Bermello Ajamil & Partners - Planning & Urban

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www.bermelloajamil.com EDUCATION Master in Urban Planning, University of Puerto Rico, 1979 Master in Architecture, Tulane University, 1974 Bachelor of Architecture, Tulane University, 1974 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Board of Governors Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Executive Transportation Committee Carrfour Supportive Housing, Board immediate past Chair, 2009 Leadership Florida, Council of Advisors, Past Regional Chair and Board of Regents Trust for Public Lands Policy Advisory Council St. Thomas the Apostle Building Committee Chair TEAMFL (Toll Expressway Authorities Members of Florida), Member Professional Experience Tere Garcia has more than 25 years experience in the ﬁ elds of planning, public participation, governmental and media relations. Eighteen of those years have been spent speciﬁ cally in the public involvement ﬁ eld concentrating on transportation and infrastructure projects. B&A has provided public involvement services to governmental agencies such as the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX), the Florida Department of Transportation, Miami-Dade Transit Agency and Miami- Dade Water and Sewer Department. Ms. Garcia oversees all public outreach activities for planning and design projects for MDX including educational and informational efforts dealing with the implementation of Open Road Tolling in the MDX System. She has been an integral part of the visioning process used to perform the two updates to the MDX Long Range Master Transportation Plan and has delivered a successful program of public outreach for planning and design projects. Ms. Garcia has established the guidelines for public involvement followed by MDX designed after State requirements but tailored to the rapid pace and fast delivery of projects by MDX. She was Principal-in-Charge of FDOT District Six, Districtwide Public Involvement Contract which includes public involvement services for over 100 planning or design projects since the onset of the contract in 2006. Ms. Garcia is also the Principal-in-Charge of public involvement services for the Miami-Dade Transit MIC Earlington Heights Connector and the Reconstruction of SR 9 for FDOT District 4. Ms. Garcia directs all community and public outreach programs for public as well as private clients. She also acts as a liaison between B&A and Miami-Dade County and its municipalities in regulatory, permitting and public affairs matters. PROJECT EXPERIENCE Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, Miami-Dade County, Florida - Public Involvement Director for General Engineering Consultant. Responsible for developing strategies and overseeing all public involvement and community awareness programs throughout the master planning and ﬁ nal design phases of MDX’s projects. This has included strategic and extensive community awareness campaigns to reach the impacted communities using workshops, presentations to elected ofﬁ cials and Community Councils, open house, community meetings, speaker’s bureaus, fact sheets, newsletters, website, PowerPoint presentations and public hearings. Highlights of current and past efforts include: Open Road Tolling - MDX is seeking the implementation of all electronic Open Road Tolling for its ﬁ ve expressway systems within Miami-Dade County. This is the ﬁ rst time that any toll agency is retroﬁ tting an existing toll collection system into an all electronic collection system and simultaneously providing for a more fair system of collecting tolls based on the distance the customer drives. Public outreach activities are based and built on research, surveys, focus groups, input from elected ofﬁ cials, coordination with other local, national and international agencies and feedback from the general public. A multi-phase, multi-year Community Outreach Plan has been prepared and built upon in order to address a very challenging implementation from a public perspective. The preparatory phases have included Key Opinion Leaders Surveys, one-on-one brieﬁ ngs with elected ofﬁ cials and presentations to governmental, civic and grassroots groups. Open Road Tolling will be implemented on a corridor-by-corridor basis. Each corridor receives unique attention and a strategic plan to ﬁ t the needs and the community proﬁ le of the customers using the MDX system. MDX Long Range Master Transportation Plan (2025 and 2035 Update) - Every ﬁ ve years MDX updates their Long Range Transportation Plan and identiﬁ es new projects through a visioning process with its Board of Directors, transportation partners and the public. This update included the use of a new innovative preference survey technology (Turning Point) with the Board Members to gather and present live results of priorities for all presented projects. Initial tasks included working with the technical planning team on a needs assessment of transportation needs in Miami-Dade County and the identiﬁ cation on potential projects where MDX could be a catalyst in providing mobility to Teresita C. Garcia Partner, Public Involvement Director 44