Part 2. So now that I hopefully got your attention, go and read PART II of today’s stories where you will learn how Manny Alonso Poch, a Crespogram favorite, put together a deal that has been purposely been kept secret because once Poch’s involvement becomes public, a lot of folks are going to start saying, “What The Fuck!?!”
Part 3 How the Estefan's fit in.
23 comments:
So, the Miami Marine Stadium is not about "saving" the beloved Miami Marine Stadium. It's about nightclubs and convention centers on Virginia Key?
So, the nonprofit preservation group is a development group?
So, public officials don't know about this? Hmmmmmmm
I believe Mayor Regalado is unaware of all those details. Remember, he was duped into thinking the SkyRise wouldn't require any public funds and voila, it turned out he was misinformed. Geez, I hope he reads the Crespogram Report before Thursday's meeting.
I know Don Worth and he is all about preservation. I would think he is not part of this grand plan...he told me he wasn't.
I have not followed this issue nor do I know how accurate this article is by my colleague Mr Crespo, but he never writes a dull blog and he strives for truth and does mountains of research.
Genius, Don Worth is part of the Friends of Marine Stadium, the entity in this deal. Everything's OK, if you're OK with handing over valuable waterfront public land to a private group that will not have any oversight for the next 50 years and can proceed to develop however is most profitable on public land with public money. After all, this is how business is done in Miami.
I am not okay with the Marine Stadium deal. Never was. In fact, I think it is in such disrepair the damn thing should be torn down. I saw the fire rescue boat spraying it with salt water. What do you think that has been doing to the structure. The repair is too costly in my opinion.
Now we're talking sense. But don't tear it down. Leave it as a canvas for artists. It's a work of art. It's a living museum. And given sea level rise projections it could stay that way until the sea reclaims it and it becomes an ARTificial reef.
If there's no restored marine stadium there's no need and no justification for all that commercial development. Then again, maybe we'll get the nightclubs and restaurants first and then they'll just tear down the stadium for a hotel and casino, which was the plan originally under Manny Diaz and even before that. Why do you think the City never made the minor cosmetic repairs with the FEMA insurance money after Hurricane Andrew?
How many convention centers will be enough for Miami-Dade? The tired MIami Beach Convention Center is finally undergoing major renovations costing million and so it seems that a batch of new venues are popping up to water down its function.
A new Expo Center in Miami:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/convention-center-hotel-miami-arena-downtown_n_3292310.html
And "massive" hardly cuts it: the 1,800-room Marriott hotel would become the largest in South Florida, topping a 600,000-square-foot convention center that features a 1,500-seat theater and a sprawling garage with two floors underground.
and now another convention center on the way to Key Biscayne? Thank God I don't live on the Key. Quality of life does not include horrible traffic snarls on every sunny weekend and during tennis championships.
Does Crespo have any positive suggestions on how best to restore the Miami Marine Stadium and how best to operate it, so that it does not cost the taxpayer? Is Crespo willing and able to have some skin in the game, by raising adequate funds to return this jewel to our community? Or is he once again only willing and able to be negative and find fault with others. It’s easy to complain and destroy, but not so easy to create and make a dream a reality. Especially with a project like the Miami Marine Stadium, that will have such a positive benefit to our community.
Thank you Mayor Regalado, Don Worth, Estefan's, Buffett and all those folks that have worked for many years to help restore the Miami Marine Stadium.
Does Anonymous have even the smiggen of courage to put their name to their comment?
If you want to engage in a serious discussion about public policy issues then the very first step is to identify yourself. Like me or hate me, when I say something, you know it's me, and I stand by what I say.
As to suggestions, I probably could come up with a dozen, but they would all require real work and a real engagement by the Regalado administration which is unfortunately the one thing he's not interested in committing to.
Regalado is a politician who's only interested in making grand pronouncements about what he wants to see happen, and then leaves the hard work to others, and whether the end result is actually good or bad for the City, the only thing he's interested in doing is saying that the goal, or project or whatever was accomplished under his administration.
As to the stories I posted about the marine Stadium, there is more to come as I continue to dig.
My thanks to genius for posting the links to these stories on this site.
Get this: the Stadium will never get restored. It is too far gone. It is too costly. There is Climate Change sea level rise lapping at its foundation. Stop the nostalgia. Get a grip people.
Miami - you're being played -- once again. Marine Stadium basin, Marlins Stadium, Skyrise Miami, MGM Zoo theme park. Parrot Jungle. Beckham stadium. Port Miami, Heat Arena, Peacock Park glass house, etc., etc. etc. How many times will public land be handed over to connected insiders. How many times will the public get a raw deal? When will you wake up, Miami? Is there no government agency in this county not commandeered for private profit?
The Miami Marine Stadium is a masterpiece of modern architecture and way ahead of its time. It has been celebrated by engineers, architects, artists and visionaries the world over. It is structurally sound and will be restored to its former glory and then some. The folks that admire it and see its future potential will dedicate thousands of hours and raise funds to make it a reality. The rest of you sitting at home, accomplishing little else then punching keys on your computer to express negativity, will still be welcome to enjoy the opening night festivities in the near future.
So true the well meaning preservation community is being played by the Music Man, tugging on nostalgia and heart strings, using the fond memories of good times at the stadium to let them ignore the City of Miami is about to give up acres of precious waterfront public land for the promise of restoration. So sad.
To Anon above, where were you when former mayor Manny Diaz had wiped the stadium off the planning map and intended to replace it with a hotel? I hope you were at the many many public meetings and Charette where the 100 citizens said to save the stadium but also said no to commercial development of the area. They said yes to a modest visitors center, to bike rentals and canoe rentals, to modest refreshment stands and to a public waterfront park around the stadium. They never imagined a private group would form to wrestle control of the stadium and surrounding land to build up the area as if it were another Bayside. Please.
Too many unanswered questions. MESA has not heard the item. Voter Referendum? Deferral...
The "Friends" of the stadium are really interested in developing this property. Another public-private failure. The lease terms will have to renegotiated once projections turn out to inaccurate. Then then the "Friends" will ask for more development rights on the property to make it profitable for the city.
If the public, bloggers or the City of Miami have a better way to restore the Miami Marine Stadium, then by all means make it happen. Let’s have less complaining and more real positive action. Come up with a better plan, establish financing and organize a way to manage its operation, so that it cost the taxpayer zero. Yours efforts will be greatly appreciated by our community. There will even be a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and the presentation of a Proclamation in your honor. When may we expect to attend the opening?
Proposed changes could reduce manatee protections in Miami-Dade
Marine groups and environmental activists are at odds over revisions to Miami-Dade’s manatee protection plan. BY PATRICIA MAZZEI
03/11/2014 Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article1961250.html#storylink=cpy
MIAMI-DADE MANATEE PROTECTION PLAN DATA AND INFORMATION COLLECTION FINAL REPORT July 2009 INTRODUCTION Background
The Miami-Dade Manatee Protection Plan (MPP) was developed over a 6-year period with assistance of a citizen’s advisory committee, and approved by the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (predecessor agency to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) in 1995. This plan was developed in accordance with Attachment K of the Governor and Cabinet 1989 Policy Directive, Manatee Protection Plan Guidelines. The policy document, Attachment K, was subsequently incorporated into Florida Statutes by reference and establishes objectives and the foundation requirements for local MPPs. It states in part:
Area specific manatee protection plans need to be developed by all counties in which manatees regularly occur to ensure the long-range protection of the species and its habitat. The objectives of manatee protection plans are: to reduce the number of boat-related manatee mortalities; to achieve an optimal sustainable manatee population (the goal of the Marine Mammal Protection Act); to protect manatee habitat; to promote boating safety; and to increase public awareness of the need to protect manatees and their environment. The plans will address manatee-human interactions, land use (including boat facility siting), and the protection of suitable habitat (including water quality, thermal refugia, freshwater sources, and grass beds). The information needed to prepare manatee protection plans will include manatee studies, habitat assessments, and if available, boating studies to evaluate boater use patterns and activities. Boat facility siting elements are necessary components of area-specific manatee protection plans. Boat facility siting must address marinas with wet slips and dry storage, and boat ramps.
In October 2007, the Miami-Dade BCC adopted Ordinance 07-144 establishing the Miami-Dade Manatee Protection Plan Review Committee “for the purpose of providing advisory recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners as to the need for amendments, revisions and additions to the Miami-Dade County Manatee Protection Plan (MPP), consistent with manatee protection regulations as may be proposed or adopted by the State of Florida”.
Manatee Deaths
Average number of deaths from all causes combined within Miami-Dade County per year over the period of record increased from 6.8 per year from 1974 to 1995, to 9.3 per year from 1996 through July 2009 an increase of approximately 37%. Prior to the implementation of the 1995 MPP, the leading known cause of manatee death in Miami-Dade County was crushing or entrapment in flood gates. Since the implementation of the plan, the leading known cause of manatee death in Miami-Dade is vessel collision (Figure 11).
A comparison of the annual rate of vessel-related deaths from before approval of the 1995 MPP to the rate after approval indicates that the absolute number of deaths per year has increased (Figure 13).
From 1974 through 1995, 29 manatees killed by vessels were recovered county-wide, an average rate of 1.3 per year. From 1996 through 2008, 28 manatees killed by vessels have been recovered, an average
rate of 2.2 per year, and increase of approximately 69%. Vessel-related death is increasing at a higher rate than all causes of mortality combined.
Manatee deaths occur in all months of the year in Miami-Dade, with relatively higher numbers of carcasses recovered in winter months, and a secondary peak in deaths in summer months (Figure 14).
Number of animals present in Miami-Dade and levels of human-related activity influence this pattern. Please see the discussion of Public Ramps and Boating Activity Study for more data on seasonal patternsof boating.
http://www.miamidade.gov/environment/library/reports/july-09-data.pdf
Parks and Profits
Believe it or not, Miami's planning czar Jack Luft says he can make Virginia Key both lovely and lucrative
By Paula Park Thursday, Oct 23 1997
In a phrase, Luft has framed the debate that has been washing over Virginia Key for years. Luft himself, in fact, has been a principal in that debate for a full decade. On one side are the environmentalists and parks advocates who cherish that sow's ear in all its rugged, unruly natural splendor.
On the other are the politicians, business people, and bureaucrats like Luft who are naturally inclined toward taming the wilderness and whose proverbial silk purse holds real assets in the form of a refurbished and active stadium, a boat basin bustling with special events, a resort hotel, restaurants, marinas, marine supply stores, a privately operated campground, and more.
Such visions of revenue-generating silk purses on Virginia Key are nothing new. As far back as 1981, when Dade County deeded to the city land on the southeast side of the island, officials of both governments envisioned hotels and campgrounds, among other facilities. In 1987 Luft himself prepared a master plan for Virginia Key that allowed for even more commercial development. Over the years the island has become home to ventures such as the Miami Seaquarium, the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the Dade school district's MAST Academy, an outpost of the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, three restaurants, two marinas, and a variety of other businesses -- all of it squeezed onto thin strips of land on either side of the Rickenbacker Causeway.
But the interior of the 1000-acre island -- generally north of the causeway -- has remained relatively untouched, with the notable exceptions of the sewage treatment plant and the old landfill. In recent years, Miami voters have had two opportunities to express their opinions about new development on Virginia Key. In 1991 they voted to allow the construction of a large waterfront restaurant just west of the marine stadium, but that project sank amid financing problems.
Then in November 1995, the first proposed project affecting Virginia Key's interior was put to a vote. An elaborate campground covering 154 acres would be built by a group of investors that included Arthur Hertz, chief executive officer of Wometco Enterprises, the company that owns the Seaquarium. By a narrow margin, voters defeated the proposal.
Since then, of course, the City of Miami has experienced financial meltdown, and now more than ever there is pressure to convert publicly owned lands into reliable sources of revenue. Luft has responded by reviving development plans for Virginia Key. Early next month he will explain his plans for a new marine stadium, a resort hotel, and a scaled-back campground to the blue ribbon commission formed last winter to advise the city's elected officials on ways they can maximize revenue from municipal resources, natural and manmade.
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1997-10-23/news/parks-and-profits/full/
The Miami Marine Stadium was the pride of Miami before Hurricane Andrew. Manny Diaz wanted it demolished and turned into a shopping center or condos. Tomas Regalado has championed its return. If the public and noisy bloggers have a better way to restore the Miami Marine Stadium, then by all means make it happen. Let’s have less complaining and more real positive action. Come up with a better plan, establish financing and organize a way to manage its operation, so that it cost the taxpayer zero. Your efforts will be greatly appreciated by our community. There will even be a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and the presentation of a Proclamation in your honor. When may we expect to attend the opening and thank you?
The miami marine stadium was always a money loser. That's why it closed in 1967, fours years after it opened. It was losing money as a concert place, too and that's why the City closed it again after Hurricane Andrew- claiming the cosmetic cracks in the concrete were structural problems, a lie employed a year after it opened. That's why the City never used the $1 million FEMA insurance check to repair damage from The Hurricane, where's that money? That's why under Manny Diaz there was no intention to restore it, always to year it down to build a hotel/destination resort. The City allowed the vandalism that destroyed every inch of it, including all the toilets ripped out of bathrooms. I also would like to see it restored and reused - if that is possible after so many years of demolition by neglect- but it will never make money. Does it have to? Can't we all support it through tax dollars, along with a restored PUBLIC waterfront? That's what we pay taxes for - roads, parks, schools, libraries, police and fire. Must we give away our land and public waterfront and sacrifice our environment so a private group of investors and city hall insiders profit?
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