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.
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| 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. |
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| 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:
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| Kyle Holbrook puts the final touches on the mural, a clear protective coat. |
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| 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:
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| I loaned Mikey one of my cameras for a while. He started taking portraits of everyone. |
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| Mikey got more people to pose for him than I did. |
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| Portrait by Mikey. |
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| Another portrait by Mikey. |
Where was the Coconut Grove Grapevine during all this? Perhaps he couldn't attend because he was not getting paid.
You see, I thought he ran a "community" blog for everyone in Coconut Grove, not just the people who can afford it. He covered the one by the Post Office so why not this mural.
This looks like something everyone in Coconut Grove should read about and perhaps go and see.
You'll have to ask Tom Falco about that. When he returned from his cartooning sabbatical he said he was no longer going to get involved in politics.
For that matter: I have been in contact with Falco several times over the last 4 years trying to generate interest in him helping save the E.W.F. Stirrup House. I could never get him to help, despite the high readership he had at the time. It may have had something to do with the fact that he took advertising from the restaurants in the Grove Gardens Residence Condominiums, owned by the same rapacious developer that has control of the E.W.F. Stirrup House with a 50-year lease. Oddly enough, the same developer — under a different corporate name — has foreclosed on the Coconut Grove Playhouse. And, the very same developer seems to have pulled a fast one (which looks 100% illegal to my eyes) to get control of the 2 empty lots immediately behind the Playhouse.
In other words: There's enough corruption on just that one corner to keep a community blogger busy for years. Tom Falco is simply not that guy because he relies on his blog's advertising to make a living. He'd rather do puff pieces than journalism.
While Mr. Falco is free to run his blog any way he wants, I sure wish he'd drop the misleading rubric "COCONUT GROVE'S ONLY DAILY NEWS."
Great article. Thanks for capturing the event and sharing it on your site.
– La Toya