What changes do you want to see around here?

Carl Templer, the new BID Director, asked everyone on the room at the BID Marketing meeting last week to come up with a list of five things that the BID needs to do, or not do, in order to make changes and make the BID and the Grove better.

What do you think? What suggestions do you have?

People have mentioned quite a few things. One thing I have been thinking about for a long time is about moving the tour bus stop from one end of Grand to the other. What I mean is that the double decker and other buses arrive up Mary Street onto Grand Avenue, they pass a quiet, almost dead Mayfair area and stop in front of closed storefronts on Grand. It's not very appealing and not as many tourists get off as should.

As the bus continues down Grand, that is when the tourists see CocoWalk and the Bookstore and Johnny Rockets and other areas of the Grove, but it's too late, there is no other stop and the tourists are whisked off to their next stop in Coral Gables. So maybe a bus stop near the post office might be a smart idea. More people may want to exit the buses then.

I was also thinking that the BID could hire a sort of "headhunter" but for businesses. Someone who knows how to lure new stores and such to the area. That seems like the most important thing, to fill in the empty store fronts.

The PanAm museum is also always in talks, but nothing seems to get done. Putting a committee on that would be something to consider. Someone mentioned that it could be PanAm, National and Eastern Airlines all in one museum, right here in the Grove.

And of course a no brainer is to put more art and music on the streets, to add life to the streets. Fete de la Musique is coming later this month, that is something that is going to be great.

And of course the trolley thing. So many people have stopped me in the street to say we need that City of Miami trolley to come here. For those who left comments like, "You want the trolley to go up Grand Avenue?" or "You're gonna take a trolley to Target [in midtown]?" The answer is yes. I also would take it to Marlins Stadium, Wynwood for the Art Walks and other places that it goes and I am sure others would do the same in reverse, bringing them from those areas into the Grove for lunch, dinner or just a quick little trip. I think it would add life to the Grove.

So many tourists ask Louis, the Grove Ambassador, how to get to Vizcaya or the Museum of Science or other areas, that the trolley could take them. The trolley should also connect with Metrorail somewhere, like maybe at 27th Avenue, a lot of people ask about that, too.