Crandon Beach Sucks - Where I Spent 4th of July and I Want My Parking Money Back! By Geniusofdespair

The first two photos are the same view. The first photo is the actual beach yesterday. Two is the file photo from google. Don't trust the file photos.

Photo number three is the water. I don't mind weeds mind you but the further out I went the higher the weeds were. They almost made it to the surface of the shallow water. So that is why no one is in the water in the photos. Weeds!  "Kids were saying, mommy the water is dirty." When I went out really far, where the weeds stopped, almost to the motorboat zone, the water was cloudy. Yes, I had a mask so I could see what was up.

I used to windsurf here. It was never this bad. What the hell happened to Crandon, our premiere County Park? It sucks. Haulover park is 100 times better than this.

And the water was a rusty orange down on the other side of the sandbar when I walked to the end of the beach. It looked like an algae bloom to me.

A man came up to me and said, "I don't remember Crandon being this way. What happened to the beach? They aren't maintaining it." There were plenty of county workers up and down in motorized equipment, I don't know what they were doing. Why are they shoving all the weeds and sand together into mud. Why not remove the weeds?

I want the $7 back that I paid to park here. I got robbed by the County.  We then went to Virginia Key CITY OWNED BEACH, 10 times better. We could swim and the water wasn't cloudy. The people were having way more fun. At Crandon the people stayed a little while and left.

Realty

Once- now this photo is obsolete

What lurks in the water, thigh high weeds.

Looking in the opposite direction. The pink color is really on the sand.

Will Mayor Gimenez "gift" Matheson Hammock Park's future to wealthy campaign contributors in Hammock Lakes? ... by gimleteye

I know it is Christmas Eve and I should find something uplifting for our readers enjoying a few days off from the daily Miami grind, but what I do to enjoy early morning hours away from the daily Miami grind is go to "one of the few remaining open spaces in the county that offers easy access and largely unspoiled natural habitat": Matheson Hammock Park. The wooded paths are one of the very last public places in Miami-Dade to view the oolite limestone formation, of ancient coral reefs, demonstrating the porous rock type that makes building sea walls against sea level rise an impossibility.

I've been walking my dogs at Matheson Hammock Park for more than fifteen years and writing about Florida's fragile environment even longer. When I began, the park was scarcely maintained, and although it was covered in kudzu then, it was a faded and glorious relic of a time when fresh water from the Everglades coursed through the coastal ridge to nearby Biscayne Bay. No one cared who walked their dogs or where they parked.

That began to change when some very wealthy and loud residents on the north side of the park started agitating for more control of who could access the park and by what streets. A guard house was erected, that makes absolutely no sense, and still the same homeowners are complaining about the public -- dog owners!, birders!, people trying to find a quiet place in a semblance of nature! Gradually, the parks department began investing more human resources in scraping down the kudzu, encouraging native flora, and in a way this began to worry me because there is no "improvement" of public spaces in Miami that doesn't come with some economic benefit to private interests.

Now the County is planning an "upgrade" at Matheson Hammock Park. Grant Miller, publisher of Community Newspapers, writes:

Miami-Dade County is planning an update and upgrade for this jewel of a park, which dates to 1930. The county’s stated goals are to protect and enhance the park’s natural and historical resources, anticipate sea level rise, and increase overall accessibility. That’s commendable. But, this being Miami, a handful of wealthy homeowners are pushing a plan essentially to annex and privatize the western part of Matheson Hammock. If successful, the homeowners in Hammock Lakes would have a signature public park mostly to themselves.

Send some good cheer this Christmas to County Commissioner Xavier Suarez and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez: tell them to keep their hands off Matheson Hammock Park and any further restrictions to access.

Stop the Matheson Hammock Park land grab
Grant Miller,
Community Newspapers/ Publisher

Matheson Hammock Park’s 630 acres comprise one of the few remaining open spaces in the county that offer easy access and largely unspoiled natural habitat.

Miami-Dade County is planning an update and upgrade for this jewel of a park, which dates to 1930. The county’s stated goals are to protect and enhance the park’s natural and historical resources, anticipate sea level rise, and increase overall accessibility. That’s commendable.

But, this being Miami, a handful of wealthy homeowners are pushing a plan essentially to annex and privatize the western part of Matheson Hammock. If successful, the homeowners in Hammock Lakes would have a signature public park mostly to themselves.

This west area of Matheson Hammock usually is referred to as either “the Matheson nursery” or as “the dog park.” The county has used a portion as a nursery for decades. Generations of dog owners — and hikers, bikers, bird watchers and picnickers — have enjoyed the park’s fields and wooded trails.

Huge public turnout expected for Wednesday's County Commission meeting on Ludlam Trail … by gimleteye

More than 400 citizens -- nearly every single one in favor of converting the FECI property at Ludlam Trail into a public park -- poured into a Town Hall style meeting last week in South Miami.

The citizens believe that the rail corridor, abandoned by its owner for decades, could provide a unique civic amenity in the form of a linear park, if county commissioners can be persuaded that the land's value to quality of life and to the tax base is higher than if converted to condos and buildings.

FECI (Florida East Coast Industries) suddenly sprang to life when it caught wind of the civic activists and decided, only then, to change the property's underlying zoning to maximize its developable potential while retaining a fig leaf of accommodation for parks advocates.

One of the developer's most disingenuous claims by the developer is that it can't provide hard and fast details on its "compromise solution" on Wednesday, because those details would be ironed out AFTER the decision to re-zone and the parties (without the public) begins negotiating with county planners (read: captives to a deformed process tilted in the property owner's favor.) Believe me: I have been through this wringer so many times by fingers look like strands of spaghetti.

But never mind past or history (voters appear disinclined to pay attention to either). What about now?

On Wednesday, dozens of speakers will testify against a hasty decision by commissioners in favor of FECI. They will lament back room deal making. They will try to sway county commissioners who are closely tied to powerful, wealthy individuals who are the largest shareholders and FECI insiders.

Teachers interested in civics lessons for students ought to bring their students to the County Chambers this Wednesday, to watch what happens when elected officials "listen to the people".

Before funding for Central Park was committed in the 1850s, the creator of Central Park in Manhattan, Frederick Law Olmsted, explained that the park would be self-financing. His argument is as relevant today to Miami-Dade County.

When Olmstead convinced key decision-makers in 1856 to acquire title to the land, he based his argument on economics. To persuade elected officials, the New York City Comptroller repeated the essential point, "The increase in taxes by reason of the enhancement of values attributable to the park would afford more than sufficient means for the interest incurred for its purchase and improvement without any increase in the general rate of taxation."

This economic fact even more true in a region of Miami where developers and elected officials skipped over a well planned and funded park system; dragging down our quality of life and economy.

The Ludlam Trail is located in an area where hundreds of thousands of residents lack altogether opportunities for children and families and visitors and residents to bike and to recreate.

On Wednesday last week, South Miami Philip Stoddard who moderated the meeting told the crowd, ‘Everyone in this room knows that you start with a vision. But the vision did not include a public process.’

At the very least, Miami-Dade County Commissioners should defer any decision about a zoning change. More facts need to be presented, including the potential for funds from the wildly popular land acquisition provisions in Amendment 1, that passed the state-wide ballot earlier in November by a whopping 75% of the popular vote. Stand up for people for a change, county commissioners.


LUDLAM TRAIL
Plan to develop along old rail line draws ire
BY KATHRYN VARN Special to the Miami Herald

A town-hall style meeting Wednesday night regarding the fate of an abandoned railroad corridor running through the heart of Miami turned contentious quickly as residents and the development company continued to butt heads.

Ludlam Trail meeting tonite: how FECI resembles Big Sugar … by gimleteye

There is an unwritten history of Florida, in which the nascent effort to build a simple bike path/corridor in an area of Miami-Dade county least served by parkland meets up with activists trying to restore millions of acres of faded, dying Everglades.

That unwritten history, in which every small effort by citizens to protect their quality of life is met with stiff resistance by special interests, is roughly circumscribed by the willingness of developers and land speculators to use every last centimeter of property rights to inflict their "highest and best use" across the landscape wherever profit can be extracted.

It is not a history of courage. The overdevelopment and rampant sprawl that defines Florida is a story of weakness. Political weakness.

The resistance by Florida East Coast Industries to the hope by citizens to use its abandoned property as the Ludlam Trail is just one more example along these lines.

Consider the macro example; how decades of obstruction have delayed the inevitable in the Everglades -- a way to connect the source of fresh water for the Everglades, north of Lake Okeechobee, to the remnant Everglades National Park.

In the past ten years, Big Sugar has launched a series of initiatives to rezone lands in sugar production as commercial, residential, and industrial projects -- right in the heart of the Everglades Agricultural Area.

The latest: US Sugar's "Sugar Hill" plan for nearly 20,000 homes and related commercial space.

Whether US Sugar or FECI ever develops, both are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on planning to obtain necessary zoning approvals. The point is to use local land use decisions to increase the value of their property.

This month, some of the most qualified scientists involved with Everglades restoration planning wrote an article that describes, for a lay audience, the imperative of creating a central flow path through the Everglades.

FECI is a one of Florida's most important land owners and developers. Its assets will play an enormous role in Florida's future growth so long as they are not claimed by rising seas, first. Like Big Sugar, FECI doesn't oppose what citizens want to do with its property, but it has no confidence that anything other than the "free market" can deliver what its shareholders deserve.

The "free market" doesn't depend on messy collaborations with citizens, who sometimes don't see eye-to-eye themselves. The "free market" lacks any balance with the real needs of living communities for open space and the public commons but defaults instead to extracting the last cent of profit before surrendering prerogative and privilege.

That's the unwritten history of the Great Destroyers, "They Know Best", and it is one that Florida land use planners and parks advocates understand perfectly well.

Restoring the Everglades: Challenges and Benefits by Davis, et al.

Major developer tries to extort Miami-Dade County on zoning change for Ludlam Trail … by gimleteye

The following announcement of a Town Hall Meeting is from Friends of Ludlam Trail, but first an introduction. Florida East Coast Industries (read, Armando Codina and his team) is seeking a zoning change for an abandoned rail corridor in one of the most heavily populated areas of the county, before residents and taxpayers organize to purchase the property for a park and public access.

It is like witnessing a strangling to see FECI suddenly spring to life on property that has sat fallow for decades, simply because citizens arrived at a better use for that property than development.

This is a regular theme at Eye On Miami: how the Great Destroyers thwart public remedies to support people's quality of life (unless it comes with their names attached to sidewalk bricks on contrived civic buildings).

This isn't about "taking" FECI property (it long spurned until citizens took an interest in it). This is about FECI pushing the Miami-Dade County Commission to increase the value of its property, through a zoning change, in order to maximize whatever buyout may occur in the future.

This is how the public lost the Miami River, which otherwise might have defined our city as a vibrant place instead of condo canyons in the American tropics. Ludlam Trail will be less visible but of great benefit to hundreds of thousands of residents.

For a worthy civic cause, please attend the meeting of Friends of Ludlam Trails and support their mission:

I invite you to attend our Town Hall Meeting at South Miami Senior High School on Tuesday, November 12^th at 7pm. 

The Friends of Ludlam Trial’s mission is to convert the abandoned Florida East Coast Railway corridor into an iconic linear park with bike paths, parks & community gardens.  The abandoned railway runs from Datran in the south, north to the airport.  The rails have already been removed below SW 12th street, leaving behind a green belt of land through the center of our city between 25 and 100 feet wide with only 13 road crossings along the entire 6.2 mile length. 

Florida East Coast Industries is trying to re-zone the abandoned railway property to build multiple 20+ story high rise buildings and to infill the remaining area with densely packed residential homes. 

We oppose this change in zoning.  A linear park will connect more than 34,000 people within a half-mile to walkable access to five greenways, five schools, four parks and two transit hubs and will create the opportunity for thousands of children to walk and bike to school in a safe, green space.  The new trail could accommodate large natural spaces, community gardens, bike and running paths and trails, playgrounds and provide healthy pathways for commuting.  The return on investment for our community promises to be exponential.  Ludlam Trail Park could be an iconic linear park spurring job creation, realizing immediate value increases for adjacent properties, and achieving a major transportation and recreational asset across the heart of our city.

Please take a look at the attached flyer and attend if you feel the Ludlam Trail Park will be beneficial for Miami.

Please sign our petition, and like us on Facebook and forward this email to friends that may be interested in learning more about this issue.

Beckham Soccer Rebellion in Miami. By Geniusofdespair

Small start, but only one day's notice for this protest! The natives are restless, wanting to preserve their green space and blue space (the historical FEC slip). No Soccer here they say. Parks are for people not just fans of soccer and more cement. Take the stadium off the waterfront. Our waterfront is not on the table, it is not for sale.

Ultra Accident Critically Injures Guard. By Geniusofdespair

According to Timothy F. Schmand, Executive Director Bayfront Park Management Trust, a tragic incident transpired at the Ultra Music Festival last evening.  Gate crashers pushed a fence over on a security guard causing grave injuries to the guard.  She is currently in hospital in critical condition.

The Bicentennial Park FEC Boat Slip: My Blood is Boiling Today. By Geniusofdespair

I am more than angry, my blood is boiling.

We have been through filling in the FEC slip before. Dennis Moss proposed it in 2011. It was proposed in 2002 and countless other times. Bad ideas never die.  I recently wrote about this, this week when they proposed a site at the port of Miami. Another bad idea with legs from idiots.

Buried in the Miami Herald today, reporter Chuck Rabin wrote that Mayors Carlos Gimenez and Tomas Regalado think it is a good idea to fill in the FEC slip (South of Bicentennial Park) NOT to put a soccer stadium (like we believe that one) -- next door to the American Airlines arena. Besides gargantuan traffic jams they would be barring the public from a waterfront stroll (a walkway is/will be errected around the slip). It is a colossally bad idea from two mayors without any funds, historical reverence or vision. Gimenez said filling in the slip will give us more greenspace. Carlos we already had greenspace and all that they did was plop building after building in it. I would rather have the water.

Moss wanted to use the Port Tunnel dredge material fill the slip in 2011.   

Here are some things to think about:

The FIND (Florida Inland Navigation District)  contributed millions of dollars, toward the $16,000,000 for the seawall and 50% of the $1,700,000 for the bollards for the tie-up of visiting ships.  We would probably have to pay that  money back. The  City of Miami had to match those funds to get the FIND grants.

While Bicentennial park is undergoing construction with those stupid museums the slip has not been usable since there is no land access. This is temporary. To say the slip is not being used in disingenuous. For example, the boat show wanted to use the slip but because of the construction they couldn't.

Biscayne Bay Aquatic preserve does not allow filling of Biscayne Bay, severe mitigation costs and years of permitting would not insure filling would be allowed.

It used to be the Port of Miami and a military site during WWII the city tried to fill in the first 100' bordering Biscayne Blvd. in 2002 and found many state federal and local regulations and stopped the project.

Historically: Suzette Rice, whose recently deceased husband Charlie Rice wrote a WW2 history of the area (THE SUBMARINE CHASER TRAINING CENTER: DOWNTOWN MIAMI’S INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR) wrote:

That slip is the last remaining slip of the WW2 Naval base that was located on Biscayne Bay. In WW2, the naval training center and the Key West Naval base were located along the bay. We should be building a memorial/museum to the military that were training and housed in Miami and Miami Beach, not filling-in the very last vestige of our history that reflects the efforts of the brave military during that war.

For you who don't know, over 400 ships were sunk off our shores during WW2.

People sat on their butts on the beaches drinking cocktails from Jacksonville south down the coast. They actually watched as merchant marine ships burned, like it was some sport. German subs were in the waters off the coast and there are even tales of the crews visiting the Mainland in Miami.

Please leave that slip alone and actually make the effort to tell the story.

Historic photo of the slips Piers one, two and three Right to Left

We have the last remaining of the 3 slips pictured here (1943)

Charlie Rice said: "This picture is actually from 1941 when the first two PT Boat Squadrons with prototype boats, were on a shakedown run (you can tell by the numbers on the boats). They were to go from Miami to Cuba. Squadron 1 had PTs 3-8 and Sqaudron 2 had 10-19. I just discovered that the PT-boat picture on the same page that you posted my downtown/Bayfront Park photo shows the Navy's "PT-boat Shakedown Detail" commanded by Guadalcanal veteran Lieutenant Commander Alan R. Montgomery. It was established in April 1943 to shake down the PT-boats manufactured by the Higgins and Elco companies. I thought you might like this information."

Problem in Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach. By Geniusofdespair

The Southern end of Greynolds park has very stinky water. It smells like a sewer and looks really gross. County parks are not being maintained.  They have a blue tarp on the roof of one building.

Oleta Park Land Taken off the DEP Excess Land List According to Sally Heyman. By Geniusofdespair

County Commissioner Sally Heyman's Chief of Staff has told me that Oleta State Parkland is OFF the DEP excess land list. Thank you Sally that is really good news. Thank you to everyone that made a big stink. It worked!

On public parks, Miami ranks a dismal third tier American city ... by gimleteye

Miami New Times offers a cynical perspective on a recent national report ranking Miami 38th in the nation for our lousy parks. To illustrate, New Times posts a photo of an empty paved parking lot. It is no joke. Or rather, the joke is on voters who for decades elected and re-elected politicians to office for whom the definition of a public space was something to exploit by a developer/ campaign contributor.

Who recalls the Miami Heat Arena/ Alex Penelas deal that was sold to the public on the premise and promise of a public park including a soccer field adjacent to the project? Apparently, no one.

The cynicism is boundless. County commissioner Pepe Diaz has ideas for public parks. They need to be for off-road vehicles to chew up open space and wetlands. What Diaz and his allies want is to plant more advocates for development in areas like the federally protected wilderness preserve between Miami and Naples. No joke.

At every step of the over development of Miami-Dade, county commissioners could have insisted that zoning changes fomented by private developers and lobbyists (ie. Greenberg Traurig) needed to include adequate space for parks. Never happened.

Public spaces can knit communities together. That ought to be a goal of policy makers, but there is no traction for common sense when too much money can be made by building subdivisions designed by cookie cutter, or lifeless rock mines, or highways into farmland. Call it Balkanization by design.

One of my first impressions of the state of Miami-Dade's parks: thirty years ago I was lost in Kendall, driving my son to a soccer game at a field I had never visited before. I stopped and asked the few pedestrians on the sidewalks if they knew where the soccer fields were. They all seemed startled by the question as deer in a headlight. Even though the soccer fields were within half a mile, none of them knew how to get there. If you can't find your local park, how are you going to find your sense of community? The answer, clear. You aren't.

Now we have "civic organizations" including board members from the Great Destroyers who nod to our national parks instead of standing up for parks and public spaces inside Miami Dade County. It's a shame, and an indicator.

It ought to be clear that a good parks system is an economic engine. Businesses want to invest where employees can easily access the outdoors. But we have taken our chief attractions and allowed private enterprise to wall them off. Instead of investing in parks, we glorify museums, performing arts centers, and sports stadiums. We allowed insiders like Jorge Perez (a former Miami city planner) to usurp access to the Miami River. Even much smaller cities like Providence RI understood the value of creating neighborhoods around parks, especially those connected to the waterfront. Not Miami. (Where was The Miami Herald, on these issues?)

Miami and Miami-Dade taxpayers are now boxed in by multi billion dollar infrastructure deficits (hidden by decision makers in order to promote low cost growth), that have the effect of sharply narrowing options to re-work the overdeveloped urban landscape.

On the other hand, the single most important step we could take to affirm our attractiveness to investors and economic generators would be to develop a new map and plan and moneys to ensure a 21st century park system for our region. Where is THAT economic development conversation, Beacon Council?

What we need, first, are new elected officials who can sweep away the old thinking of our unreformable majorities on the city and county commissions. Easier said, than done.

Rock and Roll at Greynolds Park May 5th. By Geniusofdespair

We waited to see Grand Funk Railroad at the Greynolds Park 10th Annual Love-in. By 3 pm, having listened to 2 other bands, we got tired of waiting and left. The time between bands was too long. Funny, we did that 2 years ago too. We never heard Jefferson Star Ship.

Two years ago it was free. This year it was $20 a head. Hardly worth sitting in the sun for hours. If you go with one teenager it cost you $60.  Maybe I should bring a chair next time and I would like it better.  People seemed happy so I guess it was worth it to most of the crowd.  Sally Heyman: This is your district. Everyone who lives in Miami Dade County should get in for $10.00. Most of the people attending were from Broward so you will still make a bundle for the park. Going from free to cost prohibitive is a stretch. And making bathroom access an incentive to buy VIP tickets is disgraceful Miami Dade Parks Department. They had a little picket fence around the VIP area. It didn't look inviting to me.

VIP cost $45 in advance $50 day of event.  WHAT?? Look at tent in the first photo. It was a joke.

This is a two minute video so you can get a feel for the event.

Bicentennial Park Water View Blocked. By Geniusofdespair

This looks like it going to be a stand for a sculpture or statue in Bicentennial Park a.k.a. Museum Park. I see it as something that is going to block our water view. Since most of the water views are blocked in downtown, you would think we would get one tiny sliver of view unobstructed. It wasn't to be. They are building this big stupid thing right in the middle of this drop-dead pedestrian/auto water view, spanning all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

Why must they always gum up parks? Florita is going there by Cundo Bermudez.

Rendering

Don't we have enough concrete? Do we need more in our County Parks? By Geniusofdespair

Portion of The Dan Paul Amendment - In Our County Home Rule Charter

In the Miami Herald today it says the County Commission is considering approving putting YMCA's in 7 county parks.  Can't find the article on line as the Herald site is useless for finding things.  I tried a few search words finally found it.

I believe they would be up to 40,000 SF, 2-story buildings.  Are they kidding? The Dan Paul Amendment mentions 1,500 square foot buildings.

Our park space is at a premium.  You have to think long term.  Kids don't need another building to occupy. Kids are inside all day at school and then at home. They need open space to get outside. They need to run around in fresh air. This Y IDEA is a bad one.  Let the Y build their facilities on excess land, like the $1 million piece they were going to give to the Nigerian Community Foundation. Or let some rich dude donate the land. Or here is an even more novel idea: Let the Y buy the land.

The Dan Paul Amendment was added to the charter to protect our parkland from just such an assault. Remember, the fee would be at the lowest, $50 a month for a family to join the Y. That is $600 a year. The use of park space would be virtually free for a family with maybe a $5 or $6 fee for parking.  Have you been to a park lately? They are being used by families for parties, picnics, games, and fun. They don't need to be gummed up with a colossal building. Jack Karadys says this is done all over the country. Well they don't have the Dan Paul Amendment or a Home Rule Charter.  Think to the future Jack, when everything is paved over. The Y is a discount health club, it is not free.  Most families can't afford the fee.

Kendall Indian Hammocks Park vs. Y Facility. Which do you want in your park?

Here is the same park view. In one I inserted a 40,000 square foot office building. NICE???

The Manny Diaz Record. Commissioners: stop spending money we cannot afford, for things we don't need! Invest in what we do need ... by Steve Hagen

NOTE: one of the most damning records of Manny Diaz' tenure as Mayor of Miami is his refusal to listen to citizen advocates like Steve Hagen on the issue of investing in parks instead of Ponzi schemes for developers like Jorge Perez. Diaz is now angling to be the Democratic candidate for governor: we will dedicate our blog to raising public awareness about Diaz' self serving attempts to re-write history so that voters will be informed. In the meantime ...

An open letter to Miami-Dade Mayor and Commissioners as well as Miami Mayor and Commissioners,

Frankly, I think you should reject the request from the Marlins Dolphins for taxpayers to cover half of the project cost. No need for a public vote as it cost at least 3 million we can't afford.
Remember, you have a half billion dollars being spent to cover nearly fifteen acres of Bicentennial Park with museums and that important project is under-funded.

Beside losing half the green space of the park, Miami is scraping around to find money for bare bones landscaping of what remains of the park. This is a real problem that can cause the entire area to fail.

You set priorities. Green parks which are wonderfully landscaped and maintained are part of the rich fabric of a great city, but our parks fail miserable. Bicentennial is headed toward failure if it is not properly landscaped. Do it right this time as it has the lack of landscaping caused it to fail once already. Great parks need to be interesting!

Great parks keep visitors longer in an area be they visitors from around the County or from around the world, the same as culture lovers. Great parks attract great employers with better paying jobs.

The city of Miami Beach and now the city of Miami and County are learning that yes, culture lovers drop off a lot of money in our community. And guess what, it is happening 365 days a year. More would happen with great parks to attend.

Bicentennial Park deserves to be a park that takes at least three hours to see, longer to enjoy. The Cooper Robertson design might take 30 minutes to walk around and if it is reduced because of the budget, Bicentennial will become a fifteen minute park. That will cause locals to be boarded and not return on a daily basis. It will not be much different than our other parks.

PLEASE make certain Bicentennial Park gets the varied lush landscaping it needs. Do not make the mistake of leaving the two museums be the victims of a slashed landscape plan.

In my opinion, both the museums will have a hard enough time attracting locals to return on a regular basis, but the problem will be compounded if leadership does not do a first class job on landscaping the park. Trees and grass and cement walkways will not do the job.

For that entire "attraction, (museums, park, Parcel B and bay walk) to be successful,, it needs locals to populate it 24/7/365. The park and bay walk will be the major players in this attraction as the museums will be mostly day time attractions.

PLEASE, while you ponder if we need to support a billionaires dream, support Bicentennial Park and the millions of Miami-Dade residents who expect and need a great green destination gem on the bay. Yes, it is a need as all Miami-Dade residents especially need to experience the fact that nature is just as important in the well being of an individual and a community as are man made facilities or cultural or athletic activities.

And PLEASE do something green with Parcel B!!!!! It has been over twenty years since Miami residents saw the photo on the front page of the Herald showing it as a green space surrounded with trees. In my opinion, it was that photo that caused Miami voters to approve its sale to the County. Please make it green NOW and protect it forever for residents and tourists to enjoy. No more talk of another museum on that location!!!

Please, get involved in saving Bicentennial from failure. It is a treasure for County residents, not just Miami residents. If it needs private funding, then get behind that. Somebody lead.......Please.

Have you signed the petition: More Parks for Miami NOW

Do You Ever Fantasize About Making Things Right? By Geniusofdespair

People's Art Museum (aka Perez, MAM) partially built in Bicentennial Park on public land.

City of Miami Park's Master Plan Meeting Tonight! By Geniusofdespair

The City of Miami  is conducting a study to develop appropriate standards for evaluating how much and what kinds of parks, recreation and open space to better serve city residents. These standards will be incorporated in the City's Comprehensive Plan.

PUBLIC MEETING - Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

Jose Marti Park, Multipurpose Room - 362 S.W. 4th Street

6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Great Park Summit Wednesday At Fairchild. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department, in partnership with The Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade, will host the 2012 Great Park Summit on April 18, 2012, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, 10901 Old Cutler Road, in Coral Gables. It will focus on the future of Miami-Dade County's Health, Wellness and Economy. To register for the event RSVP at e-mail: gps@miamidade.gov (THERE WILL BE FREE FOOD!)

The theme of this year’s Summit is Partnerships Through Creative Initiatives: Red Fields to Green Fields -- a new and growing push to revitalize underutilized properties with parks as the catalyst for new, sustainable development. The initiative is designed to create jobs, support property values and build a more vibrant South Florida.

Keynote speakers will include Greenville, SC Mayor Knox White who will discuss The Falls, a public garden and falls unleashing a new wave of economic development in downtown Greenville; and Rick Little with Friends of the High Line, who will discuss the public park built on an historic freight rail above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side.

The Barnacle in Coconut Grove on the Florida State Park closure list. By Geniusofdespair

Rick Scott's is going to haunt us for years. If the budget is cut, as threatened, the Barnacle in the Grove is one of 53 parks slated for closure by the DEP Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies. The list was sent to the legislature January 26. Hit read more to see entire list:

The 53 Florida State Parks
1 Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park, Haines City
2 Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park, Stuart
3 Big Shoals State Park, White Springs
4 Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park, Flagler Beach
5 Camp Helen State Park, Panama City Beach
6 Cedar Key State Museum State Park, Cedar Key
7 Colt Creek State Park, Lakeland
8 Constitution Convention Museum State Park, Port St. Joe
9 Crystal River Archaeological State Park, Crystal River
10 Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, Bushnell
11 Dagny Johsnon Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, Key Largo
12 Deer Lake State Park, Santa Rosa Beach
# Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park, Gainesville
# Don Pedro Island State Park, Boca Granda
# Dudley Farm Historic State Park, Newberry
# Dunn’s Creek State Park, Pomona
# Estero Bay Preserve State Park, Estero
# Fort Cooper State Park, Inverness
# Fort George Island Cultural State Park, Jacksonville
# Fort Mose Historic State Park, St. Augustine
# John Gorrie Museum State Park, Apalachicola
# Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, Ellenton
# Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park, Tallahassee
# Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park, Sebring
# Lake Talquin State Park, Tallahassee
# Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park, Tallahassee
# Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park, Islamorada
# Madison Blue Spring State Park, Lee
# Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, Cross Creek
# Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park, Woodville
# Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, Olustee
# Orman House Historic State Park, Apalachicola
# Paynes Creek Historic State Park, Bowling Green
# Peacock Springs State Park, Luraville
# Perdido Key State Park, Pensacola
# Ponce de Leon Springs State Park, Ponce de Leon
# Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park, Jacksonville
# Rock Springs Run State Reserve, Sorrento
# San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park, Alachua
# San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park, St. Marks
# Savannas Preserve State Park, Jensen Beach
# St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park, Stuart
# St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere
# Suwannee River Wilderness Trail/Nature and Heritage Tourism Center, White Springs
# Terra Ceia Preserve State Park, Palmetto
# The Barnacle Historic State Park, Coconut Grove
# Troy Spring State Park, Branford
# Wacasassa Bay Preserve State Park, Cedar Key
# Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Palm Coast
# Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park, Port Richey
# Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park, Islamorada
# Ybor City Museum State Park, Tampa
# Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park, Holt