Miami Springs dismisses three code-violation charges against United Teachers of Dade
.jpg "The mural was unveiled last March at 5553 NW 36th St. in Miami Springs.")
The City of Miami Springs on Tuesday announced the dismissal of three code violation charges against the United Teachers of Dade involving a mural that includes a child of color reading a book and a Gay Pride rainbow.
The vibrant mural, unveiled last March at 5553 Northwest 36th Street, in the UTD headquarters’ parking lot, had drawn the ire of a city councilwoman.
“If you do not see the word mural on an ordinance this does not mean it’s allowed, means you should make an inquiry with the Building & Zoning department first and present your mural,” Miami Springs Councilwoman Jacky Bravo had said in an email to the Herald on Aug. 31. “We are not talking about a small stamp on the wall. Seems like they took a blind eye on this one, and unfortunately has caused an issue to be dealt with.”
At a Nov. 2 Miami Springs Code Compliance board meeting, the city “dealt” with the powerful teachers’ union by abruptly dismissing the following three code violation charges:
--improper size of wall sign
--improper placement and/or width of wall sign
-- improper construction of sign
“For the record, there are four violations listed in the notice of violation; the city is dismissing the first three that elevated into the record,” said Jose Arango, a lawyer affiliated with a law firm that serves as Miami Springs City Attorney. “So, we’re only proceeding against with respect to violation number four, section 93-51.”
The remaining code violation pending against UTD is for failure to comply with applicable color palette and referred to by Miami Springs officials as “case #21-01221, 5553 NW 36th Street, code 93-51, color palette compliance, 150-030, sign regulations (G)(3)(a)(b)(c).”
The code compliance board read its mural event timeline into the record:
-- “March 10, 2021: CCO [code inspector] Quintero received a text message from a former City of Miami Springs councilperson that read: ‘I called Erika and she’s going to ask you about it — but the UTD building on 36 street they want to paint a mural of like a child reading on the side of the building and they want to make sure that they can do that what’s the protocol?’ CCO Quintero called the former councilperson back and explained that he was not part of the department that would determine the requirements, but that he would reach out to the City Planner and confirm with him.”
-- “April 15, 2021: the city staff met via zoom with the president of the union, and the chief of staff among other attendees regarding the violation. An extension was granted until May 24, 2021, to come into compliance.”
-- “May 11, 2021: the permit was submitted to the city manager and forwarded to the Building Department.”
-- “May 18, 2021: the permit was disapproved by the city planner.”
-- “September 16, 2021: CCO Quintero sent the Summons to Appear in front of the Code Compliance Board via regular and certified mail. Tracking no. 7019-2970-0001-1124-0051.”
-- “September 20, 2021: CCO Quintero sent a reminder email with the Summons to Appear to President Hernandez-Mats and the Chief of Staff Molnar.”
As many about the county and nation were casting ballots, the city’s code compliance board held an unusual Election Day meeting, and three of the four code violation charges against UTD were dropped.
Code compliance meetings are not big draws, but more than two dozen people filled the chambers for the Nov. 2 board meeting, including UTD President Karla Hernandez-Mats and Miami Springs councilman Victor Vazquez.
Former Miami Springs councilwoman Mara Zapata also attended the meeting. Last year, Zapata ran for a District 5 seat on the Miami-Dade School board but lost by a wide margin in a run-off against Christi Fraga, the former vice mayor of the city of Doral.
Due to poor audio and video controls, and board members and others talking over each other, portions of the two-hour meeting were unintelligible. This may explain why the archived meeting video, as of Thursday, has been viewed only 10 times. Miami Springs has a population of 14,000.
It remains unclear why information shared on an adjacent projector, at the Nov. 2 meeting, was not shared with livestream viewers or in an archived recording later uploaded to YouTube.
After a 4–1 vote, the compliance board passed a motion seeking UTD to come into compliance with section 93-51 [the color palette code] within 90 days. The board said it would give an update on UTD’s case at its Feb. 1 meeting.
The Herald has submitted a public records request seeking copies of the motion passed by the code compliance board on Nov. 2, and a meeting transcript, which is being reviewed by Miami Springs City Clerk Erika Santamaria.
The next Miami Springs City Council meeting is at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 22, at 1401 Westward Dr. The meeting will be broadcast live at https://www.miamisprings-fl.gov/meetings.
Those who cannot attend in person may email their comments, which will become part of the meeting’s official record, to cityclerk@miamisprings-fl.gov.
Theo Karantsalis can be reached at karantsalis@bellsouth.net
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 10:00 AM.