MIAMI RIVER COMMISSION
c/o Robert King High
1407 NW 7 St., Suite D
Miami,
FL
33125
Fax 305-642-1136
e-mail:
miamiriver@bellsouth.net
This site
prepared and designed by
Mark Sell Communications, Inc. Public Relations
About the Commission:
THE MIAMI RIVER COMMISSION was formed by the Florida Legislature in 1998 as the official clearinghouse for all public policy and projects related to the Miami River. Its mission is to help ensure that government agencies, businesses and residents speak with one voice on river issues.
In less than three years, the commission has brought about the river's first dredging in nearly 70 years, and put into motion a Greenways program to reclaim and enhance the river's environs and landscape. It has worked with varied interests to work with common cause to make the river stronger economically and environmentally. The commission seeks to improve every aspect of river life.
The Commission's immediate roots go back more than 20 years, but the deeper causes of the river's challenges today go back to Miami's emergence as an urban center in the 1920s boom. As the area's population exploded, stormwater and untreated sewage flowed into the river and Biscayne Bay. During World War II, the river became a manufacturing center for PT boats for the U.S. Navy. The river took on more of an industrial character from this time.
Public attention turned to the river's environmental health in the 1970s. In 1984, the Miami River Coordinating Committee came into being as a clearinghouse for information and issues relating to the river.
Accomplishments in reducing pollutants did not reverse the river's neglect quickly enough. In 1991, a Grand Jury report called the river a "cesspool" and attacked the civic and political community's neglect of the river. A second report in 1998 was also sharply critical.
THE MIAMI RIVER STUDY COMMISSION was formed to propose a solution to the river's challenges. The first dramatic results took years.
WHILE EFFORTS TO IMPROVE the river gathered strength in the 1990s, the community needed an effective, recognized, and energetic coordinating body with active participation of elected officials with power to get things done. The study group proposed a Miami River Commission to address these priorities: dredging, creating greenways, improving water quality, enforcement, disposing of derelict vessels, and developing adjoining areas in a beneficial way. Answering the Study Commission's Call to Action, the Florida Legislature formed The Miami River Commission (MRC) as the official public clearinghouse for Miami River matters until at least the year 2003. The commission went to work quickly,
General
Commission
Minutes
Jan.
9, 2006
Oct.
3, 2005
Sep.
12, 2005
July
11, 2005
June
6, 2005
Apr.
4, 2005
Feb. 7, 2005
Jan. 10, 2005
Dec.
6, 2004
Oct.
4, 2004
July 12, 2004
May 3, 2004
Mar.
1, 2004
Feb.
2, 2004
Jan.
7, 2004
Nov.
3, 2003
Oct.
6, 2003
Sept.
8, 2003
July,
7, 2003
June
2, 2003
May
5, 2003
April 7, 2003
March 3, 2003
Feb.
3, 2003
Jan. 6, 2003
Dec. 3, 2002
Nov. 4, 2002
Oct. 7, 2002
Sep.
9, 2002
July 22, 2002
June
10, 2002
May 6, 2002
April 1, 2002
Mar. 4, 2002
Feb. 4, 2002
Jan.
7, 2002
Dec.
10, 2001
Nov. 15, 2001
Oct. 10, 2001
Sep. 10, 2001
July
9, 2001
June 4, 2001
May
7, 2001
Apr.
9, 2001
Mar. 5, 2001
Feb. 5, 2001
Jan.
8, 2001
Dec.
4, 2000
Nov.
6, 2000
Oct.
2, 2000
Irela M. Bagué,
Governing Board, South Florida Water Management District --
Ms.
Bagué was appointed to the South Florida Water Management District
FOR THE
FIRST TIME in
memory, elected officials, businesses, residents and other river
stakeholders represented on the MRC are speaking with one voice.
Inspired by similar riverfront renovations in Cleveland and Chattanooga,
the commission has fostered these efforts:
The MRC prompted the Army Corps to recommend that the federal government pay for 80 percent of dredging costs, including disposal.
IT HELPED LAUNCH a riverside Greenways program, starting with the Lummus Park/Riverside neighborhood, in alliance with the Trust for Public Land
THE COMMISSION COULD NOT have accomplished its work alone. A dedicated group of non-members were critical to its success and deserve special mention. Dr. Fran Bohnsack of The Miami River Marine Group has done as much as anyone to unite the commission's varied interests in the belief that a vital commercial artery can also become a destination for the public and an asset to the community. Brenda Marshall and Lavinia Freeman of the Trust For Public Land have worked energetically through the Greenways program to turn the river into a showcase. Without these two groups and these three people, the commission simply would not be where it is today.