Let's put the Glass House item to a vote

Heather Bettner, candidate for Village Council in November, whose family has been part of the Grove and involved with the Grove since 1931, has made a compelling argument for not making the Glass House in Peacock Park into a commercial venture.

She has some pretty good points:

"The glass house should remain a building for the public - the community of Coconut Grove. We should remodel it and the abandoned shuffle board court and have a community center with meeting space, education area, activities, and sports. Part of it could house a Coconut Grove Museum and cultural center.

This idea of a restaurant is so short sighted and also not very well thought through.

Let's see - I can already see the trash littered all over our lovely park. I can see the mangroves removed so the restaurant patrons can have a clear view of bay. I can see our children's skate park abolished so the restaurant can have events and catering since they can't make it selling regular fare.

It will also make a good argument for our politicians to expand on this and build out more shopping and restaurants on our waterfront area so they can make more money on taxes, parking and citations.

I have lived in the Grove since 1962 and this building has always been for the people - the community of Coconut Grove. And it will remain so in the end. But sometimes you have to fight for what you hold dear, so let the fight begin."

Heather makes a lot of sense. I can actually see all of this happening, the restaurant owners won't like the kids on the skateboard park making too much noise, so that will be gone, the mangroves are blocking the view (and the trees, that was a problem when they wanted VIP seating during 4th of July, they could not do it because the immediate trees above the veranda at the Glass House blocked the view of the sky and the waterfront, you can see that in the photo above) would a top selling restaurant be allowed to "unblock the view" in the middle of the night some time and just pay a quick fine? Business as usual?

Just some things to think about, I had been for the restaurant, but many people have opened my eyes to what could happen and what should and should not happen.

Why does the public never have a vote on anything? Why do things happen in the Grove overnight without anyone being asked to vote? When is someone going to step up and say "enough"?