FYI Miami: February 16, 2023

Bellow 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.

$2.25 METROMOVER FARES: Baylink, a Metromover connection looping downtown Miami to Miami Beach that is to begin construction in 2025, would see all Metromover riders pay $2.25, with free transfers, due to higher operating cost once the expansion is running, the county said. Metromover rides are now free. Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins presented the plan to the City of Miami Beach this month to win city support for an upcoming county vote. These fare changes are also to create a unified and fair fare system through all Metromover lines, she said. The county postponed a meeting planned to discuss Baylink tonight (2/16) at the Miami Beach Regional Library because the site couldn’t handle enough people.

TOP HOTEL PROFITS: Miami’s hotel industry has surpassed 2019 levels of gross operating profits per available room (GOPPAR) – which measures hotels’ operating profits without fees and expenses from the revenue gained – reaching 155% of the pre-pandemic level, according to STR. Miami leads the global list in GOPPAR, followed by Qatar, which reached 152% of 2019 levels.

VIOLENT CRIME UP 26%: Violent crimes in areas patrolled by the Miami-Dade County Police Department rose nearly 26% last year and non-violent crimes rose nearly 15%, the county police department reported in a document sent to county commissioners last week. Homicides rose 14% from 95 in 2021 to 108 in 2022. Rape rose 7% to 584 reported incidents, robberies rose 32% to 992 cases, aggravated assaults rose 30% to 4,786 reports, larcenies rose 17% to 20,549 cases, and car thefts rose 17% to 3,954 vehicles. Burglaries, on the other hand, decreased 4% to 2,538 cases. Total crimes rose 17% from 28,804 cases in 2021 to 33,679 last year. The totals do not include crimes in areas patrolled by municipal police departments.

MIA LOOKS EAST FOR LAND: Miami-Dade County is moving forward to buy more than five acres east of Miami International Airport to be used for construction staging and storage for future airport expansion work and afterward for commercial development from which the airport will collect revenue. A resolution by Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera before the county’s Airports and Economic Development Committee this week says the county plans to spend more than $10.1 million to buy two separate parcels from the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority for unspecified “future expansion projects” at the land-constrained airport, paying for the land with aviation revenue bonds earmarked for land acquisition “to increase MIA’s footprint to the east.”