Tag Archives: West Grove

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.

 

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.

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..

Is Marc D. Sarnoff Corrupt Or The Most Corrupt Miami Politician?

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His Excellency
Marc D. Sarnoff

In researching the long history of the E.W.F. Stirrup House, one name that never came up was Marc D. Sarnoff, unofficial Emperor of Coconut Grove. 

However, that changed once I started investigating the current state of Coconut Grove. The name “Marc D. Sarnoff” started cropping up with some regularity. The more I uncovered of Gino Falsetto‘s real estate deals, the more I saw the Sarnoff name. When I
started looking into the Coconut Grove Playhouse, I encountered the
Sarnoff name again. It didn’t matter where I turned, Sarnoff always
seemed to be RIGHT THERE. On one level that’s not surprising; Sarnoff is the Commissioner for Miami’s District 2, which takes in Coconut Grove. 

However, it was how his name kept coming up that intrigued the journalist in me. Whenever I read about a new development, I would read about how Marc D. Sarnoff was supporting it, often against neighbours’ objections. The Sarnoff name also came up often when interviewing people on deep background about the history of the Grove Gardens Residence Condominiums behind the E.W.F. Stirrup House in Coconut Grove. The prevailing opinion seems to be that if you are a developer, Marc Sarnoff is on your side. If you live in White Coconut Grove, Marc Sarnoff can be your best friend. If you live in Black Coconut Grove, Marc Sarnoff is the invisible man.

Nothing illustrates this better than last week’s hastily scheduled Town Hall meeting on Trolleygate. Sarnoff only called for this community meeting once the shit hit the fan, not when this diesel bus garage was still on paper. Trolleygate can be a complicated story if one gets too deeply into the weeds. However, clearing away the clutter — and narrowing the focus to a single issue — it is easier to see what’s at stake. In a nutshell:

Diesel bus disguised
as an old-tyme trolley.

On one hand: Marc Sarnoff claims Astor Development complied with all legal requirements and had every right to build a diesel bus garage in the middle of West Grove. 


On the other hand: Lawyers for West Grove say that the Miami21 Plan specifically prohibits a “government vehicle maintenance facility” along Douglas; therefore, building permits never should have been issued. 

They both can’t be right.

True to form, residents say, Sarnoff couldn’t be bothered to look for any reasons to deny a developer, even though West Grove lawyers say many exist. The courts will now sort this mess out, at a cost to all Miami taxpayers (the West Grove lawyers are working pro bono). However, Sarnoff clearly thought his time and energy would be better spent working with the developer, as opposed to the neighbourhood groups that came out against the diesel bus garage.

By his own admission: Once he decided that Astor had every right to build a diesel bus garage on Douglas, that’s when Super Sarnoff sprang into action to get the best possible deal for the neighbourhood. To that end, he claims, he convinced the developer to change the exterior of the building to give the diesel bus garage a Bahamian feel. Sarnoff also claimed that he convinced Astor to donate $200,000 to improve the football field at Armbrister Park. Sarnoff insists the developer did this because “[t]his particular developer, his wife is very charitable. He’s very charitable,” according to what he told the Miami Herald. Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that Astor Development stands to make several millions of dollars developing the current diesel bus garage property in Coral Gables.

Google Street View showing 3 of the 4 tax-paying buildings along Douglas Road (at Oak Avenue) destroyed to make way for the Coral Gables diesel bus garage, which won’t be paying taxes. Nor will the buses be picking up passengers in Black West Grove. That might allow them to get to Coral Gables, which is 98% White.

West Grove neighbours describe Sarnoff’s bad faith:

But
residents say when he encountered opposition, Sarnoff simply moved on
to another group. In April, he attended a meeting of the Coconut Grove
Ministerial Alliance and, in October, a gathering of football coaches at
Armbrister Park, according to those in attendance.

“He wanted us
to say it was a good project and we were behind it, considering they
were going to renovate the playing facility,” said Rondy Powell, a coach
at the park for 20 years. “I kind of figured when they came, it was
kind of like a back-room deal.”

An artist’s view of Bahamian-influenced diesel
bus garage on the same corner of Douglas and Oak.

If I were Marc Sarnoff’s Day Timer, I would know how much time Marc Sarnoff spent on Trolleygate, both before and after it became a controversial project. I would also know how much time Sarnoff spent negotiating with Astor Development and how much time was spent negotiating with West Grove residents. However, maybe Marc Sarnoff doesn’t put down all his meetings with developers in his Day Timer because the most often used adjective when discussing Marc D. Sarnoff appears to be “corrupt.” 


How long has Marc Sarnoff been corrupt?

That’s up for debate. According to Sarnoff’s own biography at the City of Miami web site, bad grammar and all:

In 1987 I made the big move to paradise: Miami. I settled in Coconut Grove and established my practice as an Aviation Attorney, specializing in representing passengers’ families and airline staff, and pilots, who were wrongfully killed or suffered life threatening injuries in airline crashes. In 1991 I had the honor of representing Eugene Hasenfus, the former Marine whose C123 Maulewas shot down over Nicaragua while delivering guns to the Contras. I also had the honor of representing, Kassenee Sawyer, who was the widow of the pilot in the Hasenfus plane. For those too young to know, this downing was the beginning of the Iran Contra Affair.

While I think we can all agree that even the worst criminals deserve a defense, this was not a defense. Hasenfus was suing because, after he got caught, his CIA handlers and the government cut him loose. Regardless, Sarnoff seems inordinately proud of his association with the criminal Hasenfus, who was serving a 30-year sentence before being pardoned by Nicaurguan President Daniel Ortega. I wonder why Sarnoff doesn’t mention that he lost that case. 

It might not be a good idea to put much credence in Sarnoff’s official biography. It used to be longer, but he was forced to remove the section where he claimed General David Sarnoff was his grandfather, after the real Sarnoff family said it wasn’t true. 

Then there’s the Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Dog Park and Traffic Circle

The Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Dog Park and Traffic Circle can be seen from space.

If you are one of those North Grove residents lucky enough to live near His Excellency Marc D. Sarnoff, then you will have no doubt seen your property values rise due to improvements right across the street from where he lives, and used to do business. According to recent reports the city is spending ANOTHER $190,000 on Blanche Park (that’s the name of the Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Dog Park on paper, but the dogs know who to thank). The bulk of this cost is to replace the grass with astroturf. Back in my day dogs shit on the grass and liked it.

The Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Dog Park
Photo by author Feb 6, 2013

How was Marc Sarnoff able to take a small park dedicated entirely to children and turn 2/3rds of it over to dogs? No one is quite sure because all the formalities seem to have not been followed. The same way that no one is quite sure how The Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Traffic Circle circle came to be located in the middle of the intersection of Shipping Avenue and Virginia Street, right next to the Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Dog Park. When you’re the Emperor of Coconut Grove good things drop into your neighbourhood, just like a real life version of Sim City. This will be the third time good money has been thrown after bad; Blanche Park appears to undergo regular upgrades. 

Illegal offices and bar closing hours

The Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Dog Park
Feb 6, 2013

To be fair: it’s just within the realm of possibility, of course, that Sarnoff’s corner really needed a traffic circle. Any increased traffic, however, might have been due to Sarnoff’s illegal law office, located right next to his residence. And, from beginning to end, the story of the illegal law office provides another taste of Sarnoff Scandal.

That Sarnoff had an illegal law office appears to have been an open secret. While references can be found to it on blog comment threads, the home office was never reported to the City of Miami until Coconut Grove bar owner John El-Masry decided to exact a little revenge on Sarnoff. El-Masry, owner of Mr. Moe’s, was angry because Marc Sarnoff had rammed through a new law, which only affected bar closing hours in Coconut Grove. Whereas bars in the City of Miami could stay open until 5AM, suddenly all bars in “Center Grove” were forced to close at 3AM. An active nightlife in downtown Coconut Grove dried up overnight. In addition to launching a lawsuit against the city, El-Masry reported Sarnoff’s illegal law office to City of Miami staff. City of Miami staff promptly ignored the complaint, tipping off Sarnoff in the process. 

Possibly the Miami Department of Code Enforcement viewed Sarnoff as their boss and didn’t want to rattle any cages at City Hall. However, long-time-Sarnoff foe and Miami Muckraker Al Crespo wasn’t going to let the complaint go, and neither was (then) Coconut Grove Village Councilor Stephen Murray. In a letter to City Manager Carlos Migoya, dated August 31, 2010, Murray reminded the city manager of his duty:

I understand you are a public service rookie, so I’d like to take the time to explain something critical to you. Unlike in the private sector, where you have a clear-cut executive, Board of Directors, and stockholders who need to be answered to, as the City Manager you are a public servant. A public servant has one real boss – the public. You, as a public servant, took an oath to protect the residents of the City of Miami. You did not take an oath to allow yourself nor your subordinates to protect crooked politicians who believe they are above the law.

When I recently asked Stephen Murray if he would go on record for this article, Murray replied:

The only on the record thing worth saying is the following: “Commissioner Sarnoff is a scumbag corrupt piece of shit that doesn’t give two fucks about the people of the West Grove.”

It’s easy to find people who agree with that assessment, especially these days. 

Sarnoff eventually moved his illegal office and Mr. Moe’s eventually won its lawsuit against the city, which was forced to fork over $10,000 of taxpayer money to cover the costs of El-Masry’s lawsuit. Mr. Moe’s remains the only bar in “Center Grove” allowed to stay open until 5AM.

The calm before the meeting. Sarnoff preparing
to meet with the community on Trolleygate.

Dog parks. Traffic circles. Bar hours. Illegal offices. This shows how much power Commissioner Sarnoff wields in Coconut Grove, power that he’s not afraid to use openly to his own benefit. While Sarnoff controls just about everything that happens in the Grove, he claims there is no way he could have stopped the building of the Trolleygate garage.


My first Sarnoff encounter

As mentioned above, the name Marc D. Sarnoff kept popping up once I started investigating the recent history of the E.W.F. Stirrup House. According to (unconfirmed) reports Sarnoff worked closely with Aries Developers, and owner Gino Falsetto, in getting the Grove Gardens Residence Condominiums built. This apparently included meetings and accommodations by the developer to mollify neighbourhood concerns. One of those concerns was what would happen to the historic 120-year old E.W.F. Stirrup House, which would be dwarfed by the Grove Gardens Residence Condominiums. Whatever promises were made by Gino Falsetto and Aries Developers concerning the Stirrup House, to both the neighbourhood and Commissioner Sarnoff were broken. [See my ongoing series on the E.W.F. Stirrup House.]

This explains why Marc D. Sarnoff was already on the very periphery of my radar. That all changed a few weeks ago while I was interviewing a West Grove resident about the E.W.F. Stirrup House and Sarnoff’s name came up again. The resident asked, “Did you hear what he did this time?” While he described the broad outline of Trolleygate to me, the story sounded very similar to what had happened with the E.W.F. Stirrup House (Stirrupgate?): A redevelopment project is proposed, neighbours complain, Sarnoff steps in to help the developer, in the end the developer gets what it wants, the immediate neighbours get the shaft.

Trolleygate diesel bus garage; Feb. 6, 2013

I discounted this story almost immediately. While the pattern sounded familiar to what I had discovered in my E.W.F. Stirrup research — not to mention my research into the Coconut Grove Playhouse — I thought, “No one can be that nakedly stupid, can they?”

However, after a few hours of working the phones, the answer came back “YES!” Commissioner Marc Sarnoff is stupid enough to use the same tactics to, once again, help a developer and screw the neighbourhood he represents. That’s when I decided to go to the emergency Town Hall meeting, which I describe it in my previous post The Trolleygate Dog and Pony Show. However, it was only after watching Sarnoff’s performance at that meeting that I decided I needed to do some research on Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff. I fired up the Googlizer and it’s not a pretty picture. Each headline just makes you want to shake your head that Sarnoff was ever reelected.

View of Trolleygate diesel bus garage from
its closest neighbour’s backyard; Feb. 6, 2013

My favourite two headlines are Marc Sarnoff: ‘Reid Welch Called Me a Cop Cock Sucker!’ and Marc Sarnoff (Allegedly) Told Reid Welch: ‘I’ll Kill You!’ These were just two of the dozens of headlines that arose out of a bizarre incident adjacent to the Marc D. Sarnoff Memorial Dog Park, just across the street from the Sarnoff’s residence.

I’m the first to admit there are two sides to every story. One side says the Commissioner jumped into his metaphorical phone booth, changed into Super Sarnoff, and flew into action, saving a neighbour lady from imminent harm. This is countered by the actual police report and the witness statements, which tell a very different story than the one Sarnoff told. In fact, witnesses allege Sarnoff sucker-punched Reid. Francisco Alvarado, of Miami New Times, makes the undeniable point:

Call us crazy. But if two people saw Banana Republican approach someone, sucker punch him or her, and then pin our victim to the ground, chances are we’d be taking a ride down to Miami-Dade County jail. In fact, any Joe Schmo would have been arrested for assault or battery. But Marc Sarnoff is no regular citizen. He is a Miami city commissioner who has apparently gotten away with beating up his former pal and current nemesis, Reid Welch. 

Sarnoff was never charged in that incident. However, it’s almost as if the Sarnoff Beat is a full time job for Alvarado. Among other stories he’s written about Sarnoff:

Some other random headlines I discovered include some other random Sarnoff scandals:

Cast of Burn Notice. Left to right: Sharon Gless as Madeline
Westen, Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe, Jeffrey Donovan
as Michael Westen, Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne.

And, don’t even get me started on Sarnoff’s whacky intervention in the “Burn Notice” lease, which produced weeks of international headlines. The USA Network’s hit show is shot in Coconut Grove and uses the former Convention Center (where Jim Morrison whipped it out) for its production offices. The controversy that Sarnoff instigated, not the Commission, made Miami look small-time and bush league. More specifically Marc D. Sarnoff came off like an uninformed jerk. He even attempted to write the last “Burn Notice” episode. The producers were forced to explain to him, slowly I assume, that they don’t really blow shit up on tee vee when they blow shit up on tee vee. Consequently, Burn Notice wouldn’t accommodate the city and blow up the Convention Center for the show’s finale.

To his credit, Sarnoff was able to squeeze more money out of “Burn Notice.” I’m sure it felt more like extortion on the other end. Why would any other Hollywood production want to locate in Miami if this is the treatment they get? Especially since the weather is not local to Coconut Grove.

Developers Win; Miami Taxpayers Lose

Everywhere you look it appears Sarnoff is acting against the best interests of his constituents and in the best interests of developers. And, in the end, it always seems to cost Miami taxpayers money to support the developer. Take Trolleygate, f’rinstance. Miami taxpayers have already footed the bill for the environmental study produced to justify building the diesel bus garage; a study ordered after the emergency Town Hall meeting had been called. Miami taxpayers also footed the bill for the preparation of Sarnoff’s part of the Trolleygate Dog and Pony Show in which he defended himself against charges from West Grove residents that he doesn’t do anything for them. There are also the various costs associated with holding an emergency Town Hall meeting, from the many police officers who were in attendance to the several City Hall employees who seemed to be there to run the fancy slide show. The biggest expense is yet to come. Now Miami taxpayers have the privilege of paying lawyers to defend Astor Development against the lawsuit launched by West Grove residents.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff is free to befriend new developers and to create more mischief.

An Introduction to Trolleygate

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The Coral Gables “Trolley” is not. It is a bus with a diesel-powered
internal combustion engine disguised to look like a cute old-style trolley.

Anger is beginning to roil to the surface in Coconut Grove over the latest scandal involving Miami City Hall. In a nutshell: the city of Coral Gables has been allowed to plunk a polluting diesel bus garage into the middle of a West Coconut Grove residential neighbourhood attempting to rehab. While residents and businesses in Coconut Grove are used to Miami running roughshod over their interests, Trolleygate might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. 

This will be the first in what will no doubt be a continuing series as I peel back the layers of the onion of Trolleygate. To understand this scandal first one needs to understand some of the players:


• Coral Gables, a fully incorporated town [which calls itself a city] of about 47,000 people which abuts Miami on the western edge of Coconut Grove. Coral Gables has been called the “first planned community” in Florida, but that designation has also been disputed. Whether it was the first, or not, is immaterial to the reason for its creation. More about that later.

• Miami City Council. Control for everything that has ever happened in
Coconut Grove has resided with Miami City Council since annexation in 1925.

• Coconut Grove Village Council. The Coconut Grove Village Council has no power whatsoever to do anything anywhere, except to pass along recommendations to the City of Miami, which then appears to promptly ignore them.

Ironically at one time there was a real Coral Gables Trolley.
This pic is of the Colonnade Building and Coral Gables
Trolley, mid 1920′s. State of Florida Archives.

• The Coral Gables “Trolley.” The word “trolly” is a misnomer. A trolly is defined as:

1. a trolley car. 2. a pulley or truck traveling on an overhead track and serving to support and move a suspended object. 3. a grooved metallic wheel or pulley carried on the end of a pole (trolley pole)  by an electric car or locomotive, and held in contact with an overhead conductor, usually a suspended wire (trolley wire)  from which it collects the current for the propulsion of the car or locomotive. 4. any of various devices for collecting current for such a purpose, as a pantograph, or a bowlike structure (bow trolley)  sliding along an overhead wire, or a device (underground trolley) for taking current from the underground wire or conductor used by some electric railways. 5. a small truck or car operated on a track, as in a mine or factory.

Nowhere in that definition is there room for a bus with rubber tires and a diesel-powered internal combustion engine freely running on roads, not rails. That’s what the Coral Gables “Trolley” really is. Forget the word “trolley.” This is Trolleygate.

• Marc D. Sarnoff is a Coconut Grove resident, the City of Miami Commissioner for District 2, Vice-Chairman of the City of Miami Commission (which sounds so much fancier than city council) and uncrowned (and never publicly declared) Emperor of Coconut Grove. It has been said that Marc D. Sarnoff never met a developer he didn’t like (to side with and support above the wishes of the local community).

• Always last and always least: The West Grove, aka Black Coconut Grove. As much as Coconut Grove is used to being ignored by Miami City Hall — which ironically is in Coconut Grove — Black Coconut Grove is used to being ignored by everybody.

The long-abandoned Coconut Grove Playhouse.
Pic by author.

Black Coconut Grove owes its continued existence due to the foresight of E.W.F. Stirrup [a story told elsewhere on this blog at length, so I won’t go into it here]. It was his vision that gave Coconut Grove the highest Black home ownership in the country. That high percentage of Black home ownership is what prevented the city from razing the entire neighbourhood in the 1950s because unlike all the surrounding residential areas, it didn’t have internal plumbing or sewer connections. Way back in 1919, in the wake of the “Bright Plan,” the Charles Avenue neighbourhood was almost lost as well. The entire area was to be turned into a golf course. Several factors — the depression, annexation, hurricanes and the high degree of Black home ownership — put a stop to all that. However, the Bright Plan was based on a Mediterranean-style of architecture. Before the Bright Plan had been abandoned, it brought forth the Coconut Grove Theater (later Coconut Grove Playhouse, which is a whole ‘nother scandal in itself), which is why the theater is in the Mediterranean-style. [Incidentally, E.W.F. Stirrup sold the land on which the Coconut Grove Theater was built.] However, all that to explain why there has always been a Black community in Coconut Grove strong enough to resist most efforts at urban renewal.

The Mediterranean-style of architecture also appears to have influenced George Merrick, who developed Coral Gables. The prevailing architectural style in Coral Gables is Mediterranean. In what appears to be an early example of White Flight, there is strong anecdotal evidence that the founding of Coral Gables was — in and of itself — a racial statement against Coconut Grove’s Black community. The Bahamians, and other Blacks, were fully entrenched and could not be dislodged because of the high percentage of Black home ownership. Hence one could build a Coral Gables. This has been very difficult to confirm because this is not the kind of thing that is recorded in history books.

A man who has lived on Charles Avenue for all of his 73 years told this reporter what it was like for the folks of West Grove who wandered into Coral Gables back in the old days. It wouldn’t take long before you were stopped by police and asked for your “papers.” These consisted of a letter from an employer: “George works as a handyman for our estate” or “Rose is our domestic and needs to come and go as is necessary.” [Editor’s note: invented letters.]

Redlining and racism kept Blacks out of Coral Gables ever since. To this day Coral Gables is overwhelmingly White. Coral Gables own website cites the most recent demographics almost as if they are proud of it: White population: 90.76%; Black population: 2.86%. That doesn’t happen by accident. It looks even worse when compared to Miami’s population with 18.67% Black and 74.05% White residents.

Artists rendering of the diesel bus garage currently
under construction in the West Grove. Do those shutters
and that landscaping make the bus fumes go away?

What is Trolleygate?

Here’s where it gets tricky for a journalist. Recently this writer joined a few gentlemen for what I thought would be chit chat about music, which it had been the last time we were together. The mistake I made was telling these people that I wasn’t there as a journalist, so it was all off the record. I actually used those words. Who knew that it would turn into a meeting about Trolleygate? That’s where I first heard the word. Consequently, much of what I learned is off the record. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t bring you up to speed:

One recent day the residents of the West Grove woke up to find construction beginning on a diesel bus garage at Douglas and Frow in the West Grove. It turns out that Astor Development acquired the land adjacent to the current Coral Gables diesel bus garage. It made a deal with Coral Gables to knock down the garage, locating it elsewhere, and redevelop the entire site for high-end commercial and residential  properties, the last place you’d want a bus garage. Coral Gables loved the idea of new development. However, Coral Gables, oddly enough says it could find no suitable land anywhere in Coral Gables for the Coral Gables diesel bus garage. Through some kind of land deal [that still needs to be explored further] the land at Douglas and Frow — in the City of Miami, no the city of Coral Gables — was purchased and construction began before anyone knew what hit them.

The neighbourhood is pissed, to put it mildly.

Article continues below the pics . . .

The current diesel bus garage. Just put some shutters on it and add some landscaping and you’re golden.

A diesel bus pretending to be a “trolley” in a real bus garage.
Current state of the new bus garage. Residents say it appears work has accelerated along with the public outcry.
It appears as if the developer is hoping this diesel bus garage is so far gone it will be a fait accompli. Some residents appear to be willing to settle for a bus stop, at the very least. Others want it torn down, as it will change the entire character of the neighbourhood and does not conform with any of Miami’s zoning by-laws.

 
Marc D. Sarnoff made some kind of deal with somebody because nothing can happen in Coconut Grove without the imprimatur of Emperor Sarnoff the First. Sarnoff seems to have negotiated with Astor Development and Coral Gables about this project, but no one in West Grove recalls him bringing such a non-conforming building up for public consultation. The issue of building a diesel bus garage in the West Grove appears to have been passed at a Miami City Commissioner’s meeting. However, one of my off-the-record sources, who has attended hundreds of redevelopment meetings in more than one city, says approval was faster than “a hot knife through butter.” No one can remember something like this getting through Miami City Hall so quickly, without someone in the neighbourhood being aroused to public meetings. Which was probably the point to keeping it under everyone’s radar.

Meanwhile, Black Coconut Grove gets stuck with all the negatives of a
diesel bus garage from a neighbouring city. Furthermore, while it gets
the increased traffic and pollution, the residents will not even get
what is normally a benefit of a bus garage: a bus stop. Having a bus
stop might allow Black Grove to get on the bus and ride to Merrick Park,
or Miracle Mile, or any of those other swank places, including any
multimillion dollar project by developers named Astor. It reminds me of
how Robert Moses,
who built the Long Island Expressway, purposely built all the
underpasses too low to allow for buses. That’s so the ‘great unwashed’
couldn’t go to his beaches at Fire Island and Jones Beach.

There’s
not a single positive to the deal, unless Coral Gables is paying Miami
taxes on the land, but no one is alleging that yet.

According to the Miami Herald, this has awoken a paper tiger:

The Coconut Grove Village Council on Thursday joined the chorus of opposition to a new trolley-bus fueling and maintenance garage now under construction on Douglas Road in the predominantly black West Grove.

Meanwhile, West Grove residents have lined up lawyers to fight the project, and a University of Miami law professor is asking federal authorities to assist the residents with possible civil rights issues.

Message sent out by the paper tiger, which also said it only
learned about the bus garage from media reports. Grrr.

That’s not a stretch. I viewed this as a Civil Rights issue the minute I heard about it due to my 4 years of research into Coconut Grove. And, I’m not the only one: the University of Miami’s Center for Ethics and Public Service agrees with me and issued a press release:

Professor Anthony V. Alfieri, Dean’s Distinguished Scholar, Director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service, and Founder of the Historic Black Church Program, has taken up the call with residents of West Grove to try to halt the construction of large trolley garage adjoining a single-family home residential neighborhood. Professor Alfieri, with Zachary Lipshultz, a Post-Graduate Fellow with the Environmental Justice Project, and Dr. Steven Lipshultz, a Professor of Pediatrics and the George E. Batchelor Pediatric Cardiology Endowed Chair at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, have been providing those opposing the construction with valuable legal advice and raising awareness through meetings and rallies.

In their most recent salvo in an opinion piece for The Miami Herald, they point out the public health concern caused by exposure to diesel fumes from having a 12-bay garage housing the current fleet of six Coral Gables trolley cars located in a residential neighborhood and the seeming injustice of moving the garage from its present location in an industrial area in Coral Gables into a predominantly black, low-income neighborhood in the City of Miami.

They write: “The recent protests of Coconut Grove and Coral Gables homeowners in opposition to the City of Miami’s decision to approve construction of a new Coral Gables Trolley garage in the West Grove raise important public health and environmental justice concerns. For the West Grove, a predominantly black, low-income neighborhood, the protests arise against the historical backdrop of decades-long racial discrimination, municipal neglect, and Jim Crow segregation. Indeed, during the 1960s, the City of Miami operated a noxious incinerator “Old Smokey” in the West Grove closely abutting homes and schools. Now, years after Florida courts ordered the incinerator shut down as a public nuisance, the City of Miami again seeks to impose the social costs of polluting facilities on the West Grove without any concern for the public health of the community.”

Coincidentally, today’s Melissa Harris-Perry Show was making the same point. Not about Coral Gables’ dirty buses, but in her words, “the ugly, but real link between environmental and racial justice” and what we dump “we don’t dump in our backyard we dump in somebody else’s backyard […] and those are pretty predictably disempowered communities.” It’s as if she was talking about Trollygate. Watch:

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Public outcry has been such that a there is now a Stop construction of Coral Gables Trolley Garage in historic Coconut Grove petition at Change.org, which begins:

This depot will disrupt our neighborhood, lower property values, bring an industrial project into a residential area, pose a danger to our children, violate zoning codes, and undermine the healthy and prosperous development of our community.

Marc D. Sarnoff appears to be running scared. He knows he awoke a sleeping Black giant. He will never escape the accusations of Racism, but he is certainly going to try at the EMERGENCY TOWN HALL he’s called for Thursday at Miami City Hall at 5:30 P.M.

There is far more to Trolleygate than I can mention here until I get people to go on the record. However, in a last bit of synchronicity for the day: the very White city of Coral Gables is currently advertising for a Trolley [sic] Manager. I presume that Blacks are allowed to apply.