Do Miami Beach residents want Metromover? A new poll enters the fight
Miami Beach's elected leaders oppose extending Metromover service to South Beach — but the city's residents strongly support the county transit project, according to a new tax-funded poll.
The survey comes from a county transit board that has long championed a 'Baylink' transit line connecting downtown Miami to the Beach. Conducted by Bendixen & Amandi, a Miami polling firm, the survey found 79% of Miami Beach residents support a mass-transit link to the mainland. While 40% of residents surveyed weren't aware of the $1 billion Metromover proposal, the plan had the 'strong' support of 67% of those who knew about it.
The Citizens' Independent Transit Trust paid $22,500 in transportation dollars to fund the poll of 400 Beach residents about the Metromover proposal that the Miami Beach City Commission voted to oppose in early 2024. The vote followed harsh pushback against the county proposal, with Miami Beach residents of a luxury condo tower off the potential elevated transit system chanting 'Stop the Train!' at a 2023 town hall in South Beach.
'The vocal few have been very active,' said Meg Daly, a member of the county's Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust, an oversight board for Miami-Dade's half-percent transportation sales tax. The board held a May 14 workshop on the survey results, which Daly called 'very strong' and demonstrated to her that the average Miami Beach resident wants Metromover even if they're not rallying for it. 'A lot of people don't show up and speak up,' she said.
Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez was the sponsor of the 2024 resolution urging Miami-Dade to pursue a rapid-transit bus line to the Beach instead of Metromover. In an interview this week, he said the survey results seem to miss some of the complexities of the debate — including concerns that a Metromover line would likely bring the kind of looser zoning rules that the county can impose around some transit lines.
'Of course we all want public transportation,' Fernandez said. 'My concern is about the upzoning it could potentially bring.' He cited Miami Beach's uphill battle against residential towers now authorized by Florida's Live Local law and said the city wouldn't want to face another zoning problem in South Beach's historic neighborhoods.
Keith Marks, president of the South of Fifth Neighborhood Association, said the survey failed to present a full picture of the potential downsides for a Metromover extension from downtown Miami to where the MacArthur Causeway meets Fifth Street in South Beach.
'People are not against mass transportation,' he said. 'When they hear about the cost, the disruption and where it's gonna go specifically, they are not in favor of it.'
The survey found that while most Miami Beach residents aren't using public transportation now, 65% of those polled said they'd likely use a Miami to Miami Beach Metromover route once built. Nearly half said they'd likely use it a few times a week, and 13% would use it daily.
Even if it's ultimately approved, Miami-Dade remains years away from that possibility, with the latest Baylink effort already well behind the schedule the county's mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, laid out when she announced the effort in late 2022. At the time, the county was pursuing a $1.3 billion monorail line to South Beach under a plan championed by the prior mayor, Carlos Gimenez. In ditching the monorail plan for the proposed Metromover extension, Levine Cava cited rising costs from the monorail proposal and the advantages of extending a transit system that already runs throughout Miami.
She and Commissioner Eileen Higgins, chair of the county's Transportation committee, announced the shift to Metromover in a joint video and promised a County Commission vote by 2024. That hasn't happened, the latest missed target in a Baylink effort that Miami-Dade started pursuing in the 1980s.
In a statement, Higgins, now a candidate for mayor in the city of Miami, said the original timeline was delayed as Miami-Dade answers questions from Florida's Department of Transportation, which controls the MacArthur Causeway and other roadways around the project. 'I look forward to the State approving this project soon so we can get residents moving,' she said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Miami Herald
Do Miami Beach residents want Metromover? A new poll enters the fight
Miami Beach's elected leaders oppose extending Metromover service to South Beach — but the city's residents strongly support the county transit project, according to a new tax-funded poll. The survey comes from a county transit board that has long championed a 'Baylink' transit line connecting downtown Miami to the Beach. Conducted by Bendixen & Amandi, a Miami polling firm, the survey found 79% of Miami Beach residents support a mass-transit link to the mainland. While 40% of residents surveyed weren't aware of the $1 billion Metromover proposal, the plan had the 'strong' support of 67% of those who knew about it. The Citizens' Independent Transit Trust paid $22,500 in transportation dollars to fund the poll of 400 Beach residents about the Metromover proposal that the Miami Beach City Commission voted to oppose in early 2024. The vote followed harsh pushback against the county proposal, with Miami Beach residents of a luxury condo tower off the potential elevated transit system chanting 'Stop the Train!' at a 2023 town hall in South Beach. 'The vocal few have been very active,' said Meg Daly, a member of the county's Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust, an oversight board for Miami-Dade's half-percent transportation sales tax. The board held a May 14 workshop on the survey results, which Daly called 'very strong' and demonstrated to her that the average Miami Beach resident wants Metromover even if they're not rallying for it. 'A lot of people don't show up and speak up,' she said. Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez was the sponsor of the 2024 resolution urging Miami-Dade to pursue a rapid-transit bus line to the Beach instead of Metromover. In an interview this week, he said the survey results seem to miss some of the complexities of the debate — including concerns that a Metromover line would likely bring the kind of looser zoning rules that the county can impose around some transit lines. 'Of course we all want public transportation,' Fernandez said. 'My concern is about the upzoning it could potentially bring.' He cited Miami Beach's uphill battle against residential towers now authorized by Florida's Live Local law and said the city wouldn't want to face another zoning problem in South Beach's historic neighborhoods. Keith Marks, president of the South of Fifth Neighborhood Association, said the survey failed to present a full picture of the potential downsides for a Metromover extension from downtown Miami to where the MacArthur Causeway meets Fifth Street in South Beach. 'People are not against mass transportation,' he said. 'When they hear about the cost, the disruption and where it's gonna go specifically, they are not in favor of it.' The survey found that while most Miami Beach residents aren't using public transportation now, 65% of those polled said they'd likely use a Miami to Miami Beach Metromover route once built. Nearly half said they'd likely use it a few times a week, and 13% would use it daily. Even if it's ultimately approved, Miami-Dade remains years away from that possibility, with the latest Baylink effort already well behind the schedule the county's mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, laid out when she announced the effort in late 2022. At the time, the county was pursuing a $1.3 billion monorail line to South Beach under a plan championed by the prior mayor, Carlos Gimenez. In ditching the monorail plan for the proposed Metromover extension, Levine Cava cited rising costs from the monorail proposal and the advantages of extending a transit system that already runs throughout Miami. She and Commissioner Eileen Higgins, chair of the county's Transportation committee, announced the shift to Metromover in a joint video and promised a County Commission vote by 2024. That hasn't happened, the latest missed target in a Baylink effort that Miami-Dade started pursuing in the 1980s. In a statement, Higgins, now a candidate for mayor in the city of Miami, said the original timeline was delayed as Miami-Dade answers questions from Florida's Department of Transportation, which controls the MacArthur Causeway and other roadways around the project. 'I look forward to the State approving this project soon so we can get residents moving,' she said.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
Fed's Daly: April PCE inflation is a 'relief,' but incomplete, Fox Business
(Reuters) -San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said on Friday cooling inflation offers "relief" for Americans suffering from high prices, but that there are risks of higher inflation ahead. "The inflation number that printed today, that's good relief for American consumers," Daly said on Fox Business' "Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street," referring to the 2.1% rise in the personal consumption expenditure price index increase last month, the slowest annual increase in four years. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Yahoo
Fed's Daly says inflation her main focus right now
By Ann Saphir OAKLAND, California (Reuters) -U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers could still cut interest rates twice this year as they projected in March, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said on Thursday, but for now rates should remain steady to make sure inflation is on track to reach the central bank's 2% goal. "As long as inflation is printing above target and there's some uncertainty about how quickly it can come back down to 2%, well, then inflation is going to be my focus because the labor market's in solid shape," Daly said in an interview with Reuters after an appearance at the Oakland Rotary Club. "We need to have policy in this modestly or moderately restrictive space, depending on how you think about it, to continue to bring ourselves to price stability." The Fed earlier this month kept short-term borrowing costs in the 4.25%-4.5% range where they've been since December. Daly said the decision was an "active" choice as the central bank evaluates the economic impact of the Trump administration trade and other policies -- like a driver holding the wheel steady rather than steering to the left or the right. Fed policymakers generally feel that Trump's aggressive tariffs risk increasing unemployment, which at 4.2% is comparatively low, and pushing up on inflation, which by the Fed's targeted measure is at 2.3%. Overall, Daly said, the economy is in solid shape for now. "I'm looking for any signs that the labor market is weakening. I haven't seen them, but let's continue to look," Daly said. "And I'm also looking for signs about inflation either continuing to gradually come down -- that would be welcome news -- or having any pressure to move either back up or stay sticky." As part of that effort she is crisscrossing the Western states for clues on how businesses and communities are faring. After her appearance in Oakland, Daly was headed to catch a plane to southern California where she was due to speak at another event on Friday. "I spend a lot of time counting cranes in cities," she said. "And when I count the cranes, there's certainly more than zero. And there's, in many cities, especially in the Intermountain region, there are more than there were last not stalled out." At the same time, she said, businesses are taking fewer risks - opening five stores, for instance, instead of 10. All that -- along with economic data showing a slowing but not cratering economy and a continued easing of inflation -- shows the Fed is not in the difficult position of having to choose between fighting inflation and bolstering the economy, and feeds into her sense that the Fed could cut rates later this year. "In that world, a couple of rate cuts, like the (Fed projections) said, would make some sense, right? But the distribution of risks around that is pretty large," Daly said. Fed policy is well-positioned to respond to those risks and the central bank is agile, she added. A U.S. trade court ruling on Wednesday that blocked many of Trump's tariffs, followed on Thursday by an appeals court reversal, underscored the uncertainty over trade policy that is keeping many businesses -- and the Fed -- on edge. Clarity might come with time, Daly said. "I don't want to make policy decisions based on speculation, either speculation that inflation will rise or speculation that it will never fall," she said. "I think the (projection) in March is a reasonable projection, but ... we're in May, right? So many things can happen."
