Category Archives: Unpacking Coconut Grove

A Return To Frow Avenue

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When I was in the Coconut Grove on Saturday, I was so intent on taking pictures of the people celebrating the One Grove mural, that I didn’t notice something that had been right in front of my eyes. In fact, I didn’t notice it until I reviewed the dozens of pictures I took that day.

Part of the reason I missed it was because the cooker/grill had been set
up right in front of it. But, I was also mostly looking through a camera viewfinder. That’s why I returned to Frow Avenue yesterday to take close-ups. Take a look at the
sidewalk adjacent to the mural:


This broken sidewalk is not something new. Clearly it has been disintegrating for a very long time to arrive at its current condition.

Construction continues on the
diesel bus garage, March 4, 2013

To my mind this perfectly illustrates the reality that two Groves exist: Black Grove and White Grove. A sidewalk like this would never be allowed to exist in White Grove. However, because it’s on Frow Avenue in West Grove, this sidewalk can easily be ignored by the City of Miami.

It’s simply more of the same kind of quiet racism that the City of Miami demonstrated in allowing Coral Gables to locate its polluting diesel bus garage in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in West Grove, which (maybe not coincidentally) is being built right across the street from this broken sidewalk.

This is a well-traveled route. Hundreds of pedestrians pass by that sidewalk every day: school children, the people who use the store on which the mural is painted, mothers
with strollers, old people on canes, children riding bicycles . . . you
get the picture. If not, here are a few more:

Maybe “One Grove” is merely a slogan whose time has passed.

Unveiling the One Grove Mural – A Photo and Video Essay

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Dateline March 2, 2013 – Residents of West Grove get together to unveil the One Grove mural at the corner of Frow Avenue and Douglas, right next to the Coral Gables diesel bus garage, still under construction.

This first video shows the proximity of the Coral Gables diesel bus garage to the houses in the community.

Some of the festivities of the day.

Introducing myself to Laurie Cook of Urban Resurrection, the organization that spearheaded
the creation of the “One Grove” mural. Prior to this we had only spoken on the phone.

LaTasha (L) and LaToya Stirrup, great great granddaughters of E.W.F. Stirrup, were the center of attention as photographers capture them
flanking Kyle Holbrook of the MLK Community Mural Project, designer of
the mural. That’s Mr. Stirrup’s likeness in the upper-right hand corner.

At the dedication ceremony Laurie Cook invited descendants of important Coconut Grove pioneers to come up and be recognized:

Kyle Holbrook puts the final touches on the mural, a clear protective coat.

Kyle Holbrook puts the final touches on the mural, a clear protective coat.

All of those who worked on the mural were asked up to be recogized:


I loaned Mikey one of my cameras for a while. He started taking portraits of everyone.
Mikey got more people to pose for him than I did.

Portrait by Mikey.
Another portrait by Mikey.

 

Trolleygate Brings A Community Together

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Diesel bus garage, February 27, 2013

While crews continue to build the nonconforming Coral Gables diesel bus garage, a lawsuit by West Grove residents is working its way through the court system. If the residents of the community have their way, (and why shouldn’t they?) the bus garage will never open. If Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff has his way, his constituents will get screwed . . . again.

Flier announcing tomorrow’s unveiling.

The residents of West Grove have sued to stop Coral Gables, the neighbouring town, from building its polluting bus garage in the residential neighbourhood of west Coconut Grove. Oddly enough, the border between Coral Gables and Coconut Grove is just one block west of this construction site.

However, before the residents even knew about the diesel bus garage they were already looking at the corner of Frow and Douglas for an urban renewal project. Teaming up with MLK Community Mural Project, the community decided to paint a mural on the wall of a convenience store. With the announcement of the diesel bus garage, the mural has now become a rallying point.

The design of the mural came together organically from the ground up. A survey was sent around asking neighbours three questions:

1). What symbols of the community would you like to see in a mural?

2). What elements of the community are you most proud of? 

3). What are the future dreams you wish for the community?

The wall before it had been transformed.

Kyle Holbrook, of MLK Mural, took all the suggestions and created 3 different designs for the mural, incorporating them all. The designs were then voted on, with the winning one translated to the wall in colourful paint. What had been a nondescript wall has been turned into a vibrant mural and symbol of community pride. The painting pays tribute to the original Bahamians who settled the area, as it also
honours the history and people that made the Grove what it is today.

Tomorrow afternoon at 1 the community will come together to dedicate this wonderful work of art.

One of the things I have heard several times recently, from more than one person, is how people used to just call it The Grove, or Coconut Grove. These days, however, people refer to North Grove, East Grove, West Grove, Black Grove, White Grove. The mural reflects the concept of One Grove, with a banner proclaiming that at the very top of the mural. Reunification seems to be the desire of the community and return to the idea that everybody is in this together. This is something Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff should take the time to learn, as opposed to pitting community groups against each other in order to divide and conquer. 

The wall after it had been transformed.

Close up of the center section of the mural. Grand Avenue and Charles Avenue do not actually meet, except as the two streets around which the community congregated and thrived.
Another close up.

A family visiting the mural, as the parents teach the children about their history and heritage.

Three of the important pioneers of Coconut Grove: (L to R) Father Theodore Gibson, who did so much to integrate Coconut Grove during the various Civil Rights struggles; Esther Mae Armbrister, who championed turning the Mariah Brown House into a museum and community resource, among other good works in a lifetime dedicated to serving others; E.W.F. Stirrup, whose forward thinking ideas about Black home ownership more than 120 years ago is what makes Coconut Grove a unique place in this country to this very day.

Mangos! Shotgun houses! Foliage! All symbols of Coconut Grove.

These four young ladies were among the first to show up to paint the mural. A photograph was taken of them posing with their paintbrushes, which was then incorporated into the mural.

Caribbean dancers! More foliage and shotgun houses. And, the very building on which the mural is painted.

Full circle: Young man admiring the mural within the mural.

This is a wonderful work of art which will adorn this building for many years to come. It has also become a symbol of pride for a neighbourhood coming together to fight the Coral Gables diesel bus garage.

Does The White Hand Know What The Left Hand Is Doing?

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At the east end of Charles Avenue in Coconut Grove, Florida are two festering, open wounds: The Coconut Grove Playhouse and the E.W.F. Stirrup House.

I’ve written extensively about the historic 120-year old E.W.F. Stirrup House, but far less about the 86-year old Coconut Grove Playhouse. In the beginning, despite them being catercorner from each other, I assumed they were two separate stories. My focus has always been in saving the E.W.F. Stirrup House, so I just put the Playhouse out of my mind. I concentrated on learning everything I could about the E.W.F. Stirrup House and Mr. Stirrup’s amazing legacy.

That the Coconut Grove Playhouse was undergoing the exact same kind of Demolition by Neglect as the Stirrup House, seemed like a bizarre coincidence. However, through my research I’ve come to realize two things: 1). Many of the same people are involved in both the Stirrup House and the Playhouse; 2). There are no coincidences in multimillion dollar real estate deals.

While the same rapacious developer claims effective control of both properties — and the same I’ll-do-anything-for-any-developer-City-of-Miami-Commissioner appears poised to help any way he can — something far more important connects the Coconut Grove Playhouse and Mr. E.W.F. Stirrup.

History is complicated: In the years just before Miami annexed the sleepy little village, the power-brokers of early Coconut Grove (read: White folk) drew up the Bright Plan, an ambitious building project that would have transformed the downtown area with Mediterranean-style fountains, a Mediterranean-style town hall, and a large golf course. Nothing ever came of the Bright Plan because the bottom dropped out of the Florida real estate market and Miami annexed Coconut Grove. However, one building from the Bright Plan was actually built: The Coconut Grove Playhouse, hence the faux Mediterranean-style architecture. E.W.F. Stirrup may have felt it was worth selling off a sizable plot of land (of what had traditionally been the Black Grove) to bring culture to Coconut Grove.

Mr. Stirrup had to walk less than 250 feet from his front door to the box office of the Playhouse. I wonder, as I always do in cases like this, whether Mr. Stirrup was allowed to go inside the movie theater he allowed to be built. Movie theaters in those days, if they allowed Black folk at all, were strictly segregated. Black seating tended to be in the upper balconies. I have yet to find the information that would answer these questions for the Coconut Grove Playhouse, but it’s interesting to speculate based on what is known about the period.

White hand, Black hand; Left hand, Right hand

Members of the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce in front of the
Coconut Grove Playhouse, 1946, when the building was already 20 years old.

Tonight the right hand and the left hand might as well be in two separate time zones. At 6:00 PM, in White Coconut Grove, Richard Heisenbottle will be presenting architectural drawings of a renovated Coconut Grove Playhouse at a private yacht club. Heisenbottle is well-known for his historic renovation work, which includes the Trapp Homestead in Coconut Grove. Heisenbottle also took part in a Coconut Grove Playhouse Charrette of several years back. No telling whether these designs sprung out of the charrette or are wholly new designs and ideas for the site.

Almost as if there is a competition, at 7:00 PM, in Black Coconut Grove, the Charles Avenue Historic Preservation Committee meets. Among the topics that will hopefully come up at that meeting are the E.W.F. Stirrup House and historic design elements for the Charles Avenue Historic Designation Roadway, a title the street picked up last year.

There’s just one problem: The Coconut Grove Playhouse and the E.W.F. Stirrup House are both on Charles Avenue. These two historic community resources have to be part of the same holistic vision in order to save the unique character of West Grove. However, that will never happen if these groups don’t start talking to each other. The Playhouse people seemed unaware of the Charles Avenue Historic Preservation meeting and the Charles Avenue Preservation people were unaware of the Playhouse meeting.  

IRONY ALERT: The Coconut Grove Village Council was unaware of both meetings. It’s been a well-established pattern for the City of Miami to keep the Coconut Grove Village Council in the dark. It didn’t learn about Trolleygate until the ground had already been broken and the foundation poured. Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff admitted to purposely making an end run around the Village Council during Trolleygate, and that wasn’t the first time either.

Looking west along Charles Avenue from the back of the Coconut Grove Playhouse. The Charles Avenue historical marker is on the right and the stately, 120-year old E.W.F. Stirrup House on the left.

Coconut Grove could become the jewel of south Florida, if only the Right Hand knew what the Left Hand was doing and if only the White Hand knew what the Black hand was doing. I’m learning that Coconut Grove is just segregated that way, the way it has always been.

Inside The E.W.F. Stirrup House ► Before and After

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The E.W.F. Stirrup House on February 22, 2013

I’ve been documenting the E.W.F. Stirrup House since July of 2009, during which time I have researched its rich 120-year old history. In those 4 years absolutely nothing has changed. The house has been allowed to undergo Demolition by Neglect, while the developer that controls the property has done nothing to preserve this architectural jewel. In this follow-up to my recent blog post The E.W.F. Stirrup House ► Before and After, I get back inside the E.W.F. Stirrup House.

Anticipation of Wednesday’s upcoming Charles Avenue Historic Preservation meeting must have rapacious developer Gino Falsetto scrambling to give the appearance that he actually cares about historic preservation. It would be most awkward if, at Wednesday’s meeting, anyone questions whether his stewardship of one of Coconut Grove’s historic landmarks has been a monumental 8-year mistake, even if it has been.

After the vines were ripped away. This is what
happens when a community asset is ignored
for 8 years. February 22, 2013

Efforts this past week to ‘pretty up’ the property — by cutting back the plant growth that has had 8 years to attack the house — is the
equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. When you’ve allowed a house to
rot for 8 years without even bothering to seal the windows from the
elements, anything done now is only being done for purely cosmetic
reasons. IRONY ALERT: When Falsetto’s work crew indiscriminately ripped out the vines that
had been allowed to penetrate the house, it exposed the damage Falsetto’s 8-year control of the E.W.F. Stirrup House has wrought.

“Some people say” my blog posts have placed Falsetto in an uncomfortable position. Until I happened along, his real estate manipulations were hidden in plain sight. However, as I researched the long history of the E.W.F. Stirrup House, I couldn’t help but learn why the house has been empty for these past 8 years. Posting my research (as I discover it) has built up an awareness in the local community and a trust in my reporting. Community leaders in West Grove were unaware of some of the history I’ve uncovered. Now they come to me for accurate information about the Stirrup House.

Even the immediate neighbours of the E.W.F. Stirrup House are slowly coming to the realization they were hoodwinked 8 years ago. The developer of the Grove Gardens Residence Condominiums promised to save the E.W.F. Stirrup House. No one recalls anyone ever mentioning a Bed and Breakfast at the time. Yet, with the help of Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff, Aries Development (aka Gino Falsetto) was able to get a change of zoning for the Stirrup House to Commercial from Residential. This only happened within the last year. That couldn’t have been what was proposed 8 years ago, could it? If so, why did it take so long?

What about the inside of the house? 

I’ve now been lucky enough to get INSIDE the E.W.F. Stirrup House on 2 separate occasions. The first time was August 17, 2012 and just last Friday, February 22, 2013. In the post Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Four ► Open Houses and Broken Laws, I documented how (allegedly) illegal demolition work was being done inside the Stirrup House without benefit of a building permit.

The inside of the house on Friday proved that Falsetto learned nothing from my earlier post. He continued to have (allegedly) illegal demolition work done inside the house without having a proper building permit issued by the City of Miami. There was a bathroom on the second floor in August. It has since disappeared. It’s just another example of Gino Falsetto getting away with something in plain sight.

BEFORE – August 17, 2012:

No one is claiming it was an attractive bathroom
and, to be fair, it would have had to come out anyway.

AFTER – February 22, 2013:

And, poof, it’s gone. No building permits were harmed, or issued, during the making of this documentary.

Not obtaining a building permit is just more proof that Gino Falsetto feels the rules are for other people, not himself. I have already documented how he left a string of bankruptcies behind in Ottawa, Ontario. Stiffing the Canadian taxpayers may very well have been how he was able to financially insinuate himself in the Miami real estate market as a player. That takes big money.

However, Gino Falsetto seems to have a pattern of turning his bankruptcies into his own financial gain. Furthermore, not all his schemes seem to be 100% legal. Two posts by an anonymous blogger, if true, appear to show that Gino Falsetto made out like a bandit — both literally and figuratively — on another one of his foreclosures:

Gino Falsetto (1) developed the Grove Garden Residences condominium in Miami’s Coconut Grove.

With his eyes on the financially strapped, closed Coconut Grove Playhouse for acquisition and development into a commercial complex, he aimed for the two vacant lots behind the theater. These two lots totaling 10,620 square feet, zoned single-family residential are located at 3227 and 3247 Charles Avenue in Coconut Grove.

The deal sounds wonderful. The sellers of the two lots took title to two Grove Garden Residences condo units which financial whiz Gino valued at $500,000 each — that’s one million dollars for two overgrown lots that generate no income, not even legitimate parking fees.

Gino Falsetto (2) is now the proud owner of real estate abutting the Coconut Grove Playhouse and promptly secures a $700,000 mortgage loan. After all, the two lots overgrown with weeds are worth a million smackers. Right?

What about the bank? They want to get their money back, don’t they? But Gino Falsetto didn’t repay and the bank initiated foreclosure proceeding just 21 months after they had filled Gino’s pockets with $700,000.

Gino Falsetto didn’t put up a fight and didn’t deliver an offer to make good on his loan obligation. Why should he? Gino’s no fool. The judge handed down a final judgment of $720,546.28; and the two empty lots were picked up by Pierre Heafey (3) for $200,100 in the foreclosure auction.

Just nine months later, Pierre Heafey sold the property to Gino Falsetto (4) with a quitclaim deed for $215,800. Please note, it’s now a different company that owns the property. Is it to fool the creditor, the bank that handed Gino $700,000 and got back $200,100? Does the IRS not tax such windfall profits? Perhaps they don’t know what’s happening here.

That reads like a real estate scam to me, but what do I know? I am new to the world of high finance where all these sleazebags do business. Maybe there’s a legitimate way for Gino Falsetto to default on a property, yet still wind up owning it. But I doubt it.

Remember: This is the man that has effective control over the E.W.F. Stirrup House, the two vacant lots across the street, the Coconut Grove Playhouse, the Taurus Bar, Calamari’s, the Grove Gardens Residence Condominiums and, quite possibly, Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff. In fact, Gino Falsetto has managed to gain control of every property surrounding the Stirrup House, except for the Regions Bank on the corner and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn he’s got an offer to buy that as well.

But what about the rest of the inside of the house already?

Most of the changes inside the Stirrup House seemed superficial to this reporter. However, a subsequent interview with a developer disabused me of that notion. The whole reason there is a requirement for a building permit is to ensure that all demolition, not to mention renovation, conforms to Miami’s historic preservation laws. IRONY ALERT II: What’s been done inside the E.W.F. Stirrup House so far might not only contravene City of Miami by-laws, but also go against the standards established by very people gathering this Wednesday at the Charles Avenue Historic Preservation meeting, of which Gino Falsetto is listed as an “historic asset.” You can’t make this stuff up, people.

Meanwhile, all the junk cluttering the rooms seen in my previous post has been removed. Except for various doors, and a very small pile of construction materials (which might even get used if there is ever any construction), every bit of crap that had called the E.W.F. Stirrup House home has been removed. That’s progress of a sort, I guess. But it’s not a lot to show for 8 years of stewardship.

Read Part One of this two part series: The E.W.F. Stirrup House ► Before and After

All my posts on the E.W.F. Stirrup House can be found at Unpacking Coconut Grove ► A Compendium.

What follows is a small gallery of pics, all taken on February 22nd. They can be compared at your leisure to those taken last August. How much history has been destroyed is anybody’s guess.

Modern Day Colonialism and Trolleygate

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To paraphrase Rene Margritte: This is not a trolly

At a lunch meeting yesterday with a Miami developer (who wishes to remain anonymous) I mentioned how my next blog post on Trolleygate would be called “Modern Day Colonialism.” 

I started riffing — kicking around the analogy — and compared developers building in Coconut Grove to the original 13 Colonies. Those colonies were really only business charters, set up by the British Crown/Parliament, that allowed the corporations to plunder all they saw and send the bounty back to the home country. Simply replace “Crown/Parliament” with “Miami City Commission” — and “colonial charters” with “building permits” awarded the Modern Day Colonists™ — and the analogy is complete. Once Marc Sarnoff [allegedly] greases the wheels for them, rapacious developers are free to plunder the rich cultural heritage of West Coconut Grove, aka Black Coconut Grove.

By the time I was done riffing I had the rough outline of my next Trolleygate post in my head. Then I came home and read a Letter to the Editor from Carlos Medina on the Miami Herald website that said what I was going to say a whole lot better and in far fewer words:

Miami, Gables practice ‘brick-and-mortar’ racism
 
I have been invested in the Coconut Grove community for 20 years, as a volunteer, an employee of a business there and a concerned citizen. Moving Coral Gables’ trolley-bus repair depot to the West Grove is an action steeped in historical injustice. Once again, this pleasant community is being treated unjustly, with condescension and with a sense of privileged charity by those in power, whether they are business people or politicians. 

What I saw and heard at a recent meeting run by city of Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff was appalling. Sarnoff is on the wrong side of this issue, as are the phantom Coral Gables politicians who sent their lawyer but skipped this important meeting, which was overwhelmingly attended by West Grove residents. Sarnoff’s presentation was self-serving and insulting, publicizing the names of those in need who he so selflessly helped throughout his career. 

This is a racial issue of the first order. It is a replay of the playbook from the ’50s and ’60’s used by people with political and economic power to place their ‘inconvenient’ highways, stadiums, garages, depots, hospitals and prisons in the less powerful neighborhoods. Then they would cite “property rights” to sugarcoat such unseemly actions and the sprinkling of “benefits” already bestowed upon the “ungrateful” neighborhood. 

That is why Sarnoff’s presentation was so demeaning to our local democracy. He defended Coral Gables, with people who do not vote for him; there was the glaring absence of any Coral Gables politician and a “master knows best” attitude vividly on display. I was moved by the large presence of residents and by the many volunteers who are working like mad, on various fronts, to put a stop to this miscarriage of justice. 

I suggest that the West Grove community contact Al Sharpton and Bishop Victor Curry, of Miami’s New Birth Baptist Church Cathedral of Faith International, who sits on the board of Sharpton’s National Action Network. Jesse Jackson should also be informed. If necessary, I am willing to donate funds, time and heart to help make this possible. 

The glaring light of the media that their presence attracts will expose what is going on in Miami. The West Grove is a living witness and survivor of brick-and-mortar racism. 

Let the City Beautiful build its oh-so-perfect repair depot within its own boundaries. Let the West Grove residents have some peace. And let Commissioner Sarnoff, who has done many wonderful things for Miami, get back on the right side of this issue and use his talent to protect and preserve the neighborhood of those who voted for him. 

Carlos Medina, Miami

Mr. Medina hit the nail on the head. I have been doing research into Marc Sarnoff’s interaction with his Black constituents. It’s not good. “Some people say” he shows a fear of Blacks, citing the size of the entourage he took with him to campaign for office in the West Grove. Apparently Sarnoff would send someone to the door of the house, while he waited on the sidewalk until he knew whether it was safe to approach.

I was at the same meeting Mr. Medina attended and thought I detected a threat from Sarnoff during his presentation. While reading between the lines, it sounded like told the West Grove residents if the neighbourhood didn’t play along with the Coral Gables diesel bus garage being plopped into West Grove, the community would not only lose the $200,000 renovation to a football field, but West Grove might also lose his backing for the current urban renewal projects awaiting City of Miami approval. Was that really what I heard? Nah! It couldn’t be. It was far too naked a threat to be real.

As the newbie to Coconut Grove politics I asked someone who has years of experience dealing with Sarnoff, “Did I see a subtle threat?” The emailed reply:

It was a threat. That’s his standard MO. I call it the Sarnoff Dance. It has three steps, Ingratiate, Intimidate, and Attack. There are three steps to his dealing with anyone he considers a potential threat. First, he strokes their ego, makes them feel like they are his friend, includes them in something to make them feel special. That’s enough for him to get most people on his side. If that doesn’t work, he does them a favor, often something they really need and that may not be quite kosher, to get them in line or shut them up. Like arranging for the football field payoff. If that doesn’t work, he resorts to veiled threats, like you saw at the meeting. Finally, if he still doesn’t get what he wants, he attacks. Like I said, economic terrorist.

When I mentioned how Sarnoff struck me as being extremely uncomfortable talking to the Black community and there seemed to be a large police presence in the room, I got the following reply:

Half of the uniformed officers assigned to the Grove were at the back of the Commission Chambers during the Town Hall Meeting. Don’t think that was a normal thing. I have never seen more than one uniformed officer there, even for the most controversial items. He was extremely uncomfortable, and that is what you were seeing. He usually comes across as very polished and well spoken […]

So far no one is willing to go on the record to allege racism on the part of Marc D. Sarnoff. However, I have been given several promising tips. Eventually someone will go on the record and when they do, I’ll publish it here. Just a reminder: I now have a Marc D. Sarnoff tip line. Feel free to contribute information. All tips remain confidential.

The E.W.F. Stirrup House ► Before and After

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Meeting announcement
Click to enlarge

It probably has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the next Charles Avenue Historic Preservation meeting is this Wednesday, but there were big doings afoot at the E.W.F. Stirrup House yesterday.

The meeting announcement (left) lists rapacious developer Gino Falsetto under the rubric “Historic Assets.” Presumably that means the 120-year old E.W.F. Stirrup House, which his Aries Development controls through a 50-year lease. Falsetto claims he wants to preserve and renovate the house, turning it into a Bed and Breakfast. If that were truly the case, why has he been allowing it to undergo Demolition by Neglect for the better part of a decade? Why wouldn’t Falsetto do the bare minimum to protect his asset by — at the very least — sealing the windows to keep out the weather? Wood, water, and Florida humidity don’t mix very well and Gino’s given them 8 years to work their moldy magic on this architectural gem.

However, lo and behold: Yesterday a crew was cleaning up the Stirrup property by removing the vines and bushes that had grown all over the back of the house. This blog has documented how the property becomes an unruly garbage dump between citations from the City of Miami. The property is always cleaned up before fines are levied. Then it’s allowed to slowly fall into disarray until the next city inspector posts a citation on the property about all the garbage, weeds, and graffiti. Despite occasional landscaping, the vast Westerfield Archives has several year’s worth of pictures that prove these bushes and vines have never been cleared away. This was not just another minor clean-up.

Could it be that Gino Falsetto realized that eyes would be on the E.W.F. Stirrup House again this week because of the Charles Avenue Historic Preservation meeting? After 8 years of inactivity, is it possible that Falsetto wants to be able to say at Wednesday’s meeting “Things are happening,” only to let it slid into disarray until the next time it gets cleaned up?

[Continued after the jump.]

BEFORE – September 14, 2012
AFTER – February 22, 2013

You can clearly see the damage of vines having 8 years to work their way into the structure and what happens when they are finally ripped out indiscriminately. [Above]

Before – July 17, 2012
After – February 22, 2013

However, that’s just the property. This clean-up is primarily superficial, except for the new scars left on the structure from the brutal landscaping job. Sadly, the E.W.F. Stirrup House, the object of my affection, continues to rot away. To be fair: There has been some very minor work inside the house, which will be the subject of an upcoming post.

Continue to Part Two: Inside The E.W.F. Stirrup House ► Before and After 

For more on the E.W.F. Stirrup House, please read my continuing series:

Through The Gates Of Trolleygate

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On Oak Avenue looking south towards Frow Avenue.

Yesterday I popped over to the construction site for the Coral Gables diesel bus maintenance garage, which is being foisted upon the residents of West Grove, to see how far along it’s come since my last visit.

Noticing the gate was open, that’s where I stood to take a series of pictures. Within a a few seconds a workman noticed me. He shouted to a foreman and gestured my way. The foreman started walking over, yelling at me in Spanish. When the message is “Get the fuck out of here” I don’t need a translation. However, I stood my ground and continued to take pictures, but responded “No habla Español,”* which I find amusing for its internal contradiction.

“You have to leave! You can’t stand there!”

“Yes I can. Draw a line between those gate posts. I am outside the line on the public sidewalk. You can’t order me to leave.”

As he closed the gate on my face instead, I asked him what he was afraid of. “I’m not afraid of anything,” was his reply as he locked me outside the gate. That just forced me to take pictures over the top of the fence, just like I have done every other time I visited.

Hey, I didn’t just fall off the diesel bus.

The gentleman on the left is the foreman who yelled at me.

In the pic above you can also see what will be the diesel bus entrances, which are located behind the structure. The gates (where I stood to take the pictures) will be approximately 200 feet west of the main street, Douglas, on residential streets. This will necessitate the diesel buses driving in and out on Oak and Frow Avenues. Whenever I visit this corner I see pedestrians — mostly children — all over the place, walking up and down these streets.

Frow and Douglas is a busy little corner with a lot of foot traffic, again a lot of children. The corner also serves as a convenient meeting place, and there always seems to be a few people standing around and talking. Diesel buses driving in and out will do little to enhance the neighbourhood.

As West Grove waits for the court to rule on its lawsuit, you can help by signing the Change.org petition.

Read more about Trolleygate here.

* This should not be construed as a slight against Spanish-speaking people. In this sitch-eee-ay-shun I am the dumb one. I only know one language. Besides, Spanish was spoken in this territory long before English-speakers arrived..

Launching The Official Marc D. Sarnoff Tip Line

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Sarnoff preparing his troops for the Trolleygate Town Hall.

I might as well make it official. So many people have come forward to give me tips about City of Miami Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff on DEEP BACKGROUND, that I now have enough investigative leads to last me a lifetime, provided I die by Presidents’ Day. 

It’s clear that people in Miami are eager to unload what they know about Sarnoff and Miami corruption to anyone who will listen. To my regret the tips are coming from people who would prefer to remain OFF THE RECORD, which indicates a fear of Sarnoff among those who know him best. On the other hand, the tips themselves are not off the record. Consequently, I am free to chase them down to see how much truth they contain. I’ve learned through my many years as a writer that it can be a bit like hard rock mining. Some tips won’t pan out, but others will contain valuable nuggets of information. The most recent tip sounds like it might contain pay dirt, but until I run it through the dredger I won’t know how valuable it really is.

In case this latest tip is nothing but Fool’s Gold, I’m launching an Official Marc D. Sarnoff Tip Line. Feel free to tell me what you know. Feel free to tell me what you merely suspect. I won’t print your name if you ask for anonyimity. In fact, I won’t print anything about anything unless — or until — I can confirm it myself. That’s just how I roll.

You can contact me via email, rattle my cage at facebook, or drop a comment below.

I’m most interested in Sarnoff Sightings. If you catch Mark D. Sarnoff out and about, take a picture and send it to me. Especially if he’s having another one of those meetings with a developer to map out how to slip something past his constituents.

The Mark Koldys-Johnny Dollar Comment of the Day

, , , , ,
Johnny Dollar, aka Mark Koldys,
when even his mother loved him.

Aunty Em’s spies are everywhere. Paid informants told me Greyhammy was tweeting about me again. Curiosity got the best of me. Hilarity ensues.

A reminder: Greyhammy is the miserable miscreant who pinched out the excremental turd that prompted me to write “Johnny Dollar Has Proven Himself To Be A Very Dangerous Person,” the post that launched this blog. Greyhammy had the bowel movement, but it took a real walking piece of shit named Johnny Dollar — aka Mark Koldys — to determine it was worth publishing online.

Mark Koldy as he was entering his Liberace
phase. The sparkly suit is still to come.


Johnny Dollar‘s rubric is CABLE NEWS TRUTH, but Greyhammy’s post had nothing to do with truth, or cable news for that matter. It was a nakedly blatant attempt to kill the messenger because Johnny Dollar has never liked the NewsHound message. Since I was NewsHounds’ most prolific writer, Johnny Dollar made the executive decision that in order to defend Fox “News” he had to destroy me. Nothing else explains why he would reveal my nom de plume (which was not a secret in the first place as hundreds of people knew it) along with outing my sex life. Happens every day in the Marketplace of Ideas, right?

So, when I heard Grayhammy and Johnny Dollar were at it again I have to admit to being curious, the same way one rubbernecks at a traffic accident. Greyhammy’s blocked me on Twitter like the fucking little coward he is, but that doesn’t stop him from tweeting about me. Nor does it stop me from seeing his pile of manure, so I really wonder what’s the point. No matter. This is what Greyhammy’s live Twitter feed looks like:

It took a while to figure out how I managed to come up in conversation (even if they didn’t use my name). It appears to have begun at 4:05PM February 9th with a tweet by Greyhammy:

However, I never called Paul Krugman a partisan hack. Therefore, Greyhammy is lying again. Or, and this is far more likely, he’s mixed me up with someone else AGAIN!!! Remember when the denizens of Johnny Dollar‘s sewer thought I was Jonathan? Remember when they thought I was Patrick? Remember when they thought I was Ferris? I can’t even remember all the various people they have accused me of being.

Johnny Dollar and his brain-dead sycophants come up with a Conspiracy Theory first and then work backwards to compile all the evidence they need to convince themselves of something that is simply not true. Yet, despite there being no truth to Greyhammy’s tweet, that was enough for him and Johnny Dollar to kick it around for over an hour and a half, concluding with:

Only a moron would believe Greyhammy. Step right up Mark Koldys. I challenge Mark Koldys, or his bum-licker Greyhammy, to prove I said Paul Krugman was a partisan hack. If either of them can prove this I will donate $5 million dollars to the non-profit Donald Trump Toupee Fund For Men.

Otherwise, they have just proven themselves to be fucking liars again. Here’s an oldie but goody from the Johnny Dollar archives:

Even a quack like Dr. Ablow would recognize this projection on the part of Mark Koldys, who has only one tactic to attack NewsHound writers. Don’t take my word for it. The evidence is all over his web site, for those with a strong enough stomach. I’m sure Dr. Ablow would concur with my lay diagnosis: Johnny Dollar is clearly a psychopath.

If you’re on facebook, don’t forget to join The Johnny Dollar Depreciation Society. It’s Dollarishious. And, to my Confidential Informant, the cheque is in the mail. Keep those cards and letters coming in.