Does anyone remember the City or County asking the public to contribute to the formation of the goals of this study? If I missed those meetings then please forgive the remainder of my remarks. As I read the goals posted on the EDSA website it seems a forgone conclusion that the City and County have already determinded that all the land along the roadway on the Marine Stadium side is to be developed for commercial purposes? Am I being overly concerned? Does the public get invited to meetings after the framewarok has been establishd by some key "Stakeholders" Aren't Miami residents stakeholders? We own the property!
Steve Hagen, co chair of the Parks and Public Space Committee of Miami Neighborhoods United
Thanks to Jenna Balfe and Mauricio Abascal who have done a wonderful job of getting this site
running so the public can learn about Virgina Key and suggest what they would like to see it become. And thanks to Greg Bush for having the vision to use a web site to add to the process of public input. As Commissioner Winton once said on the dias at City Hall, before he had his problem at the airport, projects never get worse with public input.
We look forward to lots of public input and debate on the future uses of Virginia Key.
Steve Hagen, co Chair of the Parks & Public Space Committee of Miami Neighborhoods United
I understand that COmm. Spence-Jones recently said that Virginia Key needed to bring in $1 million in revenue to the city. Who said so? Where does she get off making such a pronouncement? When has the city provided the needed additional public spaces in recent years to make up for the land they have taken away - for the American Airlines Arena, museums and other non park purposes?
Submitted by dinnerkeydotcom on Mon, 2007-01-08 15:12.
While I have my issues with a Government that operates private enterprises that compete with local businesses, I'll file that under the heading of "obvious conflict of interest" and resign myself to the fact that solutions must look good on a spread sheet if our decision-makers are to accept them.
Using Dinner Key Marina as an example, be aware that profits and expenses come out of separate budgets. Gross income = gross profits when your expenses are a loss to a different budget. It may be that Virginia Key will "earn" $1 million in the same way.
Notwithstanding the problems with City accounting, let's play the same game and assume that every penny that comes in is profit. At least that doesn't make earnings such an obstacle.
So where do the $$$ come from?
There is room in the Dinner Key basin for 800 sailboat moorings. Let's shave off a few and leave room for a rowing channel around the outside edge and a small channel up the middle where the concert stage barge can slip up into the middle of the moored boats. Figure 750 moorings now that can be managed by some moron with a pair of binoculars up in the press box of the auditorium.
Assuming there's a modicum of public support for offsetting Miami's growing trend of becoming a playground for the wealthy, let's rent those moorings at a citizen-friendly $150 per month. That gives us gross mooring revenues of $112,500 per month or $1,350,000 annually. Costs for installation would probably run about $3.5 million and probably half of that could be covered by grants from Florida Inland Navigation District and other sources.
Now that we've used Miami's only protected lagoon to make it affordable for Miamians to use the Bay again, we can reexamine another of the City's broken promises. There was a charette where the people demanded a working boatyard at Dinner Key. Merrill Stevens was kicked out and the City took over the boatyard there where it quickly became a model for mismanagement. When my own boat was hauled there, someone blasted through the boatyard in a hovercraft (yes, of all things) and raised a huge dust cloud right after I had painted the hull. We now have a vegetable market and dry storage for power boats that competes with Grove Key Marina (well, the boats are in a yard so it's a boat yard, right?).
Virginia Key is perfectly placed between Biscayne Bay and access to deep Ocean water. With proper haul-out facilities, a sail shop, a diesel shop, a canvas shop, a marine supply store, a fuel dock etc., we can generate quite a bit more revenue in rent from vendors who want to move in there, and moreover, there will be billions in spillover revenue that goes directly into the community. All these people buy food, go to movies, eat at restaurants. . .Remember that Ft. Lauderdale has a $9 billion annual marine industry and no place to go sailing! We've driven our marine business off the Miami River and boaters who anchor at Dinner Key are refused access to a toilet. We sit beside one of the World's top 7 sailing areas and yet, the marine industry is dead here and we have a global reputation as a boater-unfriendly city.
I have no problem with the City generating some revenue and even making a profit, but that must happen in the service of bringing money to the people of Miami.
Once upon a time, there were concerts at the Marine Stadium. There are some nice outdoor amphitheaters in Broward but not much here in Miami apart from the one downtown. Imagine a refurbished stadium with the floating stage in the middle of the sailboat moorings. Boat-owners would have the advantage of special seating out on their boats. The stage could include a screen for projecting video of the performers (as is commonly done at larger concerts) so that everyone could see. I was just in Maui, Hawaii on vacation and was surprised to see that they get more and better concerts in the middle of the Pacific than we do here. Maybe if we had some good facilities that weren't sponsored by some huge corporation?
The other winning side of this plan is that it has a small footprint relative to the rest of Virginia Key. It uses the area adjacent to the Causeway and the largely-unused water area to facilitate revenue generation and then leaves the rest of the island for nature trails, parks and whatever other worthwhile facilitaties the public might enjoy - ideally at no cost of admission.
From a boat-facilities perspective, it's a much saner plan than the City's current one that involves 225 moorings at Dinner Key (in an unprotected area where the ownership of the bottonlamd is disputed and which commonly has a 4-foot chop).
I have been frustrated for some time that the Dinner Key and Virginia Key Master Plans have been separate processes (how can you have a "master" plan for a piece of something?), and I think both locations have an important role to play in making Miami a World-Class sailing destination.
Revenue from big Ocean races is measured in billions, not millions and if you add the deep-water Port of Miami to Coconut Grove and Virginia Key, the water resources here can generate plenty of money and plenty of public stomping space for anyone's needs.
My suggestion is that we take the "public" part of this process very seriously. I was there when the City promised that this would be "our process." The commercial aspects of what I've just described should inspire any of our City-planners to drool on their spreadsheets. They're also a win for the people if the vendors aren't hand-picked by the City. When it comes to public approval, we have a chance to stand together and use the revenue-generating potential of this model to bargain for park-space, prohibitions on high-rise development and all the things that we'll otherwise get told are unaffordable.
There are great opportunities for students and others to create short documentaries on aspects of Virginia Key - as well as other public spaces in Miami and beyond. What will happen to the Marine Stadium site? It should be used for a publicpurpose rather than simply sold off for hotels. Yet the public needs to see this opportunity early in the game and create an understanding that it is our land - and plan to enhance it for public use. There could be gardens there, nature walks, or a combination of restaurant, water sports, and facilities for young adults.
Find documents about the history of the Key and we will place them on this website.
Thanks to Jenna Balfe and Mauricio Abascal for their tireless work on this site and other aspects of public space planning. It takes people dedicated to making our public places work -that will save them for abuse and from being sold off.
Lets address the longtime neglect ofour public spaces with new visions and dedication.
Public Meeting
PDietrich
I'm new to this site, though I've lived here for seven years. What happened at the 29 March meeting at RSMAS?
Thank you.
EDSA Website, I am confused about the goals
Does anyone remember the City or County asking the public to contribute to the formation of the goals of this study? If I missed those meetings then please forgive the remainder of my remarks. As I read the goals posted on the EDSA website it seems a forgone conclusion that the City and County have already determinded that all the land along the roadway on the Marine Stadium side is to be developed for commercial purposes? Am I being overly concerned? Does the public get invited to meetings after the framewarok has been establishd by some key "Stakeholders" Aren't Miami residents stakeholders? We own the property!
Steve Hagen, co chair of the Parks and Public Space Committee of Miami Neighborhoods United
Web site is great for public input
Thanks to Jenna Balfe and Mauricio Abascal who have done a wonderful job of getting this site
running so the public can learn about Virgina Key and suggest what they would like to see it become. And thanks to Greg Bush for having the vision to use a web site to add to the process of public input. As Commissioner Winton once said on the dias at City Hall, before he had his problem at the airport, projects never get worse with public input.
We look forward to lots of public input and debate on the future uses of Virginia Key.
Steve Hagen, co Chair of the Parks & Public Space Committee of Miami Neighborhoods United
Make the City Earn $1 million from Va Key???
I understand that COmm. Spence-Jones recently said that Virginia Key needed to bring in $1 million in revenue to the city. Who said so? Where does she get off making such a pronouncement? When has the city provided the needed additional public spaces in recent years to make up for the land they have taken away - for the American Airlines Arena, museums and other non park purposes?
G W Bush
Well, it's OUR revenue. . .
While I have my issues with a Government that operates private enterprises that compete with local businesses, I'll file that under the heading of "obvious conflict of interest" and resign myself to the fact that solutions must look good on a spread sheet if our decision-makers are to accept them.
Using Dinner Key Marina as an example, be aware that profits and expenses come out of separate budgets. Gross income = gross profits when your expenses are a loss to a different budget. It may be that Virginia Key will "earn" $1 million in the same way.
Notwithstanding the problems with City accounting, let's play the same game and assume that every penny that comes in is profit. At least that doesn't make earnings such an obstacle.
So where do the $$$ come from?
There is room in the Dinner Key basin for 800 sailboat moorings. Let's shave off a few and leave room for a rowing channel around the outside edge and a small channel up the middle where the concert stage barge can slip up into the middle of the moored boats. Figure 750 moorings now that can be managed by some moron with a pair of binoculars up in the press box of the auditorium.
Assuming there's a modicum of public support for offsetting Miami's growing trend of becoming a playground for the wealthy, let's rent those moorings at a citizen-friendly $150 per month. That gives us gross mooring revenues of $112,500 per month or $1,350,000 annually. Costs for installation would probably run about $3.5 million and probably half of that could be covered by grants from Florida Inland Navigation District and other sources.
Now that we've used Miami's only protected lagoon to make it affordable for Miamians to use the Bay again, we can reexamine another of the City's broken promises. There was a charette where the people demanded a working boatyard at Dinner Key. Merrill Stevens was kicked out and the City took over the boatyard there where it quickly became a model for mismanagement. When my own boat was hauled there, someone blasted through the boatyard in a hovercraft (yes, of all things) and raised a huge dust cloud right after I had painted the hull. We now have a vegetable market and dry storage for power boats that competes with Grove Key Marina (well, the boats are in a yard so it's a boat yard, right?).
Virginia Key is perfectly placed between Biscayne Bay and access to deep Ocean water. With proper haul-out facilities, a sail shop, a diesel shop, a canvas shop, a marine supply store, a fuel dock etc., we can generate quite a bit more revenue in rent from vendors who want to move in there, and moreover, there will be billions in spillover revenue that goes directly into the community. All these people buy food, go to movies, eat at restaurants. . .Remember that Ft. Lauderdale has a $9 billion annual marine industry and no place to go sailing! We've driven our marine business off the Miami River and boaters who anchor at Dinner Key are refused access to a toilet. We sit beside one of the World's top 7 sailing areas and yet, the marine industry is dead here and we have a global reputation as a boater-unfriendly city.
I have no problem with the City generating some revenue and even making a profit, but that must happen in the service of bringing money to the people of Miami.
Once upon a time, there were concerts at the Marine Stadium. There are some nice outdoor amphitheaters in Broward but not much here in Miami apart from the one downtown. Imagine a refurbished stadium with the floating stage in the middle of the sailboat moorings. Boat-owners would have the advantage of special seating out on their boats. The stage could include a screen for projecting video of the performers (as is commonly done at larger concerts) so that everyone could see. I was just in Maui, Hawaii on vacation and was surprised to see that they get more and better concerts in the middle of the Pacific than we do here. Maybe if we had some good facilities that weren't sponsored by some huge corporation?
The other winning side of this plan is that it has a small footprint relative to the rest of Virginia Key. It uses the area adjacent to the Causeway and the largely-unused water area to facilitate revenue generation and then leaves the rest of the island for nature trails, parks and whatever other worthwhile facilitaties the public might enjoy - ideally at no cost of admission.
From a boat-facilities perspective, it's a much saner plan than the City's current one that involves 225 moorings at Dinner Key (in an unprotected area where the ownership of the bottonlamd is disputed and which commonly has a 4-foot chop).
I have been frustrated for some time that the Dinner Key and Virginia Key Master Plans have been separate processes (how can you have a "master" plan for a piece of something?), and I think both locations have an important role to play in making Miami a World-Class sailing destination.
Revenue from big Ocean races is measured in billions, not millions and if you add the deep-water Port of Miami to Coconut Grove and Virginia Key, the water resources here can generate plenty of money and plenty of public stomping space for anyone's needs.
My suggestion is that we take the "public" part of this process very seriously. I was there when the City promised that this would be "our process." The commercial aspects of what I've just described should inspire any of our City-planners to drool on their spreadsheets. They're also a win for the people if the vendors aren't hand-picked by the City. When it comes to public approval, we have a chance to stand together and use the revenue-generating potential of this model to bargain for park-space, prohibitions on high-rise development and all the things that we'll otherwise get told are unaffordable.
Dave Bricker
www.dinnerkey.com
Making Virginia Key a place of Pride
There are great opportunities for students and others to create short documentaries on aspects of Virginia Key - as well as other public spaces in Miami and beyond. What will happen to the Marine Stadium site? It should be used for a publicpurpose rather than simply sold off for hotels. Yet the public needs to see this opportunity early in the game and create an understanding that it is our land - and plan to enhance it for public use. There could be gardens there, nature walks, or a combination of restaurant, water sports, and facilities for young adults.
Find documents about the history of the Key and we will place them on this website.
Thanks to Jenna Balfe and Mauricio Abascal for their tireless work on this site and other aspects of public space planning. It takes people dedicated to making our public places work -that will save them for abuse and from being sold off.
Lets address the longtime neglect ofour public spaces with new visions and dedication.
G W Bush
Hello
So true!!!