My name is Ricky Arriola, and I’ve had the privilege to serve as your Miami Beach Commissioner over the past four years. As the CEO of a successful customer service company with over 2,000 employees, I have lent my knowledge, skills, and abilities to serve as the Chair of the City's Finance and Citywide Projects Committee. As Chairman, I have managed to strengthen the City's financial position, negotiated complex development agreements that yielded over $95 million in public benefits, and advanced progressive legislative policies to make Miami Beach a leader amongst its peers. I also shepherded a historic $439 million bond program that will overhaul our parks system, upgrade our public infrastructure, and harden our public safety assets for decades to come. These are precisely the investments needed to improve our quality of life and build cleaner, safer, healthier communities. During my next four years, I will continue to fight to ensure these projects are executed with urgency.

Sea-Level Rise - Our City must continue to elevate roads, create incentives to prepare historic properties for sea-level rise, and require all new developments to be built well above the base flood elevation. Many of our stormwater, water, and sewer pipes are as old as the City itself. We must continue to replace our aging infrastructure, so we don't experience a degradation in essential city services nor pollute our sensitive Biscayne Bay.

Mass Transit - We've grown our trolley system to move an average of over 14,000 riders a day. We must now establish a mass transit solution to link to Miami and capitalize on good urban design principles to finally break free from the chains of traffic congestion!

Urban Design - Miami Beach must invest in its public open spaces and push the envelope for superior urban design to create more walkable, bikeable, and affordable neighborhoods where residents and visitors can form bonds and conveniently patronize a mix of interesting commercial uses.

I'm running for office because I feel that our leadership is putting the interests of developers ahead of the needs of residents. I feel that my opponent is out of touch with what the residents of Miami Beach want and is quick to ignore those that try to stand in his way. I have been a Miami Beach resident for 15 years, a homeowner for 11 of those years, and I have a child in the public school system. I have a true interest in preserving our residential neighborhoods and in ensuring that we don't let commercial and special interests ruin what makes us unique and special. I have been a business owner for 22 years, I served in the CT Army National Guard for six years (1993-1999) and I have a degree in Urban Studies from the University of Connecticut.

Over-development- I would propose a pause on mega-development so that we can shift our focus and resources to flood mitigation and dealing with sea level rise. Sea-level rise- I would propose that we bring in the experts. It's time to stop pretending that our leadership knows what they are doing. It's good that they're trying but we need real experts. I feel we need to incorporate development and urban planning strategies that serve to mitigate flooding. Re-branding of our entertainment district- it's time for Miami Beach to grow up! We need to re-brand our image as a family-friendly vacation destination. We have this tremendous resource of health-conscious people and we need to shift our attention from hosting problematic, drug and alcohol induced events to more wholesome ones. To combat the Spring Break madness I am proposing a 3-4 week health/wellness and fitness expo that will include large scale sporting events and the like that will appeal to tourists of a higher caliber.