What do the residents expect from their next Councilmembers?
What do the residents expect from their next Councilmembers? The election of new councilmembers for the City of Doral will take place in November.
Edda Pujadas
What do the residents expect from their next Councilmembers?… Traffic seems to be the problem that the residents of Doral, are more concerned with. We conclude this after reviewing the answers of a survey that we conducted among Doral residents, we asked them their main requests, for the next councilmembers.
Even when all expressed concerns regarding safety, culture, entertainment and the construction permits, for many of the persons that live and work in Doral, traffic is still a priority, therefore those that are running to be elected to Seats 2 and 4 of our City Council must take this into consideration.
Liliana Campa, Jose M. Lorenzo, y Carlos Pereira have registered to run for Seat 2, currently occupied by council member Pete Cabrera and who is seeking his re-election.
For Seat 4, occupied today by Ana Maria Rodriguez who has already exhausted her two periods and is running for State Representative for District 105, are Alexis Acosta, Digna Cabral, and Belinda León.
For all of them, it will be very helpful to know what those, who will be voting, think, given that they are the ones that will be expressing their opinion in the elections of November 6th, 2018.
SETTING THE PRIORITIES
Salomé Castaño lives and works in Doral, therefore for her to be able to commute from one place to another within the City is a priority. “I would like to know what they are planning to do to control the traffic; especially around NW 87th Avenue, where there is a big commercial and labor concentration, on top of a lot of residential units.”
“Another issue that concerns me”, expresses Salomé, “Is that the business’ permits take too long. If the idea is that we are a growing city and we want to support the fact that the people can live and work in the same place, I do not find any logic in having the merchants waiting so long for complicated permit applications and processes.”
Gabriela Rivas, who also lives and works in Doral shares the opinion of Salomé Castaño, when she states that the basic problem of Doral is traffic, and what she would like to request from the next councilmembers in order to improve this situation is to make a bigger investment in public transportation, incorporating more Trolley units and creating new routes.
“It is also important to improve the water and sewer system around the city and stop giving construction permits for residential projects, because, it is obvious that we do not have the required infrastructure to keep up with the growth of the population that the new developments are generating.”
Even when José Azuaje also considers important to stop giving construction permits without the required transit infrastructure for the growth of the number of residents, he also added a request for the future Doral authorities: to promote the creation of new cultural and entertainment areas, such as parks and museums, for example. “It is true that we have several parks, but I believe that we also need to provide more opportunities to the artistic activities.”
Given the continuous arrival of residents from other countries to Doral, Azuaje also comments about the need to have the City offer scheduled courses to assist the immigrants. “It is important to inform them about the laws, their rights, and responsibilities and not just expect that the people arrive and learn on their own or listening to their neighbors. This should be taught all year long with a specific schedule and notification.”
Mirko Piccone has been living and working in Doral for seven years and like Azuaje, he considers that education for the residents is vital. “I believe that we need to promote civility, through programs that promote the knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of each person.”
“I believe that we should all be involved in an educational process as a City, including the authorities, the drivers, teenagers, workers, the pet owners, etc. every person that is part of this city, including the floating residents that come into the city every day. This should include the promotion of the culture of this region, through the opening of museums, educational centers, theaters, aquariums, a whole structure that feeds the residents with a regional education.”
Piccone also believes that it is important to increase the employees in charge of the order, not only the police department, but also to create groups of civilians that are in charge of making everyone comply with the laws that we need to follow and therefore be able to identify in a more efficient way all those that abuse, corrupt and damage our society.
The concern of the garbage odor came back again in the comments of Enrique Armas and Francisco Campos. Armas, who lives in Doral ten years ago stated that he would thank the new Councilmembers for any effort they can do to move the Miami Dade recycling plant.
“I understand that there have been lots of negotiations and processes in order to reduce these odors, but the reality is that we are still breathing polluted air that represents a health hazard.” Armas also spoke about the need to comply with the laws, “we need to achieve that the residents of Doral know, learn, respect and comply with the laws.”
Armas spoke also about the traffic when he stated that there is a lot of people that use our streets to commute from one place to another, avoiding the Turnpike and Palmetto tolls, for example. “We could reduce this if we place more traffic lights and speed bumps.”
For Francisco Campos who has been living in the City of Doral for two years, the only option with the recycling plant is to get it out of our city. “We should not keep on smelling this garbage, it is inadmissible”, he stated emphatically. He also commented on the importance of creating more recreational spaces and of reinforcing the security, especially at night.
Mary Diaz has been a resident of Doral since 1999. During these years, she has always been involved with our City, she has been a member of the Police Advisory Board, she participated in the Government’s Academy and she is always an active participant of the workshops and activities that the city organizes. For her, the main question is: “how do the candidates are planning to lower the city taxes?”.
When we asked Nathy Espinoza, what is the most important thing that she wants from those running for City Council, she responded: “For me, the most important thing is that we have a plural Council, and not power groups. We have a Council formed by five people, with five different ways to solve the same problem, this is like this for a reason, and this reason is to be able to capitalize in favor of the city by getting the best of each one of those five people. I believe that this is the way in which we can improve our city.”
After learning the opinion of several residents of Doral, we can only wait for the elections on November 6th, 2018, with the certainty that these comments, that reflect the concerns of many residents of Doral, can be taken into consideration for those that will be in charge of taking the decisions that will conduct our city in the following years.
All these people have made great points and as usual the traffic is mentioned .
Doral has a lot of people per square mile and this issue isnt one where I have seen any Mayor or Council Person truly care other then lip service .
The Trolley is great but its not even a drop in the ocean. The trolley also needs an actual schedule posted on their stops so people know when it is arriving . Not just a stop that says “Trolley”.
Run it like a schedule bus service and more will use it, especially teenagers who go to the parks , etc .
Mr .Piccone’s comment on drivers civility , IMO is only taken care of by police DRIVING / PATROLLING around and ticketing aggressive and texting drivers .
Speed traps only serve to catch non residents who aren’t the problem and put money in the city pockets but patrolling and actually going after crazed drivers is the key to safety .
Would be nice if at least one car had the job of checking handicapped parking spots in malls, shopping places , etc and ticketing those who park there without the handicapped tags .
Take a picture of the vehicle parked in handicapped without the tag and TICKET it . If window is illegally tinted and you cant see then its two tickets , one for illegally tinted windows .