Miami-Dade Library System named Library of the Year
From David Volz
The Miami-Dade County Public Library System (Library) has announced that it has been named the 2024 Library of the Year by the Florida Library Association (FLA). This prestigious award recognizes the Library’s outstanding contributions to the community and commitment to excellence, leadership and innovation in serving the diverse needs of Miami-Dade County residents.
“Congratulations to the Miami-Dade Public Library System team on this remarkable achievement! This recognition by the Florida Library Association is a testament to their dedication, innovation and hard work,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “The Library plays such a vital role in our community, where residents can access information, resources such as social services and internet connectivity, cultural enrichment and gather for community events. Our libraries are safe spaces where residents can engage and thrive.”
In addition to being named Florida Library of the Year, the Miami-Dade Public Library System has also been honored with two other 2024 FLA Awards:
Excellence in Marketing and Public Relations for effectively and successfully communicating the value of the Library to the community through its multi-faceted Library Card Sign-up Month campaign in September 2023. The campaign resulted in a 21 percent increase in new cardholders over the previous year, a record achievement for the Library as the highest number of new sign-ups in a single month.
Outstanding New Librarian recognizing Daniel Jones for exhibiting exceptional resourcefulness, creativity, leadership and dedication in serving the community at the Naranja Branch Library. Since October 2022, he has made significant contributions to the Library and librarianship by identifying the diverse needs of patrons and providing opportunities for STEAM education, as well as providing assistance with accessing social services and health and wellness resources and establishing successful programs for tweens and teens.
Miami-Dade International Airport sees huge growth in passengers
From David Volz
Miami International Airport (MIA) started 2024 with its fastest pace ever for passenger growth, serving 1.5 million more travelers in the first quarter than its previous record set in the same period last year, according to audited statistics recently released by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. In the first three months of 2024, MIA welcomed 14.9 million passengers, which was a massive 11.6 percent increase from 13.3 million travelers over the same period last year. International travel led the way with a 12 percent jump to 6.5 million passengers, while domestic travel grew 11.3 percent to 8.3 million passengers.
MIA’s impressive growth and financial stability earned its revenue bonds an upgrade to ‘A+’ from ‘A’ by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) in the bond rating agency’s recent report on April 22. Last year, Fitch Ratings also increased MIA’s bonds to an A+ rating.
“S&P’s upgrade is more evidence that MIA is one of the fastest-growing and best-managed airports in the country,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “The improved rating also demonstrates that MIA’s ongoing improvements are making a strong impression on industry experts, which is fantastic news for our residents and our local business community.”
According to S&P credit analysts in the April 22 report, “The rating reflects our view of MIA’s emergence as a large hub that is outperforming peers, leading to an improvement in the market position to extremely strong from very strong. In addition, our positive holistic analysis reflects our view of the airport’s financial resiliency and stability through multiple economic cycles and captures MIA’s operational strengths relative to those of large hub peers. MIA’s trends (when compared with 2019 demand) are the strongest among the top 10 large hub airports, according to Federal Aviation Administration statistics. In addition, MIA exceeds our national median activity estimates, which show airport enplanements falling short of 110% of 2019 demand until 2026.”
The S&P report also gave high marks for MDAD’s management of MIA’s capital improvement program, noting that MDAD has “Very strong management and governance, as is evident in an experienced, proactive, and effective management team” and, “We believe the enplanement trajectory will support the significant capital plan and sustain the financial position consistent with the ‘A+’ rating.”
The airport’s M.I.A. Plan is implementing $1.7 billion in maintenance upgrades, including replacing or renovating all 616 elevators, escalators, and moving walkways at MIA in need of an upgrade. MIA is also making an unprecedented investment of more than $7 billion in its Future-Ready Capital Improvement Program.
