Club50 at SkyscraperCity

[miamipaintball]

Originally Posted by QuantumX

See post #30 of this thread regarding Brickell CitiCentre, and Tibor Hollo and sons purchased the property at 1101 Brickell. I'll leave the rest to the other members of the Miami forum.

Originally Posted by Aceventura

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=635402

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=199989

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=327654

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=615628

thanks much.

[Aceventura]

1. MDC Wolfson Campus Arch
2. One Bayfront Plaza
3. Miami World Center
4. Capital at Brickell
5. Banco Santander Tower

[spellbound]

This is pretty funny (and maybe a tad vomit-inducing)...

Older women and younger men? Not on Carnival Cruise Lines
Cougars and cubs -- older women mixing it up with younger men -- are no longer welcome on Miami's Carnival Cruise Lines.

BY MARTHA BRANNIGAN
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com

Apparently cougars put on more of a party than the Fun Ships can handle.

Carnival Cruise Lines has turned away a singles group that promotes cruises and other social events for cougars and cubs -- older women and younger men who, um, court each other.

Nearly 300 cougars and cubs sailed on a ``very successful'' group cruise onboard the 2,052-passenger Carnival Elation in December 2009, according to Rich Gosse, executive producer of CougarEvents.com and chairman of The Society of Single Professionals.

But when the group's travel agent, SinglesTravelCompany.com, tried to arrange another Carnival trip, the Miami cruise line said no way.

``We have decided not to have any future groups on our ships booked on this theme,'' Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said.

De La Cruz insisted that, ``there were not any particular issues on board,'' during the December cougar cruise, which was put together by the singles' travel agent, not the cruise line. ``However, we simply made the business decision not to have future groups book on this theme.''

Stewart Chiron, a Miami cruise expert and chief executive of CruiseGuy.com, figures cougar cruises simply don't fit Carnival's family image. The line markets itself around the idea of ``fun,'' and has shed the hard-partying image of early days.

``Carnival has distanced itself from being Spring Break USA,'' Chiron said.

The first International Cougar Cruise included a group cocktail party before dinner each night, help hooking up for shore excursions, and ``the requisite hot tub party, of course,'' said Gosse, who is based in San Rafael, Calif.

ON TV

The cougar theme may not make it on Carnival, but it has turned up in TV shows, the movies and gossip columns, signaling that cougars are hot. ABC-TV is promoting its sitcom Cougar Town, which debuted last September and is set on Florida's West Coast, with T-shirts saying ``40 is the new 20.'' New York Yankees' star Alex Rodriguez, who is 34, was linked to Madonna, who is 51, and Ashton Kutcher married Demi Moore in 2005, when he was 27 and she was 42. Matt Damon's character wooed a cougar -- played by Ellen Barkin -- in Ocean's Thirteen. Indeed, Gosse noted that more younger men signed up for the December trip on Carnival than older women.

He admits being a bit bewildered that Carnival would turn away business, but said he had no trouble finding other cruise lines to welcome the group. ``It's fine with us. Other cruise lines are delighted to have our business -- especially in this economy.''

ANOTHER COMPANY

The travel agencySinglesTravelCompany.com is booking accommodations for a Mexican Riviera cruise May 16-23 on Royal Caribbean International's Mariner of the Seas from Los Angeles.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said her Miami-based company had no qualms accepting the group booking. ``We assume this group will follow our guest conduct policy just like any other guests,'' she said. ``We have no reason to think otherwise.''

NCL hasn't balked, either. The cougar group is booking cabins on the Norwegian Sky for a three-day Bahamas cruise from Miami in December.

[PeterSmith]

Miami made the final cut as a host city should the US land the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

www.gousabid.com

[PeterSmith]

Originally Posted by spellbound

This is pretty funny (and maybe a tad vomit-inducing)...

Older women and younger men? Not on Carnival Cruise Lines
Cougars and cubs -- older women mixing it up with younger men -- are no longer welcome on Miami's Carnival Cruise Lines.

...

As a cub, this outrages me.

[Aceventura]

Originally Posted by PeterSmith

Miami made the final cut as a host city should the US land the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

I'm surprised B-more made the cut, but I'm glad they did 'cause I like PSI Net Stadium. I guess Atlanta was picked assuming they get a new stadium.

[PeterSmith]

Originally Posted by Aceventura

I'm surprised B-more made the cut, but I'm glad they did 'cause I like PSI Net Stadium. I guess Atlanta was picked assuming they get a new stadium.

I may have agreed with you a few months back, but the Chelsea-AC Milan game that Baltimore hosted back in July was was of the most successful soccer matches ever held on US soil. Baltimore is, and has always been, one of the biggest soccer towns in the country.

It's a long way off, so a lot can change in the next eight or twelve years, but I think Miami should be well-positioned to host some big matches. I'm excited.

[spellbound]

I'm a little surprised Chicago didn't make the cut, considering how many cities (18) were chosen to be U.S. sites. The stadium is beautiful and the size of the market speaks for itself.

Either way, I would think the U.S. stands a very good shot---almost a prohibitive favorite---in hosting either 2018 or 2022.

[spellbound]

Ugh. Not good.


Voters return suspended Commissioner Michelle Spence-JonesIn a low turnout race, District 5 voters returned suspended Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones to office. Now the question is: Will the governor follow up on his vow to remove her once again?

Miami Herald Staff

Miami voters overwhelmingly returned suspended Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones to office Tuesday, setting up a constitutional showdown with the governor's office that will likely play out in the courts.

Gov. Charlie Crist -- who suspended Spence-Jones in November after her arrest on charges of redirecting $50,000 in county funds to a family business -- had vowed to remove her again if she won the special election.

Defiant as she basked in victory before supporters at her Liberty City headquarters, the two-term District 5 commissioner said her easy victory showed that constituents still believed in her. She easily separated from a field of eight others in an election with a dismally low turnout.

Rest of story here: http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1421966.html

[spellbound]

Any chance NBC will pick this up as a reality series?

Gov. Crist orders suspension of Spence-Jones


Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday issued a new executive order to re-suspend Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence

BY MARC CAPUTO AND CHARLES RABIN
crabin@MiamiHerald.com

Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday issued a new executive order to re-suspend Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, whom he suspended from office after she was charged in a corruption probe.

Crist immediately suspended the popular commissioner after state prosecutors arrested her in November for allegedly redirecting $50,000 in county money to a family business, before she won her first election. She denies wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

Spence Jones then won reelection Tuesday, and invoked Martin Luther King Jr. in warning Crist not to thwart the will of the people by suspending her again.

But Crist said that the state Constitution empowers him to suspend a city commissioner who has been criminally charged. And a separate state law gives him even more broad powers to suspend her. Neither law bans him from re-suspending a commissioner who has won reelection.

The Constitution also says that the suspension shall end if the politician is acquitted, had the charges dropped or been found not guilty. Crist said that hasn't happened.

``Michelle Spence-Jones has not been found acquitted, found not guilty, or otherwise cleared of the charge which was the basis of her arrest,'' Crist said in the order.

``It is in the best interests of the residents of the City of Miami, and the citizens of the State of Florida, that Michelle Spence-Jones be immediately suspended from public office.''

His order says that, upon being sworn back into office, she'll be suspended again.

Legal experts are split on Crist's decision, and

[QuantumX]

On a lighter note, I saw Avatar last night and it is the most visually stunning movie I've ever seen. James Cameron created an incredibly vivid and colorful alien world in great detail. The story line was a bit too much Dances with Wolves meets Star Wars for me, but well worth seeing for the visual effects alone.

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by QuantumX

On a lighter note, I saw Avatar last night and it is the most visually stunning movie I've ever seen. James Cameron created an incredibly vivid and colorful alien world in great detail. The story line was a bit too much Dances with Wolves meets Star Wars for me, but well worth seeing for the visual effects alone.

Yeah, many have insisted I go see it even though I'm not a fan of 'fantasy' movies at all. The effects are genuinely stunning by all accounts.

[brickell]

Meh. After the first hour, you kind of wish there was some depth to the story and characters to go along with the effects.

Worth seeing once, but not a good movie in my opinion.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by brickell

Meh. After the first hour, you kind of wish there was some depth to the story and characters to go along with the effects.

Worth seeing once, but not a good movie in my opinion.

I've come to expect that from those types of movies since they're targeting the adolescent male audience anyway,the largest demographic. It's essentially cowboys and indians on another planet. I've just been a visual effects buff for a long time. The movie is now at fourth place in all-tme movie gross, and this is only its fifth weekend. Then, it will most certainly get a boost from the Academy Awards and overtake Titanic. No, make that 3rd place after 5 weeks and two Golden Globe Awards (Best Picture Drama, Best Director).

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/re...100million.php

[noland123]

What exactly is this a monument or what as it is located on Southwest 8th street west of the Palmetto Expressway? The same structure is on each side of the road .




http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&ie=UT...9.88,,0,-12.89

[spartan21]

Originally Posted by PeterSmith

Miami made the final cut as a host city should the US land the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

www.gousabid.com

I signed the petition! for the United States and Miami!

[1772]

When I saw the thread "Empty/Abandoned Stadium" and it had Homestead Baseball Stadium, it occured to me that most of the MLB-teams spring training in the Grapefruit League are in either the central east coast or on the gulf coast.

Why is their no spring training around Miami-Dade? It should be more convenient with proximity to airport, hotels and other stuff (SoBe, downtown Miami)?
The closests is the Marlins in Davie.


The thread:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1046169

[kevinkagy]

Originally Posted by noland123

What exactly is this a monument or what as it is located on Southwest 8th street west of the Palmetto Expressway? The same structure is on each side of the road .




http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&ie=UT...9.88,,0,-12.89

They're really tacky columns that say 'Welcome to Miami' and 'Welcome to Calle Ocho'. They look like they belong in an Olympic stadium with fire at the top. It's so ugly.

[Hia-leah JDM]

Originally Posted by 1772

When I saw the thread "Empty/Abandoned Stadium" and it had Homestead Baseball Stadium, it occured to me that most of the MLB-teams spring training in the Grapefruit League are in either the central east coast or on the gulf coast.

Why is their no spring training around Miami-Dade? It should be more convenient with proximity to airport, hotels and other stuff (SoBe, downtown Miami)?
The closests is the Marlins in Davie.


The thread:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1046169

Marlins train in Jupiter.

As for the Homestead Stadium, I read that it was built specifically for spring traning but Hurricane Andrew killed those plans and left the stadium empty. It was something like that.

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by Hia-leah JDM

Marlins train in Jupiter.

As for the Homestead Stadium, I read that it was built specifically for spring traning but Hurricane Andrew killed those plans and left the stadium empty. It was something like that.

The Marlins and Cardinals share Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter---which is a gorgeous facility.

I think you're right about the Homestead situation. I believe the Orioles were targeted since they had a long relationship in Miami but it never materialized.

Really, the bottom line with spring training is that teams find it convenient to be close to each other. They are bussed to games---not flown---making any airport issues irrelevant. With the abandonment of Miami (Orioles), Ft. Lauderdale (Yankees), Pompano (Rangers), and West Palm (Braves and Expos) as former spring-training sites a team in South Florida would be geographically isolated and at a travel disadvantage these days. The Homestead facility probably had too much to overcome in that regard even from the get-go.