Spotlight 127-250805

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

Shake-A-Leg’s decades of success
Barge-based bay clean-up
Vizcaya’s village

Shake-A-Leg at 35: Launching Boats and Dreams

Paralyzed at 21, Harry Horgan turned heartbreak into hope—founding Shake-A-Leg Miami and changing thousands of lives in the process. Thirty-five years later, his mission still sails on.

By Walter Villa

Andrew Altvater, confined to a wheelchair since 2016, greeted a visitor recently, politely declining to discuss the details of the car crash that has led to his reality.

But Altvater, 28, made sure to talk about Shake-A-Leg Miami, the non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals with disabilities through adaptive water sports such as sailing and kayaking.

“Shake-A-Leg taught me how to sail,” Altvater said. “It taught me how to work … It taught me how to feel human again.”

Shake-A-Leg Miami – the brainchild of Harry Horgan – is in its 35^th year, all of them here in Coconut Grove.

The organization has grown over the decades, partnering with the Overtown Youth Center; the United States Department of Veterans Affairs; and Miami Dade County Public Schools, among many others.

Miami Coastal Waters Get a Cleansing

The Scavenger 2000 marine vessel travels the length of Miami’s coastline, collecting debris, killing harmful bacteria and pumping oxygen into bay waters.

By Jenny Jacoby

Once a week the Scavenger 2000 marine vessel visits Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, the southernmost stop along its route through Miami’s coastal waters.

Like its distant cousin, the street sweeper, the Scavenger 2000 has a job to do – and a work load that never seems to lessen.

Once in place, the boat starts grooming the waters in and around Dinner Key, sweeping up marine debris, scrubbing nasty bacteria from the water, and injecting oxygen into Biscayne Bay.

The City of Miami pays for these weekly scrubbings under a three-year contract that keeps the boat afloat along much of Miami’s coastline. The City Commission approved a sole source contract in March after city staff touted the boat’s innovative technology.

The Village that Fed Vizcaya

The landmark estate is working to restore five historic buildings, including a chicken house and dairy barn, that once supported James Deering’s palatial home overlooking Biscayne Bay.

By Liz Tracy

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens may be best known today for the palatial home where industrialist James Deering once spent his winters. The truth is, though, it took a village with a chicken house and a dairy barn back in the day to keep the estate humming.

The 12 original buildings that made up Vizcaya Village more than 100 years ago constituted a working farm, with gardens and greenhouses, garages and workshops, a dairy barn and a pump house that fed, fixed and watered the bayfront estate.

Five of those buildings – the chicken house, the dairy barn, the farmhouse, the stable and the wagon shed – are now the focus of a restoration effort that museum managers hope will make the historic property a community hub for Miami residents today.

“We’re hoping this will be a new era for Vizcaya,” says Vizcaya’s Director of Marketing and Communications Alejandra Serna.

Appeals Court Rules Miami Election Delay Unconstitutional

By David Villano

In a stinging rebuke to city officials, a state appeals court ruled Thursday that the City of Miami violated its own charter by postponing the 2025 race for mayor and some city commission seats without voter approval—clearing the way for the election to proceed this November.

Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling that struck down an ordinance passed by the City Commission, in a controversial 3-2 vote, in July.

The ordinance, sponsored by Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, sought to delay the election by one year to align city elections with state and county cycles. The move would have extended the terms of current city officials by 12 months.