"Rooted in Our Community, Committed to Our Future!"

Meet Omar

Omar's background is diverse, Born in Cuba, to Cuban/Ukrainian parents, at a young age, Omar's family emigrated to Ireland. In his 20's Omar made Miami Beach his full time home, where he rejoined Bella Cuba, a long established family restaurant in South Beach.

In 2016, Omar purchased his first home, a townhome in Park View Island, a small residential community on 73rd St. in North Beach.

In 2019, after becoming acquainted with the North Beach community, realizing his community had some underlying issues and the neighborhood was under represented at City Hall, Omar founded the Park View Island Sustainable Association.

Over the past 5 years, the Sustainable Neighborhood Association's mission has been to re-establish bridges of communication with City Hall and advocate for improvement of Quality of Life, through much needed infrastructural upgrades and repairs.

View Press Release

Championing Sustainability and Community Engagement in Miami Beach

Why I'm Running

In 2020, A sewer mains rupture on 72nd St. released over 1.5 million gallons of raw sewerage into the Park View Island Canal and Biscayne Bay. The City of Miami Beach enacted a "No Contact with Water Advisory" with the waters around the Park View Island Canal.

This No Contact Advisory with the waters around our homes is still active today. That is a big reason for Omar's decision to run for local office.

Now, as a seasoned activist in this community, I understand that in order to achieve real results, the only way is to do it yourself.

Over the past 15 years, I have operated successful hospitality businesses, worked closely with our local churches and houses of faith to build some amazing community programs and serve the community together in Faith. Worked closely with the community, residents and stakeholders throughout Miami Beach as a fierce advocate for improved Environmental Sustainability, leading on the water quality issue since day one, advocating for improved water quality in all our city's waterways, with thousands of pounds of trash retrieved from our community and coastlines, whilst educating and also providing thousands of hours of community service certificates to local students.

I'm not an Environmental Scientist, but have been at the forefront of this resident driven environmental movement that came out of necessity basically because the water around our homes became toxic, and still is toxic today.

Buying my home on Park View Island, changed my life, it made my interest in local politics real because now I had a cause, closer to home any one of us would ever be comfortable with, and close to my heart.

This may not be personal to other candidates, but it is to me and the community I look forward to representing.

This journey has made me an avid environmental researcher and community activist with an ambitious agenda.

So I built a community, hosted many different walks and talks around North Beach, and countless hours of total cleanups hosted over the past 5 years citywide, to most recently being appointed to the City of Miami Beach - North Beach Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee in 2024.

This has been my journey to date, do I think it's a normal path, absolutely not! At no point when I bought my first home, did I ever think my life over the past 5 years would become an advocacy campaign due to the underlying, past due needs of our community, a supposed world class City! At this moment, I don't believe Miami Beach can compete with some of the Top Tier World Class Destinations, but I sure want to be a part of getting us there.

I'm not a politician, I've definitely made some mistakes along the way. Every step has been a learning path, definitely not the path of least resistance at any point of the way, to growth, and discovery, in preparation for this next massive step. One of the Biggest and most meaningful decisions I've made in my entire life.

I have contributed on several past Miami Beach candidates campaigns since 2020 in one capacity or another. This has provided me with a lot of context for the journey I have chosen.

I respectfully declined the Commission Aide position for 2 sitting commissioners because I wanted to run for Commissioner, not be an aide!

This campaign, website, videos and interviews you will see along my campaign trail are my real life experiences, some of the videos go back 10 years ago when the Books and Books store was still located at the back of the Cafe Books and Books on Lincoln Road.

This is not a "jee whizz," spur of the moment decision, or a list of things I wish I could do, my portfolio in service to the community, extends back to 2014, when I moved back to Miami Beach and began operating the family restaurant full time.

I encourage you to review the Community Projects section of the website, where I list some of the most recent and impactful projects I've proposed currently in the works, or worked on over the past 5 years, some that are completed, some still ongoing.

I am not influenced or motivated by ANY special interests, and have worked hard for every step of the way. I did not have to wait to get elected, I had an idea and got a head start doing impactful work to date, that has led us here.

My portfolio, one project at a time, show a clear passion for making this City an even greater place to call home or visit.

My Priorities

Park View Island is no longer the only neighborhood in Miami Beach regularly experiencing high levels of bacteria in recreational waters that exceed maximum limits and health standards by hundreds of times, this is a big issue when our City's bread and butter comes from Tourism and Hospitality!

Once elected I will work relentlessly to restore water quality in our waterways, and truly protect the environment that makes our city renowned the world over.

The Park View Island Sustainable Association has been at the forefront of resident first advocacy and community activism from day one, to restore water quality in the Park View Canal, hosting our first community cleanup in Spring of 2020.

We have built a strong community of caring residents, that are not afraid to jump into action, who offer and volunteer their time to making Miami Beach a truly special place to call home. Together over the past 5 years, through the Park View Island Sustainable Association, we have removed close to 20,000 lbs. of trash from our community, canals, and coastlines. We spoke at the 2024 Biscayne Bay Marine Health Summit, with a presentation titled, "Grassroots Advocacy: How a Neighborhood Association is paving a more Sustainable path forward for it's Community", and later in 2024 received The Ocean Conservancy - International Coastal Cleanup Award for Engagement after our 3rd year hosting the North Beach International Cleanup Day last September.

In Q4 2024, Omar was appointed by the City of Miami Beach Commission to the North Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board.

To date, our movement has provided local students with education and over 2500 hours of certified community service hours, we have worked with property owners inside the island to bring millions of dollars worth of improvements to our community. We have taken on issues, and made proposals to City Hall, that no other neighborhood association in Miami Beach can achieve with such little resources.

With your vote electing me as your next Miami Beach Commissioner, I vow with much gratitude and pride, to work even harder for you and with you, everyday of my term in public office.

My legacy as Miami Beach Commissioner in Group 1, will be our shared legacy, for our families and a bright future for the community we love and call home.

TRAFFIC PTSD?

As our City continues to grow, bigger developments and more events are underway. If you ever experienced regular rush hour traffic or Art Week traffic during December in Miami Beach, you already know it's pure chaos on the roads, our City clearly lacks transport and road infrastructure to accommodate residents and visitors comfortably.

As a resident who travels from South Beach to North Beach regularly, I know what we're doing is not good enough. I vow to tackle our traffic woes with creative and reliable, self sustaining solutions to create alternatives in Miami Beach, that will address traffic and inadequate road infrastructure.

Sink or Swim?

Having experienced first hand the negative effects felt in our community and diminished quality of life conditions due to the 5 year No Contact with Water Advisory around our homes, I vow to make sure your homes and quality of life are protected. We are already seeing sites across Miami Beach with high bacteria readings. Yet we have still not fixed the problems from 5 years ago. It seems our current leaders are afraid or incapable of successfully completing large infrastructure projects to upgrade our Sewer and separate Stormwater Conveyance System citywide. I will place Infrastructure Upgrades and much needed repairs at the top of my agenda and priority list.

Your Biscayne Bay Candidate

Tourism and Hospitality are the Bread and Butter of our City!

A thriving, growing City's success relies heavily on our pristine, clean, clear recreational waters and diverse ecological environment.

I vow to be Biscayne Bay's number one advocate. My plan will create jobs and provide higher economic value, protect residents and stakeholders right to enjoy and recreate safely, while working with the environment and sustainable planning to act as an economic development engine for our City.

Strong Economy?

I come from a two time immigrant family. We have been small business owners for 25+ years. I know firsthand the struggles and difficulties that go into making business work daily in Miami Beach, the hurdles, delays, large fees and high taxes involved in trying to establish or successfully operate a business in our City is not inviting for small business.

Tourism and Hospitality is in my blood. I vow to work hand in hand with all businesses in our City to ensure your success!

We will regain our competitive edge to attract talented Small local business owners in Tourism and Hospitality once again to establish their businesses in our City without having to jump through endless hurdles or wait several years for permits and red tape, while going bankrupt waiting. This is a disgusting way to treat stakeholders who have committed their lives and finances to making our City a better place.

I look forward to being your Hospitality and Tourism Commissioner.

As other nearby cities such as Wynwood, Brickell, Design District and Downtown have risen in the last 10 years, Miami Beach is no longer the only player.

We have lost our competitive edge that attracts full time residents and local visitors to our City. The choices in our county for Dining and Hospitality are endless.

Upon election, I look forward to sharing my Extensive Tourism and Hospitality Plan (ETHP) that will address niches, sectors and economic development potential in Tourism and Hospitality that can truly elevate Quality of Life for residents, and provide direct socio economic benefits to those who choose to live, work and own businesses in Miami Beach.

One of my priorities as Commissioner will be to bring new and innovative, alternative funding sources to our City, to replace our addiction of raising taxes and levying more fees on residents and small business owners.

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