President Could Be Commencement Speaker for MAST Academy

A high school on Virginia Key that was once the site of the former Planet Ocean tourist attraction could soon host the President.

Imagine a presidential motorcade soaring along the scenic Rickenbacker Causeway, a notable passenger peering out to a boundless Biscayne Bay, contemplating what lurks beneath the tropical greenery of the small island before him.

That would be President Barack Obama on his way to give a commencement address at MAST Academy on Virginia Key. That is, IF the magnet high school for marine sciences on Virginia Key is chosen for the honor after an internet voting competition.

To be eligible to win the President’s presence, people need to vote in a “contest” the White House is sponsoring on its website.

Here’s the opening pitch from the students from the White House web site:

MAST's 100% graduation rate is only one measure of student success. Our school's strong core curriculum, which includes a variety of Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses, complements the unique electives that truly set MAST apart. In Solar Energy class, we learn about kilowatt-hours, then construct solar ovens and spread environmental awareness by monitoring school energy usage. Cadets in the nation's only Coast Guard JROTC program earn boating licenses on the surface, while underwater, engineering students test their remotely operated vehicles. Culinary classes prepare feasts using produce from our "edible garden," while woodshop students construct everything from dining tables to CO2-powered cars. We express creativity through steel drum band or ceramics class, while required internships provide hands-on experience in fields ranging from marine biology to architecture. As a testament to the dedication that MAST instills, the majority of our diverse student body stays beyond the bell to participate in activities like water polo, ocean conservation, multicultural dance and independent research in our greenhouse and artificial reefs.
 
MAST's 100% college acceptance rate proves the effectiveness of well-rounded, interactive learning. Here, students, teachers and parents take initiative to build a culture of success that propels us into college and beyond.

To vote, go to whitehouse.gov/commencement and rank each of the six schools in the contest from a high score of 5 to the lowest score of 1. Videos of all five schools are posted. President Obama will choose among the three highest-scoring schools.

How fitting that the Florida school in the running is housed in the former home of a defunct tourist attraction: Planet Ocean, which closed in 1991.

According to the website, www.lostparks.com, Planet Ocean featured state of the art exhibits about the ocean, including a “touchable” iceberg. A film made for the museum was nominated for an Academy Award as best short film.

Resources: http://www.lostparks.com/planetocean.html
www.whitehouse.gov/commencement

National Parks Traveler on Virginia Key

An article in the National Parks Traveler, a web magazine dedicated to the National Parks, considers how creating an urban gateway to Biscayne National Park on Virginia Key would put a national park within steps of downtown Miami, accessible through the scenic Rickenbacker Causeway. This would make Biscayne National Park perhaps the only national park that combines both remote island wild lands, such as the Channel Islands National Park, with the easy accessibility to natural and historic sites provided by urban parks such as Santa Monica Mountains or Gateway National Recreation Areas in California, the article states.

The expansion could include the southern portion of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve. The park’s expansion would link the natural and historic heritage of the Miami region and help foster and fund the restoration and protection of important historic and cultural sites and facilities, such as the historic Virginia Key Beach Park, an 82-acre public park that played a critical role in the nation’s civil rights history as well as the the historic but neglected Miami Marine Stadium, an icon of modern architecture.

The City of Miami currently owns most of Virginia Key, including the historic Virginia Key Beach Park and Miami Marine Stadium. Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve is owned by the State of Florida.

After nearly a century of neglect, mismanagement and/or ill-conceived development plans, there has recently been a new appreciation in the community for the ecological, historic, and recreational significance of Virginia Key. It was that concern and the outcry that resulted when extensive commercial development was proposed for the island, that postponed approval by the Miami City Commission of the last master plan proposal for the island.

A March 2010 Miami Herald editorial stated:

"The value of this semi-tropical natural haven can't be overestimated in a city that sorely lacks adequate park and recreation space. The city has targeted Virginia Key for a make-over, but so far its plans have given short shrift to Mother Nature in favor of concrete."

Under the National Park proposal, parts of the island and the surrounding Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve could be acquired by the National Park Service through donation or exchange. These additions and the placement of a northern visitor center for Biscayne National Park on the island would help to address longstanding public concerns about the protection of these areas, and also make Biscayne National Park a more interesting and accessible national park.

This hybrid urban/wild national park property with tales to tell about the American experience - from civil rights, to restoring Florida's fragile ecology to Miami's modern architectural heritage - may be the new model for the National Park system, which is eager to reach out to an urban, diverse America.



To read more of the article in National Parks Traveler, go to:
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/04/creating-urban-gateway-biscayne-national-park-virginia-key5739

Fun in the Sun Youth Festival part of environmental tradition

The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park will host the second annual Fun in the Sun Youth environmental festival (FISY) from 12 to 8 p.m., Saturday, May 1, 2010.

Outdoor activities include environmental projects, ocean conservation talks, sea grass adventure tours, healthy cooking demonstrations and games and prizes.

Environmental education and awareness is part of the historic tradition of the park, which officially opened in 1945 as a county facility for blacks only during the era of segregation.

Planning with and for the unique natural environment on the barrier island has been integral part of park’s community-led restoration. To that end, the federally funded project that restored the interior wetlands, tropical hardwood hammock and coastal dunes was done in concert with restoration of the historic site and recreational amenities that now exist.

In December 2000, the Virginia Key Civil Rights Task Force submitted a report to the City of Miami that stressed the significance of creating a “conservation buffer zone” as part of the “historic” experience. The report stated: "Oral testimonies, re-creations and photographic documentation indicate that these natural features were an integral part of the appeal of Virginia Key Beach Park and contributed significantly to its being considered a special place."

The festival is an attempt to reach out to a new generation of environmental stewards.

The late M. Athalie Range, the chairperson of the Virginia Key Civil Rights Task Force, described the challenges in reaching out to youth and newcomers:

“The fast-changing world in which we live makes it very difficult for our younger generations and for those who arrived in Miami in more recent years to appreciate why Virginia Key beach is such and important and special place to restore and preserve. Certainly for African Americans who remember it as ‘the only place we could go’ during the segregation area, there are no words that can summarize or describe what it meant to have this beautiful gathering place which brought together baptisms and religious services, courtships and honeymoon, organizational gatherings, visiting celebrities and general family recreation. This experience would be shared by some of the earliest arriving Cuban refugee families, and eventually, after desegregation, by everyone who could enjoy this precious natural retreat located right in the City, yet serene and free from view of large buildings. ...We have become even more aware of the Park’s unique and fragile natural environment and how valuable it is to a city with no other large-scale natural preserve.”

The historic Virginia Key Beach Park is located at 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami (second beach entrance right before Bear Cut Bridge as you’re heading south towards Key Biscayne). The event is free; parking fees still apply.

Virginia Key Beach Park also has a children’s playground, nature trails in restored wetlands and along sandy dunes, picnic areas and barbecue stands. Vintage amusement rides include the Biscayne Virginia Rickenbacker Central Miniature Train Ride and the Allan Herschell Vintage Carousel (separate fees apply for amusement rides).

More info on the park: http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/
FISY event video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PQR6DEFtoU

Rickenbacker as parkway

As the debate rages on about making the Rickenbacker Causeway safer for bicyclists and pedestrians who use the road as a linear park, it’s interesting to note that the original designer, landscape architect William Lyman Phillips designed the Rickenbacker as if it were part of the park system and not merely as a speedy go-through to Key Biscayne.

Phillips also designed the area’s great parks, Virginia Key and Crandon Park, and both the roadway and the parks were part of a grand plan to bring the splendor of tropics to the public.

The 1947 opening day brochure for the area, talked of an “invitation to a new land” and described it this way:

Replacing the old rainbow trail to contentment, the broad Rickenbacker Causeway now leads to new horizons, just around the corner from Miami’s towering mainland. The new span across Biscayne Bay to Virginia Key, thence to Key Biscayne - and Crandon Park - Dade County’s and the nation’s newest tropic pleasure island.”

A closer look at Phillips design for the Rickenbacker shows a design for a pedestrian parkway called “Paseo de las Americas,” tree-lined with public plazas at intervals, very much about creating pleasant public spaces and amenities.

That idea was carried throughout the four-mile scenic road, recalls Phillips biographer Faith Reyner Jackson in her book, Pioneer of Tropical Landscape Architecture, with Phillips' inclusion of “inviting stopping places for fishing, bathing or launching boats.”

To Save Biscayne Bay Again

To save Biscayne Bay, Lloyd Miller battled oil magnates, rapacious developers, causeway proponents, chambers of commerce, newspaper editorial boards and lots of politicians touting progress.

In the course of things, his dog was poisoned, his job was threatened and, looking at the odds, it’s no doubt he also had to face down the fear that he would lose. And southern Biscayne Bay - which he knew as the most beautiful, serene, productive gem - would be forever ruined.

Fortunately, Miller won. He won on behalf of all of us who today gaze over the tranquil, vibrant waters of Biscayne Bay, and sigh with relief there’s not an oil refinery in the distance or causeways criss-crossing the emerald green islands of what is today Biscayne National Park.

In case anyone doesn’t believe just how close it all almost came to ruin, Miller, the “father” of Biscayne National Park, documented it in his book. “Biscayne National Park: It Almost Wasn’t.”

Fortunately, all schemes to pave over, dig up, channelize and fill in South Biscayne Bay fizzled for one reason or another but mostly because none of the promoters found a way to finance their projects. That our beautiful bay survived as well as it did for as long is part miracle, part bungled development schemes and partly because it remains a little remote. It certainly hadn’t been saved by an official awareness and concern for its fantastic value as a marine resource, economic engine and recreational wonderland for our ever-expanding population.

But Miller isn’t content just creating Biscayne National Park (and saving Biscayne Bay), Nowadays, this South Dade resident who is in his eighties, continues to fight for his beloved park. This time, his quest is to find a way to increase visitors to what is arguably one of America’s most beautiful and unique parks, but also one that is virtually inaccessible, especially to those without a boat. With the main visitor center near Homstead, few Miami residents even know Biscayne National Park exists.

Biscayne National Park is virtually unknown to our many visitors from across the nation and the world. Many who are aware of Biscayne Bay don’t know that the south half IS Biscayne National Park. This beautiful treasure should be made known and available...There are no mountains, no valleys, no geysers, no elk nor wolves. There are mangroves, beautiful barrier islands, clear water, sea life that doesn’t exist in any of our other parks and tranquility, blessed tranquility, and America’s only coral reef at our front door.

Miller’s fix: bring Biscayne National Park closer to Miami by opening a northern visitor center on Virginia Key.

Miller has been circulating a proposal for more than five years, hoping the political leadership will emerge to champion his vision.

Several sites have been identified, including the keyhole boat basin west of the Miami Seaquarium. Another site would be next to the Miami Marine Stadium, where Biscayne National Park tour boats could start their tour of Biscayne Bay at historic Stiltsville. Boca Chita, with its little lighthouse, would also be within easy reach.

Miller’s dream is not just about promoting Biscayne National Park - - it’s also about sharing our ecological and historic bounty with future generations.

“It is so important that we all learn of the magnificent heritage the National Park Services provides,” Miller writes in his proposal for a new visitor center on Virginia Key. “Our system is the envy of and the model for park systems around the world - and it belongs to the people.

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

Happy Birthday Jimbo!

Jimbo's on Virginia Key invites everyone to help celebrate his 83rd birthday party today, Sunday, April 11th. Beer, barbecue and smoked fish plus the chance to volunteer to clean up and restore colorful shacks used in filming.

Famous and infamous films and videos shot at Jimbo's, according to City of Miami's Film Office director Harry Gottlieb include: Island Claws, Blood and Wine, Wild Things, Porky's II, Ace Ventura, True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious TV: Flipper, Gentle Ben, Miami Vice, Glades, Going To California, Karen Sisco, CSI Miami, Burn Notice Videos: Ziggy Marley, JayLo, Who Let The Dogs Out, Sugar Ray Photos: Maria Carey's first album cover, Jisel, Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell.


Resources and more info:
http://www.jimbosplace.com/
-Miami Herald story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/10/1573567/jimbos-legendary-watering-hole.html
-New Times interview with Robert Burr - Jimbo's "unofficial" spokeman: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/04/party_to_save_jimbos_place_thi.php

Deed Restrictions: North Point of Virginia Key

Some people feel the North Point is such an environmental gem that the entire peninsula should become a wildlife refuge. Others want to pave over the beach for a public dock or a ferry launch to Fisher Island. Previous city master plan proposals had placed a corporate retreat center with overnight lodging in the area. And still others envision public beaches, primitive camping and hiking and biking trails.

But what will ulitmately happen may be decided by the State of Florida, which originally conveyed the land to the City of Miami during World War Two.

A latter deed for the area dated February 20, 1953 between the State of Florida (“Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund”) and the City of Miami for the North Point, including uplands, submerged bay lands and tidal flats, stated:

“This conveyance is made on the condition that the area above described is to be used by said City of Miami for harbors and airport constructions and development and should any of said area be used for purposes other than that of harbor and airport constructions and development the title to said land is automatically reverted and becomes the property of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Florida, the grantors herein.”

The public records shows that in 1994, the City of Miami sought to have this deed restriction lifted. A project review by State Agencies ensued. The following comments were made in a memo dated December 9, 1994 from Gary Cochran, Planning Manager, Bureau of Land Management Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection:

“All lands administered by the Internal Improvement Trust Fund (Trustees) are lands held in the public trust. The Public Trust Doctrine imposes a governmental “servitude” upon certain lands and water areas that are to be held in trust by the government for the benefit of all the people. (Their) impairment or disposal is not done without the utmost discretion. The City of Miami is under the false assumption that because the Trustees specifically stated that these lands could be used only for either a harbor or airport that because they were never used for the stated purpose the lands should now be relinquished by the Trustees to the City for other uses......
....The control of the State over this property for the purpose of the trust was never lost.....These lands should not be relinquished by the Trustees to the City of Miami as to do so would impair the public trust and the intent that it was provided by the Trustees....The City of Miami and Dade County are presently in violation of the covenant of the deed as the site is now used as an dredge material disposal area. This was clearly not the areas intended use expressed by the Trustees and the land should revert to State control.”

Indeed. Let's see if the next set of proposals by the City of Miami pass muster with state officials- or maybe we'll be looking at the next State Park. Which wouldn't be such a bad outcome really, considering some of the alternatives.

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

Deed Restrictions: Historic Virginia Key Beach Park

In 1945, it was known as the beach created for blacks only.

By 1982, it was simply known as the "Old County Park," every vestige of its past obliterated in the official deed dated April 5, 1982 when Miami Dade County conveyed the 82-acre park to the City of Miami.

The deed states:

The COUNTY grants all the real property noted in this Deed to the City as long as the City utilizes the said property for public park purposes only. The City agrees to keep the property open to the public, provide maintenance and a level of service equal to or exceeding that which was provided by the County.

....In the event the City does not use the property as a public park, or conveys or attempts to convey all or a portion of the property, then the property described herein will revert back to the County or its successors or assigns at the option of the County....”

After getting the park, the City of Miami promptly closed it. More than a decade later, the City floated the idea of developing a private resort on the land.

Thanks in part to an intrepid community activist who dug up the 1982 deed, those particular development plans began to unravel.

Thanks to the efforts of hundreds of more activists, a public park reopened on the site.

Today, it is known as the historic Virginia Key Beach and Civil Rights Park. And it definitely exceeds what the county had originally provided.

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

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
 

Principles for a "New" Virginia Key Master Plan

When the City of Miami commission voted in October 2009 to defer approval of the proposed Virginia Key Master Plan to 2010, it gave community groups time to create alternatives.

There were lots of ideas aired during the on/off again public planning process, culled from various public meetings and design charrettes.“Less is more” become a refrain of citizens and various civic, enviornmental and preservation groups.

A early Miami Herald editorial chimed in:

“....A place to walk through nature preserves, hang out at the beach or take the family on a spin along a biking trail. .. These are what the master plan should emphasize.

In September, the City of Miami Waterfront Advisory Board set this criteria:

Construction of a Virginia Key “Welcome Center,” restoration of the marine stadium, no hotels, a comprehensive transportation plan, bike trails, public boat ramp, clean up contaminated landfill, increase native tree buffer areas around playing fields anc continue restoration of the Virginia Key Beach areas.

Now the Urban Environment League, working with a coalition of concerned citizens and community groups, has offered a series of “principles” to guide planning:

Free and clear public access to the beach and all public property
Public participation should be insured throughout the process
Public access should not be inhibited by parking restrictions or inadequate public transportation.
Restoration of the Marine Stadium, uninterrupted access to the basin waterfront, and non-structured parking accommodations.
(Northpoint) The area of Virginia Key north of the causeway should be largely treated as a natural area and not developed into the category of traditional parks found elsewhere in the city.
Development of a public recreation area in the middle of the landfill surrounded by restored native landscaped buffers. Not to exceed 20 acres or less than 20 percent of the available landfill area.
Public parkland should be used to enhance the appreciation of nature through walking trails, public campgrounds. There is a paramount value to keep all activity small scale.
Commercial eating facilities should minimal, and limited to small-scale operations.
Provide recreation within the most natural setting possible.
Tie in bike/hiking path masterplan for VK (including a main perimeter path around VK with connections throughout).
Provide for safe and expanded bicycle and pedestrian accommodations within the Rickenbacker Causeway, including expanded bike lanes, pedestrian friendly intersections, and traffic calming measures.

The goal, they say, is to build consensus for a new master plan - but a plan that is “sensitive to recreational needs, local history and the environment, within a context that preserves and enhances the natural world.”

What would you like to see or not see on Virginia Key?

The UEL is asking for public input. Comments can be sent to: uel@bellsouth.net or posted here to View from Virginia Key or the UEL blogspot, which also includes a survey, http://urbanenvironmentleague.blogspot.com/2010/03/virginia-key-planning-meeting-saturday.html.

Photo Friday: Details

Japanese photographer Nobuyuki Nishihara captured these detailed images of Virginia Key Beach.
What he was thinking:

"I was visiting Key Biscayne to do lifestyle/fashion shoot with models.
It is right in Miami, yet the beach was serene and secluded.
It provided a fantastic, picturesque background.
I was really impressed with the abundance of greenery and wildlife."