The Miami City Commission will discuss a 10-year contract for a Formula One race through downtown Miami tomorrow (Thursday). If you'd like to share your concerns with the Commission, please attend the all-day meeting, beginning at 9am at City Hall (3500 Pan American Drive). Following please find the DNA's position, as communicated to City officials: May 8th, 2017 Dear Mayor Suarez and City Commissioners, The Downtown Neighbors Alliance has some serious concerns and questions regarding the proposal for a ten year contract with Formula One racing and the impact it will have on Downtown quality of life if approved. Undeniably the Formula One race is a world class event that can potentially bring a large economic impact to the City of Miami. However, past races such as the Formula E held in 2015 have presented many problems, among them security issues, lengthy traffic disruptions, street closures, and total disruption of pedestrian access to parks and even crosswalks during long setup and tear down periods. Most notoriously, it also resulted in the pouring of asphalt on Parcel B which was never brought back to its original condition. How would we ensure that event organizers would restore the streets to their original condition and correct damages and wear and tear to our streets and green spaces resulting from the race? We must also ask some serious questions with regards to the economics of this proposal. In other cities it has been the norm for the city to pay a hosting fee to F-1. What will the cost be to the City of Miami to host this race? And what will be the financial benefit directly to downtown which is bearing the brunt of the impact of this event? Has leadership of past host cities been consulted with to evaluate pros and cons? Another pressing concern is how this event, if agreed to over a ten year period, would interact with the long term concepts already proposed such as Biscayne Green, and we have doubts as to whether both plans could actually co-exist if the proposed race route on Biscayne Blvd were to be approved. Overall, a ten year commitment to an event without having a chance to gage its success and overall impact does not seem like a logical course of action. We urge the city to study all of these factors carefully and defer the decision to enter into negotiations until these valid concerns can be sufficiently addressed. Sincerely, Cristina Palomo, President Downtown Neighbors Alliance