Strangers deciding Coconut Grove's fate
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| AAA Marine Group's proposal for the hanger/marina on the site. |
This is the selection committee regarding the Chart House / Scotty's Landing RFP, none of them has anything to do with Coconut Grove, which could be a good or bad thing, but we think they are more into real estate and restaurant construction, than village life. And what's with the Miami Beach people deciding Coconut Grove's fate?
They are:
Anna Perekh
Director, Real Estate, Housing & Community Development Dept. City of Miami Beach
Christina De Hombre
Restaurant Services
Navidad Soto
Architect, Ferguson, Glasgow, Schuster Soto, Inc.
Enrique (Henry) Torre
Director, Dept. of Public Facilities, City of Miami
Zari Watkins
Ass't to the Chief of Infrastructure/Assistant City of Miami
Alternates:
Mark Millisits
City of Miami Beach
Kevin Asher
Supervisor Miami-Dade Parks Dept.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:08 AM
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9 Comments:
can we all agree that the waterfront as is, is underutilizing its potential? if our locals won't take it upon ourselves to improve the mess can we blame outsiders for making moves?
The residents and waterfront stakeholders spent 4 years of effort putting together a waterfront master plan that does a great job of preserving the waterfront for water dependent uses (such as boating access, and access for non-boating residents to access the water's edge through parks, the baywalk, and waterfront restaurants) while creating ways to draw people to the Grove and our waterfront as a mecca of water dependent activity. NOT ONE of the people on this selection committee has a clue about the history of the plan, its goals, or even the details of the plan that was passed by the Commission. That was obvious from the discussion that took place after the presentations the City shut the public out of. To his credit, one of the alternates clearly recognized the importance of keeping boating access on the waterfront. The City officials appear to care only about what will produce the most income, and discussed minimizing the marina spaces because he sees the restaurant use as yielding more revenue for the City. Although that matters, this is OUR land (the residents of Miami), and once the waterfront is given up to a long term lease, its use under that lease will be defined for two generations.
Hey Brian, my parents, my grandparents and all of my friends and I have been "utilizing" the Grove waterfrnot since the early 50's. Where have you been?
Were you there when they tore down the pavilions, benches and bbq's at the foot of Peacock park? Were you there when they tore down the pavilions by the boat ramp? Were you there when they turned the community center with the ping-pong tables and baby grand piano and bathrooms for the park into the Chamber of Commerce?
Does everything in the Grove have to sparkle and charge by the hour?
Dear Michelle:
It is my understanding that voters have to approve these proposed changes or leases? Is this correct?
What other options do the residents have or who should we send communications pointing our views regarding this project.
While I do think that both Scotty's and the Chart House need some sort of renovation and the Grove as a community should play a major role and not residents of other areas who just she this project as another number or revenue source.
I was also reading the proposals and some of them paint very unrealistic pictures and not to mention some quite awkward ideas (they obviously don't know the grove). The Grove is still suffering from this very unstable economy and the City needs to make a good decision as to whom it wants to have as tenants not only from an economic standpoint but most importantly from the view of its master plan.
My Best,
Felipe R.
We keep hearing the terms “Government Transparency” and “Caring For Our Community”. Many of us that live in Coconut Grove are most concerned about the changes coming to our beloved Scotty’s Landing. We know about the RFP and that there are five candidate’s that have submitted proposals. We know there are five Members and two Alternates of the Selection Committee. I requested the names of those seven individuals from Judy Marsie-Hazen Sr. Project Representative Department of Public Facilities. She referred me to Angel Zyon the Communications Director. But no names or even a web site to locate the names was provided. That is hardly the “Government Transparency” we have been promised. I sent the same request for the member names to Kathleen Mc Gregory the Miami Herald journalist covering the RFP story. The next day she was kind enough to direct me to the correct web site: http://www.miamigov.com/PublicFacilities/docs/rfp/Selection%20CommitteeMemo-Approved.pdf . Many thanks Kathleen. In looking over the seven names I did not recognize any Member or Alternant that appears to be a resident or business operator in Coconut Grove. That is also not a good indication of “Caring For Our Community”. This RFP project will have an enormous effect on Coconut Grove and no other part of Miami. I therefore strongly recommend that one or more Grove residence or business operators be included in the Selection Committee. Having Grove representation on this vital Grove issue will be of enormous benefit when advising the City Commissioners on the best choice for the Groves future. Lastly, I also suggested that any Commissioner that previously did our community a disservice by voting to subsidize the Marlins Baseball Stadium, gentrifying the Miami River and the illegal re-zoning of Mercy Hospital, recuse herself from considering any RFP vote (especially out of her district).
@Anonymous June 22, 2012 10:55 AM
I have actually been living or hanging out in the neighborhood for most of my 30 years. I sailed as a kid at the city sailing camp by monty's for a decade, I hung out in cocowalk as a teen and college kid, I live in center grove now, so I am aware of what we have and had. I also didn't vouch for these new plans, as I'm not sure the details of all of them (I'd love to see who is proposing what).
I am merely stating that we need to do something. Preferably our local community can put together a plan that works, so we don't have to have outsiders dictating what the use is for our waterfront and our community. Unfortunately very little action goes on here, lots of complaints about change dominate the discussion. We need to understand that communities evolve just as we aren't using horse drawn buggies anymore, we have to plan for the future of the grove.
False equivalency.
Turning the current waterfront into a pay-by-the-hour tourist trap/multiple bar or restaurant megaplex does'nt compare to switching the way humanity moved from horses to the internal combustion engine. That's as blasé as saying "move with the times" followed closely by "pulled kicking and screaming into the 21st century"
It's a land grab for profit just like the Mayfair was (Planet Hollywood will save the Grove! Hah!) and just like Cocowalk was. Every developer and person with the startup money to open yet another bar with their own vision of what the "New and Improved Grove should be. Enough already.
I was just at Scotty's and there were about 80 people there who with less than a couple hours notice, cared enough about this issue to call out of work and drive down in the rain to get on the Save Scotty's bus. Imagine if folks actually had a couple of days notice instead of a couple of hours.
I apologize for this sounding like I'm attacking you, I'm not. I just don't buy the City or developent companies doing anything for anything other than their bottom line regardless of the damage to the status quo.
YOU GUYS ARE SOMETHING
NOT A ONE BUSINESS IN GROVE ITS NOT HURTING AND THATS BEEN THE CASE FOR MANY YEARS, WHY ARE YOU SO OPOSE TO MONEY AND INFLUX OF TOURISTS, I DONT GET IT, THIS PLACE CANT SURVIVE ON CHEESECAKE FACTORY PATRONS AND GREEN STREET PATRONS, COMMON ALREADY LET THE BUSINESS IN, HOW LONG POT SMOKING PEOPLE WILL DECIDE FUTURE OF THIS PLACE, WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT BED RASES AND CRAPPY INFORMATION BOOTHS AROUND GET THE REAL MONEY IN. UTILIZE THE MARINA THE WAY IS DONE IN MONTE CARLO, IBIZA, MARBELLA AND OTHER PLACES, THEY HAVE NOTHING WE DONT HAVE EXCEPT POT SMOKING LAZY GFAT PEOPLE DECIDING THE FUTURE
Two thoughts:
1) Miami Beach representatives (even gov't workers) deciding Coconut Grove's ANYTHING is a clear conflict of interest since we're competing for the same tourist dollars.
2) Restaurant failure rates are somewhere between 60-90% depending who you believe on the interwebs. Seems a little short-sighted (foolhardy?) to automatically assume that a new restaurant will be as successful as Scotty's, to the point that you're banking on such a plan. A vacant waterfront restaurant does no one any good.
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