Beware of Dragons On Virginia Key This Weekend

The Miami Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival takes place this weekend  in the Miami Marine Stadium basin.  Colorful 40-foot-long boats carrying 20 paddlers each will race down a 250-meter and 500-meter waterway as part of the team sport that has its roots in Ancient China. 

The public is invited at no charge to watch the races 10 a.m.,  to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 13 next to the Miami Marine Stadium, 3601 Rickenbacker Causeway, on Virginia Key. Look for the fluttering flags posted on the chain-linked fence surrounding the closed stadium. 

Eco-challenge: Save money on parking fees and bike or walk over the Rickenbacker Causeway. The money you save can be used at Jimbo's!

Dragon boat racing, is one of the fastest growing water sports in the U.S., attracting millions of participants worldwide, according to enthusiasts who also herald its uncanny ability for team-building.

 @2010 All Rights Reserved by Blanca Mesa


Also on Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Love, concrete and a stadium

It was a love of concrete that led to the Miami Marine Stadium. 

In a recent article in Modern magazine titled “Brute Force,” the Miami Marine Stadium’s architect Hilario Candela recalls the hold-your-breath moments during the stadium’s construction. 

It was like “making a dessert mold,” Candela recalls of the creation of the cantilevered roof we marvel at today.  

In the  article, Miami Beach-based writer Rebecca Kleinman,  documents Candela’s early love of concrete:

...Candela is drawn to concrete’s honesty and rawness. In the mature years of his career he could properly be classified as a member o the brutalist school but with a twist. He always incorporated Caribbean design staples for controlling sunlight and capturing breezes, such as covered walkways, bruise soleils, and plazas.

The American Institute of Architects has posted a remarkable slide show, "Study and Sculpture," of the Miami Marine Stadium  where you can see the construction progress from scaffolds to opening day. 

@2010 All Rights Reserved by Blanca Mesa

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Also on Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key 

Public Park Should Open First at Marine Stadium site

The recently approved Virginia Key Master Plan envisions a restored and reopened Miami Marine Stadium but how long will it take to bring back the historic structure into operation and the public back to the waterfront?

Shuttered in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew’s winds whipped through the Miami Marine Stadium, the venerable stadium has sat unused, neglected and vandalized behind a sagging chain-linked fence ever since.

But that wasn’t the first time it closed.

In 1967 - a scant four years after its opening -- a Miami Herald photo showed the stadium behind a chain-linked fence with a “No Trespassing” sign. Apparently the place wasn’t making enough money from boat races alone to keep it open.

Under the headline, “An Insolent Sign,” the Herald lamented the public being shut out of valuable waterfront land:

The public has come to forgive the feasibility reports and the enthusiasm that generated the spending of $2 million for a stadium that was supposed to be filled each weekend with 6,566 screaming admirers of roaring motorboats...But it is impossible to forgive the hand-wringing at City Hall over past mistakes and the failure to allow the public to use this stretch of bayfront. .. Everywhere else along Rickenbacker Causeawy, the people of Miami crowd fender to fender and blanket to blanket to enjoy the waterfront. But not within the shadows of the moldering white elephant that is the Marine Stadium. There is nothing the public can do about the Marine Stadium being a profitless place, but there should be an effective demand to end the insult of that fence and locked gates.

A preliminary engineering study of the Miami Marine Stadium released earlier this year by Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium showed the concrete restoration costs to be between $5.5 - $8.5 million, exclusive of renovation costs for new seats, bathrooms, etc... Still unknown is the condition and costs of renovating the underwater concrete pilings that prop up the nearly 50-year-old structure.

Despite good intentions and a solid commitment from City Hall, it could take some time to finish the engineering studies, raise funds and complete the renovations.

In the meantime, the public is, once again, being shut out of its beautiful waterfront land.

Why not bring down some of those ugly chain-linked fences, plant some sod, install park benches and call the whole place a park?

The need for waterfront parks is just as great - if not greater - today as it was in 1967. Bring it on.


Resources: http://www.marinestadium.org/

Q & A on Virginia Key: What it is, why it matters and what you can do about it.

Why do locals care so much about the future of Virginia Key? Why is this place significant?

Virginia Key is a 1,000 acre barrier island that at its heart is a wilderness, just steps from downtown Miami. People care about it because it is the last great green space in an urban area that is short on public spaces and urban wilderness, and spectacular waterfront parks, in particular.

Have local organizations and residents been working together to help plan the future of this area? What has happened so far?

Most recently the City of Miami Commission approved a new masterplan for Virginia Key in July 2010 that is much “greener” and less commercial than previous versions proposed. It also envisions the restoration of the historically designated Miami Marine Stadium.

Local organizations and residents have been working to help shape the future of Virginia Key for several generations but efforts heated up again about five years ago with the City of Miami began a master plan process, hiring a consultant to develop a new master plan.

Which organizations have been involved?

Miami Neighborhoods United (MNU), Sierra Club  Miami Group, Tropical Audubon Society, Urban Paradise Guild, Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Trust, Urban Environment League, Surfriders, ECOMB (Miami Beach),, Miami Rowing Club, Izaak Walton League, Dade Heritage Trust, Friends of Virginia Key, Windsurfers of Virginia Key, Citizens for a Better South Florida and many more groups and individuals. 


If someone wants to get involved now, what can they do?

They can contact any of the groups above or work on their own by contacting city and county officials, the mayor of Miami Tomas Regalado. Or they can start their own group, Facebook page, write letters to the editor of local newspapers, start a petition, design a poster, create a flyer, post photos, whatever they are inspired to do to raise awareness. Anyone can make a difference. 

How can they start the process?

Visiting the island is the first thing anyone should do. Often people just drive by the island entrances off the Rickenbacker and assume there’s not much beyond the Marine Stadium area. In fact, there are natural sandy beaches, tropical hammocks, estuaries and marshes, underwater archaeological sites, hiking and biking trails, mangrove islands and the surrounding waters of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve teeming with life. 

Beyond that there are websites, Facebook sites and blogs and the City of Miami planning site. 

Which Websites/blogs have more information?

Friends of Virginia Key, Historic Virginia Key Beach, Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium on Facebook.

www.viewfromvirginiakey.com is a blog with articles on history, events and opinion pieces

www.virginiakeymasterplan.com is the website developed by the City of Miami’s planning consultant, EDSA. There you can see various versions of the plan developed over more than five years at different public meetings.

http://ci.miami.fl.us/planning/pages/master_plans/VKey.asp is the City of Miami’s Planning Department website.

Each of the groups that have been working on the issue have their own websites, Facebook sites with more information.

What else should you know?
There is a movement to have Virginia Key become a part of the National Park system, as an extension of Biscayne National Park, whose waterway boundaries are just outside the island where they meet with Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve.

Or, perhaps include Virginia Key and Key Biscayne corridor as part of a National Recreation Area.  Biscayne National Park has been seeking a site to build a northern visitor center on Virginia Key for many years and has identified several sites on Virginia Key, including Miami Dade County land leased to the Miami Seaquarium. Another site suggested is the  area around the Miami Marine Stadium. Tour boats could dock in the adjacent marina.  

Wish List for Virginia Key that Keeps the Public In Mind

The City of Miami Planning Department has announced the Virginia Key Master Plan will be going back to City Advisory Boards and the City Commission in July.

The new proposed Virginia Key Master Plan is still a mystery. But the public’s wishes for the island are not.

These were culled over a five year period of public meetings - some decidedly heated -- where many expressed their disappointment, frustration and anger at what they perceived to be incompatible commercial and recreational development proposals.

The area of biggest contention continues to be the Marine Stadium Basin, which city officials and planners have targeted for commercial redevelopment.

But many members of the public who participated in the public planning process envisioned a different future. Here’s one wish list of proposals that restores the area to public uses:

-Restore the Miami Marine Stadium.

-Surround the Miami Marine Stadium with a waterfront park with picnic shelters, play areas and public gardens.

-Build a Virginia Key Welcome Center. This would be the first stop for all cultural, recreational public uses, where visitors pick up maps, sign up for boat tours, learn about the island’s history. The center could include space for permanent and temporary exhibits. It could also include a gift shop and waterfront cafe as a recurring source of revenue.

-Build a public promenade the length of the stadium basin from the Rowing Club to Rusty Pelican restaurant.

-Bring back the public boat launch (it’s there but use is blocked by signs stating the area is closed to public use).

-Build a Boat House where the general public can rent kayaks and canoes to tool around the basin, just like members of the Miami Rowing Club do.

-Provide for bike rentals and bike paths that roll the length of the island, through the North Point peninsula.

-Dock Tour boats and water taxis. The existing marina could dock tour boats for nature tours of Biscayne Bay, extending to Biscayne National Park, including Stiltsville. Water taxis docking in the area could connect to other waterfront destinations, including Coconut Grove, Bayside, Brickell and County and City parks.

What’s on your wish list?

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Tropical Architecture of Virginia Key Lauded in Miami Architecture, AIA Guide

Virginia Key’s iconic structures, including the Ralph Middleton Munroe Miami Marine Stadium (its official name) are featured in the new AIA Guide, Miami Architecture (University of Florida Press, $29.95).

The guide imagines the area as a tropical playground - with the Marine Stadium as the centerpiece of a “necklace of public amenities” in the Biscayne Bay corridor.

The playground begins with the Rickenbacker Causeway itself -- in reality a linear park -- which was designed to include areas for fishing, bathing and boat launching along the way. Today, the scenic road is also a major attraction for bicyclists and pedestrians who enjoy the scenic views.

The Rickenbacker was designed by landscape architect WIlliam Lyman Phillips, the preeminent architect of the 1930s and 40s. Phillips’ commissions included some of our most beautiful parks and gardens, including Crandon and Virginia Key Beach Parks, Matheson Hammock, and Fairchild Tropical Garden.

Miami Seaquarium’s 1950s vintage look may strike some as quaint today, but when it was completed it was considered “a technological feat of marine architecture and showmanship,” according to the guidebook. The 55-acre site design is based on World’s Fair models before World War II, which is reinforced by the later addition of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic Golden Dome.

Other guidebook entries include the University of Miami Rosensteil School and NOAA Building, National Marine Fisheries Service Center.

Miami Architecture was co-written by Miami architect Allan T. Shulman, landscpae architect and planner Randall C. Robinson, Jr. , co-author of MiMo: Miami Modern Revealed and James F. Donnelly, former chair of the City of Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board.

The precursor to the guide was the Miami Architecture Project, a community-based group that organized local forums on architecture and community revitalization.

There will be book signing and discussion beginning at 7:30 p.m., Thurs., June 10, 2010 at the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum, 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120804544604561&ref=mf

Resources:

University of Florida Press http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=DONNES08

Miami 21 "zoning" of Virginia Key allows urban uses

Miami 21 isn’t just about dictating development in the urban grid. Virginia Key, the urban island with the heart of a wilderness, has also been zoned.

Some areas are designated preservation zones (T-1), others have civic zone designations (CI) which may be developed with urban public uses or commercial uses, with urban infrastructure, including parking garages and roadways. Other areas are zoned "urban core," some of the highest urban center designations (T6-8).

A Miami Dade County planning report states that Virginia Key’s “valuable and protected” areas – mangroves, wetlands, dunes, and hammocks and cultural resources, including the historically-designated Miami Marine Stadium – could be threatened if future land uses permitted under Miami 21, the City of Miami’s new land use and zoning code that will take effect May 20, don’t take into account the long-term management requirements of these areas.


County planners analyzed Miami 21’s impact on Virginia Key as part of the biological evaluation prepared by the Dade Environmental Resources Management department for the purpose of identifying areas that could be acquired by the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program. The report stated:

Regardless of whether some Virginia Key properties are ultimately acquired by the EEL program, it is important that any future land uses on Virginia Key be carefully planned and permitted such that they do not impact the sensitive and valuable habitats there. The management of restored and protected land on Virginia Key should be not inhibited by adjacent future land uses. The historic places and structures on the key should be maintained and fully incorporated into all future land use plans.

.
Miami 21 took effect May 20, 2010 although City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado has called it a “work in progress” and will give residents, including Miami Neighborhoods United (MNU), commissioners and others, the opportunity to express concerns and possibly amend the code in the future. A special City Commission session on Miami 21 will be held at 9 a.m., Wednesday, June 2, 2010.

Resources: www.miami21.org

Deed Restrictions: Marine Stadium and Basin lands

What has kept Virginia Key’s vast open spaces and waterfront lands from being turned into hotel rows or Bayside Marketplaces?

The answer may lie in the deed restrictions set when the lands were conveyed to the City of Miami from the State of Florida or Miami-Dade County. Consider it a kind of people’s bill of public property rights.

Three key parcels - the Marine Stadium and surrounding basin, the historic Virginia Key Beach Park (“Old County Park”) and the secluded North Point -- come with restrictions that limit uses.

Let's take a look at the Marine Stadium Basin first.

A deed dated March 12, 1963 between “Dade County”  and the “City of Miami” states:

This deed of conveyance is made upon the express condition that the land hereby conveyed shall be perpetually used and maintained for the operation of a Marine Stadium and allied purposes only, and in the event the use of said land for such purposes shall be abandoned, then in such event the title to said land shall revert to the grantor herein.”

The “grantor” in this case is Miami-Dade County, which theoretically could demand all the land back. Afterall, it could be argued the City of Miami “abandoned” the operation of the Marine Stadium when it shuttered it after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

But with the Miami-Dade County Commission voting April 6 to provide $3 million in seed money towards restoration of the stadium, maybe all the intervening years of neglect will be forgiven and forgotten when the stadium hosts its first comeback concert.

As to the surrounding land, what constitutes “allied purposes” is apparently still up for discussion, as the City of Miami’s previously proposed master plan called for shopping areas, expanded marina and boat storage operations and new restaurants.

Some city officials are hoping that as long as it has the name "marine" appended to it, it fits the bill, as in a "marine-themed" shopping center. Who knows, maybe there's even a "marine-themed" dog park proposal out there.

2010 Copyright. @All Rights Reserved
On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key
 

Virginia Key's Wheel of (Mis)fortune

Spin the wheel and land on yet another development proposal for Virginia Key.

Airport. Freight port. Blimp base. World’s Fair. Hotel. Sports stadium. Trade-mart. And shopping centers - marine-themed or otherwise. Lots of marine industrial stuff, from mega boat-storage stacks to marinas.

A lot of things didn’t happen over the years because of public outcry. Some things happened in spite of it.

Here’s the story so far: two public beach parks, marinas, restaurants, a sewage station, a garbage dump, a historic Marine Stadium and a whole lot of wilderness. In fact, 700 of the roughly 1000-acre island is comprised of the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area, which contains the island’s largest amount of unaltered, submerged land and unaltered mangrove forest. It is also the cradle of wildlife seen in the area by air or sea- from rare hawks to manatees.

What’s next for Virginia Key?

On Saturday, March 27, the Urban Environment League will host a Public Design Workshop on Virginia Key from 8:30 am. to 11:30 a.m. at the Rusty Pelican restaurant, 3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, Virginia Key. Hopefully the public will get a say on the island’s future.

Up for grabs: the historic Miami Marine Stadium and surrounding public lands and commercial areas, the lagoon, the City of Miami landfill site, Northpoint, Jimbo's,  and all natural areas, including the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area and the Tropical Hammock and restored dunes.  

University of Miami architecture students, who have been working for months under the guidance of UM Professor and Friends of Marine Stadium Co-Founder Jorge Hernandez, and Hilario Candela, architect of the Stadium, and the watchful eyes of City of Miami planning department officials, will present their plans, too.

The public will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the proposals presented and offer up their own ideas. There will also be information on a recently released biological evaluation of the island and a proposal for a Biscayne National Park Visitor’s Center on Virginia Key. 

Those who can’t attend the UEL Virginia Key Design Workshop and still want to offer feedback can send comments to the Urban Environment League at www.urbanenvironmentleague.blogspot.com or uel@bellsouth.net.

And the big wheel keeps on spinning...

Voices of the Community: A Biscayne National Park Visitor Center on Virginia Key

Michael Chenoweth, a former member of the City of Miami’s Waterfront Advisory Board and currently a national director of the Izaak Walton League, one of the nation's oldest and and most respected conservation organizations, recently wrote to the National Parks Director Jon Jarvis about the need for a Biscayne National Park Visitor Center on Virginia Key. Following are excerpts for a letter hand-delivered to the director during the National Park Service's visit to Miami:

The Greater Miami area is wonderfully fortunate to have two national parks, Everglades and Biscayne, hugging it on the west and east, and Big Cypress Preserve just an hour to the west. But public access to those parks is inadequate, both because of their size AND because of the unique and remote character of their resources.

The Biscayne National Park Visitor Center is a 40-mile drive from downtown Miami. Access into the park is severely constrained by the huge size of the park and the absence of affordable rental boats. This is despite the fact that people living in Miami can almost throw a rock into Biscayne National Park from Miami at the edge of the Bay. Park rangers have a real challenge patrolling the park, with the Visitor Center being located at the far south end, many miles from the north end of the park, where most current park users enter in their private boats from the urban area.

The bottom line: Virginia Key is the sensible location for a northern Visitor Center for Biscayne National Park. And the boundaries of Biscayne National Park should be expanded to incorporate the presently undeveloped parts of Virginia Key, including the Marine Stadium.

In addition to the opportunity to make a dramatic difference in the accessibility, addition of this area would incorporate the Historic Virginia Key Beach and Civil Rights Park on the Bear Cut side of the island, and provide an opportunity to revitalize the historic and architecturally significant Miami Marine Stadium as a venue for events, such as concerts, similar to events at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia.

In addition, significant natural resources of Virginia Key are important for the health of Biscayne National Park. The water quality of nearshore waters surrounding Virginia Key are dependent on the continued natural state of the upland of Virginia Key. ...Those resources face significant risks of damage if (development) interests prevail over the need to protect nearshore water quality.

It takes only a little imagination to recognize that a Visitor Center here could serve not only Biscayne National Park, but also serve as an educational facility, working in conjunction with other important educational organizations in the vicinity (The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center, located on Key Biscayne, one island away; The Dade County Science Museum, located at the foot of Rickenbacker Causeway; The MAST High School; RSMAS; and others), and provide a single, accessible opportunity for visitors to Miami to get on a tour bus at the new Biscayne NP Visitor Center on Virginia Key to visit Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, or the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and local wildlife refuges.

It is time for all of the federal agencies with interests in our natural resources to be working together to improve the effectiveness of their management as well as the ability of visitors to learn about and visit their special protected areas.

Photo: Biscayne National Park boardwalk at Visitor's Center shows Xavier Cortada flags art installation, "Endangered World: Biscayne National Park."

Resources:
Biscayne National Park, http://www.nps.gov/bisc/index.htm
Izaak Walton League, http://www.iwla.org/

2010 Copywright. @All Rights Reserved.

On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

UM Architecture Students "Re-Imagine" Virginia Key

Taking their inspiration from great waterfront sites throughout the world, students in the Design Studio class at the University of Miami School of Architecture are re-imagining the previously proposed Virginia Key Master Plan.

Out are the massive parking garages - replaced by “green parking rooms." In are piazzas, reflecting pools, sculpture gardens and even a small amphitheater, along with picnic areas and a waterfront promenade that runs the length of the Marine Stadium basin. And a restored Miami Marine Stadium.

So as not to appear impractical or too idealistic, the student designs intersperse these public amenities among revenue-producing commercial and marine industry buildings, including a 150,000-square-foot Marine Center of the Americas exhibition hall, dry dock storage facilities, a new marina and room for retail and restaurants.

“We want the students to maintain credibility,” said Jorge Hernandez, a UM professor of architecture who is leading the semester design studio.

City of Miami planners have become a fixture at the design studio, too - perhaps in case things get too fanciful. Or too public. (There was talk of an “Aquatic Urban Theater.” And one presentation showed a “mesh-covered” dry dock storage facility - quite beautiful in its green and blue translucence).

But that may change.

A few weeks ago members of civic and environmental groups spoke to the students about Virginia Key’s fragile environment and deed restrictions on the land intended to protect public uses. As a result, Hernandez said the students would consider developing yet another alternate plan - one that would be more in line with a state or national park vision - a Visitor’s Center, public boat house for canoe and kayak rentals, open space and public gardens in the marine stadium basin..

The final student designs will be displayed at a public charrette co-sponsored by the University of Miami and the Urban Environment League to be held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., March 27 at the Rusty Pelican restaurant on Virginia Key. The charrette is part of Dade Heritage Days. Details on the charrette at www.dadeheritagetrust.org or call (305) 358-9572.


Resources:
http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/a_lifeline_for_miami_marine_stadium/

Dade Heritage Days events on Virginia Key

Virginia Key plays front and center during “Dade Heritage Days,” the annual trek through historic neighborhoods and landscapes. The two-month festival is sponsored by the Dade Heritage Trust, the nonprofit established in 1972 to “preserve the best of the past for the future.”

Here’s the March line-up:

Tropical Hardwood Hammock Trail Walk: Take a walk on the Wild Side of Virginia Key in a naturalist-led tour of the Virginia Key Coastal Hammock Trail. 10 a.m. to 12 p.m, Sun., March 21. FREE. Learn about the endangered and threatened native plants and animals that call this 1,000 acre barrier island home by visiting this 13-acre coastal hammock that is considered the best example of this forest type in Miami-Dade County. Bring your own picnic lunch and stay for an optional afternoon planting or exploration of another part of the island.  Get a head start on the tour by downloading the trailbook, http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/guidebook.pdf .  Sponsored by Urban Paradise Guild, Friends of Virginia Key and Virginia Key Coalition groups. Contact: sam@urban-paradise.org; http://www.urban-paradise.org/WalkWild2010.

Walking Tours of the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park: Established in 1945 as the only public beach for the “exclusive use of Negroes” in Miami-Dade County, historic Virginia Key Beach Park was closed by the City of Miami in 1982 but reopened in 2008 thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens who successfully fought off plans for a resort development in the 82-acre public park. The park is now on the National Register of Historic Places and there are plans underway for a civil rights museum to commemorate the struggle of those who fought segregation. Free tours by appointment. Contact Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, at (305) 960-4600. www.VirginiaKeybeachpark.net

Miami Marine Stadium presentation: Built in 1964, the Miami Marine Stadium is an icon of 20th century Modern architecture, site of concerts, church services, community meetings. The stadium was closed by the City of Miami in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew and has been severely vandalized. Since 2008, Friends of Marine Stadium (website: www.marinestadium.org), has secured inclusion in the City of Miami’s proposals for a new master plan of Virginia Key.  The stadium has also received national recognition by the National Trust and the World Monuments Fund. Learn about efforts to restore and reopen the stadium to community uses and secure National Historic status for the stadium and surrounding land and lagoon. Presentation by Friends of Marine Stadium co-founder Don Worth scheduled for Wed. March 10, 6 to 8 p.m. Design Within Reach, 927 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Reception follows. FREE. RSVP to 305- 531-6470.


Miami Marine Stadium/Virginia Key Public Planning Charrette: The public can help shape the future of Virginia Key and the historic Miami Marine Stadium at a charrette sponsored by the University of Miami and the Urban Environment League (www.uel.org)  Students from UM’s School of Architecture, under the guidance of architects Jorge Hernandez and Hilario Candela, will present their designs followed by public input. Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Rusty Pelican Restaurant, 3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne. FREE.  For more info, call DHT, 305-358-9572.

For complete schedule of all Dade Heritage Trust events, go to www.dadeheritagetrust.org

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Virginia Key: the heart of Biscayne Bay


In 1877, Commodore Ralph Munroe, for whom the Miami Marine Stadium is named, sailed for the first time from Key West to Miami. His route: Biscayne Bay. The Bay was the community’s highway, north and south and from the Atlantic to the mainland.

Though our highways are now steel and concrete, Biscayne Bay remains an important corridor -- a critical link to our environmental heritage.

And Virginia Key is at the heart of that corridor, connecting North and South Biscayne Bay.

“The pivotal location of Virginia Key offers the opportunity to interpret and manifest the diverse natural and cultural heritage of Biscayne Bay through a network of aqualinks - an Aqua Necklace ....to connect the waterfront resources of Biscayne Bay.”

This was the recommendation of the Virginia Key Park Civil Rights Task Force to the City of Miami Commission in 2000.

The task force went on to enumerate the many ecological, historic and recreational sites along the Bay that would be linked - starting with Oleta State Recreation Area in the North to Biscayne National Park Convoy Point Visitor’s Center in the south. In between would be historic sites - the Miami Circle, The Barnacle, the Charles Deering Estate and trailheads and wildlife observation areas, including preserves and refuges.

“A string of pearls” they called this “aqualink” and Virginia Key would be the Aqua Pearl in the center.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Seed Money for Miami Marine Stadium Restoration

This week at a community dinner meeting at the Rusty Pelican restaurant on Virginia Key, City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said there would be “good news” regarding the Miami Marine Stadium.

“There will be an announcement soon that we will have access to $3 million to be used as seed money to start restoration,” Regaldo told the audience of about 75 people. The meeting was sponsored by the Urban Environment League (www.uel.org).

Regalado’s announcement was part of a free-wheeling oral history interview conducted by the UEL’s Gregory Bush, a University of Miami history professor and longtime public parks advocate.

The interview traced Regalado’s roots to Havana and arrival as a teenager in Miami during the Pedro Pan children’s airlift in the early 1960’s. Regalado also recounted his time as a journalist covering the Haitian and Cuban migrations. The interview was recorded and will be posted to the UEL website, the group announced.

During the interview Regalado floated the idea of having a “public trust” manage the stadium and hiring promotional companies to book events and concerts, much like the Bayfront Trust manages events at Bayfront Park.

“No condos or shopping centers,” Regalado said regarding uses outside the stadium, where empty parking lots now sit. “Well, maybe a cafeteria,” he added.

Illustration: courtesy University of Miami, College of Architecture Design Studio. Rendering of a restored Miami Marine Stadium.

The Commodore's Story: afloat on the "liquid light" of Biscayne Bay

The Miami Marine Stadium was named after Commodore Ralph Middleton Munroe, a yacht designer and early Coconut Grove resident who some consider Miami’s earliest "environmentalist." He loved Biscayne Bay, fought fiercely for it, and spent his years in South Florida sailing and photographing it. His Coconut Grove home, the oldest house in Miami-Dade still in its original location, is part of the Barnacle Historic State Park.

Munroe described the beauty of Biscayne Bay in the era before developer Henry Flagler came to town, in his autobiography, The Commodore’s Story: The Early Days on Biscayne Bay:

No sea-lover could look unmoved on the blue rollers of the Gulf Stream and the crystal-clear waters of the Reef, of every delicate shade of blue and green, and tinged with every color of the spectrum from the fantastically rich growths on the bottom, visible to the last details through this incredibly translucent medum. It scarcely resembles northern seawater at all - a cool, semi-opaque, grayish-green fluid, which hides the mysteries of the bottom. Drifting over the Florida Reef on a quiet day one may note all the details of its tropical luxuriance twenty feet below, and feels himself afloat on a sort of liquid light, rather than water, so limpid and brilliant is it.

Photos 1-2
Kayaking in Biscayne Bay in the waters off Virginia Key (credit: Coki Michel)
Ralph Middleton Munroe

For more info:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/biscayne/
http://www.floridastateparks.org/TheBarnacle/

Will public have a say in Marine Stadium Basin's future?

Does the land around the Marine Stadium belong to the public? And will it have a say in what happens there in the future?

The Friends of Miami Marine Stadium announced this week that University of Miami students in Town Planning, Finance and Land Use Planning classes will be looking at alternative plans and designs for the Marine Stadium and the land around it. That is, an alternative to the Oct. 2009 proposed master plan, which was deferred by City officials until May 2010.

A showing of the students' work will go on display in late March to be followed by a planning charrette where members of the public can provide their feedback. The exhibition is part of Dade Heritage Days. *

Will the students treat the publicly owned waterfront land as a private development? If so, the highest and best uses for valuable waterfront land might very well be a hotels, shopping centers and “signature” restaurants.

But this is not a private development. The land is owned by the community. And it was given to the City of Miami for the use of “a Marine Stadium and allied purposes only,” according the 1963 Deed.

The County Deed states that if that purpose was “abandoned,” the County retained the right to take the land back.

Perhaps someone in 1963 foresaw the day when the land where the Marine Stadium sits would be coveted by private developers or be steered away from community purposes.

As early as 1967, there was a movement to introduce pari-mutual boat racing, according to news reports.

A Miami News Editorial responded: “Keep the Gamblers Out of Marine Stadium.”

“(T)he stadium, an attractive one-of-a-kind structure, is designed for the enjoyment of the community....It seems more logical to turn the Marine stadium into a public park, with picnic tables, barbeque pits, and swimming areas to accommodate the public. Perhaps a combination park-stadium would enable the city to recover some of its finances...Open the doors, just keep the bettors out.”

And keep the hotels, shopping centers and and entertainment strips out, too.

It’s not South Beach. Or Bayside. Or Las Vegas. But does it have to be?
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*Miami Marine Stadium/Virginia Key Planning Charrette
Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Rusty Pelican Restaurant, 3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne For more info, call Dade Heritage Trust, 305-358-9572
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Photo: Marine Stadium and basin land as it appears today.

@All rights reserved.
On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Miami Marine Stadium basin: what's in its future.

In 1963, The Miami Marine Stadium opened with much fanfare and hope for the future:

“The Marine Stadium is daring in design and concept and gives high promise of becoming one of the community’s most valuable assets, both as a tourist attraction and for the entertainment of residents. (WGBS Radio, Editorial, December 26, 1963)

And that it did. Over the years, boat races, operas, rock concerts, church services, all made use of the stadium.

But it struggled financially. Often, the stadium and area around it was closed to the public. As it is today.

As early as 1965, newspaper articles noted and lamented that state of affairs.

“We rode across the Rickenbacker Causeway the other warm afternoon, and it was sad to see the doors of the new Marine stadium tightly padlocked,” stated a July 20, 1965 Miami Herald article.

The article suggests the land around the stadium should be transformed into “landscaped picnic areas.” And asks a question that lingers today: “Why shouldn’t small boats be launched - for a small fee -- into the bay at this point instead of at Crandon Marina?”

Indeed. The public boat launch in the Marine Stadium basin has been closed for years. And there is no public boat house for the renting of canoes, small sailboats or kayaks.

So what is the best use of the Stadium and the acres of land around it?

In a series of public meetings and charettes, hundreds of interested citizens weighed in: refurbish the stadium. Even make it the official visitor’s center to Virginia Key island. Bring back boat races, concerts, public events.

As for the area around it -- acres of defunct parking lots -- the consensus was to return it to public uses - boat and bike rentals, parks, a waterfront promenade. Make it accessible. And keep it free of commercial intrusions.

@All rights reserved.

On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Miami Marine Stadium: beauty amid the horror

The World Monuments Fund has just announced that a new engineering study of the Commodore Ralph Munroe Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key shows the concrete restoration of the shuttered stadium could cost between $5.5 - $8.5 million - less than the City of Miami’s earlier predictions of $15 million.

That doesn’t include renovations of seats, bathrooms, ticket booths and everything else vandals ripped up or damaged since the City of Miami closed the stadium after Hurricane Andrew.

But it’s still good news and a first step in restoring the public uses of the island.

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the President of the World Monuments Fund, Bonnie Burnham, will tour the site with City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. It will be her first look at the stadium. And it’s encouraging and truly amazing that a City of Miami official has taken an interest.

Regalado has in fact, gone as far as calling it “one of the Magic City’s crown jewels” and vowed to make restoration of the stadium one of his administration’s priorities.

Not too long ago - say during the City of Miami’s last go round on developing a “master plan” for Virginia Key - the iconic structure wasn’t even in the game plan, having been wiped off the map of Virginia Key by the master plan consultants. Thanks to a public outcry (how come the previous city administration didn’t see that coming?), the stadium later appeared in the proposed master plan.

Now the hard part begins. How to fund the restoration and how to restore the public’s use to all the land around it?

What will the dignitaries see on their tour Tuesday? The stadium sits abandoned and vandalized, locked behind a decrepit chain-linked fence in a sea of asphalt. The setting has reached a ‘World without Us’ stage - small cracks have turned to large fissures and weeds transformed to trees. Faded ‘No Trespassing’ signs give the area a creepy, horror movie feel.

And yet, there is beauty. The shoreline here is rich with new plant life and the view of the Miami skyline is sublime.

Across the blue basin lies the mysterious Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Refuge, where flocks of birds come to roost in the comforting darkness of mangrove forests and manatees spawn and are nurtured in its folds. What an amazing place. And what poor stewards we have been.

Until now. Maybe the tide has turned.
After all, the Mayor has joined the fight to save the stadium and Virginia Key.



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Why restore the Marine Stadium? The World Monuments Funds answers:
“For the citizens of Miami, the stadium represents the modernity of a growing city and the international cultural influences that helped shape it. Miami Marine Stadium defined a significant shift in American architectural style from staid civic buildings to exuberant structures reflecting changing tastes and a desire to project the city as a forward-looking place.”

More info:
http://www.wmf.org/project/miami-marine-stadium

Will the "Turn-dirt" crowd prevail on Virginia Key?

“If Miami thought it could get more on the tax roll it would construct a whorehouse in Bayfront Park.” Dan Paul.

Provocative, acerbic, combative, Dan Paul, who passed away this week at his home in Miami, started fighting for public parks and open spaces since the day he arrived in Miami in 1949. The man may be gone but his legacy remains.

In particular, his vision for a pastoral, accessible waterfront of “tree-lined trails, places to picnic, a pond for kids to sail their toy boats on, a tropical garden” is embodied in an amendment to the Miami-Dade County Charter he spearheaded: Article 7, which opens with this bold statement:

“Parks, Aquatic Preserves and lands acquired by the County for preservation shall be held in trust for the education, pleasure and recreation of the public and they shall be used and maintained in a manner which will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations as part of the public’s irreplaceable heritage.”

The “public’s irreplaceable heritage.”

If only those words would come into the minds of elected officials and other civic leaders who are charged with making decisions about development on what’s left of our community’s open spaces, including Virginia Key.

In a definitive profile of Paul in the Miami Herald (“The Human Wrecking Ball,” Oct. 13, 1996) by staff writer Linda Robertson, Paul described local leaders as having a “very bad habit of building in haste and repenting at leisure.”

Paul also addressed the local leaders habit of demolishing in haste, when he wrote on behalf of saving the historic Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key. In an Oct. 8, 1993 letter to the City of Miami Waterfront Advisory Board, Paul spoke frankly of the situation:

“....The Miami Marine Stadium as a facility has been an extremely successful building. This has been in spite of being grossly mismanaged and badly maintained by the City of Miami. Now the very people, who caused what damage there is to the Marine Stadium’s integrity (both as a building and as a revenue generator), are the ones who want to tear it down. ....It would be interesting to know if the City already has some favored business arrangement for that land....”

That land is still in question, as is the fate of the Miami Marine Stadium, as the City of Miami weighs alternatives and proposals for Virginia Key’s future.

Whose vision will prevail? Dan Paul’s, with his love of nature and egalitarian approach to our community’s waterfront lands, or those of the “turn-dirt crowd,” as he once described his foes.

A prescient quote from Elizabeth Pater-Zyberk, architect, town planner and dean of the University of Miami school of architecture, appears in the same Herald article that is as relevant today as it was in 1996, particularly when it comes to Virginia Key opens spaces and park lands:

“(T)hey are great land banks we’ll be grateful for one day. Giving it away to individual projects is an incredibly clever attempt to control very valuable land by people who don’t really need it.”

Welcome to View from Virginia Key

Virginia Key

Welcome to your island.  Virginia Key is a 1,000 acre barrier island off the coast of Miami, Florida. It is publicly owned and largely undeveloped. 

The island’s history is rich with development schemes: A Port. A blimp base. A mining operation. A resort. A sports stadium. Most dreadful proposals haven’t succeeded. Some have, including placement of the County’s Sewer Treatment Facility. Another: turning a lake in the island’s interior into an unlined waste dump, the Virginia Key Landfill site. 

What will be the island’s future? That may depend on how vocal, how organized and how caring the community is going forward. Always it has been the public's passion for protecting Virginia Key that has saved it.

In October, 2009, the City of Miami Commission voted to defer approval of a proposed Virginia Key Master Plan which had met with disapproval from various civic, preservation and environmental organizations and two city advisory boards, as well as hundreds of interested citizens. Many of those who spoke out against various versions of the proposed plan objected to what they perceived to be intense commercial and recreational development of an environmentally fragile island. There were also concerns about the City’s commitment to restoring the iconic Miami Marine Stadium. 

The City of Miami Commission is scheduled to reconsider the Virginia Key Master Plan in May 2010. In essence, the island has received a reprieve. 

In the interim, this blog will serve to celebrate, educate and illuminate all things Virginia Key: past, present and future. And, hopefully, it will also serve as a community forum to discuss proposals and generate ideas. 

Please consider following this blog and joining it as we go forward together to a better future for Virginia Key.