Is Village West ready for change?
I see The Herald picked up on a story I did months ago about the planned project in Village West. While I think the project may bring much needed jobs and businesses to the area (like a supermarket), I am concerned about the residents being displaced and so are the residents.
I took a little tour around Village West recently and this is what I saw. It really is a great community with a lot of history. It would be really great if the place could be cleaned up and the residents could stay in the Grove. The neighbors are concerned and I think they need to be heard. This project looks like it is going to be in the talking stages for awhile so maybe residents will get their say.
posted by Tom Falco at 2:00 PM
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17 Comments:
I agree with most of what you say and I LOVE your blog. However...have you seen the crime statistics for this area? This area has one of the highest crime rates in South Florida! It is SCARY driving through this neighborhood at night. Have you seen all the guys riding their bikes from block to block? They're not riding their bikes for health reason-those guys are drug dealers. This is in our own back yard of the Grove and NO ONE wants to talk about it!
That area needs to be revitalized with development and crime prevention programs once and for all. There are ways for these hardworking residents to preserve their residences in the Village, while allowing for development to push out the crime.
Please go back at night and take pictures again. Walk around to make sure you get a lot of history. That was sarcasm but the post is the most uninformed I have read here and relates the message residents have not had an opportunity to be heard or that there is nothing that has been done for residents. I personally have never seen a development company go so far out of their way to respond and discuss concerns. Any other group such as Related would have bought people off and been in construction already. Residents have rights but so do the developers and owners of those properties. This is a great opportunity for the Grove, and City of Miami.
I guess the reporter in today's front page of the Herald is uninformed, too. And I guess this post, where I spoke face to face with the residents is not right either: http://coconutgrovegrapevine.blogspot.com/2008/04/i-had-interesting-talk-with-neighbors.html
I never said they were not heard. I said they are still concerned. And I think they ALL need to be heard. Many are scared to speak up. They told me this to my face.
There Herald story says the neighbors are very concerned. How is this post in Grapevine uninformed? The black Grove is on its way out. We all know it. First this project, then little by little the whole area will be turned into something like townhouses. Maybe mcmansions. Sounds like anonymous #2 works for Pointe Group or is really very uninformed himself.
There are way to many empty store fronts already!
When kids see that the people with money are drug dealers, then that's the direction they want to take. If you want that to change, then we need to show these kids another path. How? Volunteer! Big Brother, Big Sister, local agencies, schools. Volunteer your time with the kids and show them there is another path in life. If you can't volunteer, then make sure our tax dollars, or your charitable contributions keep the centers open that help the kids. The cycle of poverty is broken through education. That's how to start solving the problem in the West Grove. Displacing them with development is like throwing your trash out your car window. You don't have to look at it anymore, but somebody else does.
I'm not black, but I do use many of the businesses in the West Grove, and always have. I went to school with the families there and have friends there. This development not only will destroy their neighborhood, But that is its intention. To wipe out what is left of it now that the present real estate boom has bust.
If these plans go ahead, Grand Ave. will become another look-alike, contrived neighborhood for all the money people.
Like the center Grove, they will take away the charm and replace it with "little boxes".
I agree that one important action is to help the youngest children. Given love and education. these kids will grow up and help there own area . without that, we have an endless cycle of poverty.
I beg the residents there to stop selling to developers. And I beg Pierre Sands and his group to defy any changes to zoning. That is the only route to survival.
How come you didnt eat anything ?
I did eat. I had BBQ and I stopped into one of the stores and got some drinks and stuff. I also went to church there not long ago.
Why didn't you?
These photos came out great, Grape. Really makes West Grove look unique. It would be a shame to see a complete redevelopment of the area as it does bring some character to the Grove. I will agree that its not the greatest place to be at night but there are plenty of those places all over the city of Miami. This one just happens to be in an area surrounded by $$$$.
The dreadlock dudes on bikes are definitely an issue. I was in the drive-thru line at McDonald's a while back with about 2-3 cars ahead of me and my window down. I hear someone say "hey man" and I start to look around but don't see anyone. The guy on his bike approached the driver side of my car and purposely put himself in my blind spot. I had to lean over and find him in my driver's side rear view mirror. He was asking for money or whatever. He had me trapped as there were cars ahead and behind me. I said "sorry" and he slowly moved on. I don't get spooked easily but that was some moment.
That happened to me at a Popeye's in Ft. Lauderdale once. Guess we should displace all the blacks in Ft. Lauderdale now because this happened there. Jerk.
Speaking of bikes, I remember about 8 years ago going to the Goombay festival with my friend and his mom. We parked at St. Hugh and walked down Main Highway to the Center Grove.
When the festival was over, we walked back to St. Hugh, but went down Charles Avenue (where Cefalo's and Regions Bank are located) instead. My friend's mom confused it for Franklin Avenue despite my saying we had to go one further. There was a guy riding his bike really slowly and my gut instinct told me something was wrong. Sure enough, he rode past us, turned-around somewhere, and on the way back, came up behind my friend's mom and tried to take her purse.
Fortunately, he wasn't able to get it, and we all yelled at him, but he kept riding and didn't come back. And that wasn't even near the West Village. That was within a hundred yards from the Taurus and the bank. Surely, we turned around and walked back through Main Highway to Royal Road.
Things aren't so rosy over there. I'm sure some of us could go down Grand Avenue and take pictures during the *day* that will look stark in comparison to what was posted. Let's not get started with taking pictures there at night.
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Remember in 2006 when a tourist dropped-off his son at Dadeland, got lost on US1 and stopped in the West Village to ask for directions?
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TOURIST KILLING UPSETS GROVE
Source: STEPHANIE GARRY, sgarry@MiamiHerald.com
Police canvassed the Coconut Grove neighborhood after the weekend killing of an Illinois tourist with little progress, though they still hope to find the shooter quickly to stamp out any notion that the trend of criminals preying on tourists is returning. Miami police say they are frustrated they have received no tips on the robbery and slaying of Ronald Gentile, 54, of the Chicago area. Gentile was visiting his son Paul for his birthday when he stopped in Coconut Grove to ask for directions...
Published on August 1, 2006, Page 3B, Miami Herald, The (FL)
So we should throw out the baby with the bath water? Instead of cleaning up the neighborhood and making it livable for everyone, you want to kick out all the innocent people whose families have lived there 100 years because a few creeps live in the area.
Maybe by cleaning up the area it will encourage people to live a better life and have hope. Shipping them off to Florida City or somewhere "affordable" is not fair to them. How would you like to be asked to move out of the Grove because a supermarket was going in on your property?
I'm the guy who posted re: McDonald's and was surprised at being judged and called a jerk. I didn't suggest displacing blacks or anyone else. In fact I didn't mention black. I was simply reminded of a personal incident after reading a post about guys on bikes and decided to post the story. My name is Curtis and I live in the grove.
I haven't mentioned displacement; I'm talking about the problems that exist right now.
Just like there's a BIC for Center Grove, perhaps something similar should be formed to help Village West.
Either way, it's not like they're being "shipped off" either, they're paid for their property. It's their choice whether or not they sell. It's not eminent domain, either.
The owners of the tenements are paid for the property, not the majority of the people who live there, they are only renting, they are the ones losing out.
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