FYI Miami: February 8, 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.

CRUISES RIDING HIGH: Seven Florida ports counted 19.4 million cruise passengers last year, topping the previous record by more than 1 million people. That record was set in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic temporarily shut down the cruise industry. After the pandemic cut cruise passenger numbers in Florida to 747,488 in 2021, before increasing to 10.8 million passengers as the industry started to rebound in 2022, PortMiami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades are the top three cruise home ports in the world. PortMiami last year led with just under 7.3 million cruise passengers, followed by Port Canaveral at 6.92 million and Port Everglades at just over 3 million, with numbers expected to keep rising, the new annual report of the Florida Ports Council says.

MENTAL HEALTH BOARD: An ordinance approved Tuesday creates the Miami-Dade County Behavioral Health Advisory Board. Its purpose is to assist public and private entities in addressing matters impacting individuals in the community who are affected by behavioral health disorders, or other related ailments with respect to behavioral health. It is also to oversee the county’s new about-to-open mental health center.

NO UBER PRETENDERS: Drivers for hire pretending to be from Uber or Lyft might not find the ploy so profitable after Miami-Dade commissioners passed an ordinance Tuesday broadened the rules “for the issuance of citations to repeat violators of for hire regulations.” These changes, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava reported to commissioners, “will help the Department of Transportation and Public Works in its efforts to curtail unlicensed transportation providers, and to ensure that visitors and residents who utilize for-hire transportation are transported in vehicles that are licensed, safe, insured, and operated by licensed, trained chauffeurs.”

REVIEWING POLICE REVIEW: Local law-enforcement review boards, including in Miami, North Miami and North Miami Beach, could be filled with appointees of sheriffs or police chiefs under a bill revised Tuesday by the Senate Community Affairs Committee. The bill initially sought to do away with existing civilian police review boards and bar counties and cities from creating panels to delve into complaints of wrongdoing. But under the revised version, civilian oversight boards could be set up by county sheriffs or municipal police chiefs. The new boards could include three to seven members who would be appointed by sheriffs or police chiefs. Sen. Jason Pizzo of Sunny Isles Beach, who voted for the bill, said panels were created by local officials to “placate” the public, “not advance anything constructive.”