Resolution urging The Florida Legislature to enact Senate Bill 198, House Bill 245

@ 01:44:38 on the dial: I am an Architect, employed as Vice President of a General Contracting firm, on the panel of the Unsafe Structure Board for the City of Miami and at present,?the Chair of the Miami Lakes Blasting Advisory Board.?I have been involved in Blasting related issues?for over 10 years.?

The Resolution Statewide Ground Vibration Limit for Constuction Material urges support for State Representative Tom Fabricio's House Bill 245. We respectfully ask for a friendly amendment to request the County's lobbyists to meet with our Blasting Advisory Board to become informed of the specifics of the issue.

We witness the systematic destruction of our properties due to synthetic earthquakes caused by the blasting in the nearby quarries.? We are familiar with a?study done by?several universities that record the movement of buildings due to this seismic energy.??

State Rep Fabricio House Bill 245 is not a cure-all for the issue.? However, it is a step in the right direction to coexist with a necessary industry by lowering ground vibration limits.? To be clear, we are not in favor of shutting down the quarries.

The issue of blasting is very complex and?I welcome the opportunity to meet with each of you and answer any questions you may have. The paper I provided you contains information about a group effort that?was created a repository for the incredible?collection of data, articles, resolutions and meetings that provide a timeline of our accomplishments. The?link to this data is?on the paper I provided to you.?

@ 01:46:31 on the dial: Steven Herzberg, Blasting Advisory Board Secretary

In support of item 11A11 which is sponsored by Senator Rene Garcia with regard to the Resolution urging The Florida Legislature to enact Senate Bill 198, House Bill 245 sponsored by State of Florida Representative Tom Fabricio in Tallahassee. You come prepared with remarks then you hear some things and I actually want to follow what Chief Caplan said:

People over Profits!

People over Profits!

Anyone not in support of this Resolution or in support of this legislation is putting the profits of the Mining Industry over people. The Town of Miami Lakes has been the leader for this issue for years now, through the Blasting Advisory Board with the support of the Council.

This is an issue that affects hundreds to thousands of residents in Miami Dade County. Not only does it affect Miami Lakes, this not only affects Hialeah and goes down through multiple districts.

Ultimately we are not asking the miners to stop blasting practices we are only asking them to be responsible business, responsible neighbors in our community.

That is what this bill mandates that they do by mainly decreasing the blasting levels. You have to understand that our homes shake every single day, we are experiencing earthquakes, we are experiencing damages that you don’t see anywhere else in the County.

It is not bad contractors, it is not bad foundations, it is seismic damage. We need the County’s help in getting legislation passed. We are happy to see this legislation put on the agenda, we do want to see action, we want to see the lobbyists meet with the Blasting Advisory Board, we are the only people now advocating for this legislation in Tallahassee.

We are informed on this issue and we hope the lobbyist takes this to heart and that we see real action on the County’s part as we appreciate the County’s assets.

So, we hope this gets approved unanimously by the Board of County Commissioners and thank you!