FYI Miami: February 29, 2024

Below are some of the FYIs in this week’s edition. The entire content of this week’s FYIs and Insider sections is available by subscription only. To subscribe click here.

TRANSIT ZONING FACE-OFF: In order to resolve a conflict between the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County, the mayors and commissions of both are to meet in discussion seeking to resolve the city’s objections to the county’s expansions of the Rapid Transit Zone, an area in which the county controls zoning within the city limits to achieve denser development along mass transit corridors. The meeting at 10 a.m. March 6 is to be held on neutral grounds in the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization Board of Governors chambers at 150 W Flagler St.

MOVIE SHUTS DOWNTOWN BRIDGE: The Northeast Second Avenue Bridge that connects Downtown Miami and Brickell will be shut down for the filming of what the county’s transportation department agrees is a “secret” Hollywood production motion picture. The bridge will be closed Saturday, March 2, and Sunday, March 3, between Third and Eighth streets from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The bridge will open to boats and 9 and 11 a.m. and 1, 3 and 5 p.m. both days.

FORBIDDEN FRUIT: Nearly one of every 10 searches for residential real estate in South Florida in January came from China despite a Florida law that bars most persons domiciled in China from buying property in the state. Figures released this week by the Miami Association of Realtors show that while people in 146 nations searched on the association’s site for South Florida real estate in January, 9.5% of those searches came from just one nation, China. Only Colombia with 12.3% of searches ranked higher. But while buyers from Colombia are welcomed with open arms, state law enacted last year bars almost all persons residing in China except those seeking US asylum from buying Florida land. A federal appeals court this month halted state enforcement of the law against two persons from China, but only until that court, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, rules on the merits of challenges by the two to the law. The law enacts less stringent barriers for buyers from Cuba (Havana ranked fourth of all cities searching the site), Venezuela (which ranked eighth by nation in searches on the site with 4.4%), Iran, North Korea, Russia (which ranked ninth with 4.2% of searches) and Syria.

FENTANYL ERADICATION: The Miami City Commission has accepted $350,000 from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to create the State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication (S.A.F.E.) program that aims to combat the growing fentanyl epidemic. The program will fund investigations designed to arrest and prosecute those involved in illegal fentanyl activity, including dismantling criminal enterprises connected to its production and sale.