Commission agrees to Village Council election request

The City Commission agreed today to place the Cocoanut Grove Village Council elections on the November 3 ballot, which includes the Mayoral election. The Village Council had requested this option from the city and still has the option of backing out.

There may be costs involved that the Village Council may not wish to incur, but it makes sense to do it this way because more people will vote when it's lumped in with the major elections.

Sleep Village to be set up on Bed Race day

The Bed Race committee met yesterday afternoon at The Bookstore, here is part of the group.

Something interesting was discussed. It appears that the post office is opening it's grounds on the day of the Great Grove Bed Race (Sunday, September 6), where a "Sleep Village" will be set up.

The village will consist of tents and bed-related things, run by the University of Miami's Sleep Center.

Sleep docs will be there to give out free advice to those with insomnia, etc. The Bookstore will have sleep-related books for sale, acupuncture professionals will be on hand as well as a mattress company, folks who deal with homeopathic meds and so on -- all bed and sleep related.

The Grove is attracting many popular meetups

The Miami Finance Forum met last night at Angelo and Maxie's. It was a well attended event for Miami's financial community.

It's nice to see the Grove is attracting the techies with Refresh Miami, BarCamp and Mobile Monday and also the Miami financial people. The Grove is a hidden gem, perfect for seminars and meetings and a lot of people are finally finding that out.

Is the Miami Parking Authority double dipping?

The Miami Parking Authority (MPA) is now charging tour buses to park in the bus loading zones! The International Society of Glass Beadmakers convention is in town and is expected to bring 500 guests to the Grove on Friday night. The buses are only dropping off and picking up in the allotted spots. But since the buses only get to stop at the spots in the day and the group is coming at night, the MPA is charging them $10 per spot (4 spots) plus a $20 administration fee. Talk about nonsense and overkill. It's summer, we need toursits, what is this crap?

The tour company is not amused, neither are the bead people, who are picking up the extra cost. They feel that the Grove does not want tourism and they are considering finding another location in the future. I was told this personally.

They spent all day today trying to make accommodations. Sheila, who owns the bus company, says that in the past, guests who were being shuttled in and out of the Mayfair Hotel were regaled to the bus spots down the hill at Peacock Park, near the NET office. They had to run back and forth in the rain to get to and from the buses. This is Sheila measuring the spots she has to pay for. Of course you see the MPA car parked free at the one spot. At least they are in the street this time and not on the sidewalk.

They do not want problems on Friday. They don't need to be harassed while the convention people are exiting the buses. Can anyone remember the Pow Wow just a few short months ago? Remember the rain? Guests are guests. Why can't we treat them as so.

Does this greedy behavior on the part of the MPA have to do with the $5 million that was squandered away last year on a toxic bond deal that the Parking Authority lost their shirt on? It seems that rather than admit the loss and call it a day, they feel that screwing the public is the way to recoup the money. Why not just fire the dolt who squandered the money, admit defeat and be decent human beings for a change? Is that asking too much?

The altercation this morning has affected the Grove's relationship with the International Society of Glass Beadmakers.

Sheila, the tour operator says these are VIP's and they want to be treated like that. They want to be dropped off in front of the gallery and treated with respect. If this is not the case, they will not be back to the Grove. This comes from the local tour operator, not the convention people. The tour company will not be gouged in order to bring people to the Grove. It's easier to bypass us than go to the MPA and spend the day there. This may be why we don't have much convention traffic in the Grove; lack of access and too much red tape.

Mobile Monday's next event is at DoubleTree Hotel

The Refresh Miami group is meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel on Wednesday, July 29 and now there is another tech event in August at the DoubleTree, too.


Join mobile professionals in South Florida for the August meetup of MobileMonday Miami, kindly hosted this month at the DoubleTree Hotel in Coconut Grove.

Space is limited to the first 75 who register at EventBrite here.

Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Time: 6:30-9:00 pm
Location: Doubletree Hotel Coconut Grove, 2649 South Bayshore Drive
Program:6:30 pm: Doors open
7:00 p.m: Introduction & Panel: "The Battle of the Smartphones!"

Featuring MoMo Miami members in a panel discussion on the comparative advantages of the iPhone, Palm Pre, Nokia S60, Blackberry and Motorola smartphone platforms for developers and users of software applications and services (panelists TBA).

Art on the move

Tyla Smith Galleries has a mobile art gallery that moves around from week to week. 20% of all sales is donated to charity. This weekend, From Friday July 24 through Sunday, July 26, the mobile gallery will be at CocoWalk on the first floor. They are setting up this week. Look for it this weekend!