The neighborhood meeting was a waste of time
Glenn Terry wrote up an excellent report on what went on at the North Grove meeting the other night, which neighbor Marika de Nie Puyana set up at her house. About 36 people showed up to voice their concerns, including Commissioner Sarnoff and Ron Nelson, his chief of staff. The meeting was mostly about the Grove's parks and the neighbors questions and concerns.
The Glass House, the mangroves, Kennedy Park, Peacock Park, Scotty's, etc. It was all brought up at the meeting. You can read what Glenn had to say here.
Plans are in the works for Scotty's and that area, I believe that today there are presentations taking place downtown, so I don't believe anything the neighbors might come up with are going to change that and the same for the Expo Center, which is going to be knocked down after Burn Notice vacates in October or November, and a Community Center is not going to ever be put in that location, even though that is a clever concept that should be looked into.
I found the fact that astroturf is being added west of the Glass House interesting, rather nauseating, actually. I mean we are in Florida, everything grows without effort, why put fake grass in like they did in the Blanche dog park?
The mangroves were to have windows cut in years ago, and yet nothing has been done. Commissioner Sarnoff said at the meeting, "I know we need the views [of the bay]. I spent four years and $100,000 trying to make this happen in Peacock Park. We finally got permission to cut 'windows' in the park's wall of mangroves and we began trimming them back. When the state officials said, 'Stop,' we still could not see the bay. It was all for naught. It was very frustrating."
I can 't help but think that if Sarnoff's house was facing these mangroves, he would have found a way to open up the windows. But DERM, the Department of Environment and Resource Management is tough to deal with, so maybe not.
I think the simple solution would have been to just open the freaking windows and then use the $100,000 as the state fine for doing so. You know, just do it and then apologize later. It would have been done and the $100,000 would have been spent anyway, but we would have had a bay view. And that $100,000 might just have been the cost of mitigation, you know, replacing the harmed mangroves with other plantings elsewhere in the area.
I have a feeling that when a restaurant is finally ready to move into the Glass House, a bay view will be important to that enterprise and something will happen to open it up then.
The thing that really riles me up is that fact that neighbors who are taxpayers, have no say in what goes on in our own neighborhoods. And we never have. Elected officials forget who hired them.
The Glass House, the mangroves, Kennedy Park, Peacock Park, Scotty's, etc. It was all brought up at the meeting. You can read what Glenn had to say here.
Plans are in the works for Scotty's and that area, I believe that today there are presentations taking place downtown, so I don't believe anything the neighbors might come up with are going to change that and the same for the Expo Center, which is going to be knocked down after Burn Notice vacates in October or November, and a Community Center is not going to ever be put in that location, even though that is a clever concept that should be looked into.
I found the fact that astroturf is being added west of the Glass House interesting, rather nauseating, actually. I mean we are in Florida, everything grows without effort, why put fake grass in like they did in the Blanche dog park?
The mangroves were to have windows cut in years ago, and yet nothing has been done. Commissioner Sarnoff said at the meeting, "I know we need the views [of the bay]. I spent four years and $100,000 trying to make this happen in Peacock Park. We finally got permission to cut 'windows' in the park's wall of mangroves and we began trimming them back. When the state officials said, 'Stop,' we still could not see the bay. It was all for naught. It was very frustrating."
I can 't help but think that if Sarnoff's house was facing these mangroves, he would have found a way to open up the windows. But DERM, the Department of Environment and Resource Management is tough to deal with, so maybe not.
I think the simple solution would have been to just open the freaking windows and then use the $100,000 as the state fine for doing so. You know, just do it and then apologize later. It would have been done and the $100,000 would have been spent anyway, but we would have had a bay view. And that $100,000 might just have been the cost of mitigation, you know, replacing the harmed mangroves with other plantings elsewhere in the area.
I have a feeling that when a restaurant is finally ready to move into the Glass House, a bay view will be important to that enterprise and something will happen to open it up then.
The thing that really riles me up is that fact that neighbors who are taxpayers, have no say in what goes on in our own neighborhoods. And we never have. Elected officials forget who hired them.
posted by Tom Falco at 6:00 AM
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9 Comments:
Glenn's minutes are informative albeit annoyingly truthful. Honestly, I believe the Grove has remained hostage to the mangroves for decades - just drop some kerosene on them and light a match. Anonymous destruction in under 5 easy minutes. Lastly, enough defending Austrailian Pines. Those trees are more invasive than weeds because they grow insanely fast and excrete a chemical that prevents plants from growing around it. I don not know how toxic Austrailian Pines are but I suggest if it can do that to plants what our children and pets.
Sarnoff is full of excuses. I've noticed a distinct lack of solutions and vision tho. Great job - those of you who kept voting for him.
Was this meeting open to only those on a special e-mail list? Was it for the whole neighborhood or just for the movers and shakers? Community issues like this should be addressed in a more public forum with an open invite, like at a community center.
It sort of was a private meeting where a neighbor invited other neighbors to her house on a Sunday night to discuss things. I don't know how the Commissioner and his crew got involved. Guess they were invited.
Hate to say it but i told you so.we have no say anymore what so ever.west kendall and miami lakes and brikell are looking so much better these days
Astroturf in Peacock Park? This is called a sin of commission, probably why Ron was dour at the meeting.
This report could be brought to the CG Village Council. It would be nice to see the same attendees and ask someone,please, to put it on Youtube,(since they are no longer on cable) and make fb pages for the issues, Convention Center, Waterfront plan, Peacock Park Community center with links. Stephanie Kienzle is an activist, blogger for Voteropinions.com and will speak about civics at Monty's at 7:30 pm Tuesday June 11. LPMD Meeting is open to the public.
What a freaking waste of money. How is it that Snotnose... ahhh sarnoff has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on many projects and always manages to blame someone else for it! Wwhen will this wimp of a man ever take full responsibility for his actions? Never!
Our once beautiful peacock park and kennedy park have been damaged completely and all for the sake of a view? Give me a break. This was just another excuse to funnel the monies acquired to do this job, deposit it into his own personal account and still point the finger at someone other. SARNOFF YOU ARE A PATHETIC CONNIVING MAN and if you were in a car wreck tomorrow, I would only hope to have a lit match to drop as I pass you by.
Wow !!
The man we thought to be our "free, grass-roots" commission candidate ill have astro turf and huge electronic billboards as his legacy. We were so duped - Marc - what a slap in the face!
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