FYI Miami: October 17, 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.

LINK TO LA ROMANA: Miami-Dade is poised to make the City of La Romana its 30th sister city and third in the Dominican Republic after the Chairman’s Policy Council voted last week to ask the county’s International Trade Consortium to negotiate an agreement for Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to sign. The measure, which was due before commissioners this week, notes that the Dominican Republic does more than $8 billion in trade with the county annually. Top sectors include financial services, agriculture, textiles, machinery, electronics, flowers and pharmaceuticals. American Airlines will soon begin direct air service between Miami International Airport and La Romana Airport. The county’s first sister city in the Dominican Republic was established in 1975 in San Pedro de Macoris, a city of 217,000 whose economy rests on sugar but has exported 99 players to Major League Baseball and is known as the cradle of shortstops. The second sister, Santo Domingo, came aboard in 2022.   

PLASTICS BAN, SORT OF: Legislation back for a final vote by county commissioners this week that would direct Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to preclude concessionaires on county property from distributing single-use plastics and polystyrene items to consumers has some significant changes. One is that it no longer would be a total ban on all such distribution but “to the greatest extent possible,” new language says. Another is that it specifically removes “wrappers” and “coffee lids” from the ban. Yet another change that would apply to current and future contracts within a year of the effective date of the resolution would exempt “prepackaged foods such as ready-to-eat meals and snack packs” from the ban. 

ATLANTA FISHES FOR COPS: Atlanta is waiving a $60,987 opening salary bait as it spends three days this month recruiting for its police force in Miami. It’s a “perfect opportunity to start a new chapter,” the Georgia police force says not too subtly, also waiving the flag of “lower cost of living.” The promotion also says applicants can get “conditional job offers on the spot.” Plus, the lure says, the Atlanta force will be ensuring public safety at “the upcoming 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted in Atlanta” – although Miami-Dade will be hosting matches of that same World Cup. The World Cup lure might have played better in New York, St. Louis, Chicago and Buffalo, where Atlanta has already gone fishing for police recruits. Here, the bait is being dangled Oct. 25, 26 and 27 at the Hilton Miami Downtown.