FYI Miami: May 3, 2018

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.

HOLOCAUST REPARATIONS: On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County commissioners urged Congress to pass legislation designed to allow Holocaust survivors and their heirs to seek redress from insurance policy providers. “Substantial evidence exists suggesting that several European insurance companies collaborated with the Nazi regime … selling thousands of policies totaling billions of dollars to Nazi victims and then refused to honor them,” Chairman Esteban Bovo’s item says. The legislation in Congress would bring the cases to the US court system. US Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and US Rep. Bill Nelson sponsored legislation in Congress to bring the insurance cases to the US court system. The commissioners’ actions support their efforts and urge other members of Congress to approve the legislation. “This is not just a bipartisan item,” said Commissioner Sally Heyman, “this is a humanitarian issue.”

MLB ACADEMY: While discussing a potential payout from the Miami Marlins at the Miami-Dade County Commission meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Dennis Moss asked about the status of the Major League Urban Youth Baseball Academy that was to be built in the county with funding from Major League Baseball as part of the agreement in which the county paid for the bulk of construction on Marlins Park. County Internal Services Assistant Director Jose Galan said the City of Hialeah wasn’t able to come to an agreement with Major League Baseball on the location of the academy, nor was the academy included in final arrangements with the Marlins. “I haven’t heard anything in over three years,” Mr. Galan said. “I’ll go back and see where we left off.”

CONSTRUCTION GROWTH SLOWS: Construction growth slowed in South Florida in March but is still up 50% for the first quarter of 2018, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The total value of construction starts in the region rose 4% in March from March 2017, reaching $1.058 billion. For 2018 to date, total starts are valued at $3.642 billion, up from $2.431 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Residential starts gained 10% in March from March 2017 and are up 58% of the year at $2.038 billion. Nonresidential construction starts fell 3% in March from March 2017 but still are up 41% for the year at $1.064 billion, Dodge reported.

TRAUMA APPOINTMENT: Nicholas Namias of Miami Beach, a professor of surgery and chief of trauma at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has been appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Florida Trauma System Advisory Council.