Please stop giving away our private land
This is not about Coconut Grove, yet it is about Coconut Grove - I'm talking about the Melreese Golf Course issue where David Beckham and his group have their eyes on taking over this amazing green space for personal profit, and the City is considering turning this green space into cement. The Grove is being overtaken by development and the City of Miami is a greedy monster that never considers quality of life when it comes to the almighty dollar. When I first read that Melreese might be turned into a soccer complex, I thought it was false news.
David Beckham originally wanted prime waterfront land in downtown Miami and thankfully that did not happen, now his eye is on Melreese Country Club for his new soccer complex. The idea is to put a 180-acre soccer complex on this city-owned green space.
Jeffrey Loria stuck it to us with the Marlins, I am hoping our City Commissioners don't have David Beckham and the Mas family do the same with Melreese, Miami's only city-owned golf course.
As I flew in over Miami recently, I noticed how little green space we have. Even flying over Queens and Brooklyn New York, you can see huge swaths of trees covering the area, in Miami not so much. We need all the green space we have.
A soccer complex can go anywhere. Build it and people will come. Look at Dolphins Stadium or Hardrock or whatever it's called now.
The Melreese course has special meaning to the community. Tiger Woods taught there, it's reasonably priced and it makes a profit.
I am asking our local leaders to say no to giving this special piece of property away, it has so much history, don't turn it into cement. And while we're at it, stop with the cement in Coconut Grove. Enough! We need green space to survive.
As a friend says, "If parks, community and civic spaces are going to be measured by their profitability, then there goes Merrie Christmas Park, and Peacock, and Kennedy parks!"
David Beckham and Jorge Mas will make a special appearance at Thursday's City Commission meeting to push their plan for the take-over of Melreese. The City Commission will then vote to put it on the ballot in November for voters to decide.
posted by Tom Falco at 2:26 PM
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11 Comments:
Agree with you 100%!
This is not about soccer. I love soccer and want it in Miami - just somewhere else, and specifically not at the expense of selling out to private developers who will pave over a park that actually provides many public and community services, at no expense to the city - go figure.
Here's a really informative article about Melreese in Golf Digest:
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/miamis-lone-city-owned-golf-course-international-links-melreese-country-club-faces-uncertain-future
This threatens the fabric of our community as a whole.
JUST SAY NO Commissioner Russell.
Stay green.
My two grandsons ( 8 and 5) are heavily involved with the First Tee at Melreese, which is an amazing program. My son take his two boys to play almost every weekend which is something the boys will always remember this wonderful time with their dad.
The meeting is Thursday at 1:30 pm I understand. I'm going and wearing Orange (First Tee color) in protest.
Doral wants the stadium, take it there!
Not saying you are right or wrong, but again, let's check the facts before posting. The course has been profitable like 2 of the last 10 years. The renderings of the complex have very little asphalt. In fact, many of the people who are in favor of the project are partly in favor because, outside of the soccer stadium, the rest of the park will be more accessible to the majority of citizens that don't play golf.
I agree with the Anon 5:43. Once again your posts are slanted against the "greedy developers". You need to fact check as they aren't taking away a Public Park unless you consider paying $150 for a round of gold a public park. They are paying market price for this land -- it isn't going to be given to them -- and they are paying for the stadium with Private funds .. no public money is involved. If you look at the proposed plan, there will be more public park land then is currently available. In understand the First Tee program is important and it should either be incorporated in the Stadium plan or I'm sure one of the other 5 golf courses in the area - The Biltmore, Miami Shores, Miami Springs, Cranden Park, Granada - would be happy to take it.
I have lived in Miami for the past two years, and yes am a golfer, and when I arrived I was somewhat surprised that there were not more golf courses available to the public in the area. Open land for parks and golf courses is a top premium in Miami. I suppose lots of people have made tons of money in real estate, starting with selling off valuable open land. When so much of the open space is now lost forever to development (which seems to continue unabated by tearing down the old and building new, bigger buildings), it would be a huge loss for the city/county to give up this jewel of open space, and yes, a golf course. I am sorry to share the news that development cannot continue as it has over the past 50 years, nor would the quality of life in the area survive if it does not slow down/stop very soon. Do the words TRAFFIC and OVER-CROWDING mean anything to the people of Miami? The word NO should apply to this proposal (never mind allowing a private enterprise to make money off public land/resources).
I think before people "decide" on wether this is a good idea or not, they have to consider a few things:
1. Melreese Golf Course is not a green space or a park
2. Many more kids would benefit from this proposal than the ones that benefit from Melreese
3. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world with half the world population considered to be a soccer fan
4. The City of Miami would be making money instead of losing money
5. The amount of jobs that this would generate in comparison to Melreese Golf is enormous
Read this article and inform yourself a little regarding some of the issues.
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/melreese-county-club-site-of-beckhams-latest-stadium-project-is-not-a-green-space-10514060
Agree with anon 12:53 that the original post is misleading in that the proposed plans don't really pave over a green space or a park that is open to the public. The whole idea of opposing the plan just because it is "development" is silly.
Now, if you want to oppose because you think having a public golf course is important, or if you believe city land should have to go through a bid process, that is a different story. But opposing the plan simply because you think they are paving over green space makes no sense in light of what is currently there and what the plans are.
Keep Melreese and buy The Palms at Town & Country, in the heart of Kendall, on the Turnpike and the mall has struggled for ever. I love Hyde Park, where is our great park?
Nobody puts there name. Interesting. Remember these guys are developers kissing ass and there proposal will be nothing like what is really put there. Parking garage under soccer stadium. Maybe. Golf course was there before the soccer and we need to keep our golf courses. No more mega malls and office buildings. Does that area really need 25 soccer fields. Look at it that way too.
If the city doesn't want that land to continue as a golf course, then turn it into a traditional park.
The soccer team's ownership are billionaires. Let them buy private land and build their own stadium, the way Joe Robbie did.
It would be so nice if the City of Miami treated park land as sacred ground, to be preserved and protected, rather than as vacant lots for empire-building schemes.
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