Burn Notice receives city permission to stay in Grove

Burn Notice will continue to be based at the Expo Center in Coconut Grove through the 2010 televison season and maybe get a one year extension after that. The City Commission passed a resolution at 3:30 pm today after a long drawn out love fest in the commission chambers by fans and people involved with the show. The production company was literally filming a few blocks away at the time. Pics here from yesterday's shoot.

Commission Chairman, Joe Sanchez feels that in light of the hard economic times, we need to keep money pouring into the city without asking for government bailouts. He made this clear at today's City Commission meeting regarding Burn Notice.

He and many others want the show to remain in the Expo Center in Coconut Grove and he made a resolution to keep it. He explained how Burn Notice not only provides jobs and money to our city, but also major publicity.

$60 million dollars has been poured into the local economy, so far, by Burn Notice according to Comm. Sanchez.

Comm. Michelle Spence-Jones then took over as chair of this hearing and she did an excellent job of moving things along.

Burn Notice producer Terry Miller spoke before the commission today, he said that 95% of the crew and cast were local people, including Terry. Actress Sharon Gless was also present, she plays the mother on the show, Madeline, and she lives in Miami, too. Terry made it clear that Burn Notice is the number one show on cable tv today.

Sharon Gless stood before the commission. She has been a Miami resident for 13 years. She also spoke about all the local jobs created by the show and she reiterated the $60 million that has been brought into the community after all actors and producers have been paid. She explained how Toronto was not able to accommodate Cagney and Lacey, her first tv show, in the 1980s, and so production picked up from Toronto, where the pilot was shot, and the moved back to Los Angeles and in that time, $125 million was pumped into Los Angles by the show, rather than Toronto.

She went on to explain that she and everyone knows that a park would be great in the spot where the Expo Center stands now, but currently they are throwing millions at us, why turn that down now? She also went on to say that the show glorifies Miami and does not tear it down.

Terry made it clear that this is a thriving business in a terrible economic time. Each episode that airs, is an incentive for other producers to come to Miami to film, according to Terry.

Two people in the audience were against keeping Burn Notice at the Expo Center, the rest of the chamber was full of supporters.

Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera was present, he was instrumental in getting more incentive money from Tallahassee for tv and movie production in our area.

Bill Talbert of the convention bureau, also spoke in favor of the show. He said, "Burn Notice is an infomercial for the City of Miami." A free infomercial. Local producer, David Frankel, also spoke in favor of the show. He once had a tv show called "Grapevine." Gotta love that. He recently directed "Marley and Me," which used the Expo Center to film many scenes.

Sam Todesco, location manager, spoke in favor, too. He goes back to the Miami Vice days and claims, rightly so, that Miami Vice was the main reason South Beach had such a major turn around in the 1980s.

Village Council member and chamber member Michelle Niemeyer also spoke in favor. The Chamber of Commerce provided a resolution in favor of keeping the show in Coconut Grove, Liliana Dones, Chamber prez, drew up the last minute letter. Michelle suggested that the rent being paid for the Expo Center by Burn Notice should go to the park's Waterfront Master Plan fund.

The two people in the audience who were against the plan seemed to disappear when it was their time to speak. So no one spoke up against keeping Burn Notice here. They wouldn't dare in front of the actors and producers and politicians who spoke in favor.

At the end of all of this, our own district Commissioner Marc Sarnoff spoke in favor of park space. He agreed that Burn Notice should stay in Miami, but not in the Grove's Expo Center. He says the city has lost too much money by having Burn Notice in the Expo Center, that they don't pay their way, costs are higher to run the Expo Center than what they pay and the city kicks in the rest.

Comm. Sarnoff says that the city does have the money to take down the convention center and clean up the place for a park, City Manager Pete Hernandez verified this. He also said there are two sites available in the city for Burn Notice to move to. But the producer of the show, Terry Miller feels that the Grove has all he needs. He feels the best place for Burn Notice is to be here, Coconut Grove. It's either here or out of Florida according to Miller.

So Comm. Sarnoff's idea now is to keep Burn Notice here for another year or two and to have all rents paid go right into a trust fund for the Waterfront Master Plan, agreeing with Michelle Niemeyer on this. He would like them to pay for the whole year, not just for the five months or so that they pay now -- that is $20,000 per month for a total of $240,000.

Comm. Tomás Reglado was very much for this plan. He felt we needed to go further to make Miami the film capital of the east, second to New York. Comm. Michelle Spence-Jones also was in favor. She looked at the big picture of the money coming in.

Comm. Angel Gonzalez, then out of nowhere, asked for the site to be a major convention center. Guess he didn't know there is a Parks Master Plan for the site, which does not include that. He was right about Miami losing convention business to South Beach and other areas, but that is a discussion for another time. The convention center should be downtown, not in the Grove.

In the end, Comm. Joe Sanchez presented a resolution to keep Burn Notice at the Expo Center for one more year, paying all rents, 12 months' worth, into the trust fund for the new park. The resolution passed unanimously. Burn Notice is here for another year!