City Planning office does not give a damn
Mel Meinhardt wrote this for The Grove First. The photo above is typical of the SW 8th Street Store.
How disappointing it is to the citizens and residents of Coconut Grove who have fought so hard for the past 2 l/2 years with their hearts and their wallets to save their Village from the mis-use of the former K-mart site.
Unfortunately City planning officials, along with the City attorneys, have chosen to ignore the residents, the voters, and the City Commissioners. City officials continue to ignore and misinterpret the NCD-3 Ordinance passed in December 2005 prohibiting any "big box" from coming into Coconut Grove without obtaining a Special Exception for the operation of any space over 20,000 sq. ft retail with a limit of 70,000 sq ft retail.
This law helps protect the neighborhoods: by way of example, the law forces delivery trucks to approach from arterial roads such as US-1 versus the smaller Bird Road. Without required review or hearing, the City has made unique exceptions for Home Depot as it continues to build out the K-mart store.
There is presently pending a lawsuit by the site's neighbors against the City of Miami. The aim of that suit is to require the City to obey its own laws. When our City's executive branch fails to abide by the laws the Commission passes, citizens must turn to the courts,and the residents must continue their fight.
During these legal proceedings, public disclosure of the neighbors' legal tactics would be inappropriate. We are sure all Grove residents will agree and understand our quiet determination to see this through. The Grove First, a long-standing supporter of our neighborhood, is increasingly confident of the ultimate strength of the legal strategy. We look forward to a successful conclusion of the long campaign to keep big box operations out of Coconut Grove's residential neighborhoods or remove them if they should open illegally.
That conclusion likely lies at the end of this legal phase. You may see the doors open, but don't give up. We will continue to fight to save our quality of life in Coconut Grove!
Mel Meinhardt
For The Grove First
http://www.thegrovefirst.com/ email: info@thegrovefirst.com
How disappointing it is to the citizens and residents of Coconut Grove who have fought so hard for the past 2 l/2 years with their hearts and their wallets to save their Village from the mis-use of the former K-mart site.
Unfortunately City planning officials, along with the City attorneys, have chosen to ignore the residents, the voters, and the City Commissioners. City officials continue to ignore and misinterpret the NCD-3 Ordinance passed in December 2005 prohibiting any "big box" from coming into Coconut Grove without obtaining a Special Exception for the operation of any space over 20,000 sq. ft retail with a limit of 70,000 sq ft retail.
This law helps protect the neighborhoods: by way of example, the law forces delivery trucks to approach from arterial roads such as US-1 versus the smaller Bird Road. Without required review or hearing, the City has made unique exceptions for Home Depot as it continues to build out the K-mart store.
There is presently pending a lawsuit by the site's neighbors against the City of Miami. The aim of that suit is to require the City to obey its own laws. When our City's executive branch fails to abide by the laws the Commission passes, citizens must turn to the courts,and the residents must continue their fight.
During these legal proceedings, public disclosure of the neighbors' legal tactics would be inappropriate. We are sure all Grove residents will agree and understand our quiet determination to see this through. The Grove First, a long-standing supporter of our neighborhood, is increasingly confident of the ultimate strength of the legal strategy. We look forward to a successful conclusion of the long campaign to keep big box operations out of Coconut Grove's residential neighborhoods or remove them if they should open illegally.
That conclusion likely lies at the end of this legal phase. You may see the doors open, but don't give up. We will continue to fight to save our quality of life in Coconut Grove!
Mel Meinhardt
For The Grove First
http://www.thegrovefirst.com/ email: info@thegrovefirst.com
posted by Tom Falco at 8:27 AM
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49 Comments:
The third world country lives on!
Does anyone know the opening day? We need to get out and have a big picket event. If we can show up in numbers, we can get the media out and get the word out to Miamians that we do not want people shopping there.
Where is Tony Soprano when you need him? I think thats the only way HD gets stopped...
Too bad Commissioner Sarnoff voted against the NCD back when he started the Grove First. Not only did he vote aginst it, he actively fought against it.
Most educated people understood that the NCD was the Groves only hope for guidelines for responsible development.
The idots who voted for Sarnoff and who let him lead the fight against Home Depot should have educated themselves about the NCD back then.
Now we are stuck with THE village idiot in City Hall. Just watch, he will vote against Miami 21 as well.
Even Winton was smart enough to support the NCD and Miami 21.
All the Grovites who have supported the Village Idiot for so long are finally going to reap the big reward for their ignorance - a big orange box in their back yard.
Bring back Winton! I heard he has been sober for six months now....
You are right on target...I can't beleive so many people supported that guy. It's his fault that we are in this mess in the first place.
As always TheGroveFirst has stellar coverage of the goings-on with Home Depot. Their website is a confused motley of victory pronouncements and random, undated updates. No way to understand the timeline, the issues or what's next.
Reminds me of that the movie where the 2 spies were talking about the CIA and one said (derisively): "They didn't know the Berlin wall was coming down until the bricks started hitting them in the head"
That's what this feels like.
How did Sarnoff get elected anyhow?
Apparently there are more elderly jewish widows in the Grove than we thought. They think he is such "a nice boy."
Oh. That explains alot...
Here here to Anonymous #4, #5, and #6. The NCD was a much nicer version. It was essentially a Pyrrhic victory for Grovites. Congratulations, I hope you're happy.
Home Depot is here to stay. The Grove needs to just say "yes" to this fact and move on to a much greater challenge. This challenge is to enthusiastically support the new Waterfront Plan. It will be nice to play OFFENSE for once, instead of playing DEFENSE (and losing). The transformation of the Convention Center area into a public greenspace will totally change the Grove's relationship to the Bay. In the meantime, see you at Home Depot.
The Grand Opening is scheduled for May 17
http://tinyurl.com/ysl9po
(link to Home Depot's site)
Did anyone attend the Planning Advisory Board meeting April 18th? Or watch it on TV?
46 of 50 speakers raised various flaws with the draft of Miami 21. Flaws were as diverse as the inability to provide affordable housing if Miami 21 passes to the problem of thousands of businesses and properties becoming non-conforming. Neighborhood activists, Brickell West property owners, Palm Grove stakeholders, Wynwood pioneers, long time Edgewater property owners and well known land use attorneys all had serious problems with Miami 21. 46 of 50 speakers asked the board for a deferral so the consultants could fix the problems.
The best quote came from a well known neighborhood activist..."I never thought I would live so long as to see all these groups recommending the same thing. Please vote for a deferral."
Commissioner Sarnoff is doing just fine.
There he is again...Sarnoff... "anonymous" writing about himself.
Would someone please tell Linda Haskins the election is over?
That's not Haskins. She wouldn't know how to turn on a conputer!
Is it true that Winton has a chance to come back? Wasn't his return based on the outcome of a court hearing? Did that that ever happen?
There is a rumor Winton is trying to pay money to the police officers he alledgedly attacked. Obviously, his goal is to get his felony(s) reduced.
Winton is lucky he is not looking at federal charges.
Interesting topic. Winton never saw a big box store or monster condo tower he did not like.
Winton skims off the top. I know this as a fact. He will make money on any deal in his district if he is allowed to return, so of course he will go where the money and the big projects are.
NO WINTON EVER AGAIN. We need to get rid of all city leaders who do not listen to the voters. We don't need to start bringing the trouble makers back. Home Depot would not be there now if it wasn't for Winton allowing them to be there. It is 99% his fault they are there today.
My thanks to those to have taken the time to write thoughtful comments, and to whomever posted my original letter.
1) Some grossly incorrect statements are included among these posting (reference the anonymous entry posted at April 19, 2007 10:56 AM). I will attempt to correct that entry.
Reference is made to NCD (NCD-3 is my guess as to the reference). The blogger states Mr. Sarnoff voted against the measure.
Mr. Sarnoff was not a commisioner at that time (late 2005) and could not have voted for or against it. Mr. Winton was the commissioner and he voted for the measure.
The blogger states Mr. Sarnoff actively fought against it.
Mr. Sarnoff actively supported NCD-3, helped draft the NCD-3 ordinance, and helped organize those citizen supporters of the measure. As I played a much smaller role in the measure's drafting, I know my statement to be true.
NCD-3 was passed, is now in force and is a very powerful measure that helps protects the Grove and its future generations from out-of-scale commercial operations. Please refer to "Sec. 803. NCD-3 Coconut Grove Neighborhood Conservation District" that can be found at http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=11251&sid=9.
This NCD-3 really does deserve close citizen interest and I'm confident bloggers on this site will find it interesting.
2) The strategy pursued against big box development in Coconut Grove has its critics and some of their points are valid, as no strategy can be perfect. Nevertheless the overall strategy pursued thus far, I believe has resulted in significant improvements from the original intent of the Home Depot managers with whom I originally spoke in late 2004. My further opinions in this topic would likely be seen as self-serving, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. So I'll let judgment regarding the still-to-come final outcome be left to future readers.
(As I mentioned in my original letter, public discussion of the legal strategy would be inappropriate, so it won't be discussed by me.)
3) The anonymous blogger who wrote at April 19, 2007 12:32 PM, correctly observes that the Grove First website is often incomplete and out-of-date. That's certainly true.
The Grove First is always looking for the three things that are required to get something done in this world: time, talent and money.
For all of us, time is all too rare.
Real talent to create and maintain that website is rarer still.
And as for money...checks are always welcome ;-)
Anyone's contribution to actually do work to help improve the website
is very welcome.
I suggest volunteering to info@thegrovefirst.com.
Further philosophical discussion points can be found at http://www.bres.boothbay.k12.me.us/wq/nnash/WebQuest/little_red_hen.htm
;-)
4)Other bloggers suggest moving on to other positive measures to help the Grove and city. I fully endorse that call to action. The anti-big-box strategy was originally expected to require a four to five year effort, and we're only halfway through that time frame. While the anti-big-box effort moves slowly through the courts, I will follow the blogger's advice and hope to help in other constructive efforts.
Best Regards,
Mel Meinhardt
I think that blogger was refering to NCD 1 and 2 which Sarnoffs homeowners groups rejected. Those NCD's would have prevented the McMansion invasion and would have preserved the integrity of the Groves residential neighborhoods.
The guidelines would have promoted
appropriated development similar to the Bahiamian Village in Key West - a quaint and totally revitalized neighborhood that respects its history and attracts businesses (and people) with integrity.
Winton initiated the NCD 1 and 2 which was a partnership between the city and the U of M. Sarnoff started and elected himself president of many groups yet did nothing to prevent the McMansion invasion. I don't think he even knows what one is.
He helped to created the kind of atmosphere where a Home Depot will thrive. His ignorance and incompetence have gotten us in the mess that we are in today...living in a Mc-Village full of Mc-Idoits who will fill up their Mc-Mansions with Mc-Stuff from Home Depot.
That is why today I signed the petition to bring back Winton. The NCD 1 and 2 and the Miami 21 were his pet projects. He would have stubbornly see them through no matter what.
We would have a nice new Milams and a down scaled, appropriatly designed Expo Design Center that sells only high end appliances and provides decorating services (like the one in N.Y.)with trucks entering only on US-1 insteaded of the ugly monstrosity full of construction materials and chemicals that we will be stuck with now thanks to Sarnoff and the Mc-Idot Villagers who so blindly follow him.
So many inaccuracies in "Jeff Steinberg's" post, I hardly know where to start...
I couldn't have said it better myself Jeff. About time somebody told the truth. I signed that petition this morning too.
Well "anonymous" why don't you start with the VOCG meeting minutes form July 2003(I pasted them below for your convenience)which clearly show that Sarnoff did not support the NCD. Looks like Steinberg does know what he is talking about and "anonymous" is the one that needs to do his homework. But of course it is too late now anyhow. These minutes refer to what was NCD 1 and 2...(could have resulted in a much different neighborhood than the one we have now had it been implemented) I must agree that when there was a chance to control development in the Center Grove Sarnoff blew it. The Center Grove is now the kind of tacky neighborhood where one would expect to find a Home Depot. In fact, I'd say it fits in just perfectly!
Minutes from July 2003:
"President Sarnoff opened the meeting up to a discussion concerning the NCD guidelines for Center Grove. A draft of the NCD guidelines for the Center Grove was made available to the residents. While elected officials (Winton) are in favor of the NCD, nonelected officials (Sarnoff) and residents are not. After discussion, upon motion made and seconded, it was unanimously approved that the CGNA would not endorse approval of
the NCD....."
Lay off Sarnoff. You don't get it do you? He is fighting like mad to straighten out his inept, foreign born fellow commisssioners. It takes time, he may not be perfect, but he is our only hope.
"Foreign born fellow commissioners"?
Well! That makes it clear where Sarnoff's support comes from! Moronic Nativists who think that "order of arrival" translates into some sort of superiority.
Look Mack, if you're not a Miccosukee, you're a Johnny-Come-Lately just like the rest of us!
NOTE: If the word “Nativists” stumped you, I refer you to “Nativist and Racist Movements in the U.S. and their Aftermath” by Henry A. Rhodes, http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1994/4/94.04.05.x.html
We would all like more thoughfulness and great decisions coming from the City of Miami. Marc Sarnoff is one vote out of five. He is doing just fine. Many people think he is doing great. He is a huge improvement over the past three (3) Dist 2 commissioners.
The last poster must be a real old-timer if he has first-hand knowledge of the "past three" (pre-Sarnoff) District 2 Commissioners.
J.L. Plummer served from 1971 - 1999. Winton replaced him in '99 and served until May 2006.
I have no idea who was in that seat before Plummer......36 years ago!!
Grovite since 75 says unless you're a miccosukee, you're not a native here.
The funny thing is, the Miccosukee are not native to Miami, neither are the Seminoles. The native Miamians were the Calusa indians, who all picked up and moved to Cuba one year.
But Groveite has it right otherwise. I guess it's kinda ironic that the "american" bigots are attacking the Cuban immigrants as Johnnie come latelys, when it may be that the Cubans have an earlier claim!
And no, I'm not Cuban or a recent immigrant. My family moved to Miami back in the early 1920's.
I realize the Miccosukees are not "natives" in the sense they've been since the beginning of time. Even bugs can't claim that. I was just pointing out that they've been here longer than any of the self-righteous ANGLOS. I know that word bugs many but deal with it. You don't always get to pick how you're described by others....and ANGLOS have always been the worst offenders at using slightly or completely pejorative terms for people not like them…….
Before Commissioner Sarnoff was elected in 2006 the three previous Dist 2 commissioners were Haskins, Winton, Plummer. I agree. Sarnoff is better than any of them.
Oh RIGHT! Haskins! I somehow totally forget about her!
Sorta wish you hadn't reminded me!!!
In response to statements above, I want to let readers know that the NCD never applied to R2. My neighborhood, the Center Grove, is all R2/duplex zoning.
But the important issue is that in March and December of 2005 The Grove First was successful in getting two laws passed to serve as an overlay to the NCD and protect the Grove from any big box that might want to come to the Grove in the future. The two new laws would limit square footage and require special permitting. Unfortunately, the City is not applying these two laws to the K-mart site currently being renovated.
There are laws that will apply and those laws will likely be enforced by a court of law. If it comes to the Commission, it will be reviewed by five commissioners and,hopefully, a favorable outcome will result.
To "Jeff Steinberg" the McMansion invasion is being addressed. Obviously, many residents oppose McMansions. Ron Nelson, who is on my staff,is working on this issue with the Planning Department.
Also know that we never had the option of a Home Depot Expo that you describe. Kevin Workman, the Home Depot rep, informed us early on that Home Depot no longer builds Expos since they are not profitable. At all meetings and discussions, Home Depot has resisted all limitations asked to be placed on the sale of wood (cut lumber), concrete, heavy plumbing, and offensive fertilizers. Home Depot would not negotiate for a N.Y. City style store, which sells its wood from New Jersey.
Finally, if Grove residents and The Grove First did not fight the Home Depot we would have a 133,000 square foot big orange box. You all know we fought Home Depot’s application to demolish 110 trees by appealing to the Historic and Environmental Board and the residents won. Now the worst you face is a 70,000 square foot Home Depot with the original 50 year old oak and mahogany trees remaining in the parking lot. There is no multi-level parking garage with ancillary uses causing more traffic to our already overburdened neighborhood.
Clearly the Commission represents the demographic make-up of the City of Miami. We are an immigrant City and we have a Commission that reflects our demographics. The Commissioners represent their individual Districts. As to how I was elected, let me assure you that a bunch of old Jewish ladies did not elect me to this seat. That is a grossly offensive comment. Let us try elevating the discussion and not hide behind “anonymous.” Let's all state who we are and clearly state our perspectives. The City is facing some very crucial issues in the next 60 days, and I look forward to everyone contributing great ideas.
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff
Commissioner Sarnoff:
Your "overlay" to the NCD was way too late and worthless. Had you supported the NCD back in 2001, which originally included provisions for new big box development, Home Depot never would have come to the Grove in the first place.
The original NCD did apply to the Center Grove (R-2) until you misrepresented to its originators that Center Grove Residents did not want an NCD. The McMansion invasion ensued, and you, as self-appointed president of many Grove organizations, did nothing to stop it.
Instead, you spent your time harassing your neighbors who did not agree with you. Having them investigated, writing them menacing letters, and obsessively trying to get them cited for bogus code violations was your strategy. And for what? How does sending nasty letters to your neighbors’ employers, harassing your neighbors at work, and harassing hard working, low paid city employees, accomplish whatever it is you think you are accomplishing?
If you knew what you were doing at all, you would have spent your time helping to create an NCD that could have stopped the McMansion invasion back when it first began.
Frankly, I have never known anyone so self-obsessed as you. Please do us all a favor and seek professional help! Now you've appointed someone to work on the McMansion problem with the Planning Dept. Look around dumb-ass! It's a little too late. What do you think the NCD was all about in the first place?
You have proven your incompetence repeatedly. Please do us all a favor and step down.
The only reason I am not putting my last name is because your associates have informed me that if I speak out "you will come after me and you will shut me up with every tactic, legal or illegal, available to you"
Sounds like the same old Sarnoff to me! Aren't you, Comissioner Sarnoff, the self-appointd editor of this blog? Lets see how long it takes before this entry is taken down....
Jenny, I am going to ask you to apologize. I have never met Marc Sarnoff and honestly, am very unhappy with his performance so far. If the Mercy deal goes through, I am going to hold him responsible for not doing his job and commanding respect for his district.
I did not like Linda Haskins and so I pushed for Sarnoff. I let him have his say when people tore into him, just like you are having your say, but please don't think Marc has anything to do with this blog, and again, while I am unhappy with his performance, I am unhappy with your accusations above.
I request an apology now.
Thanks,
Tom Falco
The only Editor of this Blog
Tom- I know it seems very unreal and in fact, unbeleivable, but everything that I said is true and can be backed up by many...so I feel no need to apologize. Does Sarnoff really think that his past misdeeds would not come back to bite him? You say you are the only editor of this blog - so I stand corrected on that matter only. I hope you will keep my entry posted.
That is what I meant. I agree with you on everything else, but I don't want anyone to think that any politicians have any say in this blog.
The only entries I have ever deleted where ones where I knew they were slander and at the time I didn't know where I stood when people posted slanderous things n the blog without posting their names. I thought I would be responsible, so I deleted the comments.
But I think people get the format now and know that anonymous comments are readers and not me.
But other than that, I don't delete any comments, you can go through all of them and see all comments are left in tact -- all the nastiness and venom are there. :(
Tom
Sarnoff will harass Tom Falco until
he takes Jenny C.'s blog entry down. Watch your back Tom! Now we will really see our tax dollars squanderd.
It's been my experience that slimey attornys make slimey politians.
I think Sarnoff's time should be better spent this week working on getting the Mercy deal squashed. He needs to get his fellow commissioners to side with him and respect his feelings since he is the district commissioner.
I don't think any of them would be pushed around on a project in their district and he should stand up for his district and he should start earning respect and start fast. He has three days.
That's what his number one job is. He was voted into office on his stance on Home Depot (which now seems like a load of crap and on his being against the Mercy project). I agree with the other comments here, he has done nothing since he has been in office and he needs to grow a pair of balls this week. Now is the time. He screwed up on Home Depot, now is the time to stand up for his district and tell the other commissioners it is a NO ON MERCY and that is the way it is going to be.
That is his job this week. The clock is ticking, so are voters' tempers. STAND UP FOR YOUR DISTRICT, MARC SARNOFF! TELL THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS THAT THIS IS THE WAY IT IS. BE A MAN!!!!
He has been spending alot of time at the spa. I work at the one that he frequents. Yesterday I saw the long list of services he has gotten lately. Very Wierd.
There are five commissioners. Anyone who opposes the Mercy rezoning should contact the three commissioners who voted for Related. You all know how Sarnoff and Regalado feel...
Politicians want to get reelected. You are the voters.
When will people realize that you cannot "make" another Commissioner vote a certain way. He has adamantly asked for their support and has said that if they don't support him, it will reflect in his vote for their districts in the future. What do you think would be different if Winton and Haskins were in that seat? Sarnoff is a fighter and is fighting for us now; while he is fighting, what are you doing besides name calling? He has done more in 3 months for the Grove than Winton ever did in 7 years. Winton gave us the Home Depot mess; he came and spoke on behalf of Mercy because it would bring trafic to his neighborhood - what does he think Home Depot is going to do for Center Grove?
We are positive Commissioner Sarnoff is working hard. This week he will be preparing for the April 26th Commission meeting. We should all support him and be positive.
Wow! How very ugly, nasty, and not in character with the Grove.
I live in the Center Grove and first learned of the initial NCD when it was up for approval in 2003. At that time, half of the Center Grove was already duplex townhomes, and that was the zoning for our neighborhood. Not all of us felt the neighborhood was charming when it was full of cheap rentals full of college students and beer cans on the streets every weekend. There's less of that now.
The NCD proposed at that time was completely out of touch with our neighborhood and its needs. For instance, even though we had then -- and still have -- a serious crime problem, the NCD would have prohibited any wall or fence over 3' high at the front of our yards, and as I recall would have required new homes to be built close to the sidewalk, even though most of the existing homes were set back from the sidewalk. We can't keep a bicycle in our neighborhood as it is, and most of us have been burglarized at some time or other. I don't remember the details of the first NCD more than that at this point, but the ideas for our neighborhood did not make sense for us. That is the version of the NCD that Marc Sarnoff objected to. He was not alone among Center Grove residents in his objection. Our neighborhood association's board voted on the matter and opposed the NCD.
That out-of-touch NCD version is also what got me concerned when I learned that the City was about to hire an architect to do a public master plan for our waterfront, since the NCD was my first exposure to what the City called a “public process,” and it was obvious that they had never asked anyone who actually lived in the Center Grove what we thought or they would not have included in the NCD what they did. For the NCD study, a consultant was paid around $200K -- the same consultant who is handling Miami 21, another "public input" process in which the public has been conspicuously absent.
Have any of you wondered how the upper eastside Miami 21 meetings resulted in Citywide decisions for all of us?
Thank you to the blogger who mentioned looking forward to working in a positive direction on our waterfront. We need to give the City a great deal of positive feedback for having honored its promise of having a public process, as it truly has been, and to continue to be involved to push implementation of the plan, once it is accepted, forward. Otherwise it could just become another book on a City official's shelf.
We as the Grove need to know who we are as a community and say yes to the things that best express that vision. Sniping at and about each other does nothing but feed the City's perception of us as a bunch of disgruntled activists who are against everything.
Sincerely,
Michelle Niemeyer
The many NCD design charrettes began in the late nineties and was supported by the majority of Center Grove residents. It was just that the majority of Center Grove Residents stopped attending the Neighborhood Association meetings after Sarnoff appointed himself president because they found it difficult to take him seriously just as District 2 citizens are doing now. Unfortunately, he spoke for them anyhow and totally misrepresented their desires for the future of the Center Grove.
The firm that created the NCD, DPZ, is one of the top planning firms in the world. Marc Sarnoff, Michelle Niemeyer and the few others that made up The Center Grove Neighborhood Association should have been humbled and honored that such a renowned firm was working on a plan for their neighborhood, as most residents were. To say that your just not interested as Sarnoff and Niemeyer did, is ignorant, pompous, yuppie arrogance at it’s best.
Houses closer to the street, low fences, and front porches, the aspects of Florida vernacular architecture and of the NCD that Sarnoff and Neimeyer found unacceptable, were the components of the NCD that would have helped to create a street life in the Center Grove where neighbors regularly interact with one another and where their is always activity and eyes on the street - the best deterrents to crime.
By rejecting the NCD and letting developers proceed unregulated to build their McMansions set back away from the street and behind eight-foot high iron gates, we are now unfortunately left with corridors of crime in the Center Grove.
Armed robberies in the street are much more common now, with no one around to deter a criminal and no one around to hear the screams when a crime occurs. And it will only get worse.
It is really kind of funny. The self-righteous yuppies that thought it was a good idea to follow Sarnoff are now stuck living in tacky McMansions that they can’t sell and a Home Depot that now seems very appropriated for the neighborhood. Their too scared to go out so they stay indoors and blog about all of the things that that they can’t control now, while the old lady down the street is being robbed at gun point.
The naïve yet devote Sarnoff followers are too scared to walk down their own street but they trust him to make good decisions for the rest of District 2.
Please.
Oh. That explains why Coconut Grove is amoung Americas top ten bloggiest neighborhoods...
I was just talking with two friends about Miami and Grove houses in general and the whole porch “thing” is now gone… It’ sad the high-walls are still allowed, and the since of community really only happens when I walk my dog and talk with my neighbors. Consider most pre- and post WWII housing, and the true florida home with a porch that surrounded several sides of the house (as to allow you to move with the shade of the day). When I first started to read about zoning, I was under the impression that the NCD did pass, limiting walls, etc. But, obviously that did not happen as all new construction still keeps walls. I live in a 10 unit condo, with the “wall”, and at least I interact with my direct neighbors (when I am not walking my dog with the family).
The porch brings use outside, into the community, looking out, not in, not behind a wall. And though we have crime, very few people in center grove are afraid to walk the streets and not everything gets stolen. I have had my bad luck too, several car break-ins, police that do not care, etc. Now, there have been several violent crimes within the last month, and if neighbors were looking out, it might have helped.
Just some thoughts,
Bill Anderson
I think we can all be positive about the direction the Grove is taking. We will be getting a new waterfront thanks to the help of some excellent designers and many very active waterfront activists. Commissioner Sarnoff always advocated for a very open and a very public process.
With the hard work of the Coconut Grove Village Council and the many active Grove merchants many smart people are monitoring and acting to affect many positve changes.
We have a new commissioner who lives in the Grove who happens to be very accessible to everyone. Anyone with an opinion can contact the commissioner. Anyone needing assistance can contact the Dist 2 office and get help.
Now all we need are more shoppers in the Grove and more active residents. We all know the several dozen activists who donate dozens of hours every week. They protect our trees, they plan our neighborhoods, they fight big box industrial stores, they fight overdevelopment, they help those who cannot help themselves. We always need new active residents. Volunteer. The future looks pretty good.
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