Posted on 12/22/2023 8:02:31 AM PST by Red Badger
Hoping they will "move to another city," new commissioner David Suarez says removing dock will force live-aboards to break the law to get food and water
In one of their first acts, Miami Beach's newly constituted mayor and commissioners ordered the removal of a dock that dozens of people living on boats in Biscayne Bay have relied for years as a lifeline to the mainland.
The unanimous vote to cut off their easy access to food and water is part of newly elected commissioner David Suarez's effort to force the so-called "live-aboards" out of the waters off Miami Beach.
"They can’t live on a boat forever," Suarez said during discussion of his proposal at the Dec. 13 commission meeting. "They have to come to the land to get food, water and necessary supplies."
By removing the city-owned dock along the canal along Dade Boulevard across from a Publix, "we're cutting off basically their lifeline and then they’re going to have to be forced to do illegal trips to our sea wall," Suarez said.
That can lead to fines and the costs of towing and seizure of the dinghies - the boat owners use to reach the island, where some work and where they obtain food and water.
Suarez said his goal is to make their situation "so cumbersome … they'll move to another city."
Suarez and the new mayor Steven Meiner said residents have complained about the people who live on boats docking their dinghies and coming onto the island.
Carlos Leon, who's lived with his wife and Apollo - their social-media-popular German Shepherd - called the city's action cruel and un-American.
"Saying we have to cut peoples’ lifeline - we are not in a Third World country. We're in the United States," said Leon.
But the city owns the dock, which was built about 10 years ago as part of a road construction project, and police and public works crew appeared Tuesday night to remove the deck, erect a "no trespassing" sign and block access to the road with a barrier where boaters would walk ashore.
"The city is following the direction given at the Dec. 13 commission meeting," city spokeswoman Melissa Berthier wrote in a statement Wednesday. "The dock is permanently closed and will be removed after the city obtains the required permits."
Suarez, who said he was out of town, declined to comment this week about his actions or to identify any of the residents he said complained about the live-aboards coming on shore.
Leon, who married his wife Jana on board their 41-foot sailboat anchored in the bay, said he was drawn to the live-aboard community during the isolation and storm of COVID, finding the bay a refuge.
"I told my wife Jana, they look so happy and we’re so miserable right now stuck on the house," Leon recalled.
They and dozens of others live on boats there, some of whom protested Suarez and the city Wednesday morning at the now-closed dock site.
"We're going to fight," Leon said, adding, "We’re talking to lawyers right now. We’re going to go to all the commissioners."
Is David Suarez a DEMOCRAT or REPUBLICAN? SEEMS CRUEL!
Most RV'ers usually don't permanently live on public property. They might overnight in a walmart or pay monthly at a spot.
z3n FTTW
So, maybe if they declare themselves homeless, the city has to put back the docks and accomodate them? Isn’t Saurez the idiot that tried briefly to run for president?
The Tampa/St Pete area face a similar situation. It’s not all roses. Issues comes up such as where sewage is dumped, where boats or moored or docked, pets. I don’t know much about the situation in Miami but Tampa was not one of trying to get more tax money from the boaters. There’s probably another reason that isn’t reported yet.
Not to mention that you cannot remove a dock. You can remove a pier, but the duck is the water part where the boat sits.
What happened to public access to and from public waterways? I understand the concern that boats be seaworthy, health, and so forth—that’s the US Coast Guard, correct? But access to and from the water, does the city now control state and federal waterways?
In Florida, city and County offices are ‘non-partisan’.............
In the SF bag they’re predominantly criminals apparently and commit crime and leave navigation hazard hulks rotting grounded…
“There are people who get elected to public office just to make others miserable.”
You probably don’t want to know about homeowners associations!
I live in Florida, don’t think you are correct. We vote a straight R ticket ........except maybe some judges.
I wonder if they could shop in Miami proper, Key Biscayne, or say Coconut Grove if not too far from the protection of the upper bay.
I wonder if they could shop in Miami proper, Key Biscayne, or say Coconut Grove if not too far from the protection of the upper bay.
True, judicial and school boards are non-partisan..........
I think you have the answer. Boat bums damage neighborhoods with their freeloading behavior. Boats go derelict and people walk away from them.
Where do these people poop? Where does their trash go? They consume services paid for by taxes they don’t pay. Millions of Boondockers are living off others indirectly in RVs, vans, and pickup campers. The cleanup of one of their eyesore areas near me required roll-offs carrying away their abandoned vehicles and mountains of trash.
“Boats go derelict and people walk away from them.”
And, the crap(sh$t) in the water in the area is a hazard and a stinking mess. Everything goes directly in the water from these boats.
Was it morally reprehensible not to have a dock there in 2012?
I smell a developer in the background.
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