Let Miami Marine Stadium be a stadium
After reading a short story in Miami Today about Miami Marine stadium, I am now convinced that a major reason that the city is fighting to have the Miami International Boat Show, on the fragile piece of land, is so that they can have the Boat Show renovate the property around the stadium and after the boat show, the property will be completed and available for whatever else comes along, they call it a "flex park." The boat show people, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, have already turned into bullies, acting like they own the stadium themselves.
Nothing can be simple in Miami, you can't just have the stadium be what it was for all those years - a stadium with shows and an audience. No, it's got to be some mega something or other that is too over-sized for the neighborhood, which in this case is a fragile island. Just recently a bunch of mangroves were destroyed while the site was being prepared for the boat show.
I don't think the boat show would have ever been considered for the stadium 20 or 30 years ago when there were far less homes and traffic in the area, so I'm not sure why it's being considered now other than to be used as the catalyst for something bigger. What next, a condo? A hotel next door? Many people still resent the tennis tournament taking over part of Key Biscayne with all the traffic and congestion it brings.
I was in favor of the boat show at first, but after seeing all the shenanigans that come along with it, I'm not in favor of it being on Virginia Key anymore.
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff says that we should see what businesses come up with as ideas for stadium use. Is he kidding? It should be used as a stadium. Period. Let it be what it is, an outdoor stadium for shows. The latest complaint from Key Biscayne is about the proposed water taxi service, which the boat show people feel is the answer to traffic congestion. It sounded cool when first suggested. But residents feel it will have a negative impact on the environment. Boat Show Director Cathy Rick-Joule from the National Marine Manufacturers Association, says they will work it out. You can see that story in The Islander News.
All this mess with the Marine Stadium has me fearing the future of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, where they will turn an historic playhouse into something more monstrous, like condos, shopping and a parking garage if we look the other way for a second.
Nothing can be simple in Miami, you can't just have the stadium be what it was for all those years - a stadium with shows and an audience. No, it's got to be some mega something or other that is too over-sized for the neighborhood, which in this case is a fragile island. Just recently a bunch of mangroves were destroyed while the site was being prepared for the boat show.
I don't think the boat show would have ever been considered for the stadium 20 or 30 years ago when there were far less homes and traffic in the area, so I'm not sure why it's being considered now other than to be used as the catalyst for something bigger. What next, a condo? A hotel next door? Many people still resent the tennis tournament taking over part of Key Biscayne with all the traffic and congestion it brings.
I was in favor of the boat show at first, but after seeing all the shenanigans that come along with it, I'm not in favor of it being on Virginia Key anymore.
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff says that we should see what businesses come up with as ideas for stadium use. Is he kidding? It should be used as a stadium. Period. Let it be what it is, an outdoor stadium for shows. The latest complaint from Key Biscayne is about the proposed water taxi service, which the boat show people feel is the answer to traffic congestion. It sounded cool when first suggested. But residents feel it will have a negative impact on the environment. Boat Show Director Cathy Rick-Joule from the National Marine Manufacturers Association, says they will work it out. You can see that story in The Islander News.
All this mess with the Marine Stadium has me fearing the future of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, where they will turn an historic playhouse into something more monstrous, like condos, shopping and a parking garage if we look the other way for a second.
posted by Tom Falco at 5:00 AM
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9 Comments:
This whole thing has turned into a big cluster. I agree with you, why does this land/stadium need to be something colossal and over the top. Keep it simple - use it as a stadium for concerts, boating races and that's it. There is no need for a silly flex park, restaurant etc. The focus should be getting the funds to renovate the stadium and not the surrounding land.
I remember going to concerts there as a kid in my boat. Also the Hydroplane races. Then the environmentalists came in and said that it was disturbing the wildlife so there it went. Do you think that the KB residents will approve concerts with the loud music and traffic congestion? No way. Its a dead piece of property because nobody can agree on what to do. My idea, build some townhouses with a modest marina in the back and incorporate the area around the "lagoon" into a nice public park. Then again, you will complain that there is more housing. The reality is that this town is growing and since you cant go west anymore, you don't have a choice but to go vertical. Townhouses with zero lot lines is a nice compromise.
The sky is falling. The sky is falling.
Now might be a good time to cool your jets, and wait until something is actually proposed, then object. Objecting the vague idea that something might, maybe, be conjectured, possibly... is generally not an effective strategy.
Manny Diaz the previous Miami Mayor wanted to demolish the MMS and build something like a shopping center, restaurants and perhaps even condos. But fortunately wiser heads prevailed. Commissioner Regalado (now Mayor) championed rebuilding the MMS.
But the City of Miami is the third poorest city in the USA. So we have to find ways to make a profit on most city assets, if possible
You can’t fault the city of Miami from wanting to restore a treasure like the MMS and you can’t fault them for wanting it to be fiscally responsible. Perhaps KB should have its own private car lane on the Rickenbacker like they have for their gated communities.
Or perhaps they need a private ferryboat like Fisher Island.
Key Biscayne never seems to complain about the traffic generated by…
• Visitors to Cape Florida
• Construction workers that build the McMansions
• Maids, pool cleaners, landscapers, AC repair guys, roofers, arm installers
• The fact that now there are plenty of houses with three and four garages
• All the trucks for grocery stores and gasoline stations
• All the Snowbirds
• There must be 1000 cars in condo garages waiting to arise like locust, for owners to return around Thanksgiving.
How ironic that most of the Key Biscayne developers, restaurants and realtors will gladly spend big bucks advertising to the boat show attendees.
Crazy that $ 20 million dollar investment funded mostly by taxpayers is for the commercial development of the parking lot. Not one dollar will be used for renovating the stadium. What about the Virginia Key Master Plan? That was the right approach. Is this another Marlins Stadium boondoggle? Stop screwing taxpayers.
Miami needs that stadium. I'd like to use it for free Shakespeare in the Park... We need it as a community for concerts, special events, farmer's markets, etc.
We cannot continue to give away our precious public parkland to businesses. The government says that they need to lease the parks in order to raise money... The public has already paid through taxes for our parks.
Once a municipality gives away parkland it is gone forever. Case in point. The community center in Peacock Park. Our community never voted to give it away in the first place: to the police, to a skate park, to the chamber of commerce or now a restaurant.
It was our community center and now it's gone forever. We never got a say and it's never getting it back.
I'm sure that the fate of our Marine Stadium is on the same path. I feel that the only solution is to have an independent Parks Commission to protect our parks from our own government.
Shakespearian actors on waterskis! I LOVE it!
I've seen the Florida Orchestra and Jimmy Buffet play there... What's the difference between that and a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream?
It's Miami! We do things differently here... or so I recall.
Virginia Key is Sarnoff's District. Now boat show people from Ft Lauderdale are taking 30+ acres for their for profit business. 900 boats in the basin. I heard they kicked out the Rowing Club from its long time home.
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