February 2007 - Biscayne Times

Transcription

February 2007
Serving the Communities along the Biscayne Boulevard Corridor, including Arch Creek, Baypoint, Bayside,
Biscayne Park, Belle Meade, Buena Vista, Davis Harbor, Design District, Edgewater, El Portal, Keystone Point, Magnolia Park,
Miami Shores, Morningside, North Miami, Oakland Grove, Omni, Palm Grove, San Souci, Shorecrest and Wynwood
www.BiscayneBoulevard.com
Volume IV Issue XII
Last Chance for Salvation
Beleaguered Church Faces Demolition
By Victor Barrenechea
BT Contributor
Photos by Skip Van Cel
says South Florida historian Paul
George, the people who lived in the
neighborhood were Deep South, blue
collar, and white. Many chose to settle
Most people only notice it from a
in that particular area because the realspecific vantage point: heading toward
estate boom of the 1920s had priced
northbound I-95 from the Julia Tuttle
them out of places like Coral Gables
Causeway. Off to the right, just below
and Miami Shores. Through the 1930s
eye level. It’s the abandoned church
and 1940s, the sanctuary was known as
with a giant hole in its roof, rotting and the Central Nazarene Church, led by
crumbling over the past ten years.
the Reverend Chester E. Hardy, whose
The Greater New Bethlehem
congregation was grass-roots protesMissionary Baptist
tant.
Church, located on
The first I-95
the corner of NW
cloverleaf,
just north
Though the
5th Avenue and 40th
of N.W. 36th Street
structure itself was now
Street, sprawls in
and east of N.W. 7th
virtually impenetrable,
ruin and disrepair in
Avenue, began conthe property proved
the Buena Vista
struction in 1959,
West neighborhood.
resulting in many
irresistible to
Scarred with graffiti,
homes being conundesirables.
the old building is
demned and local
sometimes used as a
churchgoers scattergritty backdrop by
ing all over South
fashion photographers, but mostly it’s
Florida. “The expressway helped take a
just a place to dump trash or do drugs,
away a lot of its congregation,” says
or as a secluded spot for prostitutes
George. The neighborhood underwent
and their johns.
more changes in the 1960s, when
For more than a decade the
blacks from nearby Liberty City and
Reverend Vane Eubanks has fought a
elsewhere began buying homes there.
losing battle to save the church, and
That gave rise to so-called white flight,
today many of the nearby residents
which intensified the process of
have lost patience with his efforts. It’s
change.
not that they don’t want a church in
By the end of the 1970s, the Greater
their neighborhood. In fact, they say, a
New Bethlehem congregation had
church could be an enhancement, but it moved into the church. In addition to
would have to be a functioning place
Sunday services they hosted civic
of worship, not a godforsaken magnet
meetings, held food and clothing drives
for crime — better to demolish it than
for the poor, offered daycare services,
have it continue to drag down the area. and provided recreational activities for
The church has stood in the same
kids, including summer youth prospot since 1930. Back in those days,
You may not have heard of Artist Serge Toussaint, but if you’ve driven
around the Upper Eastside, you’ve surely seen his work.
See Page 28 for story and photos
Parks and Poison
Morningside Kids vs. “Harmless” Herbicide
By Jim W. Harper
BT Contributing Writer
City of Miami workers sprayed herbicide on the athletic fields at Morningside
Park in early January, and residents are
wondering if children playing there are at
risk. The herbicide, Roundup, was mixed
with water-based white “field marking
paint,” commonly used to delineate
boundaries on ball fields. The paint has
since dissolved, as it should, but the poison did its job, leaving behind lengthy
stripes of dead grass along the baseball
diamond’s foul lines and the rectangular
outlines of two adjoining soccer fields.
The city applies Roundup twice a year
in parks to control weeds, says Ralph
Continued on page 14
The Sign Saga
Gear up for
round two of
our hunt for
political campaign signs.
Page10
Community News
A Little
River is
shown a lot
of love.
Page 13
Chick Flick Fun
Celebrate
Valentine’s Day
all month by
watching these.
Page 30
Gonzalez, City of Miami parks operations coordinator, but using it to etch permanent lines on playing fields is a breach
of parks department practices, which call
for such lines to be marked in chalk or
the water-based paint, nontoxic materials
designed to dissolve after rain or irrigation. “The field was burned, and it looks
pretty bad,” says Gonzalez, who oversees
the semi-annual applications. “The only
reason I can come up with is being lazy.
Your guess is as good as mine.”
Gonzalez says the fields were the
responsibility of the Morningside Park
manager, José Soto, who was transferred
to Legion Park late last month. While
still manager of Morningside, Soto
The Pixel Project
You’re just dying
to know what
Peter Smuts
can do with pixels, aren’t you?
Page 40
2
The Biscayne Times • www.BiscayneBoulevard.com
February 2007
February 2007
3
LETTER
PO Box 370566 Miami FL 33137
[email protected]
Member of the
Florida Press Association
w w w. B i s c a y n e B o u l e v a r d . c o m
PUBLISHER / EDITOR
Skip Van Cel
[email protected]
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Melissa Cueto
[email protected]
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Priscilla Arias, Victor Barrenchea,
Elisa Gaudiosi, Jim W. Harper,
Derek M. McCann
COLUMNISTS
Frances Brown, Gabe Cortez, Lisa
Hartman, Gilda Iriarte,
Jenni Person, Gabrielle Redfern, Jeff
Shimonski, Marc Stephens
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Andrew Dunlop
Call 305-756-6200
PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANT
Priscilla Arias
LAYOUT / DESIGN / WEBMASTER
Corey Kingsbury
The Biscayne Times welcomes proposals
for articles and press releases. Submitted
material may be edited for length, clarity and
content. All submitted material becomes the
property of The Biscayne Times. Please be
sure to include your name, address and telephone number in all correspondence.
Letters to the editor are encouraged, and
must be under 500 words. Please include your
name, address and telephone number for verification purposes (address and telephone
number will not be printed). Anonymous letters
will be discarded. The publisher reserves the
right to edit letters for length, clarity and content. All letters become the property of The
Biscayne Times.
All articles, photos and artwork in The
Biscayne Times are copyrighted by Biscayne
Boulevard Times, Inc. Any duplication or reprinting without authorized written consent
from the publisher is strictly prohibited.
The Biscayne Times is published the first
week of each month. We are hand delivered
to all the homes along both sides of Biscayne
Boulevard from NE 15th Street to NE 107th
Street.
The neighborhoods we cover include: Arch
Creek, Bayside, BelleMeade, Biscaya, Buena
Vista, Davis Harbor, Design District,
Edgewater, El Portal, Magnolia Park, Miami
Shores, Morningside, North Miami, Omni,
Palm Grove and Shorecrest.
In addition we are distributed to select businesses in Buena Vista West, Little River
Business District, Design District and
Wynwood.
Advertise!
305-756-6200
4
FROM THE
PUBLISHER
Changing of the Guard
our years. Forty-eight issues.
More than one million papers
delivered. I didn’t start out to be a
publisher, I was just an angry resident of
the Biscayne Corridor who was frustrated by not having a voice. There were
many of us, and through your voices and
dollars spent advertising, the Biscayne
Times became a force that had to be listened to. I love grassroots efforts, and
this newspaper is grassroots at its best.
But last year I realized the paper had
grown beyond my ambitions. When I
started it, I was a writer and artist. The
demands of publishing led me further
and further away from those endeavors. I
knew the paper needed to grow beyond
me, so I began to seek a suitor. My price
was twofold: Yes, I wanted some money,
but more important I wanted the spirit of
the paper to continue and thrive. I didn’t
want someone to take over who would
gut it for its advertising revenue and
abandon the readers who have made us
successful. I also wanted to ensure that
our dedicated staff — Corey, Melissa,
Priscilla, and Andrew — as well as our
stable of freelancers and columnists,
were also taken care of.
I had a few meetings with other publishers and individuals who might be
interested in acquiring the Biscayne
Times. No one I met with could match all
my criteria. Until December 19, 2006.
F
That was when art dealer Carol Jazzar
and I were putting together an exhibit
and she suggested I call Jim Mullin. I
knew Jim’s work as an editor from the
early 1980s, when I was living in San
Diego and Jim was editor of the Reader,
San Diego’s must-read weekly newspaper. In 1988 Jim moved here to take over
The Wave, Miami’s first alternative publication since Jerry Power’s Free Press
days back in the 1960s. (Yes, I have an
elephant’s memory.)
The Wave morphed into New Times and
Jim was at the editorial helm for nearly
eighteen years. I spoke with him just
before Christmas. Shortly after the new
year we sealed the deal with an old-fashioned handshake.
Jim has a tremendous amount of
respect for the Biscayne Times and our
readers, so much so that he named us
Best Community Newspaper in the 2005
edition of New Times’s “Best of Miami.”
Through our work together this past
month, he has demonstrated a clear
understanding of what this paper is about
and a keen insight into what makes us
tick: citizens, neighborhoods, local happenings, and the importance of our readers to our advertisers. The staff has given
their nod of approval by working closely
with him this past month to make the
transition seamless. For his part, Jim has
worked overtime getting to know our
TABLE
OF
readers and meeting with neighbors,
friends, and advertisers of the Biscayne
Times.
I do a lot of meditating. It helps me get
direction and grounds me. When I realized it was time to move on from the
newspaper, meditation gave me three
options. One was to just shut it down.
Believe it or not this was not the worst
option. Worse would be handing it over
to one of the more mainstream media
companies, which would have no respect
for what the customer’s of this newspaper had built. My favored option was to
find someone who understood that publishing is a two-way street. I couldn’t
have asked for a better person than Jim
Mullin. We provide stories and information that readers want, and the advertisers, in turn, purchase the paper’s real
estate. Our readers know this and support
those businesses.
As for me, I won’t disappear entirely. I
will be getting back to my roots by writing a monthly column, and will stay on
as a consultant as long as Jim needs me.
Not unlike parents who must eventually
let their child leave the nest, I am letting
go of the Biscayne Times. And I know it
will soar.
CONTENTS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .........................................6&8
COMMUNITY NEWS
The Sign Saga, Part II ........................................................ 10
Little River Clean-Up......................................................... 13
Miami Archdiocese Buys El Portal Church ....................... 18
Miami’s “Biggest Loser” Wins Big.................................... 19
Biscayne Briefs................................................................... 20
Black History Month Celebrations......................................21
Biscayne Business Briefs ................................................... 24
Hot Home Sale ................................................................... 26
POLICE REPORTS
Biscayne Crime Beat .......................................................... 12
ART & CULTURE
Serge Paints Miami ............................................................ 28
The Screening Room .......................................................... 30
Art Listings ..........................................................................32
Culture Briefs ..................................................................... 35
Gallery Peek ....................................................................... 37
New Book to Tell History of the Boulevard ...................... 38
Thinking Inside the Box..................................................... 40
COLUMNS
You Auto Know:
Electronic Stability Control................................................ 26
Your Wellness:
The ‘D’ Word: Depression.................................................. 41
Your Finances:
File for the Homestead Exemption .................................... 22
Changing the Title on Your
Property May Increase Taxes .............................................43
Your Kitchen:
A Season for Strawberries .................................................. 22
Condo Counsel:
Once Upon a Time, Condo Life was Sweet....................... 44
Tech Talk:
Computers and Video ......................................................... 45
Hot Kids in the City
Boys in Bright Colors......................................................... 48
Your Garden:
History of the Sausage Tree ............................................... 49
PET PAGES
Humane Society Upcoming Events.................................... 52
Pawsitively Pets.................................................................. 53
Pet Personals....................................................................... 54
BUSINESS DIRECTORY ................................................. 47
February 2007
February 2007
5
LETTERS
TO THE
Miami and Paris
Have Something
In Common After All
Dear Editor,
Believe it or not, it looks like Miami
and Paris have something in common.
We both have too many homeless and too
little affordable housing. We both have
tent cities set up to bring media and political attention to this issue. But in Paris, it
is the outraged middle-class that has
taken up the fight to champion this cause.
I suspect that most folks (including
myself) would much rather be homeless
or protesting by camping out in tents in
Paris. The view along the Canal St.Martin in Paris is a little more scenic than
an empty gravel-filled lot under a Miami
overpass. And after all, Paris is known
for its rich hot chocolate and delicious
croissants! Perhaps our Miami City
Commissioners could finally resolve their
dilemma with our tent city protesters by
offering them tickets to Paris.
Harry Emilio Gottlieb
Coconut Grove
Editor’s Note: Mr. Gottlieb is referencing
a New York Times article entitled,
“Middle-Class French Join Sleep-In Over
Homelessness,” which can be found at
www.nytimes.com.
~~~
Where’s My Paper?
Dear Editor,
I built my home on Biscayne Blvd. and
have lived in the home for a number of
years – Yes, before the construction, during the construction, and now after the
construction. I have been a resident of
Miami Shores since the 1960s and have
raised my three kids here. I feel I know
as much about the Boulevard in this area
as anyone. However, if I want a copy of
your paper, I have to either steal or bor-
EDITOR
row one. There has never been a copy
delivered to my home. Yes, I do live at
9655 Biscayne Blvd. What do I have to
do to get a copy of your paper?
Your coverage in your last issue of El
Portal and the Little River project was
well covered and fairly presented. The
January issue Letter to the Editor, “Ye Ode
Village Code,” was right on the mark. I
am on the Shores Building and Zoning
Board, and I feel the Code Enforcement
Board is likened to a Kangaroo Court in
some cases. There are a number of places
where your paper could be of help to the
citizens in Miami Shores.
project started as soon as possible. If this
means only taking care of the homes that
have requested a seawall and the budget
will be enough for individual projects,
then let’s get started. I hope the Village
Council will look at all the facts and
options and make a decision, soon.
Thank you.
John Castillo
Village of El Portal
~~~
Cool Containers!
Sid Reese,
Miami Shores
~~~
Just Build the
Wall Already
Dear BT,
I would like to clear up a few things in
reference to your story from the last issue
about the seawall being discussed in the
Village of El Portal. I have lived on the
river for the past six years.
First of all, many people have complained that they never got notices to
meetings held in the past regarding the
seawall. I can tell you that’s false. I was
one of the residents who joined then
Village Manager Steve Alexander and
Evan Skornick from SFWMD in picking
a contractor to come up with a design.
Notices are sent out; people had the
choice of showing up or not. I am glad to
see that so many people want to get
involved now, but we must stop talking
about the past since that will not help the
situation. Let’s focus on the issues and
move forward.
My property is one that is suffering. We
lose land with every storm and high tide.
I have four palm trees that are ready to
fall over into the River. I think we need
to come up with a solution and get this
Habitat 67, Montreal
Dear BT,
I went to see your temporary living
space container display, which was written up in the Biscayne Times by Corey
Kingsbury, and was impressed.
It brought back memories of Habitat 67
in Montreal, which was made of more
permanent cast concrete modules. Your
scheme, however, could be adapted similarly with a mix of 20-foot and 40-foot
containers up to three levels tall, providing covered access to entry doors and
stacked utility installations.
Have you investigated combining more
container units to provide a mix of one
and two-bedroom units? With the right
insulation, these could work very well.
Alfred Sasiadek
Morningside
~~~
Signed, Sealed, Removed
Thank you for pointing out the signs that
were left from the November 21st election. We have placed three different teams
throughout the District and removed as
many as we could find. Since the election,
it has been hectic; just trying to locate files
that were removed or deleted should not
have distracted us from our obligation of
locating signs that were left from the election. I apologize to all in the District for
our tardy efforts at all sign removal.
Yours Very Truly,
Marc Sarnoff
District 2 Commissioner, City of Miami
More Letters on Page 8
6
February 2007
February 2007
7
LETTERS
TO THE
Graffiti, Campaign
Signs… What’s
the Difference?
Acid-etched and traditional graffiti
along with political litter disfigure our
communities. They share a common principle: disrespect of property, private or
pubic.
Ever heard the term “graffiti artist?” It
is the “moral sanction” granted to those
that paint and etch their bile onto our
buildings, homes, stores and walls.
As if traditional graffiti was not bad
enough, acid-etched graffiti is permanently
turning our store-front windows into the
subway trains of the inner city. (We need
an entrepreneur to come up with a device
that will polish out the etching from the
tens of thousands of disfigured glass windows throughout our communities.)
If we are to ever win the war against
graffiti, we must first challenge and neutralize the moral sanction that empowers
the “disfigurists” and then sentence them
to hard labor: graffiti removal.
Politicians pass legislation forbidding
littering with higher and higher fines,
while they litter our communities, without
restraint, during and after every election
with their “get out the vote” signs.
8
EDITOR
I have an idea: for every sign that is
turned in, the politician or party whose
name it bears must pay the individual a
fine equivalent to those for littering; the
fine should be doubled if the candidate or
party won! And there should be additional
fines if the poles, string and wire that held
these signs in place are also turned in.
Problem solved.
Question: Is anyone actually persuaded
to vote for someone upon seeing these
signs littering our cities? They have the
reverse effect on me.
Ryan York
South Beach
~~~
Miami Going
From Bad to Worse
Dear Editor,
Even with a real-estate boom for the
past several years, the City of Miami has
maintained its dismal title as the “Third
Poorest City In The U.S.A.” What may
we expect now that the building boom has
slowed down and we are left with a glut
of thousands of new condo and residential
homes that will take two to three years for
the market to absorb?
If our city government can’t get the job
done properly in prosperous good times,
then we are all in store for some real belttightening now.
Here are some of the solutions that need
to be implemented ASAP:
• We must learn to live within our
budget.
• Reduce as many expenses as possible.
• Reduce all elected officials’ salaries and
pensions by 50% to 75%, since it is an
honor to serve our community. This is not
a job, a career move or a retirement plan.
• Reduce all senior staff salaries and
pension funds by at least 25%. There is
no justification for our City Attorney or
City Manger to make $300K with perks,
expenses and an overly generous pension
plan.
• Work with the city service providers
such as the police department and fire
department to provide them with a fair
salary and a retirement fund that does not
put a strain on our economy.
• Provide the same maximum 3%
increase on all properties even if they are
not protected by homestead exemption.
• Raise the homestead exemption credit
from $25K to $50K or, better yet, $75K.
• Implement a moratorium on new
building permits until we figure out how
Miami 21 will benefit our city and how
long it will take to absorb the glut of
recently built housing units and the many
that are still in the pipeline, already permitted and being built.
• Implement intelligent urban planning
that will only change neighborhood zoning when the neighborhood agrees to do
so. There must not continue to be patchwork zoning every time a powerful developer that hires Greenburg Trauig after
buying a property and too easily convinces its city officials pals to permit
them to up-zone, provide variances or
special permits.
• We must implement better ways to
take care of our most needy, disenfranchised citizens.
• We must implement better ways to
prevent the continued economic hemorrhaging of our middle-class and their exodus from our community due to high
property taxes, high property and auto
insurance and the lowering of our quality
of life.
Economic prosperity and real-estate
booms are cyclical. So we must do a
much better job of planning our city’s
future than we have done in the recent
past. Spending more and building more
are not the only answers. Budgeting smart
and building smart are two of the best
answers.
Harry Emilio Gottlieb
Coconut Grove
February 2007
MY SIDE
OF THE
S T R E E T : G U E S T C O M M E N TA R Y
Crime in ’06: A Roundup
By David Magnusson
Commander Miami Police Department,
Little Haiti/Upper Eastside
As 2007 has given us a brand new set of goals,
objectives, and challenges in regards to law
enforcement, it is worthwhile (from a learning
point of view) to reflect upon 2006. As I do that,
I can recall with great clarity the hard work that
my officers did day in and day out. I can recall
with equal clarity how many “fires” were put out
by my Problem Solving Team and other supplemental units from within the Miami Police
Department, from Traffic Enforcement and
Mounted to the Crime Suppression Unit and
Aviation.
As with anything in life, “the proof is in the
pudding,” and along those lines I offer the following:
The highest reduction in part one crimes
throughout the entire City of Miami in 2006 as
compared with 2005 came in the Upper Eastside
(18%)
The highest reduction in robberies throughout the
entire City of Miami in 2006 as compared with
2005 came in the Upper Eastside (15%)
February 2007
The highest reduction in Assault and Batteries
compared with 2005 came in the Upper Eastside
(27%)
The highest reduction in property crimes
compared to 2005 came in the Upper Eastside
(17%)
The highest reduction of persons crimes throughout the entire City of Miami in 2006 as compared to 2005 came in the Upper Eastside (22%)
Tied for the 2nd best reduction in burglaries
compared with 2005 is the Upper Eastside (19%)
The strategies employed in 2006 were sound
ones with two hubs to monitor, one being Motel
Row and the other being the area east of the
Boulevard from 83rd Terrace to 86th Street.
My team and I will continue to take a most
aggressive and proactive stance, not only
towards dealing with those hell bent on committing crimes, but as importantly, towards
coming up with solutions to keep these crimes
from happening in the first place and forging a
strong bond with the law abiding citizens of the
area.
Become a Citizen on Patrol
The Miami Police Department has determined that the
Community Policing philosophy best serves the needs of the citizens of the City of Miami and the Miami Police Department.
This philosophy is predicated upon the creation of partnerships
with the community to prevent crime. The Miami Police
Department created the Citizens on Patrol program to gain the
assistance of selected citizens and to provide a mechanism for
citizens to take an active part in crime prevention efforts within
their neighborhood. This program, by becoming the “eyes and
ears” of the working police officer, is an integral part of the
effort to suppress crime and improve the “quality of life” in our
city. The Citizens on Patrol program benefits the community
through increased security of homes and property, uniform code
enforcement, and active citizen involvement.
To qualify for the Citizens on Patrol program, the individual
must meet the following:
• Be 18 years of age or older.
• Live, work or own a business or property within the City of
Miami.
• Pass a background check and not have a felony conviction or
be convicted of any misdemeanor of a drug or sex crime nature.
• Once qualfied, the Citizens on Patrol volunteer must:
• Complete 8 hours of Citizens on Patrol training.
• Participate as a Citizens on Patrol volunteer for a minimum of
4 hours.
• Attend a 2 hour refresher training program annually.
• If using a vehicle, have a valid driver’s license, registration,
and proof of insurance.
• Abide by all Citizens on Patrol policies and procedures.
9
COMMUNITY NEWS
Political Sign Saga, Part II
By Melissa Cueto
BT Assistant Editor
Photos by Andrew Dunlop and Melissa Cueto
One hot December afternoon (only in Miami is this
not an oxymoron), my co-workers and I took on a dirty
job – hunting for political campaign signs pollution on
the Upper Eastside. The BT’s January issue displayed our
catch. (To read the story, visit our website: www.biscayneboulevard.com.) One month later we’re pleased to
report that Marc Sarnoff and Seth Sklarey quickly took
action, removing those signs the BT had exposed. Linda
Haskins and Darryl Reaves, however, have thus far
ignored the problem. Perhaps they intend them to mark
their territory – a kind of political tagging. Michelle
Spence-Jones’s sign also stands strong, a pillar of political inaction, and Frank Rollason’s sign, partially submerged in shrubs, has now sunk a little more but is still
there.
After hearing from readers, however, it became clear
we had only discovered a fraction of the campaign signs
still littering the streets. So the BT set out on a more
thorough survey of the area. Here is what we found.
Campaign Sign Locations
Linda Haskins:
• N.E. 2nd Avenue and 21st Street
• N.E. 2nd Avenue
between 29th and 30th streets
• N.E. 2nd Avenue and 35th Street
• N.E. Miami Place and 36th Street
(in front of the Midtown Miami Target)
Darryl Reaves:
• Biscayne Boulevard and 64th Street
• 71st Street
between N.E. 4th Court and 4th Avenue
• The Morningside portal
at Biscayne Boulevard and 58th Street
Betty Gutierrez:
• N. Bayshore Drive and 80th Street
Placido Diaz:
• Biscayne Boulevard and 33rd Street
• 2060 Biscayne Boulevard
• N.E. 2nd Avenue
Frank Rollason:
• N. Bayshore Drive and 80th Street
Seth Sklarey:
• Biscayne Boulevard
between 70th and 71st streets
• Biscayne Boulevard and 60th Street
(in front of the Cheveron)
Marc Sarnoff:
• Biscayne Boulevard
• N. Miami Avenue and N.W. 51st Street
10
February 2007
COMMUNITY NEWS
Parks & Poison
Continued from page 1
declined comment on the herbicide
application, referring questions to the
office of the parks department director,
which in turn referred inquiries to the
city’s public information office, which
did not respond to requests for an interview with Soto. (According to parks
department spokeswoman Lara de
Souza, Soto’s transfer was routine and
unrelated to the herbicide problem,
which she describes as an “accident.”
Morningside Park is now overseen by
dual managers: Omar Bayona and
Herman Mata.)
Residents reported seeing children sitting on the white lines, and parents had
not been notified of any potential danger. “Signs should be up — at the very
least that should be done,” says Julie
Mevins, chairwoman of the parks committee of the Morningside Civic
Association, which is investigating the
incident. She plans to notify residents in
February of their findings. “People are
surprised by it,” she says. “They’re not
aware of any kind of notice or warning
in connection with the use of herbicides
in the park.”
When a single-family home is sprayed
February 2007
by a private contractor, small signs are
placed on the property, warning people
to avoid contact with the grass and
plants that have been treated. Roundup
is the world’s most widely used herbicide, and its manufacturer, Monsanto,
claims it is safe when properly applied.
However, that claim is disputed by some
researchers.
While distancing himself from the
grass-killing herbicide, Gonzalez says
the city uses Roundup in the same manner as other municipalities throughout
Florida. “We apply it properly,”
Gonzalez insists. “You don’t even know
it was done.”
Members of the Morningside Civic
Association are concerned about what
they don’t know: What herbicides are
being used, when they are being applied,
and what risks they might pose to pets
and children playing in the park. Mevins
says the city’s director of parks and
recreation, Ernest Burkeen, assured her
that herbicides are used cautiously in all
parks, yet she worries that this incident
may signal larger, unseen problems.
Eva Arnold, a board member of the
civic association, is also worried. “We
want to look into this matter because
we’re very concerned. People think the
park is safe, and it’s not.”
Poisoned grass: The wrong way to mark an athletic field.
11
POLICE REPORTS
BISCAYNE CRIME BEAT
Compiled by Derek McCann from Actual City of Miami Police Reports
Friendly Rides to Publix
Lead to Robbery
4800 Biscayne Boulevard
Victim did not have a car, but through
the kindness of others, she was able to
get around town. One of these kindly
acquaintances, a man known as Doug,
had taken on the responsibility of shuffling her back and forth to the Publix
Supermarket. However, on this night,
when the trusting victim left the supermarket chain she saw that her normally
reliable driver had left the scene, taking
her purse and keys. When the victim
arrived home 2 hours later (having to
take a Miami-Dade bus), her apartment
door was unlocked and several items
were taken. At press time, Doug and his
new purse are nowhere to be found.
Leave it to the Almighty
Morningside
An unemployed man had just moved
back in with his mother. On a sleepy
Sunday afternoon, he was taking a nap
and heard a noise emanating from behind
the home. A man, decked out in white,
was now in his bedroom, menacing him.
Mama’s boy pulled out a gun and shot
the intruder in the arm, leaving a trail of
blood on the bedroom floor. The man
escaped without any further incident.
When police attempted to process the
scene, the shooter explained that he did
not want to press charges stating: “The
Lord will take of everything.” Biscayne
Times is unsure if he was talking about
the Almighty or his actual gun.
His Name is not Mildred
Bayside
Victim was missing several pieces of
jewelry and her cell phone. She called
her cell phone in an attempt to find it and
a strange voice answered. The man
mocked her and dared her to find him.
Earlier that evening the victim had seen a
suspicious man looming about her property. Police were called and, inexplicably,
the suspect was sitting in his car across
the street. The suspect was wearing a
gold necklace with the name “Mildred”
hanging from it. His lame excuse? He
found it. Police grabbed the cell phone
and dialed Mildred’s landline and she
later identified the menace.
Unfortunately, the letter M had broken
off the necklace. Defendant was arrested.
12
Horny Man Needs
Education on the Nuances
of the Courting Ritual
Omni
Police responded to the scene of a possible kidnapping. When they entered
the apartment they found a
fifty-something shirtless
man, holding a broken-off
arm from a chair. His
female victim was lying on
the couch in tattered clothing.
The victim informed
police that the man had
gained entry through
the second floor window, shattering it
with the chair arm.
The unabashed man
made no qualms
about his reasons for
being there declaring,
“I just wanted to
have sex
with
her.” For
the good
of the
community, we
believe area doctors should think carefully before they prescribe Viagra.
Homeless Gang Terrorizes
Miami’s Business District
1306 North Miami Avenue
A Mr. Melo received a call from his
neighbor who advised him that a group
of men had stolen all the copper tubing
and electrical wires from his property.
Melo told police that FPL had to rewire
several businesses over the past week
because of this ongoing problem.
According to Melo, there was a mysterious man named Julian, who was in the
process of recruiting several area homeless people, in a diabolical plot to
employ a marauding gang of socialist
thieves. Thus far, there have been no
arrests, but Miami denizens should be
wary if they sight three or more homeless people together at one time.
Never Forget
Your Cell Phone
Belle Meade
A robbery had occurred at a home.
There was ladder leaning against the
back of the house and the second floor
window had been pried open with a
crowbar. Several items including a radio
were stolen. However, a cell phone was
found on the ground, next to the ladder.
Police decided to dial the first name on
the call list: Alice. Alice answered the
phone expecting to speak with the suspect, and was surprised when she found
it was the police.
She was asked
for the suspect’s name
and address.
Police later
located the
apologetic
suspect. He
offered to
return the
radio but his
negotiation did
little to prevent
his arrest.
Cracked Out Boyfriend
Victimizes Girlfriend
100 Block of NE 71st Street
Apartment has been broken into over
the course of a week. A television, computer, stereo, cash, and the usual burglary items were removed. It didn’t stop
there. The couch and the queen sized
bed were also missing. The frazzled victim told police she knew the culprit.
Her boyfriend is a crack-addict and
likely stole all the items. No arrests
have been made, but an area surveillance of local pawn shops have not yet
turned up a bed or a couch.
Freudian Slip
in Police Report?
Buena Vista
Suspect was seen breaking glass of a
local establishment and then removing
several items. He left before police
arrived. One of the main witnesses is a
transvestite who identifies herself as
Carmen Polo. When police brought a
possible suspect to her attention,
Carmen’s reply was, according to the
police report: “Tit is not the suspect.” I
think we understand the officer’s confu-
sion.
If You Steal at Publix,
Go for the Best
Unlike past thieves who concerned
themselves with stealing bottles of
deodorant, this thief was a bit more culinary-minded. He was seen placing
shrimp and two steaks into his back pack.
He made no attempt to pay and passed by
all the cash registers. Police gave chase
as the man ran down Federal Highway.
He was finally apprehended and the
“items” were recovered and returned
back to the store, guaranteeing a blissful
night’s sleep for Publix personnel.
More Paranoia for Miami
Dwellers to Concern
Themselves With
Palm Grove
If they can’t get your pin number then
maybe they can get your checks. Victim
had ordered checks from her bank and
they never arrived. When reviewing her
account information one day, she realized numerous checks had been cashed
that had not been authorized by her. The
thieves weren’t too bright, writing their
name and address on each individual
check. Fortunately, stupidity is still a
Miami staple.
The Disparity Between
The Rich and The Poor
NE 25th Street and Biscayne Boulevard
A homeless man had ordered a meal at
this Latin Café. The meal would total
$17.12. He informed Latin Café staff
that he did not have the resources to pay
for his meal. Police arrested the impecunious larcener and escorted him to the
county jail. As for the Latin Café, they
have recently added a new bar and have
subsequently raised their prices. Make
sure you don’t forget to tip.
Throw Mama From The
Train?
600 Block of NE 85th Street
Son had arrived home and saw that his
leather suede jacket was missing, which
had $200 in the inside pocket. He called
police and told them there was no sign of
forced break-in – all the windows and
February 2007
COMMUNITY NEWS
Little River Clean-Up
Perfect Weather for Helping Out
Story and Photos By Priscilla Arias
BT Contributing Writer
The sun shone bright and the breeze
ran cool as volunteers gathered by the
Little River on N.E. 82nd Avenue on the
morning of Saturday, January 27th for
the seventh annual Little River Day
clean-up event.
This annual event involves canoeing
down the Little River from N.E. 82nd
Ave. to I-95 to pick up the loose debris
that accumulates throughout the year, in
an effort to protect not only the river,
but also the wildlife that has made the
Little River its home.
The volunteers, some as young as four
years old, included Sue Hammerstorm,
Regional Representative and Certified
Leader for the Sierra Club Inner City
Outings organization and several
teenagers that she mentors; Frank
Rollason, former candidate for District 2
Commissioner; Joseph Jean-Baptiste,
Community Outreach Specialist for the
South Florida Water Management
District; and several other local residents.
Plenty of fresh fruit and water were
provided throughout the morning as
well as hand sanitizer, rubber gloves,
and heavy-duty trash bags. Once filled,
these trash bags could be either brought
back to the site and deposited in an
industrial-sized garbage container, or
they could be passed over to participating residents who live along the Little
River to include with their own trash
collection.
One of the event’s most active participants, Joseph Jean-Baptiste, said, “I’ve
participated every year for the last seven
years and am very happy to see a growing support for this event.” JeanBaptiste, who rowed in a canoe with his
son, nephew, and two of their young
friends, seemed to enjoy the canoe ride
just as much as his young counterparts.
In fact, all the children that attended the
event, from the young teens to the preschoolers, seemed anxious to help out
and treated the event more as a fun
nature trip than work.
The event was sponsored by the South
Florida Water Management District
along with Friends of the Little River,
the Sierra Club Inner City Outings, the
Miami-Dade Department of
Environmental Resources Management,
the City of Miami Neighborhood
Enhancement Team, and Office Nook.
February 2007
Joseph Jean-Baptiste and his canoe-mates are ready
to clean up the Little River.
Sue Hammerstorm, ICO members and other local
residents proudly change into their Little River Day
2007 T-shirts before boarding the canoes.
13
COMMUNITY NEWS
But without repairs the church continued to deteriorate, and determined crimContinued from page 1
inals found their way inside. In 1999 the
grams. “There is no park or recreation
city took another precautionary step,
area in that community,” says Eubanks,
ordering that all doors and windows be
who has been the church’s pastor since
blocked and sealed with concrete.
1979. “[The church] has most definitely
Eubanks had the work done and paid for
provided a significant service in the
it himself.
community.” (At one point, Eubanks
Though the structure itself was now
notes, Greater New Bethlehem
virtually impenetrable, the property —
employed 26 people.)
20,000 square feet that included a utility
According to Eubanks, the church’s
building in the rear in addition to the
current problems began with failed city
rectory — proved irresistible to undesirinspections of the basement, which is
ables. City officials and neighbors
where the daycare center was located.
recount that the homeless began calling
“We did a lot of repairs,” he remembers. it home, prostitutes and their customers
“We were meeting all the requirements.” found it convenient for illicit trysts,
Eubanks and his congregation may have drug addicts were using it as a shooting
held city code inspectors at bay, but
gallery, and car thieves turned the area
they couldn’t vanquish marauding
immediately behind the church into an
thieves at a time when Miami’s crime
open-air chop shop.
rate was soaring. There were many
Before long the situation was so out
break-ins, goods donated for the poor
of control that neighbors banded togethwere stolen, safety
er and contacted
became an issue. “I
an organization
would spend the
known as
night in the church
ACORN (the
just to keep people
“I’ve put a life into it. I
Association of
from breaking in,”
have never wanted to see
Community
Eubanks recalls. “At
Organizations for
it demolished, but it has
one point I had
Reform Now).
been a long time.”
armed security.” The
ACORN is an
guards, he says,
international net— Reverend Vane Eubanks
were costing $400
work of low- and
per week. Installing
moderate-income
expensive burglar
communities that
bars added to the
organize locally
financial burden. All this drained money for positive changes in their neighborfrom much-needed repairs to the aging
hoods. In Buena Vista West they got
structure. Says Eubanks: “Resources
together to force Reverend Eubanks
you would have had, you’re not going to either to make the necessary repairs or
have because of additional costs. It’s
have the building demolished.
like digging a hole while putting dirt on
Despite ACORN’s efforts, nothing
top of it.”
changed, in large part because, from the
Eventually the building slipped into
city’s point of view, the building was
serious disrepair, and in September 1996 officially secure and so there was no
the city’s building department opened its justification for demolition. Julia Colas,
first case against Greater New
former president of ACORN’s Florida
Bethlehem. The structure was declared
chapter and now president of the Buena
unsafe. Eubanks began holding services
Vista West Homeowners Association,
in the modest rectory on the east side of
has lived next door to the church since
the main church building, but atten1993. She has been one of Greater New
dance steadily declined. Finally, on
Bethlehem’s most vocal critics. “The
October 24, 2005, Hurricane Wilma
whole truth of the matter is that no one
administered the coup de grâce, ravis fixing it up,” she says. “I’m very,
aging the rectory and badly damaging
very depressed about it.”
the church itself.
Colas remembers the time a child
About a year later the city opened
somehow got into the church, fell
another case against Greater New
through the floor, and was injured. She
Bethlehem. According to Cedric Mar,
also recalls a more grim incident in
chief of the unsafe structures section,
which a man was set on fire while in his
the church was officially shuttered, and
car on the property. As recently as this
in 1997 and 1998 was considered to be
past New Year’s Day, yet another car
secure, meaning that although it was
was torched behind the church, though
unsafe and abandoned, it was locked up
this time the vehicle was unoccupied.
and no one could enter — presumably.
Church
14
February 2007
February 2007
15
COMMUNITY NEWS
Biscayne Boulevard Banners
By Melissa Cueto
BT Assistant Editor
Anyone who has driven down
Biscayne Boulevard lately will have
noticed the chain-link fences adorned
with banners fronting businesses like
Uva 69, Casa Toscana, Dogma, Karma,
Kingdom, and Starbucks. Heavy construction along the corridor has greatly
inconvenienced business owners, who
have been expressing their concerns
for months. They worry about the dust
and debris that could damage their
properties, the traffic that is keeping
customers away, and the seemingly
endless construction nightmare.
The screened fences won’t end the
nightmare, but at least they’re aimed at
easing the pain. According to Sandra
Stefani of Casa Toscana and Sinhué
Vega of Uva, the Florida Department
of Transportation (FDOT) paid for the
materials, and the City of Miami is
working to reimburse the businesses
for the cost of having logos printed on
the banners. (The printing was done by
Danny’s Printing, also a Biscayne
Boulevard business.)
The screened
fences won’t end
the nightmare,
but at least
they’re aimed at
easing the pain.
According to
Sandra Stefani of
Casa Toscana
and Sinhué Vega
of Uva, the
Florida
Department of
Transportation
(FDOT) paid for
the materials, and
the City of Miami
is working to
reimburse the
businesses for
the cost of having logos printed
on the banners.
So how did this come about? “Some
business owners had a meeting regarding the boulevard and the construction
and the impact it would have on our
businesses,” Stefani says. “We decided
it would be great to have a happylooking corridor. We came up with the
idea of having something different that
would make the corridor stand out. We
asked the city and FDOT to participate
and to give us a hand. Marc Sarnoff
[District 2 Miami City Commissioner]
thought it was a good idea because he
was newly elected, and he wanted the
boulevard corridor to look different.
FDOT didn’t want any more complaints, so they cooperated.” (Sarnoff
could not be reached for comment.)
Vega was also happy with the
results, saying that he chose protection
for his outdoor dining area over visibility from the street.
According to Herbert Ammons,
FDOT public information officer, his
agency has provided fences and
screens for all outdoor cafés between
67th and 78th streets that have
requested them. Whether designs are
added to the banners is up to the business owners.
To comment on this story, visit
16
February 2007
COMMUNITY NEWS
The City of Miami Informs Residents
About the FREE Benefit Bank Service
City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz
and Commissioner Joe Sanchez, joined
by residents who have benefited from
The Benefit Bank Program and members of the community, held a press
conference to discuss the success of
the City’s Benefit Bank Program and
informed additional residents of the
FREE service during a press conference held recently at the Little Havana
NET office, located at 1275 NW 1st
Street, Miami, Florida 33125.
“The Benefit Bank program has
helped thousands of residents by putting the resources at their fingertips
and money in their pockets,” said
Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. “By applying to the program, residents can qualify to receive additional assistance that
otherwise would have to go through
the individual sources to obtain such as
for food stamps, health insurance for
the kids and low income energy assistance.”
The Benefit Bank is an internet-based
software designed to help low/moderate income families get the tax credits,
health care, food and other benefits
that have been created to help them lift
themselves out of poverty. Programs
include food stamps, children’s health
insurance, federal income tax, energy
assistance, and voter registration, just
to name a few.
The press conference also formalized
a new partnership between the Florida
Department of Children and Families
(DCF) and The Benefit Bank to assure
that all City of Miami residents receive
the maximum benefits during tax sea-
February 2007
son and beyond. To mark the beginning
of this partnership, George Sheldon,
who has been vital in to the transition
of the new Secretary of the Department
of Children & Families, Mr. Bob
Butterworth, were present to support
the City’s efforts. Other partners
included Gilda Ferradaz, District
Administrator for the DCF and Robert
J. Brand, founder of Solutions for
Progress.
“Having the benefits and The Benefit
Bank in each of the 13 NET offices
make the services more accessible to
our residents,” stated Miami
Commissioner Joe Sanchez. “I am
proud to join the Mayor and his initiative and welcome The Benefit Bank
program to Little Havana. I encourage
everyone to get informed and take
advantage of the services provided.”
Last year, over 250 residents were
served through Benefit Bank. Little
Havana NET office offered the most
Benefit Bank entries of any NET office
in the city, by providing assistance to a
significant amount of the residents who
sought benefits through the program.
The Benefit Bank program is part of
the Mayor’s Anti Poverty Initiative
launched in 2001. The initiative unites
City resources with similar resources
available in the public, private, and
non-profit sectors, to offer tools and
education that enable City residents to
improve their quality of life. To date,
ACCESS Miami has established
numerous collaborations with successful partners including the U.S. Small
Business Administration, the Internal
Revenue Service, H&R Block, the
Mortgage Bankers Association, and
more. ACCESS Miami works with
each partner on a one-on-one, customized basis to offer opportunities for
residents year-round, including finan-
cial seminars, workshops, free tax
sites, training, and more.
For more information about The
Benefit Bank (TBB) program, please
call 311 or visit http://www.accessmiamijobs.com/
17
COMMUNITY NEWS
Miami Archdiocese Purchases El Portal Church
The Catholic Archdiocese of Miami
has purchased the Rader United
Methodist Church in El Portal for $3.6
million. Patrick Duffy of Duffy Realty in
Miami Shores represented the Rader
congregation in the transaction, which
closed January 25. Built in 1951, the
church, which faces NE 2nd Avenue at
87th Street, was on the market for five
months.
According to the archdiocese’s Father
John Madigan, the facility will be con-
The Rader Church at NE 82nd Street & NE 2nd Avenue has been
purchased by the Archdiocese of Miami.
18
verted to a convent and will
eventually house
a small number of
Discalced
Carmelite nuns.
The Carmelites
are a cloistered
order whose
members avoid
contact with the
public and lead
lives of contemplation and
prayer. “They are
totally living outside the realm of this
world,” says Father Madigan. “Theirs is
a life of prayer.”
The nuns belonged to a Carmelite convent in Mexico and were invited to move
to Miami several years ago by
Archbishop John C. Favalora. Initially
they settled in a church-owned house in
Kendall. Currently they’re living in a
Hialeah residence owned by the archdiocese. “The home,” Father Madigan
explains, “is an ‘enclosed’ house. No one
would have the opportunity to knock on
the door and visit.”
The Rader United Methodist Church
property is large (88,000 square feet) and
largely open to view from adjacent
streets — thus privacy could be a concern. Father Madigan, who does not
know the exact number of nuns who will
occupy the church complex, says the
issue has not yet been addressed:
“They’ll do whatever needs to be done in
accordance with the laws of the city [El
Portal] where they’re living. If there’s
not a wall, then they’ll protect their own
privacy.” A two-story classroom annex
behind the main sanctuary is expected to
be converted to living quarters.
February 2007
COMMUNITY NEWS
Miami’s ‘Biggest Loser’ Wins Big
By Melissa Cueto
BT Assistant Editor
In April of 2005 Mark Wylie, originally
from Connecticut and a Miami Beach resident since 1993, was turning 40 and
dreading it. “I’ve been overweight my
whole life,” he says. “I was living a life
of avoidance [and] was going to die if I
didn’t make some drastic changes. My
spirit was kind of broken.”
Through mutual friends at a charity
event for Best Buddies (Wylie works for
the nonprofit organization) he met Jeff
Seidman, an independent fitness trainer.
Seidman moved to Miami eight years ago
from California. Within months he had
opened a gym on South Beach called
Hiperfit Personal Training, and recently
opened a new location on 71st Street and
Biscayne Boulevard.
Wylie soon began training with
Seidman. For roughly a year he would
lose some weight, then gain some back,
lacking the rigorous discipline needed to
maintain a healthy lifestyle. He had managed to lose 33 pounds. By the time heard
about NBC’s reality show The Biggest
Loser, in which the competitor who loses
the most weight wins $250,000. Being a
cast member on the program, Wylie
thought, would provide the extra motivation he needed.
Having just missed the Orlando casting
call, he happened to be in Los Angeles for
the final auditions in late February of last
year. He made the first cut, and by April
he was one of 50. Then there were 14.
From that point on, Wylie remained at a
ranch in California where the program
was being taped. He weighed 307 pounds.
Nearly kicked off the show time and
time again, he made it by a hair into the
final four. He and the others were then
dismissed for three months to continue
working out and eating right at home.
Wylie returned to Miami Beach and his
training regime with Seidman at Hiperfit.
This time, there were no excuses. He had
already lost 90 pounds, and dropped 40
more while here. Then it was back to the
ranch in California for the final contest.
He didn’t win the big check, but he took
the third place prize ($25,000), weighing
in at 178 pounds. Total loss: 129 pounds.
He was not disappointed.
Although the process had been overwhelming, it had also been deeply
rewarding. “You don’t realize you’re
actually going to take yourself on emotionally,” he says. “You tap into the reasons why you sabotage yourself. I had to
come to like myself. [The Biggest Loser]
February 2007
“You don’t
realize you’re
actually going
to take yourself
on emotionally.
You tap into the
reasons why
you sabotage
yourself.”
– Mark Wylie
Left:
Mark Wylie before
“The Biggest
Loser”
Right:
Mark Wylie after
“The Biggest
Loser”
gave me the opportunity to look at myself
and love myself.”
As someone who had devoted himself
to working for a charitable organization,
to living a life of service, Wylie found it
ironic that, for so long, he had been
unable to help himself. But that has now
changed. Seidman, who remains Wylie’s
personal trainer, does not foresee any
future setbacks in his client’s ability to
maintain his weight and health. “I think
he had an advantage over the other people
on the show,” says Seidman. “He had created the habit of working out before the
show. He had initiated a lifestyle change.”
He sees Wylie as a man who has made a
transition not just physically but also
emotionally, a man with a new body and
newfound self-confidence.
Wylie never imagined he would be able
to accomplish what he has in the past
year, but he now knows no limits. “I consider myself blessed, [but], if I can do
this, so can you,” he says. “If you’re
focused, if you believe in yourself, you
can truly achieve your goals.”
To learn more about Wylie visit his
website at www.WyliesWeighIn.com.
For information about Best Buddies visit
www.bestbuddies.org.
To learn more about Seidman, or for
information about Hiperfit visit
http://www.jeffseidman.com/.
19
COMMUNITY NEWS
BISCAYNE BRIEFS
Police Obtain Video
of Graffiti Perpetrators
MLK Community
Beautification Project Launched
According to George Williams, who owns the properties on
the 4500 and 4600 blocks of N.E. 2nd Avenue, the graffiti
problem that escalated in January persists, but not as heavily.
He is still waiting to hear back from the Miami Police
Department’s (MPD) gang unit, which has obtained video
footage of the perpetrators.
Commander David Magnusson of the MPD hasn’t heard
back from the gang unit either. He said, however, that patrols
have been added to the area and that recent arrests have been
made for loitering and burglary. “[The graffiti problem] hasn’t
been resolved yet,” he said, “but we’re on top of it as best we
can while still balancing our resources.”
In the meantime, Williams has applied for a grant through the
Commercial Façade program to help pay for all the windows
and shutters damaged by graffiti on his properties.
~~~
El Portal Seawall Update
Jason Walker, Village Manager of El Portal, has requested
reprogramming the funds that the South Florida Water
Management District (SFWMD) had appropriated for a seawall
project along the Little River Canal. Several El Portal residents
had been calling for an extended design phase so that further
public input could be taken into consideration. Because El
Portal’s contract with the SFWMD ends in February, Walker
requested an extension and a revision of the contract. He has
had confirmation from the SFWMD that the request has been
received, and it seems likely that more money will be allotted
for the design phase.
Hugh Gladwin, a member of the El Portal Homeowners
Association, has sent a letter to residents, asking them to complete a short survey about their hopes for the seawall project.
He is compiling the information. To view that letter, and for
other updates on the matter, visit
http://www.worldmountain.com/littleriver/.
~~~
Free College Education
Offered for Black Males
Do you know any Black Males who are in Senior high school
who want to go to college out of state for Free? The black colleges are looking for future black male teachers and will send
them to four years of university/college for free. This is for
African-American males only.
The application, a list of participating colleges and further
information about the project is available at
http://www.callmemister.clemson.edu/index.htm.
~~~
Full Moon Kayak Tour
NBDC’s next Full Moon Kayak Tour is March 3rd at 5:30
p.m. Come and enjoy North Beach from the water, including an
Argentinean-style Parrillada after the tour.
For registration please visit our website at http://gonorthbeach.com/events.php, download the sign up form, and fax it to
305-865-4175, or call 305-865-4147.
Participants should meet at Shane Watersports Center in
Miami Beach, 6500 Indian Creek Drive. The price is $50 per
person (10% off for NBDC and Shane Members).
~~~
20
The City of Miami is proud to announce its continuous
commitment to the MLK Reclaim the Dream Initiative. To
kick-off the week-long celebrations surrounding Dr. King’s
birthday, City of Miami Commissioner Michelle SpenceJones, in partnership with Roots in the City, has launched
an initiative to beautify MLK (N.W. 62nd Street) by landscaping the gateway to the Blvd. On Friday, January 12th,
Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones joined the Martin
Luther King Economic Development Corporation, Liberty
City Trust Roots in the City and local workers to plant
trees on the west side exit ramp of I-95 and 62nd Street.
The initiative to beautify the Blvd is an on-going, jobtraining program for local residents who are interested in a
career in the landscaping business. According to
Commissioner Spence-Jones, Roots in the City will partner
with the City of Miami and Liberty City Trust to hire local
residents from the Liberty City area to plant and maintain
the landscaping along MLK Boulevard.
“The idea behind this project is two-fold: 1) to beautify our
neighborhoods 2) to provide jobs and training to our local
residents,” said Commissioner Spence-Jones. In addition to
landscaping being placed along MLK Boulevard, the City of
Miami Capital Improvements and Transportation Department
has placed a gateway feature/sign near the entrance of MLK
Boulevard welcoming residents to Liberty City.
The recent improvements are part of the MLK Reclaim
the Dream Initiative, which was started four years ago by
the Martin Luther King Economic Development
Corporation (MLK EDC) to improve streets and business
facades on MLK Boulevard. For more information, contact
the Office of Commissioner Spence-Jones at 305-250-5394.
~~~
Virginia KeyVisioning Session
The city has decided to create a master plan for Virginia Key,
but it is up to the residents of the city and the county to help
provide input for the design. A visioning forum will be held on
February 6 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Rosenstiel
Auditorium, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway. The public is invited to attend. The forum will include guest speakers, a video
overview of the island, oral history testimony, and public comment. For further information or to provide input, visit
www.slowthing.com/vkdb.
February 2007
SPECIAL EVENTS
Black History Month Countywide Celebrations
Residents and visitors looking for
activities aimed at participating in the
rich African-inspired events that are part
of the nation’s Black History Month celebrators can choose from a variety of
programs happening throughout the
month. The Miami-Dade County Black
Affairs Advisory Board office has compiled a comprehensive list of events that
will take place from February 1st
through the 28th. This year’s national
theme is: “From Slavery to Freedom –
Africans in the Americas.” Following is
a listing of events:
February 1-28
African Timeline and Exhibit
Stephen P. Clark Center
111 N.W. 1st Street
Details: (305) 375-5730
www.kinad.com
www.miamidade.gov/baab
~~~
February 1-28
Miami-Dade Schools’ Students Art
Exhibit
Amadlozi Gallery
African Heritage Cultural Arts Center
6161 NW 22nd Avenue
Details: (305) 375-5730
~~~
February 1-28
Miami-Dade Public Library System
Educational and Informative
Programs and Exhibitions
View schedule of events and
addresses at www.mdpls.org
Or call: 305-375-BOOK
~~~
Thursday, February 1 March 11
The M Ensemble Company, Inc.
presents
INDIGO BLUES: A LOVE SONG
(drama)
12320 West Dixie Highway,
North Miami
Tell them
you saw
it in the
February 2007
Admission - $25;
$20 - seniors and students.
Details: (305) 895-0335
www.themensemble.com
~~~
Thursday, February 1
11:30 a.m.
Black History Month Kickoff
Sponsored by the Historical Museum
of Southern Florida & Black Affairs
Advisory Board’s Heritage Planning
Committee Featuring African drum
ceremony, vendors & music
Museum Plaza
101 West Flagler Street
Cost: Free
Details: (305) 375-5730
www.hmsf.org
~~~
Saturday, February 3
7:00 p.m.
Butterfly’s Tribute to Missed Voices
Joseph Caleb Center
5400 NW 54th Street
Details: (305) 836-3572
www.spokenwordworld.com
Details: (305) 375-1902
~~~
5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
“African Kings & Queens of Africa”
fashion show,
food, vendors & music
First Baptist Center of Brownsville
Cost: $10. per person
Details: (786) 873-4638
~~~
Thursday, February 22
6 p.m.-10 p.m.
“A Taste of the Diaspora” mini film
festival featuring films highlighting
African Americans/Africans either in
front or behind the camera along
with a cultural dinner.
Joseph Caleb Center
5400 NW 22nd Avenue
Cost: $20 adults/
$10 children 12 and under
Details: (305) 693-6236
www.diasporaartscoalition.org
~~~
Friday, February 23
5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
BHPC “Annual Gospelfest” and
Extravaganza featuring local gospel
artists, vendors and food
6161 N.W. 62nd/MLK Blvd.
Details: (305) 375-5730
~~~
10 a.m. –5 p.m.
BHPC African Marketplace
Featuring vendors and food
6161 N.W. 62nd/MLK Blvd.
Details: (305) 375-5730
For further details on these events,
contact the Black Affairs Advisory
Board at (305) 375-5730. It is the
policy of Miami Dade County to comply with all of the requirements of the
Americans with Disabilities Act. For
sign language interpreters, assistive
listening devices or other formats,
please call Retha Boone at (305)
375-1902.
~~~
Time: 7:30 p.m. –1:30 a.m.
3rd Annual BHPC “Valentine’s Day
Old School Cruise” Fundraiser
Location: Port Everglades, Ft.
Lauderdale
Cost: $50 per person/$95 per pair
Details: (305) 375-5730
~~~
Wednesday, February 14
7:00 p.m.
Miami Blues Festival
Featuring Bobby “Blue” Bland,
Shirley Brown,
Marvin Sease, Theodis Ealey & Mel
Waiters
Location: James L. Knight Center
Cost: $57.50 & $49.50
Details: (305) 835-0321
www.jebapresents.com
~~~
Friday, February 16
8 AM—4:30 P.M.
“African Marketplace”
featuring vendors & music
Stephen P. Clark Center (downtown)
111 NW 1st Street
21
YOUR FINANCES
It’s Crucial to File for
the Homestead Exemption
By Gilda Iriarte
BT Columnist
When you purchase a home you should
file for homestead exemption. Not only do
you get a $25,000 deduction in the
assessed value of the property, but most
important, in a time of rising property values, the amount the assessed value of your
home can rise every year is capped at 3
percent or the Consumer Price Index
(CPI), whichever is less, this according to
the office of the Miami-Dade Property
Appraiser.
value. When your property is first
appraised, these two values may be similar, but in subsequent years there will be
an increasing difference, as long as property appreciation continues.
Amendment 10 – The most important
benefit of a homestead exemption: The
Florida Constitution was amended, effective January 1, 1995, to limit annual
increases in assessed value of property
with homestead exemption to 3 percent a
year or the amount of the Consumer Price
Index, whichever is lower. The increase is
not automatic since no assessed value shall
When to file? Applications for all
exceed market value.
exemptions must be filed by March 1. The
Example: If you bought a home in June
homestead exemption will be automatical2002 from an owner with
ly renewed annually until
homestead exemption and
the property is sold or
See Page 43 for
paid $200,000, and the
until the property is no
property was assessed at
Homestead
longer the primary resi$100,000 for that year,
Exemption
dence. If you purchase a
you would still pay taxes
Filing Locations
residence after January 1,
based on a $75,000 taxyou typically inherit the
able value. In 2003, when
previous owners’ homestead
your property is appraised it will be
exemption if they were entitled to it for
reassessed at market value which has gone
that year.
up to $220,000, so your taxable value is
How to apply? When applying, you
$195,000. In 2004, the home’s market
must have proof of ownership such as a
value is up to $270,000, but your assessed
warranty deed or a tax bill in your name.
value is capped at $226,600 and your taxIf a property is held jointly by husband
able value is $201,600.
and wife, either party may come in to
apply. Be prepared to provide your social
Some things to remember:
security number and two proofs of Florida
1) Non-homestead properties are not eliresidency dated prior to January 1, such as gible for the cap.
your driver’s license, auto registration or
2) The cap applies only to property
voter registration card.
value, not to property taxes.
3) If you make additions or improvements to your property, the value of those
improvements will be added regardless of
the cap. For example, if you added a pool
How is assessed value determined?
to your property your value can increase
When the market value of your property
no more than 3 percent plus the value of
changes, so does your appraised value.
the pool. New construction, alterations or
State law requires the county property
improvements are not capped the first year
appraiser to appraise property at 100%
they are placed on the tax roll but are
market value. A property’s value can
thereafter.
change for many reasons. For instance, if
4) The cap does not apply to portions of
you were to add a bedroom, garage, or
multi-use or multi-family properties that
swimming pool, the appraised value would are not homestead. For example, if you
increase proportionately.
own a duplex, live in one half and rent the
Properties on which building permits are other, the cap will apply only to the porissued are re-inspected. The most frequent
tion of the property you occupy as your
cause of a change in value is a change in
homestead.
the market. As prices rise, so do assessed
values. A zoning change or use variance
Gilda Iriarte is a mortgage consultant in
may also increase the value of your propMiami with a Harvard MBA and 25 years
erty.
experience in real estate and finance. She
Assessed value is the value after
can be reached at [email protected]
Amendment 10 is applied to the market
or 305-984-1101
Market value
and assessed value
22
February 2007
Little River IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS
Rezoning MIAMI
Police............................................................305-579-6111
Hearing Upper East Side NET ..................................305-795-2330
Little Haiti/Edison/Little River NET ..............305-795-2337
Postponed Wynwood/Edgewater NET ..........................305-579-6931
A Miami City Commission hearing to rezone a parcel of land
along the Little River (399 N.E.
82nd Terrace) in Oakland Grove
has been delayed till Thursday,
February 22. The property’s
owner, Katia Traikos, is seeking
to have the zoning changed from
“single-family residential” to
“medium-density multifamily
residential.”
The city’s planning department
has recommended that the
request be denied. The planning
advisory board, by a unanimous
vote, also recommended denial
of the request.
Many residents in the Little
River area, both City of Miami
and El Portal, object to the proposed change.
NORTH MIAMI
For Emergency Information .........................305-891-4636
City Hall........................................................305-893-6511
BISCAYNE PARK
Village Hall/Police Department – Log Cabin .......305-899-8000
MIAMI SHORES
Chief of Police .............................................305-759-2468
Crime Watch/Mobile Patrol ..........................305-756-5767
Village Clerk.................................................305-795-2207
EL PORTAL
Village Clerk.................................................305-795-7880
~~~
Advertising
Sales
Representative
Needed
The Biscayne Times
is seeking one advertising
sales representative
to join our growing team.
Applicants must be
Experienced,
organized and dynamic.
Email resumé to:
[email protected]
~~~
February 2007
23
COMMUNITY NEWS
BISCAYNE BUSINESS BRIEFS
Munich Autohaus
Offers Superior BMW
Service in North Miami
Claude Lahoud’s love affair with the
BMW marque began in 1972 when he
started working on the now classic 2002
models after school. Soon, working after
school wasn’t enough and Mr. Lahoud
enrolled at the BMW factory training
school in Munich, Germany. At the factory, Mr. Lahoud received advanced
comprehensive training on all BMW systems and components while gaining
hands on knowledge working at the factory repair center. After mastering his art,
BMW employed Mr. Lahoud at various
locations throughout Continental Europe.
Mr. Lahoud came to the United States
in 1978 and began work at South Florida
BMW dealerships, including Braman
BMW of Miami, where he was a manager in the service department.
During this time, Mr. Lahoud trained
his brothers Jacques and François in
BMW repair, as well as sending them to
BMW of North America for further
instruction. In 1985, Mr. Lahoud and his
brothers realized their dream and established an independent, family-owned
BMW service and repair shop.
Today at Munich Autohaus in North
Miami the Lahoud brothers bring together over 65 years of collective experience
in offering professional and efficient
service on all BMW models using state
of the art computer diagnostic systems
and factory approved tools.
The Lahoud brothers are proud of their
reputation among the Bimmerphile community for their knowledge, workmanship, attention to detail and personalized
service.
Munich Autohaus is located at 12400
NE 13th Pl. North Miami, FL 33161.
Call at (305) 893-5958 or email to
[email protected].
~~~
Miami-Dade County’s
Head Start and Early
Head Start Program Now
Accepting Applications
Miami Dade Community Action
Agency’s Head Start and Early Head
Start Program will be holding open
enrollment for its 2007-2008 school year
beginning on January 9 through April 30,
2007. The program is accepting applications for pregnant women and children
ages new born to five years old (after
September 1, 2007) to participate in the
2007-2008 program year which will
begin in August 2007. Applications will
be available starting January 8, 2007, at
all Head Start and Early Head Start centers throughout Miami-Dade County.
Head Start is a federally funded comprehensive child development program,
serving low income families who meet
100% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
Services available through this program
include health, education, social services,
and parent involvement. Head Start
strengthens the ability of children to
cope with school and their total environment as they progress in age. In MiamiDade County, the Head Start and Early
Head Start program serves 6,528 children and families. Ten percent of the
enrollment is available for children with
disabilities.
Parents seeking a brighter future for
their children should give them the
“Head Start” they deserve. For additional
information or to locate a Head Start
Center in your community, please call
(305) 347-4622.
~~~
Miami Design District
Diversifies—Building a
Community through Design,
Art and Dining
The Miami Arts, Design &
Entertainment Merchants Association
(Miami Design District) announced on
January 16, 2007 the addition of three
new members: Costa Window
Treatments, Four Fine Arts and Sheba
Ethiopian Restaurant.
“The key to a well-balanced community is diversification among residents and
retail offerings to satisfy them. As more
and more people move into the area and
visit the area it is imperative that we provide a balanced shopping experience,”
says Stefano Campanini, President of the
Miami Arts, Design & Entertainment
Merchants Association.
The Miami Arts, Design &
Entertainment Merchants Association
was founded to present a unified and
cohesive voice on behalf of its member
businesses. M.A.D.E. Merchants
Association serves its Design District
constituents and the surrounding community by providing leadership, marketing
and events to ensure a vibrant, inviting,
and unique environment, as well as
bringing a better understanding of art
and design to the residents of Miami. For
additional information regarding Miami
Design District events please visit the
website at
www.miamidesigndistrict.net/events. The
Miami Design District extends from
Biscayne Boulevard to North Miami
Avenue and runs from NE 36th Street to
NE 41st Street.
Costa Window Treatments is located at
1 NE 40th St. #2 Miami, FL. Call at
(305) 576-0502 or on the web at
www.costawindow.com. Four Fine Arts
is located at 1 NE 40th St. Miami, FL.
Call at (305) 572-0400 or on the web at
www.fourfinearts.com. Sheba Ethiopian
Restaurant is located at 4029 North
Miami Avenue Miami, FL. Call at 305573-1819 or on the web at www.shebamiami.com.
B E H EARD !
Opinionated • Independent • YOUR Voice
Send a Letter to the Editor at
24
February 2007
THINGS
TO
DO
Pick Strawberries with Your Valentine
How would you like to pick fresh strawberries for
your Valentine’s Day meal? Make an afternoon of
it at any of the following locations:
Burr’s Strawberry Farm
http://www.redlandriot.com/Burrs.html
Strawberries and fruit milkshakes are their specialty.
12741 SW 216th St., Goulds. It’s about an hour
from Downtown Miami.
305-251-0145.
Fruit and Spice Park
http://www.fruitandspicepark.com/
Over 30 acres with over 500 varieties of herbs,
nuts, spices and unusual fruits.
24801 Redland Road (S.W. 187th Ave.),
Homestead. 305-247-5727. Open 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. 7 days a week. Not an actual market, but visitors are invited to enjoy samples from this tropical
paradise.
Flagler Flea Market
http://www.flaglerdogs.com/flea.cfm
Fresh veggies and fruit.
NW 37th Ave at 7th Street.
305-649-3000.
Open Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m to 4 p.m.
February 2007
Lincoln Road Market
For a Great
Strawberry Recipe
from Frances Brown,
see Page 42
http://www.miamibeachfl.gov/newcity/tourism/lincolnroad.asp
Admission: 50 cents.
Free parking.
Lincoln Road is located one block south of the
Miami Beach Convention Center and the Jackie
Gleason Theater of Performing Arts.
The farmers’ market offers a wide variety of fresh
vegetables, fruits, juices, and flowers.
Open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
Knauss Berry Farm
Opa-Locka Hialeah Flea Market
http://www.redlandriot.com/Knaus.html
Fresh produce.
12705 NW 42nd Ave.
305-688-8080. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru
Friday and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and
Sundays.
Free parking during the week and one dollar on
the weekends.
Fresh strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.
15980 SW 248th Street, Homestead.
305-247-0668. Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m., November through April. Cash
only. Also known for their fresh produce, ice
cream and milk shakes and baked goods, expecially the cinnamon buns. The on-premise bakery makes cakes, pies, and breads. Pick your
own strawberries from the end of January to
early April. The owners are from a Protestant
denomination called German Baptists, or
dunkers. The women wear long skirts and bonnets and the men wear traditional country farm
wear.
Robert Is Here Fruit Stand
http://www.robertishere.com/
Open all year on the road that leads to Everglades
National Park. The market features exotic jams,
jellies, fruits, shakes and a variety of honeys. A
collection of animals is on view, including goats,
iguanas, tortoises, chickens, donkeys and more.
19200 SW 344th St., Homestead.
305-246-1592. Open daily 8 a.m to 7 p.m.
25
COMMUNITY NEWS
AUTOMOTIVE
HOT HOME SALE
Recent Real Estate Action in Our Area
Electronic Stability Control
ou may have heard about
Electronic Stability Control
(ESC), which recently has
been publicized in television commercials. This innovation is probably the
finest safety system
since antilock breaking
systems (ABS) were
introduced in the late
1980s. It is so remarkable that the National
Highway Safety
Administration
announced it will be
required on all future
cars. The statistics
show that cars
equipped with ESC are
35 percent less likely
to be involved in a collision, and SUVs are
By Gabe
67 percent less likely
to be involved in an
accident, despite their higher center of
gravity.
ESC can sense impending loss of
control. The system works in a split
second by breaking individual wheels
and/or reducing excess engine power
— something even the most skilled
Y
driver cannot do. ESC can be compared to having four individual brake
pedals, one for each of the wheels,
with a powerful computer to determine
which pedal should be applied when,
and for how long. Using
electronic sensors and
lightening-fast computer
logic, the system constantly monitors the
vehicle’s actual path
against its intended
path. If there is any difference between what
the driver is “asking,”
primarily through the
steering wheel and what
the vehicle is doing, the
system works immediately by braking individual wheels and/or
Cortez
reducing excess engine
power before the driver
may sense any changes. It is something
of an electronic guardian angel.
Let’s hope the next great invention
will help tame the aggressive driver.
Visit Gabe for all your automotive
needs at Plaza Tire & Auto, 3500 N.E.
2nd Ave., 305-573-3878.
You Auto Know
Palm Grove
Address: 460 NE 77th.
Street Road, #404
Size: Open Loft Spaces/
Approx. 800 sq. ft.
Year Built: 2006
Date Sold: 12/15/2006
Days on Market: Pre-Construction
26
Asking Price: $325,000.00
Selling Price: $325,000.00
Previous Sale: N/A
Listing Agent: Donald Wilson,
P.A./Gray & Associates
Properties, Inc.
Selling Agent: Bryan Halda,
P.A./Gray & Associates
Properties, Inc.
February 2007
February 2007
27
A R T & C U LT U R E
SERGE PAINTS MIAMI
Haitian-Born Artist
Makes Storefronts his Canvas
By Melissa Cueto, BT Assistant Editor
Photos by Andrew Dunlop and Melissa Cueto
ounding into the BT’s Miami
Miami, where he and his dad would
Shores office, Serge Toussaint
board a bus headed back to New York.
peers at my computer screen,
But his mind was already made up. He
which is displaying more than 80 phototook a quick trip to the bathroom and –
graphs of his artwork, and was taken
whoops! – missed the bus. Toussaint has
aback. “Look at all that Serge!” he
been living and working in Miami ever
exclaims in the third person is, a hallmark since, making a name for himself and
of the true artiste.
making a living doing what he loves.
He quickly recognizes his first storeBut these happy circumstances haven’t
front painting – a portrait of a fashionable solved all his problems. He has two chilyoung woman, which
dren in Haiti – a 14-year-old
decorates his uncle’s
boy and a 16-year-old girl –
business, Bortan Fabrics.
whom he hasn’t seen in
Toussaint had felt the
almost ten years. Toussaint is
wall was plain and drab,
hoping someone will help
so his uncle bought him
him obtain visas for them so
some paint and told him
that they might be reunited.
to do something about it.
“They think that I’m a sucNeighboring businesses
cessful artist with a lot of
soon began asking if he
money and that I’m letting
could do the same for
them suffer in a country with
them, and before he knew
no food and no schools,” he
Serge Toussaint
it, he had made $500 in
says, “[but] I’m barely paying
one day. This was when he decided he
my rent.” His prices vary, but generally
would not be returning to New York.
he charges $200 to $300 for a mural.
Born in Haiti in 1963, Toussaint moved
Fittingly, Toussaint’s truck announces
to New York City at the age of six.
that he’s “not so rich, but famous.” His
Before that first trip to Miami in 1994,
work is almost instantly recognizable,
he’d been working for McDonald’s, able
and the “Pepsi Serge” cans and Newport
to practice his art only during his offcigarette packs have become his tradetime, and finding it too cold most of the
marks.
year to work on the kind of projects he
“When doing my first work, my uncle
had in mind. Miami, it occurred to him,
gave me a Pepsi bottle,” he explains. “I
was warm all year, and it seemed there
liked the label. The colors reminded me
was a demand for what he could offer
of the Haitian flag. I painted at another
artistically. Not wanting to upset his
store, and the [business owner] gave me
father, he made it all the way to the
another Pepsi.” His fascination with the
Greyhound bus station in downtown
iconic Pepsi logo inspired him to repli-
B
The o
fish r
tentio
a Jam
Serge’s latest work, painted for this year’s Martin Luther King holiday.
cate th
has be
The
offere
intrigu
Bus
the cr
comm
of Ma
can’t p
At a
paint,
itinera
A former addict, Serge decided to send a message of caution to
Ricky Williams and the children who consider him a role model.
28
February 2007
Fo
owner of this fish market asked Serge to paint the world because
represent the world. Serge painted the universe instead … and uninonally missed the “r” in Harbour. He later excused himself, since, at
maican-owned shop, that “r” is not likely to be pronounced anyway.
Serge’s first painting in Miami, displayed
on his uncle’s Bortan Fabrics storefront.
he image, but with one notable addendum: He added his name to the can. Pepsi
ecome Pepsi Serge – consumer-product-turned-art.
e same is true of the Newport packs that adorn many of his paintings. Someone
ed him a pack of cigarettes; he didn’t smoke, but like the Pepsi logo he was
ued by the design, intrigued enough to include Newports as a kind of visual.
siness owners now seem to trust that Toussaint will do good work, and allow him
reative freedom he desires. He is careful, though, to make sure he represents the
munity in which he is painting. In Overtown, for example, he may paint a portrait
artin Luther King, Jr. In Hialeah, he’ll add Cuban salsa legend Celia Cruz. “I
paint Tupac on Biscayne Boulevard,” he reasons.
age 43, Serge Toussaint shows no signs of slowing down. With a few cans of
some makeshift brushes, and his truck, he continues to roam the city, Miami’s
ant artist in residence.
or more pictures of Serge’s work, visit www.BiscayneBoulevard.com
Serge’s trademark Pepsi can and
Newport cigarettes are the
centerpiece at this mini market.
29
THE SCREENING ROOM
The Art of the Chick Flick
By Melissa Cueto
BT Assistant Editor
The holiday season is over, but fear
not, for it is February. Now that we’ve
celebrated our deeply held religious
beliefs by … buying things, we can celebrate romantic love by, well, buying
things. Shakespeare, Keats, and
Dickinson wrote poetry; we purchase
expensive merchandise. Same difference.
I choose to celebrate the month of love
by speaking up for a much maligned
genre of film – the chick flick (cue the
horror music). In an attempt to lend
quality chick flicks an air of increased
respectability, I will henceforth refer to
them as forays into feminine filmmaking
(FFFs). This implies, of course, that
there are also inferior chick flicks undeserving of the title.
The following are a selection of FFFs
perfect for torturing your boyfriend (who
must do whatever you say on Valentine’s
Day) or, conversely, for enjoying with
your single girlfriends who had nothing
else to do that night either. Men, read at
your own risk.
30
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Peppard, Claude Stroud, Mickey Rooney
115 minutes
(1961)
Written by: George Axelrod (based on
the book by Truman Capote)
Directed by: Blake Edwards
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George
Long before the marketing bigwigs at
The Gap decided to bring back the “skinny black pant,” Audrey Hepburn had
made it okay to don an elegant, black
evening gown as daywear. Although
numerous Hepburn movies are undisputed cinema classics (My Fair Lady,
Sabrina, Charade, Roman Holiday,
Funny Face), it is her role as Holly
Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s that
made her truly iconic.
Hepburn succeeds in portraying the
character’s quiet complexity — she is at
once playful, strong-willed, and mysterious. A seemingly silly and naïve young
woman who throws lavish parties for the
idle rich and stares longingly at jewelry
she cannot afford gives way to a girl
with a troubled past, afraid of commitment and trying to escape her reality.
Enter Paul Varjak (George Peppard),
or as Holly likes to call him, Fred.
Although any self-respecting feminist
will cringe at hearing Fred angrily
exclaim, “You belong to me!” (I may
have just I cringed as I wrote that), she
will also forgive him because he forces
Holly to recognize she is running away
from the prospect of happiness. Besides,
it doesn’t seem likely that settling down
with Mr. Varjak would stifle Holly’s
free-spirited nature. She has found a
partner in love and in crime.
Oh, and she has a cat — a cat named
Cat. What’s not to love?
Quotable Moment: “It should take you
exactly four seconds to cross from here
to that door. I’ll give you two.” — Holly
Golightly
Under the Tuscan Sun
(2003)
Written and directed by: Audrey Wells
Starring: Diane Lane, Sandra Oh,
Lindsay Duncan, Raoul Bova, Vincent
Riotta
113 minutes
February 2007
T HE S CREENING R OOM
Chick Flicks
During a stint at Books & Books, the
BT’s advertising coordinator personally
met Frances Mayes, the author of the
book that inspired the film Under the
Tuscan Sun. He despises her and thinks
her undeserving of any praise whatsoever. But because I will not allow personal
loyalties to get in the way of my journalistic responsibilities
(and because it’ll be
funny when he sees
this in the paper), I
proceed with my
review.
A breezy, allaround enjoyable
romantic comedy,
Under the Tuscan
Sun gets points for
employing as many
FFF clichés as possible — intentionally. Girl travels to
Italy, makes impulsive decision to buy
Tuscan villa, meets hot Italian, lives happily ever after (although not with the hot
Italian; they are notoriously unfaithful).
Upon meeting said hot Italian, Frances
(Diane Lane) asks for his name. He
answers, “Marcello,” and she says, “Of
February 2007
course.” It is the Italy of an American
woman’s fantasy.
The movie is in some ways a parody
of itself and a lighthearted homage to
Federico Fellini’s masterpiece La Dolce
Vita. Katherine (Lindsay Duncan) is a
comically flamboyant American who has
been living in Tuscany for years and routinely emulates Fellini’s glamorous
Sylvia, even taking a dip in the town
square fountain.
This is the kind
of film that will
inspire you to take
a big risk, to drop
your mundane life
and seek out a more
rewarding path. You
won’t actually do
that because,
chances are, you
can’t afford a
Tuscan villa, you
don’t speak Italian, and you would miss
HBO. But it’s nice to dream.
Quotable Moment: Marcello: “Your
eyes ... I just want to swim in them.”
Frances [laughing]: “I’m sorry, that’s just the kind of
thing that American women think Italian
men say.”
Bridget Jones’s Diary
(2001)
Written by: Helen Fielding, Andrew
Davies, and Richard Curtis
Directed by: Sharon Maguire
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth,
Hugh Grant
97 minutes
Helen Fielding, author of the novel
Bridget Jones’s Diary and co-screenwriter for the film, does an excellent
job of, as she would call it, stealing
from Jane Austen. She creates a modern remake of Pride and Prejudice by
simplifying the central plot and adding
to Austen’s wit and sarcasm a kind of
self-deprecating humor that only the
Brits can master.
Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger), a
30-something “singleton” living in
London, is determined to straighten
out her life: “Will find nice sensible
boyfriend and stop forming romantic
attachments to any of the following:
alcoholics, workaholics, sexaholics,
commitment-phobics, peeping Toms,
megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits,
or perverts.” Easier said than done,
especially when Hugh Grant is waiting
in the wings.
Bridget can’t seem to get anything
right, but she makes an art of it, which
is why we love her, and Mark Darcy
(Colin Firth) accepts all her faults,
which is why we love him (although
his being Colin Firth might also have
something to do with it). “Perhaps a
rich, intelligent, handsome, thoughtful
young man with an English accent will
like me just as I am, too,” one contemplates.
Zellweger, Firth, and Grant are all
perfectly cast, particularly Grant, who
is (not so surprisingly) convincing as
Daniel Cleaver, the dangerous, loveable cad. In the end, Bridget must
choose between him and the stable,
sensible Mark Darcy — lucky her.
Quotable Moments: 1) Mark: “I realize that when I met you at the turkey
curry buffet, I was unforgivably rude,
and wearing a reindeer jumper.
2) Bridget: “Have bottom size of
Brazil.”
31
A RT & C ULTURE
ART LISTINGS
SPECIAL EVENTS
& OPENINGS
DIANA LOWENSTEIN
FINE ARTS
2043 N. Miami Ave.
February 3, 12 to 3 p.m., Open
house for “Troubadour!” a by Erica
Magrey.
February 10, 7:30 to 10 p.m.,
Opening for “Paisaje Provicional” by
Horacio Sapere and
“Cartographies” by Felice Grodin.
CENTER FOR VISUAL
COMMUNICATION
541 NW 27TH ST.
February 10, 7 to 10 p.m.,
Opening and Book Signing for work
by Clyde Butcher.
DAVID CASTILLO GALLERY
2234 N.W. 2nd Ave.
Opening for the Hugo Montoya solo
show.
DIASPORA VIBE GALLERY
3938 N.E. 39th St.
Opening for “New York” by Ewan
Atkinson.
THE BAKEHOUSE
ART COMPLEX
561 N.W. 32nd St.
Celebration “21” by various artists.
~~~
32
Stephen Marc — Untitled, Walking in the Footsteps series, 2006 Archival print — 9” x 26”
Showing at Diaspora Vibe Gallery: 3938 N.E. 39th St.
GALLERY EXHIBITS
ABBA FINE ART
233 N.W. 36th St.
305-576-4278
www.abbafineart.com
“Reflections,” through
March 7.
AMEDAMA GALLERY
811 N.E. 79th St.
305-759-0229
www.amedamaart.com
Open by appointment only
111 N.W. 1st St., Suite 625
305-375-4634
www.miamidadearts.org
AMBROSINO GALLERY
THE BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX
2628 N.W. 2nd Ave. (for one season
only)
305-891-5577
www.ambrosinogallery.com
561 N.W. 32nd St.
305-576-2828
www.bakehouseartcomplex.org
ALEJANDRA
VON HARTZ FINE ARTS
ART FUSION
2134 N.W. Miami Ct.
305-438-0220
www.alejandravonhartz.net
1 N.E. 40th St., Suites 3, 6 & 7
305-573-5730
www.artfusiongallery.com
ALONSO ART
“Whimsical Fantasies,” through
March 29.
181 N.W. 6th St.
305-576-4142
www.alonsoart.com
ARTFORMZ
“The News of the Day,”
through February 4.
THE ART GALLERY
AT GOVT. CENTER
130 N.E. 40th St. #2
305-572-0040
www.artformz.net
“Intensely Superficial,” through March 6.
“Best in Show 2006,”
through February 11.
Celebration “21,”
February 25 through March 25.
BARBARA GILLMAN GALLERY
4141 N.E. 2nd Ave. 200B
305-573-1920
www.artnet.com/bgillman.html
BERNICE STEINBAUM GALLERY
3550 N. Miami Ave.
305-573-2700
www.bernicesteinbaumgallery.com
February 2007
A RT & C ULTURE
Art Listings
BAS FISHER INVITATIONAL
180 N.E. 39th St., Suite 210
By appointment only:
[email protected]
CHELSEA GALLERIA
2441 N.W. 2nd Ave.
305-576-2950
www.chelseagalleria.com
“Poetic Muscle,”
through February 4.
CAROL JAZZAR
CONTEMPORARY ART
158 N.W. 91st St.
305-490-6906
www.cjazzart.com
By appointment only:
[email protected]
DAMIEN B.
CONTEMPORARY
ART CENTER
282 N.W. 36th St.
305-573-4949
www.damienb.com
“I Still Love My Box,”
through March 21.
Worky by Ruddy Candillon
and Peter Smuts
DAVID CASTILLO GALLERY
2234 N.W. 2nd Ave.
305-573-8110
www.castilloart.com
Hugo Montoya solo show,
February 10 through March 3.
February 2007
DIASPORA VIBE GALLERY
FAKTURA GALLERY
KUNSTHAUS MIAMI
3938 N.E. 39th St.
305-573-4046
www.diasporavibe.net
7128 N.W. 2nd Ct.
305-758-9005
www.fakturagallery.com
3312 N. Miami Ave.
305-438-1333
www.kunsthaus.org.mx
“Melanin,”
through February 3:
FILTRO: A FOTO SPACE
LEITER GALLERY
2320b N. Miami Ave.
305-571-9565
www.filtrofoto.com
6900 Biscayne Blvd.
305-754-9022
“New York,” February 10
through March 24.
DIANA LOWENSTEIN FINE ARTS
2043 N. Miami Ave.
305-576-1804
www.dlfinearts.com
Through February 3:
“miami:tropicaldepression” and
“Troubadour!”
DORSCH GALLERY
151 N.W. 24th St.
305-576-1278
www.dorschgallery.com
“Coming Attractions,”
through February 24
DOT FIFTYONE ART SPACE
51 N.W. 36th St.
305-573-9994
www.dotfiftyone.com
FREDRIC SNITZER GALLERY
2247 N.W. 1st Pl.
305-448-8976
www.snitzer.com
3930 N.W. 2nd Ave.
305-572-9015
www.leonardtachmesgallery.com
“Infloresence,”
through February 5.
LOCUST PROJECTS
GALERIE EMMANUEL PERROTIN
194 N.W. 30th St.
305-573-2130
www.galerieperrotin.com
World Arts Building
2214 N. Miami Ave.
305-303-8852
www.edgezones.org
ETRA FINE ART
10 N.E. 40 St.
305-438-4383
www.etrafineart.com
105 N.W. 23rd St.
305-576-8570
www.locustprojects.org
LUIS ADELANTADO GALLERY
“Disgrace” and “Miami Snowflakes,”
through March 3.
98 N.W. 29th St.
305-438-0069
www.luisadelantadomiami.com
INGALLS & ASSOCIATES
LURIE FINE ART GALLERIES
125 N.W. 23rd St.
305-573-6263
www.ingallsassociates.com
3900 N.E. 1st Ave.
305-573-7373
www.luriegalleries.com
“Noise,”
through March 3.
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY OF ART
AND DESIGN
KARPIO + FACCHINI GALLERY
EDGE ZONES
LEONARD TACHMES GALLERY
1929 N.W. 1st Ave.
305-576-4454
www.facchinigallery.com
KEVIN BRUK GALLERY
2249 N.W. 1st Pl.
305-576-2000
www.kevinbrukgallery.com
Work by Su-en Wong
and Alex Brown, through March 3.
1501 Biscayne Blvd.
305-428-5700
www.aimiu.aii.edu
THE MOORE SPACE
4040 N.E. 2nd Ave., 2nd Floor
305-438-1163
www.themoorespace.org
“Clamor,” through March 1.
33
A RT & C ULTURE
Art Listings
PANAMERICAN ART PROJECTS
2450 NW 2nd Ave.
305-573-2400
www.panamericanart.com
Works by Ted Larsen
and Robert Diago,
through February 20.
STEVE MARTIN STUDIO
66 N.E. 40th St.
305-576-9221
www.stevemartinstudio.com
WHITE VINYL SPACE
7160 NW 2 Ct.
(St. Mary’s Art District)
www.whitevinylspace.com
~~~
Tell them you
saw it in the
Jim Morin — The TV Watcher, 1996 — 48” X 30” — Oil on linen
Showing at Midtown Studios 2400 NE 2nd Ave.
MUSEUM &
COLLECTION
EXHIBITS:
CIFO (Cisneros
Fontanels Art Foundation)
1018 N. Miami Ave.
305-455-3380
www.cifo.org
Through February 18:
“The Sites of Latin American
Abstraction” and
“Forms of Classification:
Alternative Knowledge and
Contemporary Art.”
THE DEBRA AND DENNIS
SCHOLL COLLECTION
THE MUSEUM OF
CONTEMPORARY ART (MOCA)
World Class Boxing
170 N.W. 23rd St.
305-576-7436
Appointment only: Contact
[email protected]
770 N.E. 125th St.
305-893-6211
www.mocanomi.org
$5 adults, $3 seniors/students, free
children under 12/North Miami residents, Tues. admission is by donation
MIAMI ART MUSEUM
101 W. Flagler St.
305-375-3000
www.miamiartmuseum.org
$5 adults, $2.50 seniors, free for children under 12 and students, free the
second Sat. of each month from
1 to 4 p.m.
Gifts from the Charles Cowles
Photography Collection, through
February 25.
MOCA AT GOLDMAN WAREHOUSE
404 N.W. 26 St.
305-893-6211
www.mocanomi.org
Thurs. to Sun., 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission is free for MOCA members, North Miami residents, City of
North Miami employees and children
under 12; general admission is $2
THE MARGULIES COLLECTION
591 N.W. 27th St.
305-756-1051
www.margulieswarehouse.com
Wed. to Sat., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission is free of charge.
THE RUBELL FAMILY
COLLECTION
95 N.W. 29th St.
www.rubellfamilycollection.com
“Red Eye,” through May 31.
Send art listings/events to
[email protected] or
Visit BiscayneBouelvard.com to post
your events in between issues.
34
February 2007
CULTURE BRIEFS
Artformz Alternative
Presents New Art Exhibit,
“Intensely Superficial”
Artformz Alternative is pleased to host
a group show where the artists Vanessa
Garcia, Matthew Kern, Alette SimmonsJimenez, and Oscar Manuel Vargas and
others each use a unique creative language to explore the intensely seductive
surface of 2-D work. Whether incorporating collage, photography, written text,
paint, or charcoal, these artists succeed at
producing intelligent and fascinating
images in one of the current art world’s
most challenging disciplines – painting.
Given the freedom artists have today of
working with any material (food, hair
dye, chocolate) and on any surface
(floors, windows, roof tops, ping-pong
balls), it becomes increasingly more difficult to find an audience for work that is
simply meant to be hung on the wall and
that confines itself to only two dimensions: height and width.
When a painting is successful, it captures and resonates deep within the viewer’s very personal experience. Long after
the observer has moved on, it remains in
his or her consciousness. “Intensely
Superficial” will introduce new and
familiar artists, whose work accomplishes
just that.
Vanessa Garcia is a local Miami artist
producing rich pictorial images. Also a
respected writer, she has returned from
New York where she spent time living
and working towards her degree at
Barnard College of Columbia University.
She has studied under renowned writers
and also painters such as Elizabeth
Peyton and Archie Rand. Using vibrant
color and a strong drawn line, her paintings, which meet somewhere between
abstraction and figuration, are also about
the place where past and present meet.
Matthew Kern currently lives and
February 2007
works in Manhattan. Born in 1970, he
was raised in a log cabin in Ketchum,
Idaho. Kern uses a nearly extinct
Polaroid SX70 camera as the first tool for
his many-layered photo collages. He
peels the Polaroid film from the encasement and alters the image through a variety of applications, often etching or
painting words and lines into the emulsion. His technique creates an overall
visual energy, leading the viewer’s eye
from the content in the photographic
images, to the lined surface, then to the
larger composite image, and back again
to the surface detail.
Oscar Manuel Vargas was born in
Bogotá, Columbia, and currently resides
in Boca Raton. Vargas has exhibited
extensively in museums such as the
Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, The Gulf
Coast Museum of Art, the Cornell
Museum of Delray Beach, the Boca
Raton Museum of Art, the Norton
Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Bogotá and the World Trade center
in New Orleans. The artist paints realism
with a surrealistic influence. His paintings examine the relationship between
the sexes relative to time and space. In
the artist’s words: “Where are we from?
Who are we? Where are we going? Each
drawing and painting is a page of an
explorer’s log book.” His works portray
the world around us. Quality of draftsmanship is an essential element for
Vargas’s work.
Alette Simmons-Jimenez was born in
Wisconsin, and was raised in the US,
Italy, Germany and Portugal. Her
extremely eclectic background was later
further enriched by sharing roots and
experiences for 18 years in the
Dominican Republic. These influences
are mirrored in her work in video, sculpture, and painting, conveying themes of
the continuous, consistent flow of life.
She has been granted numerous awards
and fellowships, as well as artist
enhancement grants and honorable mentions for her work in painting from the
Division of Cultural Affairs of the Florida
Dept. of State. Her painted work is often
a study in contrasts. It has been compared
to an appropriation of styles, juxtaposing
hard drawn lines, dripped and poured
accidents, or classically rendered figurative imagery all on the same canvas.
Images of the structural in harmony or in
opposition to nature are prevalent themes
throughout her body of work.
Show dates are February 13th to March
6th, 2007 at Artformz Alternative, Miami
Design District, Atlas Plaza, 130 N.E.
40th St. Hours are Tuesday to Friday,
11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday,
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For further information, call 305-572-0040, email
[email protected] or visit www.artformz.net.
~~~
Dorsch Gallery
Presents Arnold Mesches’s
“Coming Attractions”
Dorsch Gallery is excited to present the
South Florida debut of “Coming
Attractions,” an exhibition of works by
renowned artist Arnold Mesches, which
opened January 13, 2007. The cycle of
paintings comprises the most recent
works of Mesches’s expansive career,
one that spans more than 60 years. This
is his 124th solo exhibition.
Mesches’s artworks have been exhibited extensively in renowned venues
throughout the United States and abroad,
most recently at PS1 Contemporary, the
Museum of Modern Art affiliate, and
New Orleans’ Ogden Museum.
Mesches’s works are also included in
the collections of such distinguished
institutions as the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture
Garden, the Albright-Knox Museum and
the High Museum of Art.
With “Coming Attractions,” Mesches
engages the notion of spectacle, flamboyance and darkness, both in color and content.
“Mesches gives shape and form to what
he sees in the world – political and cultural extremism spun out of control. The
ongoing nightmare cannot be contained.
His work does not lapse into political
statement; instead, his critical analysis
balances between aesthetic artifice and
social reality, between a dream space and
the Brechtian strategies of critical distance,” said Kerry Oliver-Smith, Curator
of Contemporary Art at the Harn
Museum of Art in Gainesville, FL.
“Coming Attractions” will remain on
view through February 24, Thursday
through Saturday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and
by appointment. To schedule an appointment, contact 305-576-1278. Dorsch
Gallery is located at 151 N.W. 24th St.
Miami Admission is free.
35
Culture Briefs
The Front Room Presents
“Work” by Lee Materazzi
The Front Room is proud to present its
debut show, “Work,” by Lee Materazzi.
This will be both the artist’s first solo
show, as well as the first show in the
artist-run space. Included in The Front
Room are the studios of Wendy Wischer,
Frances Trombly, Natalia Benedetti,
Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova and Cristina
Lei-Rodriguez.
“Work,” a mixture of photography and
sculptural installation, explores the theme
of everyday routines and their effect on
the human psyche. The show focuses on
the anxiety of the habitual and the possibility of people turning into and embodying their jobs. The artist plays with ideas
of her personal occupational claustrophobia by creating comical scenarios with
people in her day-to-day life. She documents these scenes through the medium
of photography and the preservation of
the objects in the photographs.
Betty at the Bus Stop is a photograph of
a waitress on her way home. She is still
holding a pot of coffee and a plate of food.
These metaphorical everyday objects aim
to extend the viewer’s imagination into
believing that she will still be holding a
pot of coffee when she goes to sleep at
night, forever in the same character.
The subjects in the photographs, both
objects and people, become frozen in time.
Within the photographs, they are unable to
escape their roles. They become encapsulated, attached to their everyday life and
inseparable from their routine functions.
Lee Materazzi is an artist currently living and working in Miami, FL. She
returned to Miami a year ago after completing her degree at Central St. Martins,
The London Institute of Art. This new
series of work has been compiled since
her return.
Exhibition dates are Jan 13th - Feb 10th
by appointment at The Booth Building in
The Front Room, 171 N.E. 38th St. For
more information and to schedule an
appointment, contact Lee Materazzi at
305-469-3869 or via email:
[email protected]
~~~
Miami Gay Men’s Chorus
Announces Spring Season
The Miami Gay Men’s Chorus has
announced its spring season:
March 10th, 11th and 12th, 2007 – “The
Night They Invented Champagne” –
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and
Sunday at 6:00 p.m. The Miami Gay
Men’s Chorus presents its first Cabaret
featuring the classics you love from the
40s, Cole Porter, Lowe, Gershwin and
more. Performances will be held at the
Colony Theater, 1040 Michigan Ave.,
Miami Beach. Dinner packages are available along Lincoln Road Mall. For ticket
and subscription information, visit
www.miamigaychorus.org.
June 8th, 9th and 10th, 2007 –
“Changing Hearts and Classic 80s!” –
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and
Sunday at 6:00 p.m. The Miami Gay
Men’s Chorus offers up the diverse programming it has become known for.
Something serious along with the music
of the 80s that got us moving on the
dance floor – what more could you want?
Performances will be held at the Colony
Theater, 1040 Michigan Ave., Miami
Beach. For ticket and subscription information, visit www.miamigaychorus.org.
~~~
“I Still Love My Box” Visual
Art Exhibition
Damien B. Contemporary Art Center is
announcing the unveiling of “I Still Love
My Box.” These continued series of
exhibits launched in November of 2006
with the title “I Love My Box.” The
works are viewed in experimental spaces
with pieces also being shown in the main
gallery. The containers will be given for a
limited period of time to different artists
for an ongoing series of exhibits. These
new spaces allow an environment that
will enable the artists to exhibit a more
personal representation of their work. We
are very excited to be presenting “I Still
Love My Box” with the works of L.A.based artist Peter Smuts and Paris-based
artist Ruddy Candillon.
The Human Pixel Project is an art project, open to anyone, made up of thousands of 2 by 2 inch works in all media
donated by artists from around the world
– over 1500 artists and over 15000 pixels
so far. These thousands of pixels will be
continuously used and re-used as elements in larger, aggregate works. The
36
work of thousands of individuals becomes
the underlying palette and media for
future work, each pixel engaged in a continual process of formation and reformation as a component of a larger whole,
existing as both an expression of an individual vision and as an element in larger,
themselves temporary and contingent,
works of art. This process of assembling
new works from the pixels is a fundamental element of the project and extends its
core idea, namely that of a democracy of
artistic creation defined by a broadly
shared willingness to participate in an
effort that transcends the individual and to
discover through that process new modes
of expression and new understandings
about what it means to be a creator, viewer and “consumer” of art.
The exhibition will be on view until
March 21 at Damien B. Contemporary
Art Center located at 282 N.W. 36th
Street. For further information, contact
Damien B. by phone at 305-573-4949 or
by email at [email protected], or
visit the website at www.damienb.com.
~~~
Mantra International
World Music Festival
Since 2000, Mantra has produced music
and art festivals in across South Florida,
and now it will produce the 2007 Mantra
International World Music Festival on
February 9th to February 11th. The
Mantra International World Music
Festival will take place at:
Indra Lounge (841 Washington Ave.,
Miami Beach). Feb. 9th – Venus Rising
All-woman’s drumming and dance
ensemble with Bellydancers, World Music
DJ Micsto, and a World Fashion Show,
presenting Couture fashion designs by
Fashion Designers from the Fort
Lauderdale Art Institute School of
Fashion Design. (8:00 p.m. to 12:00
a.m.). The Design District of Miami &
Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant. Feb. 10th –
With world music bands and dance
ensembles performing throughout the
Design District and inside Sheba
Ethiopian Restaurant, Art Fusion Gallery,
and more locations (tba). (7:00 p.m. to
12:00 a.m.).
The Miami Children’s Museum. Feb.
11th – World Music & Dance
Clinics/Workshops for the Youth at the
Miami Children’s Museum. Leonardo
Cerda (Native Amazon Indian) will speak
about the beauty of the Amazon
Rainforest and his Native American
Indian Tribe, as well as protecting the
environment. (2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.).
For further information, call 305-5766882 or visit the website at
http://www.mantrasounds.net.
February 2007
GALLERY PEEK
A Snapshot of Local Gallery Offerings
Horacio Sapere
Untitled
Mixed media on paper
76” x 113” cm
Price: $3,234
Showing at Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts
2043 N. Miami Ave.
Sapere’s…drawings [point] to more than
the artist’s capacity to work with differing
scales and media. Rather, components
from the world beyond painting are fused
with the material presence of the paint
medium - therefore, an attempt is made at
rupturing the border between the painting
as image and the lived space of the viewer.
In this way, Sapere’s ongoing concern
with space, understood as poetry,
impinges in a transformative manner on
our immediate subjectivity.
Debra Holt
R1
31.5” x 48”
Price: $5000
Photograph
Showing at Abba Fine Art
233 NW 36 St.
Debra Holt’s recent PHOTOGRAPHY
captures the harmony found within the
elements in nature. The large scale
nature photographs lure the viewer to be
enlightened and in tuned with nature’s
magical elements and moments.
Both nature’s fleeting moments and
stillness are captured engaging the viewer to experience the secrets of nature’s
harmony that are so often taken for
granted. Debra Holt has exhibited her
work in both New York and Miami galleries and museums.
February 2007
37
A RT & C ULTURE
New Book to Tell History of the Boulevard
By Melissa Cueto
BT Assistant Editor
ing member of the Greater North Miami
Historical Society, which specializes in
northeast Miami-Dade, the only official
Seth H. Bramson has lived in Miami
historical association to do so. He is also
Shores for 25 years, and previously in
the only nonlegacy member of Miami
Miami Beach for 35. He moved to
Pioneers – the only person who was
Miami as a two-year-old in 1946. At the
either not born here, living here since
time he stayed in tourist cabins with
before 1926, or a direct descendant of
signs that boasted “airsomeone who was.
cooled,” meaning there
Currently an adjunct
“I think it’s going to
were fans indoors. He
professor at Barry
astound people because University in Miami
vividly recalls jumping
up and down in bed,
Shores and at Florida
they’re going to see
excited about the trains
International
sights and things they
he had seen upon
University, where he
didn’t know existed.”
arrival.
teaches Florida and
Bramson has loved
South Florida history
– Seth Bramson
anything that runs on
courses, Bramson
rails since he can
began writing articles
remember, and he started collecting rail- in the 1970s for publications like Trains
road images at age 13. About two years
magazine.
later he found a picture of a Miami trolHis first book, Speedway to Sunshine,
ley car, which marked the beginning of
took him about ten years to write, and
his fascination with Miami memorabilia. was published by Boston Mills Press in
Today Bramson owns the largest col1984. (A revised and enlarged edition
lection of Miami memorabilia and
was released in 2002.) In 2005 he began
Floridiana in private hands in America,
publishing the Images of America series,
more than 18,000 images.
books covering Miami Beach, Coral
He founded the Miami Memorabilia
Gables, and the City of Miami. Bramson
Collectors’ Club in 1992 and is its curhas written nine books in all, each dealrent president. In addition he’s a founding with Florida’s railroads and local
Bramson poses in a memorabilia-crammed wing of his garage.
Another aisle of treasures.
38
Miami history. His newest work, due out
later this year, will be Boulevard of
Dreams.
The book will be a pictorial history of
Biscayne Boulevard containing nearly
200 photographs and covering everything from 87th Street to the northern
limits of North Miami, including four
municipalities – El Portal, Miami
Shores, Biscayne Park, and North
Miami – as well as unincorporated
areas. Most of the material, Bramson
says, was provided by residents of the
area and extracted from his extensive
collection.
Bramson admires the late Dr. Thelma
Peters’s book, Biscayne County, which
was written in 1981, but feels there was
a void to fill. “[Peters] confined her history up to 1925; the great growth came
after,” he says. Boulevard of Dreams
will trace the area’s history almost to the
present. It will also be the first photographic history of the area: “I think it’s
going to be very exciting. It’s going to
astound people because they’re going to
see sights and things they didn’t know
existed – 90 to 95 percent of the photos
in this book have never been published.”
Boulevard of Dreams will cover part
of the Graves tract, a 1900-acre swath of
land that Harvey Baker Graves bought
in 1918, which runs from N.E. 135th
Street and today’s Biscayne Boulevard
to 163rd Street, east of the boulevard.
Bramson feels that Graves’s name has
been given short shrift in the history of
South Florida. “I would like for
[Graves] to attain the same level of
prominence as Fisher, Brickell, Tuttle,
and Flagler,” he says.
Other highlights include photographs
of Keystone Point, which was built as a
fly-in home community; Sans Souci
when it was completely desolate; the
boulevard in the 1930s; and the motels
that lined the boulevard from N.E. 87th
Street to North Miami. One postcard
category will be entitled “Marching up
the Boulevard.”
February 2007
THE SCREENING ROOM
Chick Flicks
Pride and Prejudice
(1995)
Written by: Andrew Davies
Directed by: Simon Langton
Starring: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker,
Alison Steadman, Benjamin Whitrow, David Bamber,
Adrian Lukis
(300 minutes)
This BBC miniseries caused quite a stir when it aired
in England in 1995. Women were riveted to their
screens then, and still are. The film seems to transcend
February 2007
generational boundaries. My friends and their mothers
are equally obsessed. The gender gap, however, is
unbridgeable. This is an epic story with no wars, no
sex, and lots of ballroom dancing. Rest assured, however, once hooked, you will watch it over and over again.
Do yourself a favor and skip the 2005 version of this
classic Jane Austen work. Elizabeth Bennet is one of the
greatest female protagonists in literary history, and Keira
Knightly is not up to the task. Jennifer Ehle, however,
perfectly captures the essence of the character: She is levelheaded, smart, independent, a bit of a firecracker. She
will not bend to tradition if it means marrying a silly man
she doesn’t love, and she meets her match in Mr. Darcy
(Colin Firth again), who severely antagonizes her at first.
The film follows the book’s dialogue meticulously, and
the costume and set designs faithfully represent the period. Austen would be proud, and ladies everywhere are
grateful.
Quotable Moment: Mr. Bennet [to Elizabeth]: “An
unhappy alternative lies before you. Your mother will
never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins,
and I will never see you again if you do.”
Chocolat
Written by: Robert Nelson Jacobs
Directed by: Lasse Hallstrom
Staring: Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench,
Hélène Cardona, Alfred Molina
121 minutes
Fun with Pride and Prejudice: Men may be conned
into viewing this classic FFF as follows: 1) Invite men
over (be sure to stock you fridge with beer). 2)
Announce that you will play a drinking game. 3)
Explain the rules: Take a swig every time Mr. Darcy is
haughty, or Mrs. Bennet complains about her nerves, or
Mr. Collins makes a fool of himself, or there is a scene
in a ballroom, etc. Feel free to be creative.
Final Movie Tip: Any true connoisseur knows that the
FFF is best experienced with a glass of red wine in one
hand and a chocolate cordial (or fifteen) in another.
Happy viewing!
39
France … chocolate … Johnny Depp. Enough said.
A RT & C ULTURE
Thinking Inside the Box
Shipping Containers Again, but Worth a Look
By Victor Barrenechea
BT Columnist
The Damien B. Contemporary Art
Center’s exhibition series “I Still Love
My Box” continues through March 5
with two featured artists, Ruddy
Candillon and Peter Smuts. The series
began this past November, when the
gallery invited artists to use a cluster of
metal shipping containers (the boxes)
as intimate spaces for creating and displaying their work. If this sounds
familiar, it’s because Art Basel Miami
Beach introduced the idea several years
ago with its popular Art Positions
exhibit on the sand at Collins Park.
Candillon, a photographer from Paris,
is also well-known a DJ, and his work
shows it. His is an aesthetic more suitable for music videos or album artwork
than for a gallery. We get lots of flash
and but little substance — neon-bright
hues, visual distortions, time-lapsed
images “painted” with moving light
sources, superimpositions that create
mysterious, ghostlike effects. The settings are often urban industrial locales
Composition by Peter Smuts, mixed
media on MDF tiles.
"Untitled Pixel series in black"
2007 10x10in $800
or vaguely post-apocalyptic scenes, the
sort of futuristic look you’ve already
seen in Blade Runner. These are
clichéd themes, from the costumes to
the stoic expressions on the models’
faces.
The only time Candillon’s work
becomes interesting is when he photographs plants and shrouds his botanical
landscapes in fuzzy glowing neon,
transforming them into seemingly artificial set pieces. But this spark of brilliance seems almost incidental.
The other featured artist, Peter
Smuts, hails from Los Angeles, and
brings with him an ambitious venture
called the Human Pixel Project
(www.humanpixelproject.net). In this
case, the pixels are not electronic dots
on a screen but rather miniature artworks, each two inches square. The
Mounted photographs by Ruddy Candillon:
"15 OTO x 15 secondes" 2004 34x43in $4700
ongoing project is open to artists everywhere, and so far more than 1500 of
them worldwide have donated some
15,000 tiny works — paintings, drawings, photos, different colors, different
materials, radically different moods and
themes. Smuts takes these small pieces,
and like the pixels comprising a digital
image, arranges them to form a broader
work.
This is especially successful when he
groups pixels according colors, forming
rectangular images that, from a distance, appear to be monochromatic
fields with faint textural patterns. But
as you move in close, you see that
they’re actually composed of many
individual images, their only similarity
being color. Pasted-on photos might
neighbor pieces done in fabric next to
painted representational images, all co-
existing as an intriguing mosaic of
ideas. The irresistible urge is to examine each piece carefully, and in doing
so you’re bound to find something eyecatching and interesting.
Though the individual pixels have
been carefully culled for their dominant
color, their arrangement is as democratic as bathroom graffiti, which sometimes works in Smuts’s favor and other
times seems so haphazard as to make
the compositions seem simplistic and
obvious.
“I Still Love My Box” runs through
March 21, with a February 10 live performance by Candillon in which gallery
visitors will be filmed and projected
onto the gallery’s walls. Damien B.
Contemporary Art, 282 NW 36th Street,
Miami, 305-573-4949,
www.damienb.com.
Opinionated
Independent
YOUR Voice
40
February 2007
Y OUR W ELLNESS
The ‘D’ Word: Depression
By Elisa Gaudiosi
Licensed Psychotherapist:
Miami Beach Community Health Center
Depression seems to be the norm rather
than the exception these days. Don’t we
all know someone who complains of
depression or demonstrates the signs or
symptoms of depression? In this fastpaced world, we can easily become overwhelmed and even depressed if we don’t
pay close attention to our emotional balance and treat our emotional health
proactively, as we do our physical health.
Depression is a serious medical illness
that affects our thoughts, feelings,
actions, and health, as well as those who
care about us.
We all have good days and bad days.
We all experience fluctuation of our
moods, and it is normal to feel sad at
times. At what point, however, do we
need to be concerned that we or someone
we care about may be experiencing clinical depression? What causes depression?
Where can we get help?
Before you say, “I’m okay,” ask yourself these questions: Do I feel nervous or
empty, guilty or worthless, very tired and
February 2007
slowed down, unable to enjoy things the
independently. Without treatment, sympway I used to, restless or irritable, like no toms can intensify and last for weeks,
one loves me, and/or like life is not worth months, or even years.
living? Am I sleeping more or less than
Untreated symptoms of depression can
usual, eating more or less than usual,
lead to uncontrollable feelings of fear to
and/or having persistent headaches, stom- hurt yourself or someone else; if this is
ach aches, or chronic pain? While most
your case, it’s time to get immediate proof us experience a
fessional help from a
least one of these in
doctor, therapist, or
Depression is a serious
our lifetime, they are
crisis line. The
medical condition that can national hotline 1all symptoms of
depression, and if you
interfere with your normal 800-SUICIDE (784or someone you care
functioning and cause a great 2433) provides assisabout has experienced
deal of suffering if untreated. tance in English,
several of them for
Spanish, and Creole
two weeks or more,
to people at risk of
it’s time to seek help from a professional. committing suicide, and to those who
Is depression a weakness of character
want to help someone they love by conor something to be ashamed of? No!
necting them with certified professionals
Depression is a treatable medical condiwho provide crisis counseling. The
tion that can be caused by a chemical
Miami-Dade hotline line 305-358-HELP
imbalance in the brain, emotional dis(4357) offers confidential, multilingual,
tress, or a specific life crisis. It can affect
and free telephone counseling, crisis
anyone, regardless of gender, race, age,
intervention, suicide prevention, and
ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation,
information and referral services.
income level, or religious background.
A professional will help to explore
People with depressive illness cannot
symptoms, identify their causes, and recsimply “get over it,” “snap out of it,”or
ommend treatment, which may include
“pull themselves together” to feel better
medication therapy, psychotherapy, or a
combination of both to help you to feel
better. Recommendations may include
simple lifestyle or behavioral changes
that can make an enormous difference in
your quality of life, and that of your
loved ones.
Remember: Depression is a serious
medical condition that can interfere with
your normal functioning and cause a
great deal of suffering if untreated. If you
or someone you know is experiencing
several of the discussed symptoms, do
not wait. Contact a professional just as
you would if you were experiencing the
physical symptoms of a medical condition such as the flu, a broken arm, or diabetes. For people experiencing the symptoms of depression, reaching out for help
can be the most difficult thing they ever
do, but it is the first step toward feeling
better.
The Miami Beach Community Health
Center operates clinics at 710 Alton
Road, 1221 and 1179 71st Street in
Miami Beach; NANAY Health Center at
12340 N.E. 6th Court in North Miami,
and at Miami Beach Senior High School.
Phone: 305-538-8835.
41
Y OUR K ITCHEN
A Season for Strawberries
By Frances Brown
Pastry Chef/Owner,
Pineapple Blossom Tea Room
February has always been my favorite
month. Two of my favorite food events
happen in February – Valentine’s Day,
and, if the moon is aligned just right,
Chinese New Year falls somewhere in
this wonderful month. And the February
days in South Florida are so perfectly
beautiful – in the mid 70s, with low
humidity and not a hurricane in sight.
With the strawberries ready for the picking, what more could anyone ask for! Ah
yes, we all agree, this is why we live in
South Florida! Every weekend there is
another art festival and countless outdoor
events, just so we can bask in the South
Florida rays and laugh at the northerners.
Staying seasonal is the key to eating
well. Enjoy and appreciate foods in the
peak of their season and use them from
sweet to savory.
This month, I offer
you two recipes
using seasonal
ingredients for a
savory and a sweet
dish that will satisfy you and your
someone special
any day this
month. We are featuring the Florida
strawberry, which
is abundant and on
sale at your local
supermarket. Don’t
be shy, adventure
beyond the strawberry as just a
dessert item!
Seafood Salad
firm to the touch.
We are using strawberries in a wonderful, healthy, colorful and sexy salad and
a warm, simple and sensational dessert.
You have a great Valentine’s starter or
meal by itself and a grand finale, both
not only visually appealing, but also
absolutely scrumptious.
Strawberry Seafood
Salad with Feta
Choose pre-mixed greens, also
known as spring mix or mesclun, available from your local supermarket.
They are a mix of varied baby greens
and field greens that include arugula,
baby spinach, radicchio and/or escarole. The salad uses shrimp and scallop, but you can also substitute fresh
salmon or any firm white fish if
seafood is not your cup of tea. Buy
your seafood at a reputable seafood
market. There should be no fishy odor
nor should it be slimy or soft. Fresh
seafood smells like the ocean and is
42
Dressing:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon honey
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Fresh ground black pepper
8oz shrimp large, peeled and de-veined
8oz sea scallop
Salad:
1 bag of mixed greens/spring
mix/mesclun mix
1 medium tomato, large diced
1/2 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and
sliced
2 scallions, chopped
4oz crumbled feta
February 2007
Y OUR F INANCES
Changing Title on Your
Property May Increase Taxes
A Message from The Property Appraisal Office
Florida’s homestead exemption
saves taxpayers money in two ways:
1) Up to $25,000 is deducted from
the assessed value of a qualified
property, saving owners as much as
$725 a year in Miami-Dade County.
2) Beginning with the second year of
a continuous homestead exemption,
any increase in the qualified property’s assessed value is limited to three
percent above the previous year’s
assessment (excludes additions, new
construction and unqualified areas of
the property). Over a period of time
the tax savings accruing from the
homestead limitation becomes significant (the 2005 average assessment
limitation tax savings for a property
with a homestead exemption in
renewal status was $2,340).
Unfortunately, during the past few
years a number of homeowners have
lost their tax savings from the homestead assessment limitation because
2007 Exemption Filing Locations
March 1 is the deadline. Applications will be accepted at:
Stephen P. Clark Center
111 NW First St. (lobby)
Mondays - Fridays
South Dade Gov't Center
10710 SW 211 St
(2nd Floor)
Mondays - Fridays
North Dade Justice Center
15555 Biscayne Blvd
Mondays - Fridays
Miami-Dade Permitting &
Inspection Center
11805 SW 26 Street
(2nd floor)
All the above locations are open
from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
South Dade Government Center
& Team Metro On the Go Bus
at North Dade Justice
Center(Parking Lot)
Hialeah District Court
11 E 6th Street
Mondays - Fridays
Locations will also be open:
Saturday February 10, 2007
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
All offices will be closed Feb. 19
Crime Reports
hapless victim (the BT is reluctant to use
this word so trivially) agreed to drive
the suspect to a downtown location in
Miami. An hour later (Miami construction) they arrived at an electronics store
where the suspect claimed he worked.
doors were intact and uncompromised.
The only other person who has access is
his mother, who is, according to the victim, a known drug user. Mother was
questioned later but was not lucid enough
to answer questions. This incident begs
the question: If we can’t trust mom, then
who can we really trust?
they added or removed owners from
the title of their homestead property
by executing a deed. The Property
Appraiser’s office is required by law
to ‘reset’ the limited assessed value
of a homesteaded property to full
market value if a title change occurs
other than the ones listed here.
Currently, Florida law allows only the
following exceptions to this reassessment process (Ref. section 193.155
(3), Florida Statutes):
A. Subsequent to the change or
transfer, the same person is entitled
to the homestead exemption as was
previously entitled and:
1. Transfers between legal and equitable title (e.g. changing your property title into a life estate for yourself).
2. Transfers of title to correct an
error.
B. Transfers between spouses.
C. Transfers to spouses and minor
children via a trust.
D. Upon the death of the owner, the
transfer is between the owner and
another who is a permanent resident,
and is legally or naturally dependent
upon the owner. Please seek legal
advice before changing the title of
your homesteaded property, it may
save you thousands of dollars in
taxes.
His customer waited in his car for him
to return. He waited. And he kept waiting. Needless to say, the myth of the
$300 anything will continue its tradition
on the Boulevard Corridor, providing
future fodder for these reports.
Another Caveat
Emptor…It Never Stops
Downtown Area
Victim was enjoying a peaceful stroll
down Biscayne Boulevard when he was
approached by another one of the boulevard’s enterprising salesmen. This sales
advocate was impeccably dressed in a
black suit and tie. He claimed he could
get the victim a new laptop for $300 The
February 2007
43
C ONDO C OUNSEL
Once Upon a Time, Condo Life Was Sweet
ike many people, I’m often
Florida condominium to enjoy this careswayed by the conventional wisfree life. No maintenance worries, no
dom and headline-grabbing rheto- daily headaches, friends nearby, and
ric that portrays condominiums as being
parking plentiful, condominiums providregulated to within inches of their lives.
ed a turn-key lifestyle in which residents
Some attorneys argue that
could enjoy their homes or
the various laws, docutravel for extended periments, and rules governods, knowing that things
ing condominiums are so
would be maintained for
restrictive and complicatthem while they were
ed only a lawyer can folaway. Generally it was all
low them and keep
neat and tidy, with not too
homeowner associations
much flash or flourish.
out of trouble.
Maintenance fees were
I’ve read the laws —
reasonable and annual
Florida Statute 718 to be
increases small to none.
exact — along with addiToday many folks who
tional statutes on insurlive in condominiums as
ance and countless sets
full-time residents are not
of condominium docuretired and often do not
CONDO COUNSEL have access to enough
ments, and I can tell you
the attorneys have a
By Gabrielle Redfern parking spaces for their
point. In spite of that, I
families. Many newly
find myself drawn to condominium life
marketed condominiums were actually
by my personal desire for simplicity and
built 30 to 40 years ago as apartment
my respect for the process of shared
buildings, and are now showing signs of
homesteading — plus the almost utopian structural wear and tear. Today’s condolifestyle only condominiums can offer.
minium owners also have different sensiBack in the day, folks retired to a
bilities regarding improvements, servic-
L
44
es, and amenities. Yesterday’s reasonable
maintenance fees have been replaced
with the desire for valet parking and
towel service, impact glass or central air
conditioning. Add to that the pressures of
rising insurance costs and utility bills.
Layers and layers of complications have
been piled on our once-simple condominium life of shared expenses and global responsibility for promoting and protecting the greater good.
The state legislature, over the years,
has tinkered with Florida’s condominium
laws in response to changing conditions,
but the core principles remain the same:
To provide equitable means for collecting and spending homeowners’ dollars,
and to allow condo associations to regulate their members to such a degree that,
if necessary, they can be forced to get
along with one another.
When you purchase a condominium,
you should be handed a complete play-
book outlining how things are supposed
to run, at least from an organizational
level. Most issues are black and white —
you can park here, you can use balconies
these purposes, you can do this and can’t
do that. If owners would just read their
documents, understand and respect their
rights and responsibilities, much of the
tension and ill-will that have given modern condo-living a bad name would disappear. Boards would operate in a transparent fashion, willingly accepting the
input, advice, and scrutiny of the members they represent. Owners would
actively participate, voice opinions based
on facts, and speak with civility, not contempt. People would arrive at the common ground necessary to keep the peace
and properly maintain their homes.
Is this a dream? Perhaps. Is it achievable? Of course. And it can serve as a
model not only for homeowner associations, but for our community as a whole.
Condo Q&A
Dear Condo Counsel,
I have been having problems with
the company that takes care of the bills
and maintenance. For the past three
years, they keep sending us and other
tenants letters saying we are behind in
our maintenance checks. On top of that
they take 20 days to cash my check
when I send it in. I keep a record of all
the checks I have sent them in the past
three years. They have had problems
with the accountant, and every time
they get a new one I have to start all
over again. They don’t know what they
are doing. Now they have a lawyer
writing to me, saying that I owe the
company $600. They have not backed
up the claim, nor have they noted what
months I am missing. They are also
charging me lawyer fees. When I call
the company, I am told that I must contact the lawyer. When I call the lawyer,
an answering machine comes up saying
I have to send something in writing.
What can I do about this kind of
harassment? I am getting sick with this
situation. Please give me some advice.
Thank you.
Maria (Connie) Figueroa-Hirt
Dear Ms. Figueroa-Hirt:
Thank you for your letter.
Unfortunately in condominium life,
when it comes to your homeowner
account, you are guilty until you prove
February 2007
TECHNOLOGY
Computers & Video
DVDs May Soon Join CDs in the Media Graveyard, As the Digital Revolution Continues
y now most of us have gotten
comfortable enough with the
two main formats of compressed digital music (MP3 & WMA)
to manage and create our own song
collections, including shopping online
at iTunes and “ripping” CDs to our
computer hard drives. Compressed
music files have become widely
accepted, to the point that buying
them, making them, and copying them
to our portable music players is now a
daily occurrence.
Video is another matter. Despite YouTube’s
runaway success and
uncanny ability to capture the global
Zeitgeist, the process
by which a DVD or
home video is transformed into a compressed, downloadable
PC file remains a mystery for most of us, a
mystery better left to
the geeks and experts.
But video compresBy Marc
sion for hard drives
(either on computers or digital video
recorders) is the future, and the future
is now: Just take a few minutes to
peruse YouTube’s 100,000,000 videos,
or iTunes’s video archive, or the major
networks’ Web-based TV offerings,
and it becomes clear that manipulating
and storing professional digital video
will comprise a healthy percentage of
PC and Internet entertainment sooner
rather than later.
The major Hollywood film studios
and cable channels are also preparing
to offer their products in downloadable
format, whether to rent or buy, and
you can bet they won’t be selling them
as huge six-gigabyte DVD files. It
won’t be long until compressed harddrive video supplants standard DVDs,
much the way MP3s have supplanted
CD-based music on our stereo systems. It helps that plenty of options
already exist for broadcasting digital
video and movies to your main home
theater.
Moreover, as Web bandwidth and
server storage grow, the quality and
number of video offerings will continue to expand, perhaps even to the
point where the Internet surpasses
broadcast television as our main video
B
entertainment venue.
So what’s the trick to digital, PCbased video? Well, first it’s probably
best to discuss the different formats
available for storing computerized
video. The two major compressed-file
formats are known as AVI and MPG,
with each breaking down into several
component formats from which to
choose. The geeky programming
details are beyond the scope of this
article, but much like music files,
video quality and resolution can vary greatly
depending upon the
number of bytes per
second (bitrate) and
how efficiently the
information is packed
into those bytes (compression algorithm).
Compression technologies are constantly
improving as people try
to squeeze more and
better data into ever
smaller files — the idea
being that storage and
Stephens
Internet distribution
will always cost money, and the more
video quality you can shrink into a
tighter package the better, with no
apparent limit.
MPG file quality is designated by a
number, like MPG-1, MPG-2, or
MPG-4, depending on compression.
For instance, DirecTV’s satellite
broadcasts consist of encoded MPG-2
files, decoded and decompressed on
the fly by your set-top receiver box.
(This is ten-year-old technology, by
the way.) AVI files, mostly known as
DivX Video, are even more efficient.
A typical high-quality DivX file takes
up about 400 megabytes per hour of
video. And we’re talking really good
quality — on my 36-inch television
it’s almost impossible to differentiate a
good DivX file from a normal satellite
broadcast.
It’s worth noting here that High
Definition is even now opening up a
whole new frontier for digital video
recorders and compressed digital
video, the details of which we won’t
get into here; suffice to say that cutting-edge compression algorithms are
already taking advantage of Hi-Def’s
extreme resolution to generate even
better-quality video.
Tech Talk
February 2007
Despite YouTube’s runaway success and uncanny ability to
capture the global Zeitgeist, the process by which a DVD or
home video is transformed into a compressed, downloadable
PC file remains a mystery for most of us.
Another important consideration:
compressed files from one format to
Just as MP3s by nature yield loweranother (AVI to MPG, for example),
quality sound than CDs, with digital
which can be accomplished using such
video you’re also forgoing top-notch
utilities as Cucusoft’s AVI to MPG
DVD quality in favor of convenience,
Converter. Surprisingly, Windows
storage, and portability. But which
Movie Maker (free with Windows XP)
would you rather have — every wall
is also a fairly effective live-time ediand drawer of
tor when used to
your living room
splice and dice your
swathed in CDs
videos for whatever
and DVDs, or a
reason.
single wellMany of you read“Which would you rather
stocked hard
ing this are probably
have — every wall and drawer thinking that you’ll
drive?
of your living room swathed
Numerous
never give up your
in
CDs and DVDs, or a single precious DVDs, no
options exist,
both free and
matter what happens
well-stocked hard drive?”
proprietary, for
with digital technolcreating highogy. Right? Well,
quality DivXit’s a safe wager that
style videos
more than a few of
from DVDs or digital home movies.
us thought the same thing about our
My personal favorite shareware probeloved compact discs not so many
gram is called Neodivx, available at
years back, and yet here we are,
www.divx-digest.com.
scrambling over the latest iPod models
Once the DVD, DVR program, or
every Christmas. If there’s one lesson
other file is copied to your hard drive
PCs and the Internet have taught us,
(using software such as CloneDVD2),
it’s that just because certain corporate
run Neodivx to compress the file to
bigwigs treasure a lucrative business
DivX format, which can then be
paradigm (such as the ubiquitous
played by Windows Media Player or
DVD), profitability by no means guarbroadcast to your television set. Video
antees its continued existence.
storage then becomes a snap, as your
movies will take up about one-tenth
Have a tech question? Email it to
the space.
Marc Stephens at
Similarly, for compatibility purposes [email protected].
it is sometimes necessary to convert
45
Strawberries
Directions (Serves 4):
Put all the dressing ingredients in your food
processor and blend until well combined.
Place shrimp and scallop in bowl and add 4
to 5 tablespoons of dressing. Mix well and
set aside for 10 minutes.
Prepare salad. Use pre-washed greens.
Layer greens on plate or platter. Top with
diced tomato, fresh strawberries and chopped
scallions.
Cook seafood, on the grill or seared in a hot
non-stick pan that is lightly sprayed with
cooking oil. Grill or sear 3 minutes on each
side.
Place seafood on top of the salad. Top with
crumbled feta cheese.
Serve with remaining dressing.
Sautéed Strawberries
I love desserts that are just sweet enough.
Nothing masked in sugar, particularly with
fruit desserts. I like to savor the flavor of
fruit in season. This warm dessert merges
sweet strawberries with a bit of balsamic that
is absolutely divine. And the best part is that
it takes only 15 minutes to make.
Condo Q&A
yourself innocent in matters of payment.
The Florida Statutes, specifically Section
718.111 (12) (a) (11) (b), clearly states
the record keeping requirements for a
condominium association, which include
“A current account and a monthly, bimonthly or quarterly statement of the
account for each unit designating the
name of the unit owner, the due date and
amount of each assessment, the amount
paid upon the account, and the balance
due.” That being said, it is important for
you to maintain your own payment
records, just for cases like these. You
should begin by asking your management company for a current statement of
your account that goes as far back as
46
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1 pint (2 cups) fresh strawberries, rinsed,
drained, and sliced
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon grand marnier (optional)
1 pint ice cream (vanilla or your favorite)
Homemade or store bought pound cake
(optional)
99 Cent
C LASSIFIEDS
Order at:
RENTALS
STORES/OFFICES/
Directions (Serves 4):
1. Melt the butter in a medium sauté pan
and add sugar or honey and then strawberries.
2. Sauté the berries over medium-low heat
for 2 to 3 minutes, until they start to soften.
3. Sprinkle them with balsamic vinegar.
Toss and remove from the heat.
4. Sprinkle with the grand marnier, if you
are using it, and toss the berries again.
5. Put a large scoop of ice cream in each of
4 dessert bowls and top with warm strawberries. Or place a slice of pound cake in dessert
bowl, layer with a scoop of ice cream and top
with warm strawberries.
To contact Frances Brown, email her at
[email protected]
you need to see where the accounting
discrepancies between your records and
those of the association begin. Then, go
line by line and make sure all of the
payments you have made are accounted
for with the association on your statement, and be able to prove, with cancelled checks, payments made by you
that are not listed on your statement. We
are all human, and sometimes, the
wrong account ends up with a credit
they do not deserve.
As for the issue of late fees, look to
your condominium documents to see
exactly when the due date for payments
are, the grace period, if any, and the
penalties the association can legally levy
on you for late payments. If a dollar
amount or interest rate is not in your
documents, we look again to the Florida
WAREHOUSES
OFFICE SPACE Miami - 4300
Biscayne Blvd. Individual
Executive Offices w/work stations,
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(305)825-5506
REAL ESTATE
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Statutes, 718.116 (3) which states,
“Assessments and installments on them
which are not paid when due bear interest at the rate provided in the declaration, from the due date until paid. This
rate may not exceed the rate allowed by
law, and, if no rate is provided in the
declaration, interest shall accrue at the
rate of 18 percent per year. Also, if the
declaration or bylaws so provide, the
association may charge an administrative late fee in addition to such interest,
in an amount not to exceed the greater
of $25 or 5 percent of each installment
of the assessment for each delinquent
installment that the payment is late. Any
payment received by an association shall
be applied first to any interest accrued
by the association, then to any administrative late fee, then to any costs and
reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in
collection, and then to the delinquent
assessment.”
Finally, I suggest you take more
responsibility for making sure you payments arrive on time. Hand deliver the
payments, and request a dated receipt.
Or mail the payments with enough time
for them to arrive on time, certified,
with delivery confirmation or return
receipt requested, which will be a legally dated record of when your payment
landed in their hands. Then, if they take
several days to process and deposit your
payment, you have proof that your payments were in on time, and no late fee
should be assessed.
February 2007
B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O RY
Adams Veterinary
672 NE 79 Street
305-757-7309
Page 52
America’s Best Landscaping
305-345-6385
877-438-8733
www.abstreesandplants.com
Page 20
Avery Glass & Mirror
813 NE 125th St.
305-891-7734
Page 34
Steven K. Baird, PA
5981 NE Sixth Ave.
305-757-6755
179 N.E. 96th Street
Miami Shores
305-754-8170
Page 26
Bagua
Feng Shui Products
4600 NE 2nd Ave.
305-573-9292
Page 34
Barker Group Real Estate
Investments & Financing
305-282-2252
Page 17
Bay Oaks
435 NE 34th St.
305-573-4337
Page 8
Star Behl
Realtor
305-375-9354
Page 43
Bin No. 18 European Market &
Wine Bar
1800 Biscayne Blvd.
786-235-7575
Page 9
Biscayne Pet House
10789 Biscayne Blvd
305-895-6164
Page 54
Dan Blakeman
The Palms Condominiums
305-965-1482
Page 41
Jane Buffington
Jack Coden
305-609-7219
Page 46
Casa Toscana
305-758-3353
Page 43
February 2007
Kidstown Pediatrics
4112 NE 1st Ave.
305-576-5437
Page 48
Curb Apeal
Landscape Services
Kelly Crawford
phone: 305-756-5452
cell: 305-308-0151
Page 49
Charles Kluck
Mortgage Lender &
Financial Planner
305-588-2693
Page 42
Dart Maintenance
305-758-1697
Page 39
Lambda Passages
7545 Biscayne Blvd.
305-754-6900
Page 33
Duffy Realty
Biscayne Breeze Condos
Patrick L. Duffy
305-904-4803
www.duffyrealty.com
Page 23
Leiter Gallery
6900 Biscayne Blvd.
305-389-2616
Page 30
The Errand Genie
1-866-MY-GENIE
www.errand-genie.com
Page 40
Mathnasium Learning Center
9069 Biscayne Blvd.
1-866-458-6284
Page 8
Fanci Pooch
Bay Park Plaza
1756 North Bayshore Drive
Suite 123
305-677-7523
Page 53
Majestic Properties
5046 Biscayne Blvd.
305-672-8999
Page 56
First United
Methodist Church
400 Biscayne Blvd.
305-371-4706
Page 19
Patrick McCoy
786-228-8726
www.miamiagents.com
Page 40
Metro1 Real Estate
120 NE 27th St. Bay 200
305-571-9991
Page 2
Flora’s East Side Pizza
731 NE 79th St
305-758-5351
Page 18
Metropolitan Blinds & Shades
3483 Chase Ave.
786-287-8095
Page 18
Global Development
www.globaldev.com
305-692-2232
Page 11
GoodMorningBiscayne.com
Maji Pace Ramos
305-519-7940
Page 16
Hiperfit Personal Training
7120 Biscayne Blvd.
305-762-6600
1420 Alton Rd.
305-672-8580
Page 15
Miami Parking Authority
www.miamiparking.com
Page 50
Investor Realty Group
7100 Biscayne Blvd. Suite 105
305-905-0110
Page 22
Jontiff & Jontiff
Personal Injury Lawyers
3550 Biscayne Blvd.
Suite 510
305-674-4878
Page 15
Miami Beach
Community Health Center
305-538-8835
1221 71 St. Miami Beach
710 Alton Rd. Miami Beach
12340 NE 6th Ct. North Miami
Page 21
Miami Shores Auto Repair
9734 N.E. 2nd Ave.
305-759-4988
Page 17
Miami Shores Realty
9301 NE 6th Ave.
Miami Shores
305-754-5546
305-965-0861
Page 44
Mike’s at Venetia Sports Bar
555 N.E. 15th Street,
9th Floor
305-374-5731
Page 31
Sheba Ethiopian
Restaurant
4029 N. Miami Ave.
305-573-1819
Page 23
MiMo Biscayne
Condominiums
531 NE 82 Terr.
305-607-0501
Page 35
Roger Shields
Keller Williams/Eagle Realty
305-695-6014
Page 13
Karen Mock
Majestic Properties
www.karenmock.com
786-200-4344
Page 55
Serure Real Estate
Investments
2125 Biscayne Blvd.
305.438.1183
Lauren Michelle Albrecht
786-390-3733
Page 9
Mount Sinai Medical Center
4300 Alton Road
Miami Beach
305-674-2273
Page 7
No Fear Computer
305-759-5146
Page 46
Penguin Air Conditioning
14230 W. Dixie Hwy.
305-893-9055
Page 40
Penguin Cove Stained Glass
14230 West Dixie Highway
North Miami
305-892-0090
Page 40
Peter’s Doors
800 NW 36 St.
305-637-8658
Page 26
Ron Platt
Keller Williams/Eagle Realty
305-694-5361
Page 5
Playne Jane Boutique
713 N.E. 125th St.
305-895-4155
Page 16
Plaza Tire and Auto
3005 NE 2nd Ave.
305-573-3878
Page 36
Sir Speedy Printing
2601 NE 2nd Ave
305-573-2416
Page 6
Smiling Pets
7310 Biscayne Blvd.
305-754-0844
Page 53
Sugar Bubble Day Spa &
Beauty Bar
165 NE 96 St.
305-751-3622
Page 6
Temple Israel
137 NE 19 St
305-573-5900
Page 24
Tiki Boutique
9702 NE 2nd Ave.
305-757-3550
Page 32
UVA Café
6900 Biscayne Blvd.
305-754-9022
Page 30
Vine Wine Shop
& Tasting Loft
7657 Biscayne Blvd.
305-759-8463
Page 39
Santissima!
District Resto & Pizza
3221 NE 2nd Ave.
305-438-0378
Page 13
Wilcon Co. General
Contractors
10785 Biscayne Blvd.
786-399-8855
Page 44
The Scoot, Skate & Bike, Co.
1800 Biscayne Blvd.
305-358-7004
Page 9
Donald Wilson
Gray & Associates Properties
305-335-5722
Page 3
47
HOT KIDS
IN THE
CITY
Boys in Bright Colors
hen I found out I was having
a boy, I became a little
stressed out about baby fashion. Any parent who has shopped for
either gender knows that, in kids clothing stores, three-quarters of the merchandise is “girls” clothes, two-thirds of
which is ridiculously pink and frilly, and
what remains is a meager excuse for a
boys department. Maybe it’s me, but I
think boys can wear colors other than
blue and earth tones.
Luckily, you can find brightly colored
and patterned clothing for young babies;
clothes that may be meant for a girl look
just fine on a baby boy. Thus, Izzi still
wears lots of Goldi’s hand-me-downs.
But then again, I’ve never limited myself
to “girls” clothes for her in the first
place. Lately, however, some of Goldi’s
hand-me-downs are starting to seem too
girly, and the hand-me-downs from my
sister’s son make me want to run
screaming into a rainbow for a breath of
fresh color and light.
Am I crazy if I want Isaiah to be surrounded by bright colors, stripes, polka
dots, and tie-die, even if that includes hot
pink or purple? I look around me and all
W
48
By Jenni Person
I see offered for boys is blue – and not a
fun blue, a dull blue, along with dull
green, gray, brown and oh, look at that, a
splash of light: orange. If I see one more
pair of gray or tan cargo shorts or pants I
am going to paint a tribute to Jackson
Pollock all over the window of the next
sports-motif-for-boys-flowers-for-girls
children’s clothing shop that I see.
In addition to the limited and depressing color choices are the choices in
designs and patterns. Boys get only vehi-
cles, sports motifs, maybe some bears,
ing Gap.
and for some godforsaken reason, cam“People don’t want to spend money on
ouflage. Camouflage? I understand that
boys clothing,” says Daniel Kron, owner
it is a look, a constantly re-surfacing one of Genius Jones in the Design District
at that, but do we really want to promote (and on Lincoln Road). He said that for
war and death to the next generation?
every one outfit they buy for a boy, cusWhether being worn for war or for hunt- tomers will buy two or three for a girl.
ing, in our peacenik home, camouflage is Well, that explains the one-fourth vs.
off limits – no matter how tragically hip
three-fourths rule at the Children’s Place
it is.
outlet.
I find tie-dye and batik to be a great
Genius Jones in the Biscayne Corridor
solution. These popularized-by-hippies
is definitely a place to acquire some of
techniques tend to involve bright,
the hippest stuff for boys, but you’ll cersplashy colors and fun, mostly non-gentainly spend a pretty penny. Genius
der-specific designs. And we are lucky to Jones carries hip T-shirts by Kingsley,
have a major batik hub right here on
Paul Frank, and Trunk; Levi’s Vintage
Biscayne Boulevard at Hiho Batik
and Earnest Sewn jeans; and Steven Alan
owned by Julia Silver, the mom of a
shirts, a rumpled, Brooks-Brothers-style
bouncing baby boy herself. With her
item with an inside-out pocket. Kron was
serious fashion roots in rock and roll,
wearing one himself as we talked and
Silver’s shop offer dozens of multi-color
told me that his own son, four-year-old
batik designs
Magnus, loves
including surfer
them, as does
motifs, rocker
Michael Stipe. But
designs, skull and
Kron admitted that
Am I crazy if I want
crossbones, drageven he, the local
Isaiah to be surrounded
ons, ice cream
King of high-brow
by bright colors, stripes,
cones, rocket ships,
design for kids,
polka dots, and tie-die,
and so on. As I’ve
finds himself outfitmentioned in this
ting his son from
even if that includes hot
column before, the
the selection at
pink or purple?
offerings seem a bit
Target.
pricey, but each
Some friends of
piece is a handmine rely on the
made work of art.
internet, where you
So collect them as gifts for birthdays and can find hundreds of sites that offer a lot
holidays and other special occasions
of the same expensive collections. But
such as a lost tooth, a departure from
even they have imbalanced offerings for
diapers, or a first day of school. Also
boys – the earth tones, the cargo pants.
give them as gifts to kids of like-minded
And, in all due respect, how many mock
parents facing the same dilemma.
vintage Sex Pistols T-shirts do our kids
My neighbor Nicole Dorsey, who is the need?
mom of three boys Goldi adores –
Of the chain stores, there’s Oilily,
Michael, 7; Colin, 5; and Liam, 4, comwhich is favored by Jacqui Rochplains that shopping for kids clothing is
Hernandez, an artist and Morningside
“very frustrating. You have to let go and
mom of four boys, ages two to eight,
accept the fact that you are not going to
who manages to keep her guys in bright
have extremely stylish children. They’ll
and funky duds. But even this fashionbe clean, there will be no holes in their
forward chain limits its palette for boys
clothes, but that’s it. Get a bargain at Old to some extent; besides, you need to be
Navy, Old Navy outlet, and the Gap.
willing to shell out the big bucks. But
Everything gets trashed so easily with
Roch-Hernandez said that she often gets
boys.” And I have certainly seen her kids tired of handing down the clothes by the
neck-deep in mud.
time the third boy wears them, so she is
While bemoaning the inundation of
constantly on a mission to find fresh
cargo pants, Nicole told me about a
styles. And she also was frustrated early
friend’s son who always looks adorable.
on by the football motif, pointing out
Apparently, the kid is always in skinny
that, “when they’re one or two, it’s not
rock and roll jeans, high tops, and $75
like they love football.”
designer shirts. His mom says that,
A working artist participating in many
because she only has one kid to clothe,
shows, she combs other vendors’ disand therefore a larger kid fashion budget,
she can’t imagine buying from the borContinued on page 50
February 2007
Y OUR G ARDEN
History of the Sausage Tree
Sausage
tree in fruit
at Parrot
Jungle
Island.
By Jeff Shimonski
Tropical Designs of Florida
brushing against the stamens (the male
part of the flower that holds the pollen)
and getting pollen on their head. The
In many of the older neighborhoods in pollen that is on the bat’s head is then
South Florida, one can find large specibrushed onto the pistil (the female pormens of the sausage tree, Kigelia
tion of the flower) of the next sausage
Africana. This tree is fairly inconspicutree flower that is visited.
ous even though it can reach a height of
Regarding pollination, sausage trees
40 to 50 feet and maintain a nicely
are self-incompatible: pollination and
shaped canopy when grown in full sun.
fruit set will only be successful if pollen
One doesn’t realize
from a different
how many sausage
sausage tree is
trees are planted in
carried to the
our area unless the
pistil of another.
distinctive sausageSince nectar
type fruit is hangfeeding bats do
ing from the tree.
not occur in
Finding a tree with
South Florida,
fruit is fairly
these trees are
uncommon
rarely seen with
because, unless the
fruit. However,
flowers have been
when a tree is
pollinated with
found with fruit
pollen from anothand they are not
Sausage tree flower showing
er sausage tree,
the progeny of
the stamens with pollen.
fruit will not set.
hand pollination,
The pollinator in
they were probaits native habitat is a fruit bat that does
bly visited by the native red-bellied
not occur in South Florida.
woodpecker or the spot- breasted oriole.
Sausage trees are native to Africa,
These two birds sometimes visit the
where they are found throughout the
sausage tree in the evening, just as the
sub-Saharan region. The fruits are often
flowers are beginning to open, apparentquite large and can resemble two-foot
ly looking for insects that are attracted
long thick sausages. They are wood-like
by the nectar found inside the flower.
and not at all palatable. In Africa, the
The head of the woodpecker, like that of
leaves are eaten by elephants and kudu.
the bat, is the right size for picking up
Nyla, kudu, impala, grey duiker, and
pollen from one flower and carrying it to
domestic stock will eat the flowers, and
another.
bush pigs are known to eat the fruit.
The spot- breasted oriole, which was
The flowers, which may contain up to
introduced from Mexico and has naturala teaspoonful of nectar, are visited at
ized in South Florida, is the same size as
night in their native habitat by nectar
the woodpecker and also causes pollinafeeding bats. During this visit, the bats
tion. I had the opportunity to document
inadvertently pollinate the flowers by
February 2007
49
Sausage Tree
both species of birds as successful
pollinators of the Sausage Tree at the
original Parrot Jungle in the 1990s.
Successful pollination of this tropical tree can also be done by hand.
Flowers can be collected from another tree on the day before they open,
and the pollen will be viable for several days if kept in an airtight dry
container and refrigerated. The flowers open in the evening and the pistil
is receptive from early evening to
mid morning the next day. Early in
the night (usually), the entire corolla
(the colorful part of the flower shown
in the photo) with the stamens
attached will drop off, leaving only
the pistil attached to the ovary. Place
the pollen from the collected flower
onto the open pistil. The pollen can
be brushed on using a toothpick, or
the entire stamen from the collected
flower can be used as a pollination
tool. The latter seems the easiest if
there is enough pollen for all the
flowers to be pollinated. It is always
a good idea to pollinate the tree over
several days.
Sometimes the pollen doesn’t take,
or only a small percentage of the
flowers pollinated will actually set
fruit. After successful pollination, the
developing fruit can be seen after
three or four days. It can take about a
month to reach full size, and many
trees have a unique shape and size of
fruit. If left on the tree, the fruit will
begin to drop off in 10 to 12 months.
The seeds are generally viable and
can sometimes germinate while still
inside the fruit.
The largest of sausage trees can be
relocated quite successfully. I have
actually moved a number of them
bare-root (without soil), and they
recovered very well. This is something to keep in mind if redeveloping
or re-landscaping a property. This
African tree grows easily in our soil
conditions and should never have
insect problems or need to be fertilized.
Jeff Shimonski is an ISA Certified
Municipal Arborist, license #FL1052AM, with many years of tree
experience as principal of his company, Tropical Designs of Florida. If
you have any concerns about the
plant life on your property, Jeff is a
great resource. Contact him by email
at [email protected] or log
onto his website, www.tropicaldesigns.com, for more info.
Church
Rasha Soray-Cameau, administrator of
the city’s Little Haiti Neighborhood
Enhancement Team office, points out
another major problem, albeit a nonviolent one: illegal dumping. According to
Soray-Cameau, people from all over the
city have turned the place into a communal trash heap. “It’s not just an eyesore,” she says, “it’s a quality-of-life
issue. [The neighbors] just want the
peace of mind to be able to walk down
their street.”
Eubanks, meanwhile, suffered setback
after setback. In 2004 the city and county ordered that the rear utility building
be demolished. Eubanks also paid for
that out of his own pocket. The rectory,
severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma
(the roof collapsed and the windows
were blown out), was condemned and
torn down this past October. The storm
did even more damage to the actual
church building, causing much of the
roof to collapse, leaving the gaping hole
that can now be seen from the westbound lanes of I-195.
Also in October 2006 the city recommended to the county that the main
building be demolished. Eubanks was
given until December to produce preliminary renovation plans, including
plays, and, when necessary, talks people
into designing clothes for boys. Shortly
after Hiho Batik opened, she spoke to
Julia Silver, requesting some fun designs
for her boys. Sometimes she buys clothes
from the girls department, like black and
white turtlenecks from Target in which
her sons look like an adorable gang of
pirates. “As long as there are no hearts,
bows or butterflies or anything, it doesn’t
matter.”
We have all probably noticed that cool-
50
cost estimates, or face the destruction of
his church. It was his last chance. To
everyone’s astonishment, he came up
with the paperwork just in time. “I was
really surprised when I found all the
plans on my desk,” says Cedric Mar of
the city’s building department.
This month city and county officials
will review Eubanks’s plans and set
deadlines for the proposed renovations.
If those deadlines are not met, Mar
says, demolition will begin. Eubanks is
asking for two years to complete the
project, though Mar believes the county
will insist on one year. “They’re under
the gun,” says Mar. “This is the final
bell.”
The renovation plans estimate that
repairs will cost $1.5 million. Eubanks
claims to have the money, though he
will not identify the source of the funds.
“I’ve put a life into it,” he says. “I have
never wanted to see it demolished, but it
has been a long time. If it can’t be
restored to where it would serve the
community, it will be demolished. I’ll be
the first to say that.”
Others in the neighborhood hope that
if the church is torn down, a senior center can be built on the property. “There
are a lot of elderly people over here
with nothing to do,” observes Julia
Colas. “It would be great if we could
start something like that.”
er boys clothing is flaunted in other
countries. “I’ll give a hundred bucks to
anyone I know traveling internationally
because the choices are so much better,”
says Roch-Hernandez, who also sometimes finds funky stuff at Bayside kiosks
from the Islands or Mexico. The main
challenge these days for her, however, is
that her oldest is getting bigger: “I can
still tell [Luca] what to wear, but he’s
growing out of boy sizes.”
I guess that will be my next Izzi-wear
challenge. For now, I persevere in my
endeavor of sending him out into the
world in the company of rainbows.
February 2007
LIFE & TIMES
OF
B I S C AY N E B O U L E V A R D
Though surrounded by towering, new condos, the First Church of Christ Scientist
at NE 19 street and Biscayne Boulevardlooks just as it did back in 1949 when Lucille and Jimmie
wrote home to Maude back in Paris, Illinois marveling at the size of the congregation.
February 2007
51
P E T PA G E S
The Humane Society:
Upcoming Events
Pawpurrazzi
Lights, camera, action! Join the Humane Society of Greater Miami/Adopt-APet for a red carpet event to celebrate the four legged wonders of the world!
Get ready for a night of “Furry-wood” glitz and glamour where the pets are
the stars. Festivities will be held at the glamorous Village of Merrick Park on
Thursday, February 15th at 7:00 p.m. Guests can bring their pets, get their
pictures taken, and enjoy delicious food and cocktails as well as enjoy the latest craze – a Chinese Raffle. Tickets are $125 per person, four-legged fashionistas are complimentary – dogs only, please! Please RSVP by Friday,
February 9th, 2007 by calling 305-749-1816. For more information, please
call Laurie Hoffman at 305-749-1815.
~~~
Become a Therapy Dog Volunteer
If you would like to participate in visits, with your dog, to gladden other folks lives,
please contact us at [email protected] or phone 305-448-4477.
We are looking for volunteers throughout Miami-Dade County to visit a variety of
venues. Dogs must be people and dog friendly, reasonably well-behaved and at least
one year old. Handlers must have common sense.
South Florida Boxer Rescue Fundraiser
South Florida Boxer Rescue is a nonprofit, no kill rescue group, dedicated to providing care and treatment to abused, abandoned, and neglected boxers. We rescue any
and all boxers in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties. Join us February
15 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Soyka’s Courtyard (5582 N.N. 4th Ct.) for drinks,
food, and fun. Pets are welcome. All proceeds will go to Boxer Friends Rescue.
Purina Walk for the Animals 2007
Come one, come all for the biggest and best walk for the animals in Miami.
Join us at scenic Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami on Saturday, February
24th for a fun morning of activities, contests, lots of games for kids, canine
demonstrations, and entertainment to benefit the Humane Society of Greater
Miami/Adopt-A-Pet. Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. The Walk begins at 10:00
a.m., and entertainment will be provided throughout the morning until 12:00
p.m. Each registered walker will receive an event t-shirt, dog bandana, a
goodie bag, and more! Prizes will be awarded for the top fundraisers. Please
visit humanesocietymiami.org/walk07 for more information.
52
February 2007
P E T PA G E S
My Dog is My Trainer
ast night for dinner I had a bag
of microwave popcorn and a
glass of wine. My dog ate
Cornish game hen with olive oil, fresh
fruit and vegetables. What’s wrong
with this picture?
I love animals. I couldn’t imagine
life without at least one in it. No matter
how hard the union with them may be
at times, the positives far outweigh the
negatives. Even as a trainer, the best
teachers I have had through the years
have not only been the many trainers
and behaviorists I have worked with,
but also the many dogs (and other animals) that have taught me over the
years what works, doesn’t work, and
what makes for lasting friendship.
Sure, it is easy to be trained by our
dogs to behave a certain way. Precisely
at 6:25 a.m., Jay Jay decides I should
spring out of bed with as much boundless enthusiasm as he does, take him
for a walk, and feed him breakfast.
If I am not obedient, he begins wiggling and worming, “woo woo-ing,”
and leaping across the bed over and
over again as though it were a hurdle.
Sometimes, he lays his head on the
bed, staring into space and looking
pathetic. Naturally, I have gotten quite
good at determining when he really has
to relieve himself vs. when he simply
wants breakfast, and I have trained him
not to wake me for the latter.
But dogs all over the world have
trained their owners to do many things.
They bark to be let outside, jump up to
get attention, and refuse to eat dog
chow so as to obtain some juicy chicken breast. (Hunger strike! At least the
owner thinks so.) It is not their fault.
They learn what works to achieve the
results they want with their owners, and
many times owners behave accordingly.
But while our pets may train us to
L
February 2007
Jerrys. From now on I will be more
interested in what I eat. I really thought
I was healthy. I love fresh fish and vegetables. But on closer inspection the
jalapeno poppers and easy-to-make
foods were far more prevalent in my
diet than sushi and grilled fish.
The same goes for physical fitness.
In New York I was extremely dedicated
about going to the gym. The south
Florida sun changed that. My new
canine trainer agrees and thinks we
need plenty of outdoor activity and
Pawsitively Pets
sunshine. Long walks around the lake,
bird watching, and possibly swimming
By Lisa Hartman
sessions for variety are all part of our
morning fitness regime. For cardio, I
behave a certain way and to perform
sometimes power-walk at his pace, or I
certain tasks for them, they also teach
let him lead me up a hill at the park. He
us to look more closely at our own
never lets me get away with less than
lives. It was only a matter of time
45 minutes of morning activity. He
before our pets would teach us about
stops to smell the roses and happily
nutrition and physical fitness. In an
makes new friends everyday, a lesson
attempt to boost his immune system
for us all.
and fight his allergies, I have been
Of course pets teach lessons about
feeding Jay Jay a much healthier diet
forgiveness and
than the one I
patience. With our
indulge in.
busy schedules it is
That fact alone
not always easy to
made me think about
...dogs all over the
give them what they
what I was eating. As
need. Yet they always
world have trained their
long as I was supplementing his diet with
owners to do many things. forgive us for our
lack of time, our
fish oils, fresh fruit
anger (it’s maddening
and vegetables and
trying to manage
the like, I thought I
dogs for most peoshould not neglect
ple), and our lack of understanding.
my own health and stop making the
Well, I am off for this morning’s
typical excuses: I am too tired; I don’t
adventure. On the priority list is a stop
have time to eat properly; etc. And as
at the market for fresh vegetables, fruit
backwards as it may seem, after washand yogurt. After work I will make
ing and chopping vegetables for him, I
time for a quick 20-minute yoga sesput some aside for myself.
sion. But for now, as I write this Jay is
After he gets his cod liver oil, vitaletting me know in no uncertain terms
mins, and other supplements, I take
he MUST relieve himself and start our
some as well. I must stop counting
day!
pizza as a food group … or Ben and
Remember, our pets count on us to
take care of them, so don’t forget to
take care of the most important person
in their life, YOU!
Lisa Hartman is head dog trainer for
Pawsitively Pets! You can reach her at
[email protected],
or visit the website at
www.pawsitivelypetsonline.com
53
P E T PA G E S
P ET P ERSONALS
Hi my name is Ricky and I am a 1 year old spayed
female Mastiff mix. How can you resist my sweet face?
I am a high energy girl and I just love to run and play. I
love other dogs but I am very dominant, my doggie
friends have to let me be the leader of the pack. I am
looking for a house with children over 12 because of my
size and energy level. Please take me home and love
me forever and ever.
Hi my name is Kate and I am a 7 year old spayed
female domestic short hair. Some say I’m old but I say
they’re wrong, I am in the prime of my life and I am
ready to have the time of my life with you by my side. I
was living on the streets and I was very lonely. While I
am so happy to be safe and cared for, I desperately
long for a family to love me. I am sweet and I love to
cuddle. I get along great with other kitties so let’s go
home and live happily ever after.
Soffer and Fine
Adoption Center
16101 West Dixie Highway
North Miami Beach, FL 33160
305-696-0800
Palmetto Bay Center
17425 SW 97th Avenue
Palmetto Bay, FL 33157
305-696-0800
These pets can be found at our brand new shelter, the Soffer and Fine Adoption Center, located at
16101 West Dixie Highway in North Miami Beach.
The center is open for adoptions Mondays and
Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 7
p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. until 5 p.m. (closed
Tuesdays). Thank you!
The adoption fee for a dog or a puppy is now
$90 (and still includes: spay/neuter, up-to-date vaccinations including rabies if dog is four months or
older, de-worming, microchip identification, MiamiDade County dog license or puppy tag, dogs six
months and older are tested for heartworm disease
and Ehrlichiosis, free puppy training or low-cost
dog obedience classes, and new parent support)
The adoption fee for a cat or a kitten is now $60
(and still includes: spay/neuter, up-to-date
vaccinations including rabies if cat is four months or
older, de-worming, microchip identification, FeLV
and FIV tests, cardboard cat carrier, and new parent
support).
Free Animal Neutering and Spaying
for Pet Owners of Miami-Dade
Pet owner and prospective pet owners should be aware the
Animal Services of Miami-Dade offer free neutering and spaying for cats and dogs. Addressing the over population problem
in the county is a priority for the department and they want to
make it increasingly easy for residents to lend their assistance.
One can schedule an appointment by calling 305-884-SPAY
(7729). Before the actual surgery, pet owners must provide
proof that their animal has received a rabies shot and a
license tag. If not, the rabies shot is $7.00 and the tag is
$25.00. If the owner is on public assistance then both can be
purchased for $2.00. The license tag is optional for cats.
54
February 2007
February 2007
55
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February 2007

February 2007 - Biscayne Times

Transcription

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