Spotlight 109-250603

Good morning. What we’re covering in today’s Spotlight:

Miami’s Lax Rules on Construction Noise
A Student Project to Meet Basic Needs
A Playhouse Briefing Promised This Week
A Look Back at Grove Bike to School Events

After-Hours Construction? In Miami, It’s Always Approved

Despite laws that allow construction noise waivers only in emergencies and to avoid risks to life and property, records reveal that for years city officials have been rubberstamping applications, even for routine job-site operations.

By David Villano

Since October 2023, City of Miami officials have approved every request submitted – more than 1,100 citywide – to exceed the 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. restriction for job-site construction noise permitted under city law.

Coconut Grove, Brickell, downtown and other coastal neighborhoods within District 2 accounted for the bulk of those requests – 452 applications, or 40 percent of the total.

Of the 1,135 requests submitted, none were denied, though two were later revoked.

City records also reveal that officials routinely granted the so-called “construction noise waivers” to accommodate routine job-site operations – a violation of city rules that limit such waivers to a “condition which endangers life or property.”

The records, which detail every construction noise waiver application over the past two fiscal years, were obtained by the Spotlight through a public records request. City officials declined to comment.

Giving Back: Students Find – and Meet – a Community Need

Stocked with a wide range of items – everything from baby products to birthday gifts – the Basic Necessities Cabinet benefits low-income families in Coconut Grove.

By Amanda Clegg

High school students Grace Diez, Bella Whitby and Emilie Calixte have been friends their whole lives. They’ve done everything together since they were 3 or 4 years old — the same Girl Scout troop, the same softball team, the same school.

Now the three girls – together with a fourth friend, Veronica Franzino – are bonding over something else they share in common – a community service project called the Basic Necessities Cabinet that provides the everyday products we all need and use for free to low-income families in Coconut Grove.

The students – all sophomores at the Carrollton School at the Sacred Heart and members of the same Girl Scout Troop – were inspired to start the Cabinet in 2023 after learning about the Coconut Grove Community Fridge.

Sitting on the sidewalk at 3600 Grand Avenue, the fridge is one of 10 in Miami-Dade County providing free, healthy food in neighborhoods where food insecurity is prevalent.

Playhouse Briefing Promised This Week

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado and Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo will host a virtual community meeting on Wednesday June 4 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. to discuss the Coconut Grove Playhouse and answer questions from the public.

Demolition work at the playhouse was halted on May 21 after the partial collapse of the theater’s third floor. Workers installed bracing last week to stabilize the playhouse’s exterior walls, but questions remain about the condition of the building and the county’s plan to reopen the playhouse in 2027.

To participate in the briefing, use this registration link. Questions can be submitted by email to [email protected].

Voices: Making Streets Safer for School Kids

A key supporter of Coconut Grove’s Bike to School Days looks back at how the twice-yearly event has grown since May 2021.

By Kurt Kaminer

Four years. How time flies. I still remember that first Bike to School Day on May 17, 2021, when I looked up and saw Shipping Avenue filling up with families on bikes as far as I could see. My jaw dropped. I remember thinking, “it’s happening, it’s here – this is Miami’s Utrecht moment.”

That was my introduction to what would become one of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever been involved with – the Walk Bike Roll to School Day (WBRTSD) events that happen twice a year in Coconut Grove.

The most recent event on May 1 – with a pop-up bike lane at Coconut Grove Elementary and a partial street closure at Matilda Street and Oak Avenue – was the seventh event that the University of Miami BikeSafe program has supported, in partnership with the Coconut Grove Elementary Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

Many have spoken about these events as if BikeSafe started them. I really want to make it clear that BikeSafe has merely been a loyal supporter of the PTA, the community, and neighborhood kids.