$3.5 million Flamingo Park ballfield contract, para-rowing grant and nightlife pilot on Nov. 18 agenda

Three items on the Miami Beach City Commission’s Nov. 18 consent agenda would put money into the Flamingo Park ballfield, a North Beach rowing program for people with disabilities and a plan to make nightlife districts safer. Consent items are usually approved together without discussion unless a commissioner pulls one.

Flamingo Park stadium: $3.46 million

The city’s procurement staff recommend hiring Home Express Corp., which does business as HE Builders, to renovate the baseball stadium buildings at Flamingo Park, according to item C2 J. Its bid of $3,149,155 was the lowest of eight; the others ranged up to about $4.9 million, the bid tabulation shows. With a 10% city contingency, the contract would total $3,464,070.50, part of general obligation bond project No. 5, the memo says.

The work covers the stadium, ticket booth, press box and grandstands: stucco, painting, roofing, asbestos removal, restrooms, accessibility upgrades, solar panels and security cameras, plus new bullpens, batting cages, storage, drainage and landscaping. The memo says the playing field itself is not part of the job. The solicitation is still under the city’s cone of silence, which limits contact with bidders until the vote.

Para-rowing at the Shane Center: $85,000

Item C7 O would renew, for a 12th year, an $85,000 grant to the nonprofit Miami Beach Watersports Center for its adaptive rowing program at the Ronald W. Shane Center, 6500 Indian Creek Drive. The program trains 15 to 20 regular rowers with disabilities, including four veterans, three or four times a week, and about half live in Miami Beach or North Bay Village, the memo says. It estimates the program’s yearly cost at $150,000. Miami Beach residents and service members get priority.

A 60-day nightlife safety pilot

Commissioner Monica Matteo-Salinas’s item C4 Q would send a proposal from the city’s Ad Hoc Nightlife Industry Task Force to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee. The voluntary pilot would recruit 150 to 200 bars and clubs to offer drink covers and drink-spiking test kits, train staff each year, adopt an “Ask for Angela” signal that lets patrons quietly ask for help, add lighting and safe zones, and improve incident reporting with police. The task force flagged Washington Avenue and its alleys and parts of Ocean Drive, the memo says. No cost estimate is attached; the committee would review costs and funding.

The commission meets at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive, and on Zoom.