Spotlight 63-241227 Parking. St Stephen’s

Grove parking anger leads today’s Spotlight, as residents challenge private parking lots’ practices.

  • Grove parking: Private lots’ pricing and regulation.
  • St Stephen’s welcomes new leadership after year-long search.
  • Little libraries sprout and grow.
  • King Mango Strut nears.

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A new state law requires private parking lots to display their rules, but residents say more regulation is needed to combat price gouging and unscrupulous practices.

By Francisco Alvarado

Paradise Parking lot next to Arya Hotel. (David Villano for the Spotlight)

In mid-October, in a rush to watch his son play a soccer game at Coconut Grove’s Peacock Park, Ernesto Arrue pulled into the underground parking garage connected to Hotel Arya on McFarlane Road, across the street from the park.

But the garage – which had no parking attendant – did not display its parking rates. Visitors were instructed to use a mobile parking app, which Arrue’s phone could not access within the bowels of the garage. Comforted by signage promising a 15-minute grace period before parking charges would accrue, Arrue left his car and walked across to the park.

When the app did load Arrue was shocked by the rate he and others would pay to watch their children play:  $55. “Several of us decided not to pay this ridiculous amount of money,” Arrue told the Spotlight.

But it was too late. By the time he retrieved his car the 15 minute grace period had just lapsed.

A few days later he received by mail a violation notice from the private company that operates the garage — Miami-based South Park Management —  demanding the $55, and a threat that the debt would be turned over to a collections agency if payment were not promptly received.


With a new rector and new head of school, one of Coconut Grove’s churches sets a course for the future.

By Hank Sanchez-Resnik

Father Matthew Machowski, the new rector of St. Stephen’s Church, will be installed in a ceremony at the church on Saturday Jan. 11, at 11 a.m. Shown with him is Farrar Richardson, who will become the head of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School in July. (Photo courtesy Father Matthew Machowski)

St. Stephen’s Church, which its parishioners like to call “the Heart of the Grove,” is about to enter a new era. On January 11, 2025, at 11 a.m., in a ceremony at the church open to the public, a new rector, Father Matthew Machowski will be installed in a service led by the Episcopal bishop of South Florida. Then, on July 1, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School will welcome a new head of school. It will be a complete turnover of key leadership positions.

The Rev. Wilifred Allen-Faiella, known to all as Pastor Willie, served as rector from August 2001 to March 2023. Her retirement, required by the church’s age limit, was followed by a national search that took more than a year and involved a committee of nine parish leaders headed by Gregory Cheng and Sara Krawll. Father Matthew’s arrival is the beginning of an important new chapter in the church’s long history.

St. Stephen’s was established in Coconut Grove at a time when the Grove was a sleepy village. Flora McFarlane, one of Coconut Grove’s founders, initiated the church as a women’s prayer group. The church’s first building, on Main Highway, opened in 1912. The original gateway still stands. Behind it is St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School, which was founded in 1958.

Today, the school has 320 students in grades Pre-K through 5 on a campus that includes several buildings, the newest of which opened in 2020. The current church on McFarlane Road was dedicated in 1959.


Sharing a good book with a neighbor can spread goodwill through both the giving and receiving.  Shenandoah, Silver Bluffs and Coconut Grove are home to many Little Free Libraries—neighborhood book-exchange boxes installed and maintained by volunteer neighbors.  In fact, the official Little Free Library website map indicates that the Spotlight’s readership area may have the highest density of these libraries in South Florida.  Other little libraries are also scattered through the area, although they don’t appear on the organization’s website.

The boxes, typically no more than two-foot wide, are designed, built, decorated and maintained on personal initiative, many anonymously.  They typically hold about three dozen books behind a protective cabinet door.  Donated by local neighbors or the ‘librarian’ themselves, the books are curated by the librarian or helper.  As a result, the range of topics found among the books on a recent morning was as wide and deep as the nearby communities—which for these neighborhoods can be astounding.  Passers-by can choose to borrow any book they find, keep it for as long as they want or drop off a book they want to donate.  Everything about the libraries’ use is free.

The first little library in the area is credited to Steven Tonkinson and can be found on Trapp Avenue at Lucaya Street.  High profile locations include the entrance to The Barnacle State Historic Park and across from Blanch Park’s dog park on Virginia Street.  Two are located near Silver Bluff Park and another on the cross-over trail connecting Plaza Street with Loquat Avenue.  The little libraries are not affiliated with the county’s public libraries.

If you know of a little library not shown on the Little Free Library map online, please drop a note to the Spotlight and share its location.  Thanks!


Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo invites everyone to his public “Have a Brew with District 2” gathering on Fuller Street.  Billed as an opportunity to chat informally and directly with our elected representative to the city’s commission, the happy hour format is presented as an opportunity to also meet neighbors and city officials in a thoughtful, casual setting.  Fuller Street.  Monday 12/30, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.  Free.

The Miami City Ballet’s The Nutcracker closed earlier this week, but you can still catch NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet as it arrives on Miami Beach during its national tour.  Local child dancers join the touring company for a matinee performance Monday, 12/30, 3:00 p.m. in The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater. 1700 Washington Ave, Miami Beach.  Tickets.

Save Me a Seat

The King Mango Strut marches through downtown Coconut Grove Sunday afternoon, 1/5/25.  Curbside seating is free, first come-first served, and many friends and families set up their blankets and chairs hours ahead of the parade’s start.  The parade begins on Main Highway at Commodore Plaza, turns sharply left at CocoWalk onto Grand Avenue and ends near the post office.  Lasting about two hours, the parade starts Sunday, 1/5/25 at 2:00 p.m.  Priceless.


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