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Thursday, December 03, 2015

Judge approves Miami Boat Show plans

A judge dismissed the lawsuit against the National Marine Manufacturers Assn. (NMMA) and it's Miami International Boat Show. The village of Key Biscayne brought on the suit.

The village claimed the February 11-15 event will bring too much traffic and damage to Virginia Key, at the event site, Miami Marine Stadium. 

Many feel that damage has already been done to the site and the fragile  island cannot accommodate so many people and so much ecological damage. NMMA says that "most guests will park offsite and take shuttles or water taxis to the site; water taxis alone can serve 25,000 guests daily. Only 3,800 prepaid vehicles will park on Virginia Key."

A recent US Army Corp of Engineers report showed that the Boat Show’s move would cause “substantial” harm to Virginia Key’s ecosystem and lead to serious impacts on marine life.  And City of Miami’s plan to commercialize the Marine Stadium site will require upwards of $20 million in taxpayer dollars. Alternative sites, including Marlins Park, have been suggested, but Boat Show organizers insist Virginia Key is the only location that ‘suits their logistical needs.’

Damage was already done to mangroves on site, as construction started in preparing the site for the Boat Show and other future events.

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12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Every life form is important, but every human who drives a vehicle, travels on mass trans, flies on a plane, bicycles, walks, runs or become couch potato's while watching TV, wears clothing, takes pills, eats, or craps in some toilet harms the ecological system and contributes to the carbon footprint; it's impossible, absolutely impossible for any human to avoid their involvement - - - - i.e., there are no important life forms on, about, or even close to this really toxic site at the Miami Marine Stadium that could even slightly benefit humanity. This area is already completely totally contaminated and nothing anyone could do would make it any more toxic than it already is, so move ahead. Jobie Steppe

December 03, 2015 5:58 PM  
Anonymous Jim Hesketh said...

The biggest no-no in this city/county is to say no to someone who's in a position to buy or sell a half-million dollar yacht.

December 04, 2015 10:19 AM  
Anonymous Robert Sullivan said...

Jobie, a quick Google search results in information that shows that your position that "there are no important life forms on, about, or even close to this really toxic site at the Miami Marine Stadium..." is false. Here is just one result of that Google search:

http://viewfromvirginiakey.blogspot.com/2010/07/boaters-be-aware-of-manatees-of.html

As far as your additional qualification: "...that could even slightly benefit humanity", I have to ask why a life form benefiting humanity seems to be a necessary factor when it comes to establishing it's importance?

December 04, 2015 11:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is far from the worst or most important thing happening in the city of Miami where an army of armed and badged thugs operate with impunity attacking citizens in the name of laws that the enforcers do not actually know or comprehend.

But hey, who cares about that, huh?

December 04, 2015 4:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lonk to the corp, of engineers study?

December 04, 2015 5:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From the Sun Sentinel..

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/outdoors/fl-outdoors-miami-boat-show-1204-20151203-story.html

As for environmental damage, in a Nov. 9 Op-Ed column in the Miami Herald, Key Biscayne mayor Mayra Pena Lindsay wrote that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "has raised serious concerns about the boat show's potentially negative effect on the ecosystems of Virginia Key and Biscayne Bay."

But at a public meeting Wednesday night hosted by Key Biscayne, the Corps said it had no significant environmental concerns about the boat show according to NMMA's Ellen Hopkins Bradley. In addition, the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management has worked with the show on minimizing any impacts and recommended that the show get its permit from the county commission, and the state Department of Environmental Protection has published a notice of intent to issue its environmental permit to the show.

December 04, 2015 9:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The opposition to the event is because the people of KB do not want visitors! All the "rationales" are excuses. Typical KB !

December 05, 2015 6:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Sullivan, I specifically wrote there were no important life forms in or around the Miami Marine Stadium. Your response made reference to Virginia Key. There are countless marine organism and marine life throughout the Virginia Key area, I know because I dove every square inch, walked all the paths and where there were no paths, swam in two lakes that probably no one even knows about, climbed the trees and slept-ed on the ground countless nights. A portion of my income came from about Virginia Key, plus there was Jimbo's.

Now back to this unnamed body of water, that was filled in to create the Rusty Pelican and has since become a marina, where the Miami Marine Stadium sits. I conducted a survey for Applied Marine Science, about 1970, the water was polluted because 1st off there's no tidal flow, just up and down mostly. Water full of deification, urine & chemicals have been leaching in for 50 years into this body of water from our sewer disposal plant. Gasoline, oil, plastics, and other contaminants eventually sink to the bottom. There are no crabs, lobster or edible fish in this body of water. Only a person ignorant of these facts would think of diving in this area. All boat cleaning is accomplished with full suits and after every dive the diver's have learned to put very specific medicine into their ears, which they ensure goes all the way to the bottom, or they could easily become deaf from the resulting infections. The boat show could not possibly harm this extremely polluted body of scum. I stand corrected though if someone should find such a unique marine life form, some fish, like a hardy Damiscel, o some shell fish, like some chiten, that has learned to survive in such a toxic environment, who developed some immunity to some disease by virtue of DNA adaptation, something anything that could help humanity; otherwise let the show go on! Jobie Steppe

December 05, 2015 1:52 PM  
Anonymous Robert Sullivan said...

Thanks for your clarification, Jobie. I am still quite concerned about local manatee population that will be at even greater risk due to the increase in boat traffic related to the boat show. I'm sure, that in addition to the numerous shuttles that will be required to substitute for the road traffic that is getting a lot of concern and criticism, there will be a lot of other boat traffic during this event. I see a lot of scarred up manatees while I am paddleboarding and the ones that inhabit the waters near the mouth of the stadium lagoon will be at much greater risk than usual.

December 07, 2015 9:30 AM  
Anonymous swlip said...

I'm confused. Do people want the Marine Stadium to be restored, or not? If the City is to spend the money to restore it, then it should be put to a use that will give us some ROI, right?

December 07, 2015 10:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Sullivan, I'm sorry to say I didn't consider the manatee. My brain got stuck on shell fish critters, various forms of edible fish stock, and the morbid crud stuff that is harmful to human activity; yes, I agree the manatee would be more at risk due to the increased traffic on the water. In addition just above the high tide line it's safe and very beautiful, which was why I walked the area numerous times. Now I clean up the Florida Keys, see helpmotherocean.org, although most of the site came down recently, it will be back up soon. Jobie Steppe

December 07, 2015 12:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Key Biscayne got,called out today for,misinformation...

http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/2015/12/nmma-gains-key-support-in-miami-show-dispute/?utm_source=trade-enewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=enewsletter-120715

December 07, 2015 9:44 PM  

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