Marine Stadium mess
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| The dead plan |
I've always been pro-Miami Marine Stadium, always felt that the structure should be returned to it's former glory, but it appears now that there are some shady dealings involved with some of the people involved the renovation of the structure.
I wondered why it would take $121 to repair the place, but it seems that the once simple stadium was planned to be a huge marine complex with a 125,00 square foot Expo center and dry dock storage for 280 boats, and things like that. Didn't we just destroy an Expo center that was about that size and being used as a movie studio? Wasn't the reason that it was a big box blocking the waterfront? How would this new Expo center on the waterfront at the Marine Stadium be any different, other than lining pockets of those involved?
Why can't the Marine Stadium be just a stadium? Nothing can ever just be a simple thing -- you know, just be what it's supposed to be, just like referendum elections, other things have to be tacked onto the main thing, i.e. that big SkyMall or whatever it's called planned for downtown.
It seems that some of the partners involved with the Marine Stadium are scammers and they were involved with the City and Friends of Miami Marine Stadium deal. They made such a big show last week that involved Gloria Estefan coming to the stadium on a fancy yacht to announce the grand plans which included having the Miami Boat Show as the first event at the stadium.
The City Commission did something great on Thursday, by killing the whole thing. It's supposed to be back on the table, with a new plan, on January 8, but hard as it is to believe, the Commission saw something shady with the deal. When it's too shady for the City Commission, that's really something to be concerned about. If only they saw something wrong with the Glass House and the Grove Harbour and all the condos and the non-needed street infrastructure work and other shady stuff happening around Coconut Grove.
Friends of Marine Stadium really don't have any money to do the job and someone is going to have to come in with deep pockets, but that's when the corruption starts. That's why it becomes about expo centers and boat storage and hotels and whatever else they can scam in there. That's when it becomes about everything else other than the actual Miami Marine Stadium.
Another 20 year wait for something to be done? Maybe.
posted by Tom Falco at 10:00 AM
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10 Comments:
I agree with you totally. Why can't the city take control of the stadium and use taxpayer money for it. Normally, I would be against raising any taxes, but for something like the Marine Stadium I think it would be a good thing. How much longer can this stadium just sit abandoned when it could be used for concerts and events again generating revenue for the city.
So many pigs were lined up at the trough. $5 mil to $6 Mil in upfront fees to the salesmen? Friends of Marine Stadium promised to raise $30 Mil by January 2015 yet they have only raised $1.5 Mil in cash, plus some "pledges"? 99 year lease. No-Bid contracts? Loan at 9.75%? Destruction of the mangroves east of the Rowing Club?
"Things are never done for the citizens, there's always an ulterior motive."
Very simple: Anterior and Ulterior motives: $$$ and/or Ego Massage. Preferably both. As always. Politician$ and developer$ love Gloria E$tefan. The people? Feed'em 5 dollar hot dogs.
"When it's too shady for the City Commission, that's really something to be concerned about." ... Excellent quote!
As we know, the stadium was an excellent place for concerts and boat racing. Now, it's so true, that throwing in the extra freak show mega-plan appears to be a situation of profit-for-insiders.
Business as usual.
I never understood why the Marine Stadium needed saving. Boat racing went out of style decades ago. It has too few seats to ever make it viable, which is why there was an expo center and marina tacked onto the deal. There is no ocean view from the Stadium, just the Australian pines on the spit of land just opposite and if you twist your head you can see several condo complexes on Brickell. That's it. There are lakes in Minnesota that are more picturesque than that. The stadium should be torn down and the land turned into a eco project for UM or MAST or and made into a park.
@anon 5:34PM.
1/ Boat racing is far from dead. You should have seen about 30 Cigarrette-type boats leaving from right here by the Charthouse justlast week.
2/ Such a structure can be used for numerous sports events, triathlons, concerts, etc. Just pray we are spared from the horrible Gloria Estefan commercial crap, though.
3/ Tearing it down doesn't produce enough cash on the side for all the voracious piranhas lurking around.
@7:52
I appreciated your comments, and I didn't mean cigarette boat racing, a course for which wouldn't really fit in the confines of the stadium. I'm not even going bring up the environmental issues this would raise (sea grass damage, noise, etc.)
I guess my point is that the quaint, small scale idea behind the stadium is a bit dated, and for it to be relevant again would require construction and engineering changes that, aside from the piranhas, few people are willing to support.
"quaint, small scale idea behind the stadium".
That Marine stadium would be an Excellent alternative for everyone in Miami looking for simple, affordable fun and simple, old-fashioned events:
Proposals: Bring back the Grateful Dead, or Phish, at the very least, along with some true Reggae bands, Jack Johnson or Dave Mathews and David Gilmour with Bowie, Thievery Corporation (honoring the freaking "developpers") and some trip hop or some true Salsa or Heavy Metal Rock, plus kite surfing or small airplane tricks, etc; build a coalition of former Grove Hippies and Art nuts, obstinate freedom crusaders, if you will. Organize clean concerts and sports events, highly affordable or free every month. Minimum supervision and fancy crap. Just the basics: Art, loud events like the Turtle Battle last week on Virginia Key, (impossible nowadays on our "civilized", caged-up little parks.. and crank it up,. no politicians, no darn marketing companies or Gloria Estefans allowed. We'll fix the place for free and keep it clean. Sorry, salivating concrete sharks: profits, if any, would all go to charity.
..Now back to reality: the traffic jam builds up early on at Bayshore drive, backed up to Center Grove, and the building noises creep up.
Nothing is too shady for the commission, their problem was that it wasn't being done by their shady partners. These city "officials" are some of the most directly, and obviously corrupt in history. This was voted down, because there were not huge monetary gifts promised to the commissioners - gifts that are of course collected either after they leave office, or through the commissioners side business.
2 kinds of politicians in Miami - Fools and thieves.
This is just pitiful. I really had my hopes up after I heard they were going to move the boat show there in the near future. Such a great location.
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