MAILED PARKING CITATIONS: With an eye on the proliferation of online retail and food delivery services and rideshare services, county commissioners last week passed on first reading legislation that would authorize parking enforcers to issue invoices by mail for nonpayment of parking charge and to e nforce additional parking violations through mailed parking citations. Commissioners also fast-tracked a final hearing of the legislation so that it would be held this month rather than facing the normal six-week wait. The legislation would apply specifically to downtown Miami’s newly created smart loading zones. UPGRADING TRANSIT CONTROL: A county committee is to look this week at awarding a $6.2 million contract without competition to upgrade the centralized system that operates the Metrorail and Metromover control centers. The system integrates centralized control, station communication, public address and signage systems as well as safety systems in 23 Metrorail stations and five non-passenger locations. Previously, the Metromover system was under a separate contract. The county’s Infrastructure, Innovation, and Technology Committee was told in legislation that “market research confirms that replacing” the current system with a new one would cost more than upgrading the current system, for which the county has already spent $17.7 million. HORSING AROUND BRICKELL: Miami’s Downtown Development Authority and the city police department’s mounted unit this week were to introduce two horses that the two organizations jointly funded to patrol in the Brickell Area. The new horses, named Café and Leche, return mounted policing in Brickell but aren’t the region’s only new horse patrols. Miami-Dade commissioners last summer agreed to have Coral Gables mounted police patrol two county parks in return for use of three stalls for its horses at the county’s Ronald Reagan Equestrian Center within Tropical Park. The Coral Gables Police mounted unit was to patrol Tropical Park and Matheson Hammock Park three days a week for four hours at a time. NEW KEY BISCAYNE LIBRARY: As a new Key Biscayne library is being built, Miami-Dade County has approved a temporary lease for a 1,350-square-foot library at $78 per square foot, which is below market rate, in a nearby shopping center. Commissioners last week moved forward the temporary library at 200 Crandon Blvd. in Key Colony Plaza as the county replaces the former library at 299 Crandon Blvd. in a building that was built in 1976 to be the sales center for Key Colony Condominium. The new 20,000-square-foot library is expected to open in November 2027. These 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. The post FYI Miami: March 12, 2026 appeared first on Miami Today. ...read more read less