Miami residents should demand open meetings on Coconut Grove development

[Liam Crotty]

Last night the City panel, tasked with hearing proposals for the redevelopment of the marina and waterfront in Coconut Grove, closed the meeting to the public and press. These proposals will affect the waterfront for the next 40 years. I sent an open letter to the Mayor regarding this which you can read here:http://www.liamcrotty.com/index.php/...lic-and-press/

What are your thoughts?
Are you surprised the City panel would close such a meeting?
Are you concerned what occurred during this private meeting?
And what about "Transparency in Politics"? Do we care about this?
Here is the Miami Herald article covering the meeting: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/1...or-marina.html

[Jess]

That is strange they would do so. Those meetings are usually open aren't they? It should be an open forum as their decisions will affect everyone living in the area for years to come.

[Gus]

Liam, thanks for bringing this to our attention. I was just reading Coconut Grove Grapevine's post about the bidding process. Tom also had some questions about how the City is handeling the bidding. It seems like they accepted some bids, after the application process had closed:

Now this is where it gets tricky, because it could just be a simple clerical error, but at the bid deadline, on Friday, June 15 at 2 pm, there were no bids on The Chart House property, there were only the five bids for the Scotty's property. Then, like magic, on Monday morning, June 18, CHLN/Landry's appeared as the lone bidder for The Chart House and also Scotty's. What transpired over the weekend and how could this bid come in late?

Now it could easily have been an error and after the closure of bids on Friday and maybe the last bid was found on the floor or something and quickly added to the roster, but it brings up questions because you would assume that it would have been the first bid because on July 8, 2009, at a Waterfront Implementation meeting, there was a discussion of a "public pier," and Jeff Cantwell, the VP of The Chart House at the time, was questioning where parking lots would go and asking about other future plans for the area. He was told that the area would all go up for bid and that parking would be part of the project. He was concerned about parking being closer to the restaurant.

This could be nothing and just coincidental, that the last bid that came in -- after bidding was closed -- was from Cantwell's company, who was asking about it back in 2009 and making plans in 2009. It begs the question: If the Chart House knew in 2009 that the lease was up in 2012 and that the area was going up for bid, why did they wait until the last minute to bid and why was their bid accepted after the closing date for bidding? Things that make you go hmmm. But then again, maybe it was just a clerical error.

http://coconutgrovegrapevine.blogspo...e-bidding.html

Is smells like something fishy is going on at the Marina, and I'm not taking about the Catch of the Day at Scotty's restaurant.

The meetings should be open to the public.

We bring our tour bus to the Grove everyday, and what the commissioners decide to do will effect our route.

[dylan]

I know that the Gables used to hold open meetings I have attended a few with my mom since she lives in the Gables. They are not he most exciting but it is good to know where your neighborhood is heading.

[Matt Meltzer]

I mean, they could hold all the open meeting in the world. They could have them in CoCo Walk on a Friday night and have free drinks. The public's input would still be completely gaffed off when it came to development. Miami has NEVER been a city that put quality of life over development, and I doubt the Grove is going to pioneer this.

Doing it closed-door is a little odd, yes. But I doubt having it open would have made much of a difference.