Commissioner Ken Russel had a live video today on Facebook, explaining MOT's (Maintenance of Traffic).
In particular he was across from the mess at CocoWalk. The sidewalk is finally opening up later this afternoon. No more walking in the street on Grand Avenue or trying to squeeze through that small walk through across the street at the former Johnny Rockets location.
Ken was giving CocoWalk credit for opening the sidewalk ahead of time. Ahead of time? Why was this sidewalk ever closed? I'm totally shocked that no one was hit by a car this past two years. And I can't understand how they were not forced to put scaffolding up, which is the first thing all construction sites have. But anyway, we can now reclaim our sidewalk.
Ken met with construction workers in November regarding this problem, in the future this will not be permitted by new construction projects.
I know it did affect business on Virginia Street and other areas. Just yesterday I was going to go to the Chinese restaurant, the First Hong Kong Express, for lunch, but didn't want to navigate walking across the street, squeezing through that small pass through at Johnny Rockets, then crossing the street again and so on. Too much trouble. I ended up somewhere else easier to get to for lunch.
In Coral Gables you will never see a sidewalk closed like this. You also wouldn’t see a public parking garage stolen by a private developer. You wouldn’t see a City Commission mistaken for a circus. Maybe it’s time for Coconut Grove to leave the City of Miami, just as Key Biscayne left the county several decades ago.
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