Spotlight 49-241108 Election Rebuilding Shooting

In your Spotlight

The Grove votes against the tide
Nonprofit rebuilds homes and lives
Arrest in Grove Marina shooting
A busy—but restorative—calendar

Grove votes in the minority during recent elections. Dedicated volunteers rebuild West Grove housing. A shooting on the water results in an arrest. Spotlight readers can use the website’s search feature to call up the many events and service opportunities of the community.

How the Grove Voted on Tuesday

Grove voters charted their own course this week when deciding whether to roll back Florida’s six-week abortion ban and allow the recreational use of marijuana.

By Don Finefrock

If Coconut Grove ran the world, the political landscape in Miami, Tallahassee and Washington D.C. would look very different this week.

Kamala Harris would be headed to the White House. Rick Scott would be facing retirement. Florida’s six-week abortion ban would be toast, and adults statewide would be getting toasted, just for the fun of it, without looking over their shoulders.

Obviously, that’s not how the election played out. But Coconut Grove voters went their own way on Tuesday when choosing candidates and deciding ballot issues.

Nonprofit Helps Fix Homes, Revitalize Communities

Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade helps to stabilize neighborhoods like the West Grove by providing cost-free repairs and renovations to low-income homeowners.

By Hannah Spence

Rebuilding Together volunteers apply a fresh coat of paint to a Coconut Grove home. (Photo courtesy of Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade)

During the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago, homeowner Laura Sala was under-employed, dealing with health problems, and facing some serious repair issues at her home on William Avenue in the West Grove.

“My home was completely destroyed,” Sala told the Spotlight, recalling how termites and wood rot had eaten away at the three-bedroom house she purchased in 2010.

Sala, 40, was able to repair her home with help from Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, a community revitalization nonprofit active in Coconut Grove and other neighborhoods. Rebuilding Together helped Sala fix her roof and replace her windows and doors.

Shooting at Grove Marina Leaves Man Hospitalized

Police say both men were on boats off Dinner Key when a dispute arose over personal belongings.

By David Villano

An altercation between two members of Coconut Grove’s liveaboard community turned violent late Monday afternoon when one man was shot and another smashed in the head with a flashlight. The shooting victim’s identify – and condition – has not been released.

Miami Police say the incident began when the shooting victim returned to his boat and discovered items he recognized as belonging to an acquaintance, Joseph Woodward. After rowing his dinghy to Woodward’s boat and tossing the belongs aboard, Woodward emerged from below deck with a rifle and fired three shots at the victim, hitting him once in the abdomen and grazing his forearm and head, according to police.

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Music to Calm the Savage Beast

The French Horn Collective entertains at The Barnacle’s popular evening concert series. Perfect for a picnic with friends or on a date night blanket watching the stars sweep by. Friday 11/8. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. No pets please. 3485 Main Highway. We bought our tickets online. You can too.

New World Symphony leads into Veterans Day weekend with a picnic-worthy Wallcast concert themed as “A WWII Journey”. NWS has added an additional projection wall with advanced sound system to extend the viewing area of the already generous 7,000-square-foot projection wall for which the concert series is named. SoundScape Park adjacent to New World Center. Free, but you’ll have to bring your own picnic, lawn chairs or blankets. Worth the rideshare or carpool to 500 17^th Street, Miami Beach. Saturday 11/9. Music begins at 7:30 p.m. The park is open all day. More info here.

Stressed? Replenish your psyche and your picnic basket at Vizcaya’s Farmer’s Market Sunday. Wellness classes join the foods, crafts and guided tours. (Breathe deeply. Hold. Now exhale slowly.) Or just stop by to drop off your compostable food scraps, leftover veggies and newspapers. (But not your Spotlight. It’s only found online.) Sunday 11/10 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 3250 South Miami Avenue. Free, with nominally priced tickets for some activities.

Celebrate our veterans at the Coconut Grove Veterans Day Parade (aka the Red, White and Blue Parade) and perhaps join in the march starting at Christ Episcopal Church (3481 Hibiscus Street) and continuing along Grand Avenue to Armbrister Park. Bands, decorated carts, and hundreds of marchers make this a neighborhood celebration. Monday 11/11, starting at 10:00 a.m. Free.

U-Miami’s Frost School of Music presents an almost continuous series of free recitals this time of year. Tuesday’s features the compositions of senior Asher Lurie and begins with a work that imagines “a world almost completely free of stress,” Water Swallows You. Sign us up! On campus at the Newman Recital Hall, 5513 San Amaro Dr, Coral Gables. 11/12 7:30 p.m. By Metro to University Station. Free.

Recruits and veteran Strutters gather to brainstorm skits and fill out the casts for the King Mango Strut. Greenstreet is this week’s location Wednesday 11/13, happy hour. 3468 Main Highway. (And save the date for the Strut itself, Sunday 1/5/25. Downtown Coconut Grove.) Free.

Coconut Grove Elementary School’s now-annual Bike Lane Painting Party puts real paint, brushes and rollers in the hands of elementary students and parents as they join together and paint the street in front of the school. 4:00 p.m. Don’t be late! These kids work fast! 3351 Matilda Street. Free. And it’s all to prepare for Thursday’s big event.

Bright and early the next morning, everywhere throughout the Grove is Bike Walk to School Day. The Grove’s 3,551 students from 15 schools are encouraged to find their way to school without a car. Can you imagine?! A Grove morning without cars? Heaven for all! Everyone pitches in to make BWTSD safe and fun—police escorts, schools, parent chaperones, businesses and bike safety groups. Thursday 11/14. To and from school. Everywhere. Free.

“Be Our Guest” says Area Stage as Beauty and the Beast opens for a three-week run. This encore series follows sold out performances at the Adrienne Arsht Center of the Performing Arts but is right next door at The Shops at Sunset Place. You are brought inside Belle’s enchanted world (and the Beast’s castle) by director Giancarlo Rodaz and company. Ages 4 and older only. 5701 Sunset Drive #350, South Miami. By Metro to University Station. Opening performance is Thursday 11/14, 7:30 p.m. Tickets required.

Save Me a Seat

Jerry Herman Ring Theatre launches its season with the musical comedy Head Over Heels. U-Miami campus. Friday 11/15, 8:00. Tickets.

Some seats remain for the South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Rhapsody in Blue at the New World Center. Saturday 11/16, 7:30 p.m. Tickets.