Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Pizza making classes are back at Spartico

Get to know the secrets behind nationally recognized Spartico at Mayfair Hotel & Spa (3000 Florida Avenue) with a personal pizza making class with Chef Jonathan Eismann. Guests will be greeted with their own Spartico apron and learn the tricks of the trade at the new phenomenal Italian trattoria, gaining access to an Ambrogi wood-burning oven, seasonally harvested grains and an award-winning chef’s personal instruction.

The next three classes are Saturdays, June 4, 11, and 18th at 12:30 pm.

What to expect:
Four-course meal each including a glass of wine and pizza made with your own hand Spartico apron gift; Pizza making class for adults $50 and children $35 including tax and gratuity.

Reservations are required, please call 305-779-5100.

Are the food trucks losing their luster?

I'm finding it interesting that with all the hubbub over the gourmet food trucks and it seems that they sort of are running their course.

They seem to still be popular, but they are getting old hat to some who have already had their fill and they are either assimilating or the novelty is wearing off.

I finally hit a bad one, too. There's one that will remain nameless, but I visited the truck one day at Grove Harbour and ordered and the food was not only terrible, but it was way over priced for what was served. I won't be going back to that truck, and the guy who owned the truck was telling the customers there that he has the same rules and regulations that restaurants have, but of course he doesn't. He may have to pay some licenses and deal with food regulations, but there is no way the trucks have to deal with all the costs and regulations that restaurants do.

But it wasn't what he was saying that turned me off, his terrible food and exorbitant prices is what did it.

Some of the Sony and Crispin-Porter people tell me that they stopped going to the trucks that show up weekly, also because of price. It seems that local restaurants are catching on and offering more food for less money.

So in the end, as is the case with most things, the market evens itself out and it's survival of the fittest. If only the oil companies worked like that and gas prices would go down to a reasonable market price.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Savouring perfection; a celebration of Belgian flavor

The Grove Spot (3324 Virginia) has a wine and food pairing coming up on Monday, June 6.

A three course culinary food pairing will feature Belgian beer brands.

Grove Spot Ale will be served with Grove Spot hors d'oeuvres.

Hoegaarden will be served with Belgium Endive & Crab Cocktail, seasoned with grapefruit parts and Hoegaarden infused dressing.

Stella Artois will be served wtih Sliced Peppercorn encrusted roasted Filet de Boeuf, Escorted with Choux de Bruxelles covered with warm Pennsylvania Dutch Bacon dressing and Potatoes au Gratin.

Leffe Blonde will be served with House made Dutch Apple Tart, crusted with Pecan Nuts, Vanilla Bean flavored ice cream and warm caramel.

The reception is at 7 pm, the dinner starts at 7:30 pm.

There are only a couple of seats left, the cost is $45 per person, to reserve, please call 305-774-6696.

New exhibits planned for summertime Gallery Walk

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The Gallery Walk is back next Saturday, June 4 from 7 to 10 pm.

Galleries all over Coconut Grove will feature new exhibits and offer refreshments. Something new this month is Violins and Visions, where many artists will paint live to the live music of world class violinist Orlando Forte. Details on that here.

The Coconut Grove Arts Festival Gallery’s opening reception of “ART-I-TECTURE” by Danish born designer and painter Hans Petersen will be a special event that night.. Based on architectural ideas and elements rooted in the Cobra movement, Petersen’s large-scale, colorful abstract expressionistic works will provide the viewer with both impact and pleasure.

Next door inside its Gallery II location at the Mayfair Atrium, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival Gallery will continue to exhibit “New Work,” a collection by master abstract artist George Bethea. Known for his sensuous, colorful and textured paintings, Bethea has also recently been announced as the gallery’s inaugural artist in residence.

“What Matters Most” premiers at the RodezArt.com Gallery at CocoWalk. Artist David Acevedo is known for constantly evolving and experimenting with numerous subjects and media. This collection of paintings explores a recent self-imposed remedy to these ever-changing expressions. With Acevedo returning back-to-basics, the simplicity of the work urges viewers to evaluate What Matters Most in their own lives.

GroveHouse Artists will feature the collection “Water Works” by Audrey Scott. Audrey, a recognized Coconut Grove artist, was named the first place winner in 2009 at the GroveHouse photographic exhibition, Great Grove Shoot Out. The GroveHouse is at the Mayfair Promenade where the Art Stroll takes over the area with music, food, dance and lots of art.

On the other side of the Grove’s business district, and inside the Cristina Chacon Gallery (3162 Commodore Plaza), is simply “Greatness.” As a fitting title for the gallery’s newest collection, the works of award-winning photographer and mixed media artist, Claudia Calle, will be exhibited for the first time. Calle’s unique vision of elephants will be revealed through a compilation of photographs taken while traveling throughout Thailand. Cristina Chacon Gallery will also be displaying the work of Julio Nieto. The artist’s metal skin sculptures have been exhibited worldwide, including Madrid, France, Germany and the Canary Islands.

Also on Commodore Plaza and just a few doors down, FrameWorks Studio compliments greatness with “Beauty.” This month’s featured artist, Marcelo Holzinger, expresses himself and the world around him through acrylic and a canvas base, portraying what inspires and fuels his creativity.

Other galleries featured in the Walk include ArtWay 66, AC Fine Art and Max in the Grove. Each invoking a unique style and personality to the Walk, ArtWay 66 portrays the classic bohemian lifestyle associated with the Grove combined with a modern artist’s philosophy, while AC Fine Art located inside Grove Retrospective Gallery specializes in contemporary, pop and surreal genres. Max in the Grove brings fine art to the public eye with works from masters like Peter Max to Steve Kaufman.

Lots of Geminis running around the Grove!

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Today is Gigi's birthday! Happy Birthday, Gigi! Here she is with daughters Aliana and Alexsa at Aliana's 8th grade graduation last week at St. Hugh's.

This past week or so, there have been so many friends with Gemini birthdays. It started with me on the 21st, then went to AnnaMaria on the 22nd (my cousin Beth, too, that day) and every day of the week it was someone else -- Monique and Joe, my cousin Matthew, and yesterday was Louis Del Borrello's birthday, the Grove Ambassador!

AnnaMaria used to have a Gemini birthday at the gallery every year. One year, after an event, a bunch of us lined up in the order of the day of our birthday, there must have been about 25 of us, just randomly in the gallery that night.

Lots of crazy Gemini's out there!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Dunk tank for charity at Hooters CocoWalk today

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Today, May 29, until 6 pm, Hooters has a dunk tank set up at CocoWalk, on the ground floor in front of Maui Nix. For $2 a shot, you can try to dunk pretty Dalia Echevarria, shown here with Danny Estevez. The money all goes to the Kelly Jo Breast Cancer Research Grant.

Kelly Jo Dowd, shown in the inset below, was a Hooters girl, who made it up the Hooters ranks to management at the Palm Harbor location. Kelly Jo was the 1995 Hooters Calendar cover girl.

In 2002, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she spent the next five years battling the disease. Through the struggle, she was courageous and selfless, becoming an advocate for early detection.

The story received national attention and for the past two years, Hooters restaurants across the country have been raising money for the grant. This year, each restaurant is trying to meet the goal of raising $1000. You can help today. You don't even have to dunk Dalia, you can just stop by and leave a donation.


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Let's help out the lost, frustrated tourists

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You know what would be cool? An actual map or two or three around Coconut Grove that would tell tourists where things are. These lost tourists on Florida Avenue were looking at Mayfair's map on the wall, which only indicated where things are at the Mayfair. They also had a large fold out map of Coconut Grove, but that didn't give them the info they needed either.

I asked them if I could help. They were looking for places to eat. I pointed them to CocoWok, The Grove Spot and CocoWalk right down the block and then told them about all the places on Commodore Plaza and up and down Main Highway.


We need maps in the Grove that show tourists where the things are that they are looking for. Almost daily, people come out of the parking garage at the Mayfair complex, looking for the entrance to the Mayfair Hotel. Only they end up walking away from it, toward Mary Street. I'm sure there are many frustrated visitors simply because we don't have proper maps around the Grove.

While it's true that the Grove is only a few blocks long, it seems that most tourists need to be lead to their destinations even within those few blocks.


I've talked about the M*A*S*H signs many times. You know the signs that would simply point in different directions and say "Restaurants," "Hotels," "Shopping," "Waterfront," you know, pointing to the places the tourists want to go. I think this would work.

Miami Bicycle Summit to be held at Grove Spot

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The Miami Bicycle Summit is being held at The Grove Spot (3324 Virginia Street) on Thursday, June 2 from 5:30 to 9:30 pm.

City of Miami Bicycle Initiatives will be hosting the event. The goal is to reach out to the cycling community and provide information on what has been going on, what is planned, and to get see what the community would like to have in regards to bicycling in our city.

Staff from the Florida Department of Transportation, the City of Miami, Miami Dade County Public Works, Metropolitan Planning Organization, and Miami Beach will speak about recent developments in bicycle transportation, and listen and answer questions from the community regarding improving bicycling.

For more info, please call Colin Worth at 305-416-1022 or email
cworth@miamigov.com.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Our favorite thing of the week

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This pizza-shaped pizza book we found at The Bookstore is out favorite thing this week. The pizza-shaped book is a pizza cookbook. It reminds us of the coffee table book that Kramer designed on Seinfeld, that actually became a coffee table.

Comm. Sarnoff kicks-off campaign with champagne

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District 2 Commissioner Marc Sarnoff had a kick-off party at Greenstreets on Wednesday night. Neighbors showed up to mix and mingle. Above is Sarnoff, center, being introduced by Monty Trainer as Miami Commissioner Francis Suares of District 4, claps and looks on.

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Distrcit 1 Commissioner Willy Gort; Commissioner Francis Suarez with his wife Gloria.

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Guests enjoyed the drinks and hors d'oeuvres. From left, Giani Taloni, Hope Mohr, Lori Mohr, John Fitzgerald, Robert Loupo.

Memorial Day Specials in Coconut Grove

Silverado is offering 15% off all jewelery over $65 and also 20% off all siver or gold buckles including vintage concho belts for their Memorial Day Weekend special. This offer is good through June 1, 2011.

Silverado is located at 3092 Fuller Street, you may call them at 305-744-2447.




Kiki Hamann Canine Couture is now open on the 2nd level of CocoWalk. For one day only, Monday May 30, 2011, bring your pooch to Kiki Hamann Canine Couture for a free pampering session!
*Please tip for service on these free pampering sessions.


Monday, May 30, 2011, Military Personnel, Police Officers and Firefighters, celebrate at Central Beer Garden on the 4th level of CocoWalk with a free drink for your service! Also, enjoy $2 Bud Light, 2 for 1 drink specials and 20% off food with your military, police or fire ID.

Bice Bistro at CocoWalk offers a $4.25 breakfast on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Start the weekend at Friday Night Wine Tasting

Start the holiday weekend at Barry Albert's Friday Night Wine Tasting at the Sontesta Hotel (2889 McFarlane Road) up on the 8th floor at the Panorama Restaurant and Sky Lounge, out by the pool.

Featured tonight are the wines of California, Oregon, Washington, Italy and Chile. Sample ten wines as you are led by co-host Mike Greenfeld of Bulletproof Wine + Spirits.

Tonight's featured wines are:


Seven Hills Winery ~ Riesling ~ Columbia Valley, Washington State
Seven Hills Winery ~ Pinot Gris ~ Oregon
Gauthier Cellars ~ Sauvignon Blanc ~ Monterey, California
The Messenger Winery ~ "Telegram" Chardonnay ~ California
The Messenger Winery ~ Red Blend (Barbera,Grenache,Petite Syrah) ~ California
Bianchi Winery ~ Petite Syrah ~ Paso Robles, California
Yamhill Valley Vineyards ~ Estate Pinot Noir ~ McMinnville, Oregon
Morande Winery ~ "Pionero" Carmenere ~ Casablanca Valley, Chile
Stary Night Winery ~ Zindandel ~ Dry Creek, California
Geografico Winery ~ Chianti Classico-2008 ~ Tuscany, Italy

The tastings occur every Friday night from 7:00 to 9:30 pm. Cost is $15 per person, reservations are not required.

Each week, 10 wines are featured by theme, grape type, region or country of origin and includes a complimentary artisan cheese platter. Along with the Wine Tasting Series, the Panorama Restaurant & Sky Lounge offers an optional fixed price three-course dinner menu.

For info, please call Barry at 305-793-3120.

Coconut Grove Police Junior Olympics held today

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I had a ball this morning at Esther Armbrister Park for the Inaugural Coconut Grove Police Junior Olympics. Fifth graders from three Grove schools participated. They were from Frances S. Tucker Elementary, Coconut Grove Elementary and George Washington Carver Elementary.

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The kids all had a ball, too. It was very reminiscent of when I was in school, many of the adults present told me the same thing. Our local police held the event and they did a first class job and they were all so proud to be there. So many of them were present including Chief of Police Miguel Exposito and our local Commander Richard Gentry, who sponsored the whole thing, along with our own Grove beat cops.

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Officer Delrish Moss emceed the event. It started with a color guard, who marched out and led the Pledge of Allegiance and Rev. Clayton L. Hodges who came in all the way from Naples, FL to bless the proceedings with a little prayer.


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Then the games began, there was a little bit of everything from a push-up contest to a sit-up contest. The police helped out by keeping count and making sure everyone followed the rules.

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The relay race and sack race were a lot of fun, so was the tug-of-war.

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The girls raced and then the boys raced. Each school participated in each event. And in the end, each school won something -- trophies and medals. All the students did an excellent job.

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The FIU Cheerleaders added a lot of excitement, too.

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A+ Tutoring, the free county tutoring service, had a table set up, from left are Luisana Cavallo, Zoraida Villanueva and Yanellyzi Tellez. Our friend Marcelo from Focaccia, was there grilling up lots of juicy burgers, Focaccia was one of the sponsors along with Dr. Abbassi in Village West, who donated the awards and the Central Beer Garden at CocoWalk donated the t-shirts.


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It was a fun event and we look forward to the next one.

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Krishna temple offers dance and yoga camp


The Hare Krishna temple (3220 Virginia Street) is offering Indian classical dance lessons every Sunday. Stop by from 5:30 to 6:30 pm and learn this ancient art. Narayani Devi Dasi is the teacher.

The temple is also offering a Summer Kids' Yoga program from June 13 to August 14. Kids can learn not only yoga, but make hand crafted items, hear music, garden, particiapte in cooking classes, enjoy sports, games and Indian classical dance.


For info on both events, please call 305-244-7634.

YPOL holds social at The Burgundy Room

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The Young Professionals of the Lighthouse (YPOL) held their second social of 2011 last week. More than 50 young professionals gathered to enjoy an evening of appetizers and wine provided by The Burgundy Room at CocoWalk. Above from left: Matt Caglianone of The Burgundy Room, Kent Benedict Co-Chair of YPOL, Karen Aronowitz President of UTD and Virginia Jacko President Miami Lighthouse.

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Isabel Chica, Dr. Suzanne Diamond and Krizia Perez enjoyed the social where YPOL co-chairs Kent Benedict and Bert Gonzalez, Jr. welcomed attendees to the event and thanked United Teachers of Dade for their generosity in sponsoring the event. Guests heard from Virginia Jacko, President Miami Lighthouse, Karen Aronowitz, President United Teachers of Dade and Linda Weiss Rose, Department Chair Programs for the Visually Impaired MDPS, who spoke about Miami Lighthouse’s collaboration with Miami-Dade Public Schools Programs for the Visually Impaired.

At the end of the night a few lucky winners of the business card raffle were awarded with a dinner for two gift certificate to Fogo de Chao and a one year membership to Normandy Gym.

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Michael Jimenez, Kent Benedict and Erika Benedict.

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Cathy Simpson and Sonja Burton.

Photos courtesy of Caroline Lamarre.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Launch party for Coconut Grove Gazette

I'm excited for my friend Mary McBeth's new Coconut Grove Gazette, which is a printed sheet that will have upcoming events, the horoscope and things like that. It will be passed out around town and to the tour buses and things like that.

She's having a launch party at the Ritz-Carlton (3000 SW 27 Ave.) on June 1 from 6:30 to 9 pm.

Parking is complimentary. Select beer and wine is 20% off. It's a networker, too. There are prizes and raffles.


Stop by and say hello. I'll be there, hope you will be, too!

RSVP Mary at Mary@CoconutGroveGazette.com.

Come out to the Grove Junior Olympics on Friday

Tomorrow is that cool Grove Junior Olympics for Coconut Grove 5th graders being held at Esther Armbrister Park, at 4000 Grand Avenue. There should be a total of 135 students competing (45 from each school --Frances S. Tucker Elementary, Coconut Grove Elementary and George Washington Carver Elementary).

The event runs from 10 am to 1 pm. More details here.

Bay of Pigs forum and film at City Hall on Friday

A public forum with Bay of Pig Veterans and a film screening of the documentary "Stories from the Bay of Pigs" will take place at City Hall (3500 Pan American Drive) on Friday, May 27 starting at 6:30 pm.

"Stories From the Bay of Pigs" was produced by the Miami World Cinema Center, the city's first non-profit film studio. The film is a landmark piece because the interviews were conducted by groups of Miami high school students who were led by Momentum Miami, a group of individuals from the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Miami program.

"MWCC is excited to be part of this very special screening at Miami City Hall," said Patrick de Bokay, founder and CEO of the Miami World Cinema Center. "We are honored that a project like this, which bridges generations of Miamians linked through education, as well as the art and magic of filmmaking can be showcased and presented by Commissioner Sarnoff to the residents of our great city."


Admission and parking are free.

Sailing Club's new lease is set to go before City

The Coconut Grove Village Council will prepare a resolution approving the City's new lease agreement with the Coconut Sailing Club, which will go before the City Commission on June 9.

At last week's Village Council meeting Allyn Pruett and other members of the board of the Sailing Club explained the new lease to the council board, which ironically meets at the Sailing Club each month.

The Sailing Club has not had a lease since 2000, they are there on a month-to-month basis. They have been there since 1946. Recently many changes have been imposed at the club by the city and state. The mooring fields in the bay out back are now open to anyone who wishes to rent them. The renters do not have to be members of the Sailing Club to make use of the mooring field rental opportunity.

The new Sailing Club lease will be for five years with two five year extension options. They are required to repair the existing docks on premises and they are responsible for updating the mooring fields to make them more environmentally friendly. Also, as part of their new deal, the club is offering $10,000 in scholarships each year to needy children for summer camps and sailing instructions.

When the City's new Waterfront Master Plan starts, which could be years away, the Sailing Club will move a bit north and the current location will be turned into an open green park.

The current lease for the club is $30,000 per year or 7.5% of their profits, whichever is higher, usually the 7.5% is higher. The new lease will cost the club from $220,000 to $230,000 a year if you include the new lease of $70,000 per year plus all incentives. The club pays for all maintenance, real estate taxes and insurance.

The cost is about $250 a year for members, there is no initiation fee at the moment. There are currently about 2000 members, which is about 780 families. Members are not all Grovites. To rent out in the mooring fields, the cost is $140 per month plus $9 per foot according to the size of the boat, the second year, the cost goes down to $60 per month plus the $9 per foot fee.

Mutli- Chamber Mixer held at Mayfair Hotel

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The Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce welcomed many other chambers for a mixer last week high above the Mayfair Hotel & Spa at the pool. It was the perfect place to mix, mingle and watch the sunset.

Members from the French American Chamber, the British-American Business Council, Spain - United States Chamber, German American Business Chamber of South Florida, Colombian American Chamber and the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce came to the Grove to enjoy the networker.

Above are Jennifer Smith and Andrea Smith from Dogzar.com.
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Dave Alfonso, Rafael Serrano – Enterprise-Rent-A-Car.

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Andres Lemos, Coconut Grove Chamber Membership Consultant; Fabiola Castro; Fabulousmiami.com; David Guzikowski, Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce.

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Ruth Sequeira, Spanish American League Against Discrimination; Michael Navarro, Luis Castillo, Colombian American Chamber of Commerce.

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Josue Rios, U.S. Century Bank; Raul Garcia, MD Solutions Group.

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Assad N. Masoud, Ph. D, racharters.com; Joaquin Fermoselle, U.S. Dept. of Justice Executive Office for Immegration Review; Julian F. Montero, Montero Wolkov Attorneys At Law; Daniel J. Frank, Fowler White Burnett Attorneys At Law; Ken Drodvillo, Cruise Ship Marketing Consultant.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

AmJam is back tonight on the plaza at A&M

Last month's AmJam was an indulgence of the senses. The spectacle on display by the students at the Academy of Arts & Minds was a pure jam session at its best. The event included a fundraiser for Relay for Life and even a birthday celebration.

It kicked off with Birthday Girl and led into Amanda Cancio singing one of her original songs "I Want to be Yours." This was all followed by Ayla Rius reciting her poem "Drowned Light" accompanied by guitarist Paul Herrera, who also did a solo guitar performance to the delight of the crowd. There were even two surprise appearances by saxophonist Vanessa Gonzalez and Nina Guerrero.

The astounding thing was that Vanessa Gonzalez didn't even play her sax; instead she sang "Gravity" while Nina Guerrero sang "Speechless" with their amazing voices after which, Michael Font performed an amazing song. And guitarist, Angelo Gonzalez performed "Abyss."

Two additional special guests showed what talented students A&M will have in the future. 11 year old, Joseph Fleites, played his trumpet and 6 year old, Ana Sofia Padilla, got so inspired after hearing such great student performances, that she decided to sing a beautiful song. The impromptu is what makes the AmJam so great.

Rounding out the evening, Nic Brown performed an open freestyle rap battle with opponent Guillermo Rodriguez, who also did his own spoken word, "Writing on the Wall" that earned him the Grand Prize of $50. The night ended with the Rodiles Band, Michael, Guille and William surprising Amanda Cancio, on her 18th birthday with a Happy Birthday song that was followed by roses and a cake presentation given by her mom and dad, Alicia and Humberto.

Tonight's AmJam, May 25, is the end of the year AmJam. The performances start at 6:30 pm.

AmJam is a jam session of the arts - an open invitation to both performance and visual artists: musicians, singers, dancers, spoken word, painters, sculptors, and stand up... stand out!

For information, contact Lili Renteria, Interdisciplinary Activities Coordinator at Academy of Arts & Minds: renterialili@gmail.com.

What's cost and time schedule of street project?

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The Coconut Grove street scape project will start in late summer. The total cost including county and city streets is $3.2 million. Phase One, the city streets, will cost from $1.5 to $2 million. Most of the streets in the Center Grove are city streets. The county streets (which will be phase two of the project) are Grand Avenue, Main Highway and McFarlane Road.

Florida Avenue has 36 trees now; 11 will be replaced due to problems with them (root rot, bad placement, unhealthy, etc.), so the street will still end up with 36 trees in the end. This will be the first street to be worked on in late summer according to plans. Planners are giving the project three to four months for the work to be completed on Florida Avenue.

Commodore Plaza has 33 trees now; 18 will be removed, 20 will go in new and the total will be 35 trees at the end of the project. Sidewalks will be widened at one end to allow for better pedestrian traffic and more room for restaurant tables. Commodore will lose five parking spaces due to the project. There are 30 usable spaces now, in the end there will be 25. This part of the project will begin July or August 2012 and take five months, according to plans.

Fuller Street is a mess according to the experts. There are major root problems with the trees, they are intertwined and a mess and none of the trees can be salvaged it seems. There are 20 trees now and there will end up being 16 after the removal and replacement. As for parking spaces, Fuller Street will go from 16 parking spaces now to 13 after the project. The sidewalks will be widened to make them ADA compliant. The projected time for Fuller Street's work is three months, staring in May or June of 2012.

The three county streets (Grand, Main and McFarlane) are projected to have a start date of next summer and they are supposed to take a year or less for completion. The whole project should take 2.5 years.

Businesses are concerned about the mess, the closed streets and the long drawn out project which may affect business. They were assured by the project managers, Scott Silver of the BID and Albert Sosa, the assistant director of Capital Improvements with the City, that the work will go fast and they will work in sections, so as not to close large areas down at once. Businesses will be consulted to see what times and days would be best for the least disruption to them. In some cases work may be done just at night, or just on weekdays or weekends. Incentives may be added into the project to get the contractors to move fast and finish ahead of time.

It may be a big long mess, but in the end it should be a major improvement to the street scape. The variety of trees and the color schemes with the new bricks and widened sidewalks in some places will make Coconut Grove much more pedestrian friendly.

A Grovite makes it to Hollywood -- Florida, that is

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That's Grovite AnnaMaria Windisch-Hunt, far right, with some extras, on the set of the new movie "Rock of Ages," filming in South Florida these days. The film stars Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise. It's a funny story how AnnaMaria ended up being an extra in the movie.

The producers were looking for specific cars from the 1980s, which is the period of the movie, and AnnaMaria thought her car would fit the bill, so she sent photos to the casting person as instructed. The car was accepted. It was perfect, and just funky enough for the movie and so was AnnaMaria!


They actually cast her as an extra without really seeing her. After the car was accepted, the casting director started asking about AnnaMaria, through email, he asked her to send a photo of herself, which she did, and she was cast on the spot!

AnnaMaria has a nice way of writing, I always told her I liked her writing style and I guess that's what attracted the casting director to her personality; and she got the extra position, even though she wasn't looking for it!

So yesterday, she spent the day in Hollywood (Florida, not California) on the set of "Rock of Ages," doing her extra work.

There was also a bit of excitement, too. As this photo below was being taken, a police chase and crash was taking place up the street, everyone thought it was part of the movie, especially when one of the movie barricades was crashed into, but it was the real thing -- Hollywood, FL police in pursuit of a criminal who ended up in the crash.

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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Live, from Coconut Grove, it's CoconutGrove.com

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It was a nice surprise at the end of today's BID marketing meeting. Ivan Irias of ID Media and a couple of his staff came in with a cake that had the BID's new website, CoconutGrove.com's image on it. But the real surprise is that right on the spot, Ivan made it go live (the website, not the cake). Above, Ivan shows the cake to Marshall Steingold, Naomi Evans and Lilia Garcia.

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As other cakes and refreshments were brought out, Ivan and Andres Guzman (with the camera) and Stanley Prato, went next door to the Arts Festival Gallery to put the Grove website online live. Andres chronicled it all with his camera.

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Back next door, at the BID office, the party started and everyone cheered as the new site came up live on computers and iPads in the office. So check it out -- www.CoconutGrove.com.

Earlier in the BID meeting, David Collins, BID director said something about the site going live next month and everyone sighed, not realizing he knew about the surprise coming up at the end of the meeting. It was a long time coming, but it's a beautiful and informative site.

Picnic volunteers needed

My friend Rafael is putting together a picnic for the Center Grove neighbors. The get-together may be in Peacock Park, for all the new people in town to get to know each other.

A group of neighbors from the Village of Center Grove are coordinating the 2nd Village of Center Neighborhood Picnic and they need volunteers to make this event a memorable one! If interested contact Rafael at: rafael.gutierrez@projectorsonthego.com.

New music program being introduced in Grove

A new music education program is being launched at Virrick Park and the Barnyard Community Center in Village West. The project is the result of a longtime effort by Comm. Marc Sarnoff whose office helped secure private-sector funding for the program. The University of Miami will be a partner in the program.

“The Virrick Park Music Room is the culmination of many months of effort to bring a world-class music education program that will benefit the children and families of Coconut Grove and provide an opportunity for the University of Miami to give back to the community,” said Commissioner Sarnoff.

Children in the music program will have the choice of learning traditional band instruments such as saxophone, flute, clarinet, trombone, trumpet or percussion instruments. Graduate students from the UM Frost School of Music will both oversee and run the program, with undergraduate mentors assisting. Each site will start with between 10 and 15 students who will meet with their mentors twice a week.


The program will run from September 2011 to May 2012, and program students will perform concerts throughout that period as well as be visited by Frost School Chamber ensembles that will expose students to many different types of music.

Steve Guerra Jr., director of outreach for the Frost School of Music, said, “This new partnership in the Grove will provide the opportunity for students to explore the world of music. Through this program they will not only learn musical skills but life skills as well, such as teamwork, creativity, expression, and discipline. We aim to provide a high level of musical instruction while students learn that they can have fun performing, practicing, and creating.”

Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez and the staff of County Commission District 7 also participated in putting this program together.

More on the changes to the street scape

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So, as I was saying, a nice crowd showed up at City Hall last night to hear about the street scape changes. It was stressed more than once that it is a work in progress and changes can be made at this point. The project will consist of two phases. Phase one will be the City/Grove owned streets, which is basically everything in the Center Grove except for the County owned streets which are Grand Avenue, Main Highway and McFarlane Road, those will be Phase Two of the project. Lighting is part of the projects, as well, so it's hardscape and landscape improvements.

Florida Avenue, shown above (click on it for larger view), will be one of the first streets worked on. Lighting will be the first project. The first phase will start in late summer, this year.

Fuller Street, shown above (please click for larger view) is one of the problematic streets. The small sidewalks are not ADA compliant (American Disabilities Act compliant) and they need to be made wider to allow better access. Plus all the trees on Fuller seem to be diseased or have root problems and all will be replaced.

Half of this project will be underground, dealing with the planting and root systems of the trees. The health of all trees in the Center Grove, 109 in all, will be determined and those that are not in very good shape will be replaced. If the tree is deemed as being unsafe or in decline or the root or trunk is rotten, they will be replaced. In some cases, it is a technical issue that will have the trees removed or replaced such as making the sidewalk ADA compliant or moving them to allow better access.

The tree canopy will be renewed but it may take a few years after the new plantings. The best and largest trees at the time of planting will be used in each case. But of course, the trees will not provide the same shady canopy for years to come. But after Hurricane Andrew everyone felt that the canopies would never be the same and now it is as if nothing ever happened. So it's just a matter of time before the canopies will be back.

The current pavers/bricks, which are a major problem now, are too thin, and there is a lot of sand under them, causing problems. The bricks are about half an inch in depth and the sand is about three to four inches in depth, this makes it unsafe and unlevel at times. The new pavers will be much thicker and heavier (more than double the size in depth) and they will interlock with notches, also the have beveled edges. There are many colors to choose from and that is still to be determined.

Some people have suggested putting regular cement sidewalks in, but other than the pretty aesthetics the brick pavers provide, brick pavers are better because they allow air and water to get down into the tree's roots, making them more environmentally sound.

There is no irrigation system in place, so the plan is to get the heartiest trees with the lowest maintenance, trees that will last and not require much water. Ida Curtis from Curtis + Rogers, a Grove architectural landscape company, who was one of the planners and presenters last night, said that the root ball is more important than the size of the tree itself. The larger and healthier the root ball, the faster the tree will grow and the healthier it will be in the long run.

What is the timeline, cost and how many trees will be replaced? More on all that here.

BID presents new street scape plans to residents

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The BID (Business Improvement District) presented the new street scape plans at a meeting at City Hall last night. The main job is to change out the sidewalks, which will entail replacing many of the current trees. Many familiar faces were there, concerned neighbors who were interested in the plans. Scott Silver, member of the BID board hosted the evening. Ida Curtis from Curtis + Rogers Design Studio, a landscape architectural firm in the Grove, conducted a large part of the meeting and so did Albert Sosa, Assistant Director of Capital Improvements for the City.

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The sidewalks are an accident waiting to happen and even if it's not just for aesthetics, the safety issue is paramount, as I am sure the city doesn't want law suits from people tripping over the loose bricks. People trip daily on the Grove sidewalks, one friend broke a couple of bones with a severe fall and one local restaurant is currently being sued due to a fall in front of their establishment.

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Another issue is the widening of the sidewalks in some areas. This one area at the end of Main Highway at McFarlane makes it impossible for two people to walk side-by-side. You can see this couple trying to maneuver the "path," which it is at this point. This will also allow for a wider sidewalk in front of Le Bouchon, which will allow them to put tables out front.

Diagrams shown last night include these here. If you click on them, they will open larger and you'll see the details. Above is the whole Center Grove area, that will be affected by the project. It is every major street and sidewalk.

This is Commodore Plaza, again, please click on the image for a larger view. The main change here is the widening of the sidewalks on the Main Highway end. Two parking spots on each side (total of four) will be taken away on Commodore to be make wider wider sidewalks for the restaurant tables, but also to allow for more pedestrian friendly sidewalks and it will also allow people to cross the street in a safer manner. The plaza-effect is pretty nice and the restaurants, Greenstreets and Lulu's, are a main draw in Coconut Grove, so more space for them would be a good thing, too.

Trees will need to be changed out, which does concern many. But the way they are now, the roots are coming up through the bricks in search of water. There is a system called the Silva Cell, which allows for deep roots to grow underground, without disturbing the sidewalks. That may be seen in detail here. Jim Urban, one of the creators of the Silva Cell spoke at last night's meeting. He explained and showed the type of bricks that will be used, too.

Come back in a bit for more details on the plan.