Cable cars to Miami? Skeptical committee sends the idea to the full commission

A proposal to link Miami Beach and Miami with aerial cable cars is headed to the full City Commission for discussion after a Miami Beach committee heard it Wednesday, though several members questioned its cost and whether residents want it.

The Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee voted to send the item, sponsored by Commissioner Monica Matteo-Salinas, back to the commission for discussion, according to the meeting’s video captions. No money was committed.

Matteo-Salinas told the committee she sees the idea as both public transit and a tourist attraction, and said she would like to start with one line and later expand north and south, ideally with a route over the Julia Tuttle Causeway, where much of the city’s traffic is.

Other members were skeptical. One said such a project could need as much as $1 billion and multiple county, state and federal approvals, and that the money would be better spent on flood infrastructure; another said residents would rather see Metromover, light rail or ferries. A proponent of a pod-based system who addressed the committee said a network linking downtown Miami with a loop through Miami Beach could cost about $150 million and be built as a public-private partnership. None of those figures comes from a city study.

The city manager’s memo for the item recommends continuing to explore the idea with vendors and with the county, FDOT and the City of Miami, but warns about budget pressure, including a projected general fund deficit in fiscal 2028 and the possible effect of the state’s Amendment 3 on property tax revenue. It says a corridor-specific feasibility study would be needed first. The memo notes that a 2016 county study found aerial cable transit best suited to short routes of under 1.5 miles, and that a private 2018 proposal for a gondola from downtown Miami to Miami Beach stalled in 2020.

Other decisions

The committee also voted, according to the captions:

• to recommend that the commission consider a mounted police patrol during the fiscal 2028 budget process;
• to recommend issuing the second round of 2019 bond money: about $81.9 million for parks and cultural facilities and $35.15 million for police, fire and public safety, including issuance costs;
• to require that notice of any utility rate change always be printed on city water and sewer bills (finance staff said the notices now appear on bills);
• to ask the administration to seek letters of interest from on-demand water taxi operators;
• to advance legal parking on the north side of 18th Street, after members questioned a cost one put at about $65,000 for roughly a dozen spaces; staff said it would bring a cost breakdown before the next commission meeting;
• to bring a supplemental water conservation rebate program to the commission;
• to send a retroactive $24,061 sponsorship and $6,258.85 fee waiver for Paraiso Swim Week, plus talks on a five-year deal, to the commission.

An item on repainting Lincoln Road’s tall light poles was withdrawn; its sponsor said four poles had already been painted white.

The committee’s recommendations go to the full commission, whose next regular meeting is Nov. 18.