, March 21, 2013

WHAT:           MDX “Planning Workshop”

WHEN:          Thursday, March 21, 2013

TIME:             6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

WHERE:        Phichol Williams Center

951 SW 4th Street

Homestead, FL 33030

Petition available to review and sign at www.RollBackTolls.com

CLICK HERE to download the flyer from Roll Back Tolls to share this information with your neighbors.

Follow up on the expressway toll increases. Are you ready to participate?

Ready to pay more to use the roads that your taxes built?  Do you feel it is time to get engaged on the issue.  Can you afford not to? This is more than consideration of a one-time toll adjustment.  MDX wants to implement automatic toll rate increases that would start in 2015. They would ensure regular toll hikes down the road would match inflation - and would be done automatically, with no future hearings needed.

See Channel 10 report, March 12, 2013: "Toll hikes proposed for Miami-Dade expressways, MDX considers increasing price of tolls on SR 836, SR 112"

This is what you missed if you failed to attend the KFHA meeting (see prior post: The Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations (KFHA) and RollBackTolls.com want you to attend a public meeting to help them Oppose Planned Toll Hikes).

Drivers will have a chance to sound off on the proposed toll hikes in a meeting at the MDX offices on March 19th.

The Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations (KFHA) and RollBackTolls.com want you to attend a public meeting to help them Oppose Planned Toll Hikes

Did you ever want an opportunity to speak out to prevent a tax increase rather than suffer in silence after finding your tolls have increased?  HERE IS YOUR CHANCE!  The groups want you to attend a public meeting 7:00 PM this Monday, March 11, 2013 and learn more.

Kendall Village Center          CLICK HERE to view the downloadable event flier  

8625 SW 124 Avenue

Miami, FL 33183

KFHA and RollBackTolls.com want to discuss with you the plan of the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) to raise the per mile toll rate by 50% on the Dolphin (SR836) and Airport (SR112) Expressways by June 2014 as well as incorporate Consumer Price Indexing (CPI) on tolls for automatic toll increases after 2015 without oversight.  The CPI indexing will affect toll rates on all MDX highways including SR 874 and SR 878. This is an outrageous rate increase to place on the already financially burdened commuters of Miami-Dade County.

For additional information or to sign the on-line petition in opposition to MDX’ 50% toll rate increase and CPI indexing , visit: http://www.RollBackTolls.com or www.facebook.com/rollbacktolls 

RollBackTolls.com is a grassroots watchdog group for toll roads in South Florida .CLICK HERE to view and sign the online petition.